July 18, 2025 • 44 mins
What if the secret to your mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical wellbeing was hiding in plain sight all along? Groundbreaking research from Harvard, Psychology Today, and other leading institutions now confirms what Jesus taught centuries ago—serving others transforms every aspect of our lives.
When you serve, you're not just helping others; you're activating a powerful mechanism God designed within you. Studies show service reduces depression and anxiety, lowers blood pressure and stress levels, boosts life satisfaction, increases purpose, and elevates happiness. But more importantly, service connects you directly to the heart of Jesus.
In this powerful message, we explore four transformative truths about service from the book of Judges. First, Jesus served us with His life to save our lives—we serve because He served us first. Second, God doesn't just call us to serve; He gifts us specifically for service. As we hear, "God doesn't call the gifted; He gifts the called." Your unique SHAPE—Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences—equips you perfectly for your calling.
Third, when God calls us to serve, He empowers us beyond our natural abilities. Like Barak facing 900 iron chariots with just 10,000 men, God makes impossible missions possible when we step out in faith. Finally, God can use absolutely anyone—even a nomadic housewife with a tent peg can end a twenty-year war when God works through her!
Your past struggles, weaknesses, and experiences aren't disqualifications from service—they're often the very qualifications God uses most powerfully. When we understand that "saved people serve people," we discover our deepest purpose and greatest joy. What might God want to do through your life if you simply make yourself available to Him today?
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
of your smiling faces here this morning at First
Baptist Church, powder Springsand the TV's not working.
Amen, all right, let's go.
So I just want to say first ofall, just thank you again to
everyone who's here, everyonethat is tuning in online.
What an honor it is to get todo church together today, like
it is on every single Sunday.
(00:20):
I want to remind you that weare one church.
Everybody say one church.
We're one church that meets intwo different locations, two
different services the Sanctuaryat 930 and our CLC here at 11.
So we are multi-service.
We are alwaysmulti-generational people of all
ages and we are multi-ethnic,reaching people, lord willing,
(00:41):
from all across Powder Springsand beyond and all around the
world.
God is so good for what he isdoing here at First Baptist
Church Powder Springs.
We're so thankful.
I'm going to ask Donna Johnson.
Donna, come on up here with meand we always love for you to
know who is serving on our staffin key areas.
Put your hands together forDonna Johnson.
(01:02):
We are so thankful for her andI just wanted to introduce her
quickly.
Donna, she is our preschoolinterim coordinator, so here
during the interim period she isherding cats back there in
preschool and she's doing agreat job with all the, from
nursery to all the preschoolers,all the parents and all the
workers, all the volunteers.
(01:22):
It's a big job and weappreciate you so much, like
Esther, for such a time as thisin the way that you serve One
more time for Donna Johnson.
We are so thankful, thankfulfor you.
Donna, thank you so much.
Also want you to know oh, there, she was right there.
Sunny Medlin.
This is Sunny and her family,the Medlin family, and she is
our paid childcare coordinator,which means when we have
(01:45):
different events, like our nextstep, lunch, and we want parents
to be their favorite.
Two words hands-free.
Can I get an amen?
She is the one that putstogether all the child care
workers so that parents can behands-free and they could focus
and they could be ministered toduring those events.
And while I'm talking aboutDonna's and Sonny's and others,
(02:06):
I just wanna thank all of you.
I wanna thank everybody thatyou serve, in whatever way that
you do.
Maybe you serve in our worshipband or our production ministry,
our AVL.
Maybe you serve in our kidsministry or our hospitality
ministry or greeting ministry.
Maybe you serve in our studentministry, our young adult
ministry.
Maybe you lead one of ourgroups.
(02:28):
Maybe you serve in our senioradult ministry.
Maybe you serve, like I said,with our hospitality, our
greeters or even our creativeteam in all that they do.
Maybe you serve when it comesto our local mission or our
global mission team.
Maybe you serve in our men, ourministry, our women's ministry,
our personnel ministry, ourdeacons ministry or our finance
(02:50):
ministry.
Can we put our hands togetherone more time for everybody who
serves here at First BaptistChurch, pattern Springs.
We are just so thankful and, asI mentioned that this morning,
as you see here on the screen,there is actually a secret in
God's word for you.
There's a secret and scientistshave actually discovered it to
be true from their research.
(03:12):
There's something that God hasfor you, that he says when you
do this, it will affect yourmental health, your emotional
health, it will affect yourspiritual health.
It will affect even yourphysical health.
Psychology today says it willreduce your depression and
anxiety and boost satisfaction.
Harvard Health says when you dothis, it will increase meaning,
(03:33):
purpose and your overallwell-being.
Carnegie Mellon University sayswhen you do this, it will lower
your blood pressure and yourstress levels.
It says in the NationalInstitute on Aging that you'll
have higher levels of happiness.
And Barna Research says whenyou do this, you will be
spiritually fulfilled, connectedand loved.
What is that?
(03:54):
When you serve others, everyonelook at somebody and say serve
others.
When you serve others In fact,that's what we're talking about
this morning.
When you serve others In fact,that's what we're talking about
this morning.
What I wanna show you thismorning is four reasons why we
serve.
Now I wanna explain veryquickly.
Service Jesus has called us toserve.
(04:15):
I believe that Jesus served youso that he could save you and
he saved you so that you canserve him, and you serve him so
that others can be saved too.
What happens?
Saved people serve people.
It's not just our calling, itis our culture.
(04:35):
It's the culture of FirstBaptist Church Powder Springs
that we're not coming here justto be served, but that we want
to serve as well, because here'swhat we believe.
We are never more like Jesusthan we are serving.
If you believe that, say yeah,here's also so.
1 Peter 4.10,.
The Bible says each of youshould use whatever gift you
(04:59):
have received when you got saved.
God gives you spiritualgiftedness.
You've received it from him.
And what do we do with them?
We serve others One more time.
Everyone say serve others.
So here's what I want you to do.
I want you to open up to thebook of Judges.
The book of Judges it is theseventh book of the Bible, the
book of Judges, and we're in ourseries here called Relentless
(05:22):
Rebellion Meets Redemption, aswe're in our series here called
Relentless Rebellion MeetsRedemption.
As we're looking here at thisspectrum of living relentless
lives, I pray that you feelencouraged this morning.
I pray that you feel uplifted.
I pray that you feel empowered.
I pray that you just feel thismotivation from God.
Look at this gift that he'sgiven me.
He's given me a gift thataffects my whole being, and that
(05:46):
gift is to serve him.
I want to remind you thatrebellion, sin, is saying I am
here to be served, butredemption, when you've been
saved, your heart, is saying Iam here because Jesus has
already served me and I am hereto serve others.
So here we go.
Four reasons why we shouldserve, why it should be our
(06:10):
calling and our culture.
Number one because Jesus servedyou to save you.
Jesus serves you to save you.
He served you with his lifebecause he wanted to save your
life.
Look with me at Judges, chapterfour.
Looking at verse one, it saysand the people of Israel again
(06:31):
did what was evil in the sightof the Lord after Ehud had died.
So, if you remember, last weekwe were talking about break the
cycle.
We're talking about the cycleof sin and how, when we sin,
then sinful oppression comesinto our life and we are called
to cry out to God and then Goddelivers us and then God gives
(06:51):
us peace from sin.
Well, the book of Judges showshow easy it is, even as God's
people, to fall into sin overand over and over again.
It has happened to me Don'tlook at me over again.
It has happened to me, don'tlook at me.
So spiritual.
It happens to you too, and ithappens to the people of God,
the people of Israel.
(07:11):
And what is sin?
Sin is anything that is evil inthe sight of the Lord we talked
about last week.
You can go back and listen to itthat the world, the culture,
loves to say that you can dowhat is right, whatever you
wanna do, what is right,whatever you want to do in your
eyes, if it's right for you,then it's right for you.
And God says no, what is rightis what is right in my eyes.
(07:34):
It's kind of like our kids, mykids, all three of my kids
Brooklyn six, cruz two, elianaone.
They're all sick at home, withdifferent sicknesses right now.
If you ever say one prayer forme, pray 10 for my wife, please.
She's at home with the kids andthey love to do what is right
in their eyes.
What's wrong with our kids?
I don't even know.
They love to.
(07:55):
If it was up to them, like theywould eat candy all day long
and then they would watch TV allday long and then, because of
the candy and because of the TV,then they would wanna stay up
all night long just so theycould get a little sleep and
they could go and do it all overagain the next day.
They love doing things that areright in their own eyes.
(08:17):
Why do we love doing thingsthat are right in our own eyes?
You can write it down.
It won't be on the screen.
Judges 21, verse 25 says inthose days in the book of Judges
, there was no king.
Everyone say no king.
There was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right inhis eyes.
What is sin?
(08:37):
Sin is when you do what's rightin your eyes but it's not right
in the sight of the Lord.
And so when do we do that?
When we don't see Jesus as ourking, we do what's right in our
eyes, not in his eyes, and so wetherefore end up falling into
sin.
And it said they did that afterEhud had died, god would send a
(09:02):
judge to come in and deliverthem and rule over them so they
would not fall into sin again.
But when the judge would die,they would fall back into sin.
Aren't you thankful that Jesusis our eternal judge?
He's already died, he's alreadyrisen from the dead and he
lives eternally, so that wedon't have to fall into sin over
(09:24):
and over again.
Put your hands together forJesus.
He is our, he's our judge.
Verse two says the Lord soldthem into the hand of Jabin, the
king of Canaan.
As a reminder God selling hispeople does not mean that he's
making a profit off of hispeople.
It's actually the worst thingthat God could ever do to you.
(09:44):
It is handing you over to thesin that you want most.
But the reason he does it is toshow you, to prove to you, that
no sin will ever satisfy likehe can satisfy your life.
Can I get an amen?
So the Lord sold them into thehand of Jabin.
Jabin was the king of Canaan.
(10:05):
He reigned in Hazor.
The commander of Jabin's armythe Canaanite army was Sisera,
who lived in Heshereth Hagoyim.
Verse three then the people ofIsrael cried out to the Lord we
talked about last week.
Crying out to the Lord is notjust saying help, not just
saying God, get me out of this.
It's saying God, you were right, I was wrong, I confess, I
(10:29):
repent.
Get me out so I can live foryou, worship you and serve you
again.
The people of Israel cried outto the Lord for help, for Jabin
and Sisera had 900 chariots ofiron and he oppressed the people
of Israel cruelly for 20 years.
Now why did the author of thisbook tell us that the enemy had
(10:53):
900 chariots of iron?
You realize that the Canaaniteswere in the Iron Age, the
Israelites were still in theBronze Age, meaning the
Canaanites had 900 iron chariotsin the Bronze Age.
Meaning the Canaanites had 900iron chariots.
The Israelites all they had tofight with were it might be a
club or a stick or a rock or aslingshot.
It would look like peoplecoming out of the woods with
(11:14):
like a crowbar and a pitchforkversus a real army.
These chariots back then wouldbe likened today to an M1 Abrams
tank.
In other words, if there is anarmy that has 900 tanks, you do
not have a chance against thisarmy.
The odds are stacked againstyou.
(11:37):
But my question is can youremember how that felt, when you
felt like that all of the oddswere stacked against you, when
nothing was going your way inlife?
It felt like that, everywhereyou turned, you just kept
falling into sin, falling intoaddiction, that you was just
doing everything that was rightin your eyes, but there was no
direction, there was no truth.
(11:58):
It was like you had no king.
You had no one to live for, youhad no one to tell you how to
live or what to do in your life.
Can you remember what it waslike before you were saved, and
do you remember crying out toGod for that first time and
saying God, I need you, god, Ibelieve in you.
God, I believe that Jesus diedfor my sin and he rose from the
(12:21):
dead and I want to ask him to bemy Lord and I want to ask him
to be my king.
God, would you deliver me so Ican live in your peace?
Do you remember that, becausethat's what Jesus did when he
saved you.
The Bible says in Mark, chapter10, for even the son of man,
jesus, he did not come to beserved, but he came to serve and
(12:45):
to give his life as a ransomfor many.
In other words, when Jesus came, he didn't come to be served by
you.
He came first to serve you.
And how did he serve you?
By giving his life all the wayunto death.
That's what Jesus did for you.
He gave his life for you.
He gave his life for you.
So when Jesus calls you toserve him, he's not calling you
(13:07):
to do anything that he hasn'talready done for you.
He calls us to serve himbecause he served us first.
So the point is this serveJesus with your life because he
served you with his, because heserved you with his.
Serve Jesus with your lifebecause he served you with his
(13:28):
Number two.
Why do we serve?
Well, god calls and he giftsyou to serve.
So he calls you.
It's a calling in our life.
It's a humbling in the life ofa believer.
We have to humble ourselves tosay God, I can't save myself.
Jesus, you gotta save me.
We humble ourselves when wecome to the baptism waters In
(13:52):
front of people saying I wannaget baptized to show people that
I believe in Jesus.
No longer I live life formyself, I live life for Jesus
Christ.
The life of salvation ishumility.
Everyone say humility for JesusChrist.
The life of salvation ishumility.
Everyone say humility.
And in the same way, thesalvation life is not to be
served but to serve, because weare never more like Jesus than
(14:16):
we are serving Jesus saved.
Jesus serves you to save youand he saved you so you can
serve him in return, so thatother people can get saved too.
He calls you, but he doesn'tjust tell you to serve.
This is the goodness of God.
He doesn't just call you toserve, he gifts you to serve.
He doesn't just tell you to dosomething.
He gives you the very abilitythat you need from him in order
(14:41):
to accomplish what he's calledyou to do.
If you're following me, sayyeah, so check it out.
Verse four, judges 4-4.
I wanna show you this Now.
Deborah was a prophetess, thewife of Lippidoth, and she was
judging Israel at that time.
There were some 12 judgesthroughout the book of Judges,
and Deborah was the only womanjudge out of the 12.
(15:04):
And so Deborah is?
She's first of all a prophetess, which means she's filled with
the spirit of God in order tocommunicate the word of God.
And when would she do it?
Verse five we won't have it onthe screen, but verse five says
she was sit under a palm tree.
How many ladies would you lovethat for your life?
She was sit under a palm tree,and it says that all of Israel
(15:27):
would come to her and she wouldgive them counsel and she would
show them what God had for theirlife.
She was this leader that Godraised up for the people of God.
She was a prophetess, she wasjudging them.
But here's what I think is sointeresting, because I believe
that God is raising up todaygodly women to serve godly women
(15:51):
, to teach godly women, tocommunicate the word of God.
God wants to use godly women.
God wants to use godly men.
God created us equal and Godwants to use us all equally.
Can I get an amen?
That's what we see from God'sword.
But here's what's interestingEven with the great calling in
(16:12):
her life, she always understoodthe divine order.
From the word of God.
It doesn't say and herhusband's name was Lippidoth.
No, it says that she was thewife of Lippidoth, which means
that, as God, had a high callingin her life and ministry, as
Ephesians 5 tells us, that todayhusbands are called, we're
(16:35):
called to love our wives and tolead them, as Christ loved the
church.
And it also says in Ephesians 5that, wives, you are to submit
yourself to your husband as tothe Lord, amen.
So we see in scripture, as Godhas created us all equally in
his image, he's all called usequally unto ministry.
(16:57):
Yet at the same time, there isa divine order within man and
woman, within husband and wife,because there's a divine order
within the Trinity the Father,the Son submits to the Father,
the Spirit submits to the son.
We see, in other words, even ina marriage, we are picturing
this beautiful relationship ofthe Trinity, even as man and
(17:21):
wife.
So we see, it says that Deborahsent and summoned Barak, who was
the general of the Israelitearmy.
He was the son of Ben-Oam andfrom Kadesh, naphtali.
And Deborah said to Barak hasnot the Lord, the God of Israel,
commanded you, go gather yourmen at Mount Tabor, taking
(17:44):
10,000 from the people ofNaphtali and the people of
Zebulun?
And didn't God say that hewould draw out Sisera, the
general of Jabin's army to meetyou by the river Kishon, with
his chariots and his troops, andI will give him into your hand.
This is fascinating.
Deborah's coming up to Jabinand she's saying Jabin, god has
(18:04):
called you to do this.
I want to encourage you to doit.
Notice, deborah didn't come toBarak and she didn't come to
Barak and say Barak, if you'renot gonna do it, then I'm gonna
do it.
If you're not gonna tell yourarmy, then I'm gonna tell your
army.
She did not take over asgeneral.
She stayed in her lane as Barakwas called to stay in his lane,
(18:25):
as they're both called to stayin their calling and within
their gifting.
But she came to Barak and shesaid I know what God told you to
do and here's what she's saying.
I wanna encourage you to do itand I will go with you if you do
it.
You, ladies in this room, I wantyou to know that you have the
power of encouragement over yourman.
You have the power ofencouragement over your man.
(18:47):
You're not called to tell yourman.
If you won't do it, then I'lldo it.
You're not taking the place ofyour man.
Know what you're doing andyou're not criticizing your man.
Know what you're doing isyou're encouraging him.
You will never know what yourencouragement to your man means
to him, more than anyone else inhis life.
God uses you, ladies, toencourage your man, your husband
(19:11):
.
And it's like Ruth telling BoazI'm not going to propose to you
, but, boaz, if you propose tome, I just want you to know.
I'm going to say yes.
In the same way, deborah issaying I'm not telling you what
to do and I'm not going to do itfor you.
I'm just telling you, if you goand do what God calls you to do
, then I'm going to go and do itwith you.
And that's what a godly wifedoes.
Husband, I'm not gonna tell youwhat to do.
(19:32):
I'm not gonna lead you to leadme or lead you to lead my family
.
I just want you to know thatwhen you follow God with all
your life, I'm with you and I'mfollowing Jesus with you all
along the way.
Amen, that's what we seethrough the word of God.
And so here's what Barak says.
What does Barak say back?
He said well, if you will gowith me, I will go, but if you
don't go with me, I will not go.
It's like I told my wife if youever leave me, you can go, but
(19:54):
I'm coming with you.
Okay, it's kind of like thesame thing there.
That was a joke.
All right, barak said if you gowith me I will go, but if you
will not go, then I'm not going.
In other words, barak knew thatGod was with Deborah with him,
and she said I'll surely go withyou.
Nevertheless, the road on whichyou are going will not lead to
(20:16):
your glory.
As we serve others, as we liveout our calling and our gifting,
it's never for our glory, it'snever for our name, it's never
for our fame, it's not even forour good, it's not even for our
gain.
Said for, for the Lord willsell Sisera into the hand of a
woman.
(20:36):
Why?
Because God wanted to show hispower.
We'll get there.
Then Deborah arose and wentwith Barak to Kadesh.
I just want to remind you thatDeborah had a calling on her
life and God gave her thegifting.
Barak had a calling on his lifeand God gave him the gifting.
God has a calling on your lifeand God gave him the gifting.
God has a calling on your lifeand God gives you the gifting to
serve him in his church, in hiscommunity and in this world.
(21:00):
And I just want to remind youthat Ephesians 4 says when Jesus
ascended on high, when he rosefrom the dead, is when he gave
gifts to his people.
In other words, when youbelieve in Jesus's resurrection
is when he gives you the giftsthat he has given you to serve.
It's a reminder God doesn'tcall the gifted, he gifts the
(21:24):
called.
It's a reminder that God didn'tlook at you and say, oh man, I
really wish she was on my team,I really wish he was on my team.
Man, they're so talented,they're so able, they're so
awesome.
Man, I could do a lot of goodthrough them.
That's not how God rolls.
God calls us when we're makinga mess and a wreck of our life
(21:46):
and God says I want to do morethrough them for my glory than
they could ever do forthemselves.
I remember back in high school,my least favorite class, the
class that I hated the most.
It was in the ninth grade.
I wanted to opt out, but Icouldn't.
With speech class, the numberone thing I hated doing, talking
(22:08):
in front of people In college.
True story freshman year rolledback around again.
Oh my gosh, I gotta take aspeech class.
I'm up in front of people.
I'm sweating, I'm nervous, I'mshaking like I just wanted to
run and scream like a girl right, like it was the worst thing
ever.
But what do I do now with mylife?
(22:29):
I love preaching the word of Godbefore people.
Why?
Because God doesn't call thegifted.
God gifts the called.
In other words, god may becalling something to you in your
life right now or maybe in thefuture, and you're thinking I
can't do it.
And I want you to hear me sayyou are right, you can't do it.
(22:49):
The point isn't that you can doit.
The point is that God wants todo it through you.
Can I get an amen?
So here's what we see that youneed to discover If you want to
know what your giftedness is.
Your calling is discover yourshape.
What are your spiritual gifts?
Well, what are you passionateabout?
What is your heart?
What are your abilities?
(23:09):
What are you good at that Godhas gifted you with?
What is your personality likeand what are your experiences
that God has put in your path toprepare you for your present
and your future.
What is your shape?
Because I would encourage you inour discipleship pathway here,
worship group, serve missionthat you will always have a
place to serve Jesus here,because he's called you and he's
(23:31):
gifted you that you'd be ableto serve Jesus in our worship
services, maybe on our worshipteam, or maybe back in our
production team, or maybe in ourkids ministry or our student
ministry or our young adultministry, or maybe God is
calling you to lead a group, ormaybe God is calling you to
serve in our senior adultministry or maybe our men's
(23:51):
ministry or maybe our women'sministry.
Maybe you want to be a greeteror a golf cart driver or a
parking lot host on ourhospitality ministry.
Maybe you want to work on helpwith our social media or our web
design or our videos in ourcreative ministry, or maybe you
want to be a part of our localmission where you go out and you
spread the word of Godthroughout Powder Springs and
(24:13):
beyond, or our global missionteam going to other countries on
mission trips.
Whatever it is, the question isthis what has God called you to
do for his glory?
Because what he's called you todo, he will gift you to do it.
Number three the third reasonwhy we serve is God empowers you
(24:33):
.
When you serve, everyone sayserve is God empowers you.
When you serve, everyone sayempower.
He empowers you when you serve.
This is crazy.
The story gets crazier.
One of the craziest story ofall the Bible.
Stick with me, we'll go throughit fast.
Watch this.
Sisera called out all of hischariots 900 chariots of iron.
Having chariots are like havingtanks, like M1 Abram tanks.
(24:53):
You have a serious advantageright If there are 900 tanks
versus 10,000 men.
You put your money on the tanksevery time.
And all the men who were withhim, from Herosheth Hagayim to
the river Kishon and Deborah,said to Barak get up, big boy,
for this is the day in which theLord has given Sisera that
(25:15):
sissy boy into your hand.
Does not the Lord go out beforeyou?
God is with you and if God isfor you, then who can be against
you?
So Barak went down from MountTabor with 10,000 men following
him.
Why was Barak hesitant?
Because his army had clubs andsticks and rocks and slingshots
(25:35):
against 900 M1 Abram tanks.
You would hesitate too.
Check this out, but it says theIsraelites came up against the
900 chariots of the Canaanitesand the Lord routed Sisera, the
Canaanites and all his chariotsand all his army before Barak by
the edge of the sword.
(25:56):
That's what God does Listen whenGod calls you to serve and when
he gifts you to serve, heempowers you.
(26:17):
I believe when you feel thepower of God most is when you're
serving him the most.
When you feel God closest toyou is when you are serving him.
When you feel God workingthrough you is when you're
serving him, and God loves to domiracles through his people who
(26:38):
are willing to serve him.
What was this miracle?
There was only one way that 900tanks could lose to 10,000 men.
It actually tells us in the nextchapter, judges 5,.
It retells the story.
You can read it for yourselflater.
It says that God sent arainstorm which caused a flood,
(26:58):
and the only way to beat 9,000chariots were for them to get
stuck in the mud.
It was dry season.
It never rained during thattime.
It would be like snowing inJuly today.
But God did it.
He sent the rain, he caused thefloods, the chariots got stuck
and the 10,000 men pursued allof the Canaanites and God's
(27:18):
people won again.
Put your hands together rightnow for the way that God works
and that's what God wants to doin your life, because God is.
He wants to do miracles in youand he wants to do miracles in
you and he wants to do miraclesthrough you.
And God does miracles when wehumble ourselves and when we
(27:40):
serve him and when we serveothers I think about last week
there was a man who was invitedby one of you here in this room
came for his first time.
He was a dad and he texted me.
I wanna read this text to youreal quick.
You just gotta hear this textfor yourself because this is
just so powerful.
The dad texted me that was herefor his first time.
(28:00):
He said hey, pastor Chip.
He said my wife and I couldn'tstop talking about how awesome
the service was and how welcomedeveryone made us and made us
feel.
He said it was truly amazingand I felt like it was 100%
God's plan for me to be therethat day, because the message
you gave was absolutely what Ineeded.
I was crying my eyes out and itallowed me to take a leap of
(28:24):
faith this week about an issuethat I've been battling with and
I feel at ease so much more nowthan beforehand.
That's what God wants to do.
If this person in this room didnot invite this man, if those
of you in here, whoever you areand you probably don't even know
it that you made him feelwelcome and you made him feel
(28:44):
loved so that he would sit downand listen to God's word and
allow God's word to speak intohis life.
God wanted to do a miracle inhis life that day and God used
you to do it.
Can I get an amen?
I want you to know that God isdoing miracles.
In our kids' ministry, asPastor James talked about, had
100 kids last week.
We're averaging about 100 kidsin our kids' ministry this time
last year was about 50 to 60.
(29:06):
It's doubled in over a year.
We see all these baptismshappening in our kids and our
students.
That is nothing that we'redoing.
That is the miracle of the HolySpirit.
I love that.
Our kids and our studentministry and our young adult
ministry are leading the way inour church growth and leading
the way in multi-ethnicityreaching the community for Jesus
Christ.
(29:26):
Can I get an amen?
I love the miracles that God isdoing.
What does God do?
It says, for God is the one whoworks in you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure.
To will means if you ever wantto do the right thing that
desire to do the right thingcame from God If you ever do a
work for God, you serve God.
It is actually God who does itin you and it is God who does it
(29:49):
through you.
It's not you, it's God, whichmeans he's not after your
ability, he's after youravailability.
Your greatest ability to God isyour availability.
Is just saying God, what can Ido for you, god?
How can I serve you God?
I am here.
Lastly, number four, this is itwe're done, why we serve?
(30:14):
Because God can use anyone toserve him.
God can use absolutely anyoneto serve him.
Let me read you this story, theend of the story.
So Sisera fled away on foot asall the tanks and all the people
of the tanks, of all thechariots, got killed, to the
tent of Jael.
Jael was a housewife of anomadic tribe that was known as
(30:38):
the Kenites.
Just a quick little historicalbackground housewives of nomadic
tribes, the wives would be theones who would set up and tear
down the tents.
So they were very skilled innailing tent pegs all day long,
the next day, taking them up,setting the tent back up over
and over and over again.
She was the wife of Heber theKenite, for there was peace
(31:00):
between Jabin, the king, andHazor, the house of Heber the
Kenite, and Jael came out tomeet this housewife, came out to
meet Sisera, who was fleeingaway during this battle, and she
said turn away, turn aside, myLord, turn aside, come into my
tent, come into me, don't beafraid.
So Sisera, the general of theCanaanite army, turned aside to
(31:24):
her and went into the tent andshe covered him with a rug.
Come here, you, big boy, youstrong military man, you, why
don't you take a little nappynap right here?
Right is what she's saying.
And he said to her please justgive me a little water to drink,
for I'm thirsty.
So she opened up a skin of milkand gave him a drink.
You, big boy, you don't getwater.
(31:44):
I'm going to give you, baby boy, I'm going to give you some
milk, right, because milk putsmen to sleep.
Let's go, verse 20.
And he said to her stand at theopening of the tent, sisera
said and if any man comes andasks you, is anyone here, tell
him nope, nobody's here, butJael.
The wife of Heber hear thistook a tent peg.
(32:05):
This would be ladies today'shousehold common item.
This is like you taking afrying pan, okay.
Or maybe a steak knife.
She took a tent peg, and took ahammer in her hand, jl.
She went softly to him while hewas sleeping, jl, and she drove
the peg into his temple untilit went down into the ground
(32:28):
while he was lying fast asleepfrom weariness.
And the most unnecessarysentence in the entire Bible,
and so he died.
This sentence should say and soshe nailed it Right there, okay
, and so he died.
What is this story teaching us?
If God can use an unsuspectingnomadic housewife to take the
(32:55):
life of an enemy general who isoppressing the people of God and
end a 20-year war, god can useanyone.
God can use you.
You might be saying I'm tooweak, I've got nothing to offer.
(33:16):
My past is so messed up.
The apostle Paul said but Godsaid to me my grace is
sufficient for you.
My power is made perfect inyour weakness, paul said.
Therefore, I'm gonna boast allthe more gladly of my weaknesses
(33:38):
so that the power of Christwould rest upon me.
One of the most powerful thingsthat we can do is to humble
ourselves before the Lord and wecan say God, you can use me,
not because of me, but becauseof you, because Jesus, you
(34:02):
served me.
Jesus, you served me, jesusserved you.
He, you served me.
Jesus served you.
He served you to save you soyou can serve him for others to
be saved to.
I think about a lady that cameto us just a couple of weeks ago
(34:22):
and she said I wasn't sure fora long time what to do for the
Lord.
She just said our wasn't surefor a long time what to do for
the Lord.
She just said our family wasjust so broken.
She said my dad was inaddiction.
My son was in addiction.
What do I have to offer theLord?
And she said it hit me.
I can minister to people whoseparents are in addiction.
(34:48):
I can minister to people whosechildren are in addiction that
God has given her thisexperience and this heart and
this ability to come along andto start a Bible study group so
that they can find hope in Jesus, like she has found hope in
Jesus.
That's exactly what God wantsto do through you.
(35:12):
Why do we serve?
Because Jesus served us.
Why do we serve Because he'sgiven you a calling and a
gifting?
Why do we serve Because he justwants to empower you and work
through you?
Why do we serve Because hewants to use you in anyone's
life and Jesus can use anyonefor his will and his glory.
I'm going to ask us all to bowour heads and close our eyes.
(35:35):
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed during this time.
I just want to encourage youright now just talk to Jesus.
You just talk to him and justmaybe you need to tell him.
Maybe it's been a while sinceyou've told him Jesus.
Thank you for serving me withyour life.
Jesus, thank you for saving me.
(36:01):
Jesus, help me to live my lifeas a service to others and help
other people to get savedthrough my service to you.
And maybe you're here thismorning and you can't pray that
because you haven't given yourlife to him yet, you haven't
(36:23):
been saved yet.
But right here, right now, Ican help you with that and you
can, just from your own heart,your own words.
You can pray to Jesus right nowand just say Jesus, I believe
in you and I need you.
You can tell him Jesus, I justwanna say thank you.
I believe that you died on thecross for my sins and I ask you
(36:43):
to forgive me of all of my sin,past, present and future.
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead.
So I wanna turn from my lifeand I wanna turn and I wanna
live it for you, not inperfection I can't do that but
in direction.
I wanna live my life for you,jesus, and you can tell him.
Jesus, I believe that your wordis true and I confess with my
(37:07):
mouth that, jesus, I believethat your word is true and I
confess with my mouth that,jesus, you are Lord and you are
my God and you are my savior,and all I need is you and the
Bible promises.
If you do that, he will saveyou, you'll be saved, you'll be
forgiven, you'll have a fixedhome in heaven forever and you
(37:29):
will be a child of God.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthat truth and we pray for
everyone who just prayed thatprayer, given their life to you.
We celebrate that in Jesus'name and all God's people said
amen.
Put your hands together foranybody who prayed that this
morning.
God is so good.
Jesus served you so we couldsave you.
Our ushers are coming forwardright now.
(37:50):
We're going to take the Lord'sSupper together.
They're going to.
If you don't already have theelements of the Lord's Supper,
just go ahead and just raiseyour hand.
They're just going to come backthrough the crowd right now and
make sure that you get one.
Thank you, I don't have one.
Thank you, keith, and make surethat you get one right now and
we're gonna take this together.
I will lead you through ittogether, but I want you to see
(38:10):
that this is a disposable cup.
The wafer, the bread, is at thetop.
You'll just peel back the toplayer, as you see, and then,
after that, the juice will beunder.
I wanna remind you this morningthat I can't think of a better
Sunday to take the Lord's Suppertogether than the Sunday that
(38:31):
we remember that Jesus served uswith his life to save our life
for his glory.
I wanna remind you that Jesussaid in Luke 22, he said I
earnestly, when he took theLord's Supper with his disciples
.
Jesus said I earnestly, takethis.
He took the Lord's Supper withhis disciples.
Jesus said I earnestly, takethis with you, eat this meal
(38:51):
with you.
You know that Jesus loves itwhen we do this together,
because we are communing withhim and we're communing with one
another.
We're saying Jesus, you are mysavior, and we're saying and
these are my blood thought,brothers and sisters in Jesus
Christ, this is the family ofGod.
(39:13):
I want to remind you that theword of God says in Matthew 26,
verse 26, as Jesus was takingthe Lord's supper with his
disciples.
It says now, as they wereeating, jesus took bread.
I wanna encourage you just topeel it back and to take the
bread off the top.
As they were eating, jesus tookbread and after blessing the
(39:36):
bread, he broke it and he gaveit to the disciples and he said
take this, take and eat.
This is my body.
So this is our opportunity toremember that Jesus was
physically, bodily crucified,sacrificed, suffered and died
(40:06):
with his body for your salvation.
Jesus said take, eat inremembrance of me.
He says in verse 27,.
And Jesus took a cup and whenhe had given thanks, he gave it
(40:30):
to them, saying drink of it allof you, for this is my blood of
the covenant, which is pouredout for many for the forgiveness
of sins.
Traditionally we have believedthat grape juice is the closest
representation to the blood ofJesus Christ and as we drink
(40:53):
this as a symbol that Jesus shedhis blood on the cross as a way
to cover over the biblical wordis to atone over our sin.
That Jesus shed every drop ofhis blood to cover every single
(41:15):
sin in our life.
He said drink of it all of you.
This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out
for many, for you, for theforgiveness of your sins.
Lord Jesus, we love you.
(41:36):
Thank you for this opportunityto be served by you, to be saved
by you, to remember thismorning all that you did with
your body, with your blood, forthe forgiveness of our sins, for
(41:56):
our salvation.
Lord Jesus, we praise you, weglorify you, and because you
served us with your life, may weserve you with our life, and we
just wanna say thank you and weworship you together, right
here, right now, and we give youall the glory that you deserve
(42:19):
In Jesus' name.
In all God's people said let'sstand together and let's worship
Jesus together.
of your smiling faces here this morning at First
Baptist Church, powder Springsand the TV's not working.
Amen, all right, let's go.
So I just want to say first ofall, just thank you again to
everyone who's here, everyonethat is tuning in online.
What an honor it is to get todo church together today, like
it is on every single Sunday.
(00:20):
I want to remind you that weare one church.
Everybody say one church.
We're one church that meets intwo different locations, two
different services the Sanctuaryat 930 and our CLC here at 11.
So we are multi-service.
We are alwaysmulti-generational people of all
ages and we are multi-ethnic,reaching people, lord willing,
(00:41):
from all across Powder Springsand beyond and all around the
world.
God is so good for what he isdoing here at First Baptist
Church Powder Springs.
We're so thankful.
I'm going to ask Donna Johnson.
Donna, come on up here with meand we always love for you to
know who is serving on our staffin key areas.
Put your hands together forDonna Johnson.
(01:02):
We are so thankful for her andI just wanted to introduce her
quickly.
Donna, she is our preschoolinterim coordinator, so here
during the interim period she isherding cats back there in
preschool and she's doing agreat job with all the, from
nursery to all the preschoolers,all the parents and all the
workers, all the volunteers.
(01:22):
It's a big job and weappreciate you so much, like
Esther, for such a time as thisin the way that you serve One
more time for Donna Johnson.
We are so thankful, thankfulfor you.
Donna, thank you so much.
Also want you to know oh, there, she was right there.
Sunny Medlin.
This is Sunny and her family,the Medlin family, and she is
our paid childcare coordinator,which means when we have
(01:45):
different events, like our nextstep, lunch, and we want parents
to be their favorite.
Two words hands-free.
Can I get an amen?
She is the one that putstogether all the child care
workers so that parents can behands-free and they could focus
and they could be ministered toduring those events.
And while I'm talking aboutDonna's and Sonny's and others,
(02:06):
I just wanna thank all of you.
I wanna thank everybody thatyou serve, in whatever way that
you do.
Maybe you serve in our worshipband or our production ministry,
our AVL.
Maybe you serve in our kidsministry or our hospitality
ministry or greeting ministry.
Maybe you serve in our studentministry, our young adult
ministry.
Maybe you lead one of ourgroups.
(02:28):
Maybe you serve in our senioradult ministry.
Maybe you serve, like I said,with our hospitality, our
greeters or even our creativeteam in all that they do.
Maybe you serve when it comesto our local mission or our
global mission team.
Maybe you serve in our men, ourministry, our women's ministry,
our personnel ministry, ourdeacons ministry or our finance
(02:50):
ministry.
Can we put our hands togetherone more time for everybody who
serves here at First BaptistChurch, pattern Springs.
We are just so thankful and, asI mentioned that this morning,
as you see here on the screen,there is actually a secret in
God's word for you.
There's a secret and scientistshave actually discovered it to
be true from their research.
(03:12):
There's something that God hasfor you, that he says when you
do this, it will affect yourmental health, your emotional
health, it will affect yourspiritual health.
It will affect even yourphysical health.
Psychology today says it willreduce your depression and
anxiety and boost satisfaction.
Harvard Health says when you dothis, it will increase meaning,
(03:33):
purpose and your overallwell-being.
Carnegie Mellon University sayswhen you do this, it will lower
your blood pressure and yourstress levels.
It says in the NationalInstitute on Aging that you'll
have higher levels of happiness.
And Barna Research says whenyou do this, you will be
spiritually fulfilled, connectedand loved.
What is that?
(03:54):
When you serve others, everyonelook at somebody and say serve
others.
When you serve others In fact,that's what we're talking about
this morning.
When you serve others In fact,that's what we're talking about
this morning.
What I wanna show you thismorning is four reasons why we
serve.
Now I wanna explain veryquickly.
Service Jesus has called us toserve.
(04:15):
I believe that Jesus served youso that he could save you and
he saved you so that you canserve him, and you serve him so
that others can be saved too.
What happens?
Saved people serve people.
It's not just our calling, itis our culture.
(04:35):
It's the culture of FirstBaptist Church Powder Springs
that we're not coming here justto be served, but that we want
to serve as well, because here'swhat we believe.
We are never more like Jesusthan we are serving.
If you believe that, say yeah,here's also so.
1 Peter 4.10,.
The Bible says each of youshould use whatever gift you
(04:59):
have received when you got saved.
God gives you spiritualgiftedness.
You've received it from him.
And what do we do with them?
We serve others One more time.
Everyone say serve others.
So here's what I want you to do.
I want you to open up to thebook of Judges.
The book of Judges it is theseventh book of the Bible, the
book of Judges, and we're in ourseries here called Relentless
(05:22):
Rebellion Meets Redemption, aswe're in our series here called
Relentless Rebellion MeetsRedemption.
As we're looking here at thisspectrum of living relentless
lives, I pray that you feelencouraged this morning.
I pray that you feel uplifted.
I pray that you feel empowered.
I pray that you just feel thismotivation from God.
Look at this gift that he'sgiven me.
He's given me a gift thataffects my whole being, and that
(05:46):
gift is to serve him.
I want to remind you thatrebellion, sin, is saying I am
here to be served, butredemption, when you've been
saved, your heart, is saying Iam here because Jesus has
already served me and I am hereto serve others.
So here we go.
Four reasons why we shouldserve, why it should be our
(06:10):
calling and our culture.
Number one because Jesus servedyou to save you.
Jesus serves you to save you.
He served you with his lifebecause he wanted to save your
life.
Look with me at Judges, chapterfour.
Looking at verse one, it saysand the people of Israel again
(06:31):
did what was evil in the sightof the Lord after Ehud had died.
So, if you remember, last weekwe were talking about break the
cycle.
We're talking about the cycleof sin and how, when we sin,
then sinful oppression comesinto our life and we are called
to cry out to God and then Goddelivers us and then God gives
(06:51):
us peace from sin.
Well, the book of Judges showshow easy it is, even as God's
people, to fall into sin overand over and over again.
It has happened to me Don'tlook at me over again.
It has happened to me, don'tlook at me.
So spiritual.
It happens to you too, and ithappens to the people of God,
the people of Israel.
(07:11):
And what is sin?
Sin is anything that is evil inthe sight of the Lord we talked
about last week.
You can go back and listen to itthat the world, the culture,
loves to say that you can dowhat is right, whatever you
wanna do, what is right,whatever you want to do in your
eyes, if it's right for you,then it's right for you.
And God says no, what is rightis what is right in my eyes.
(07:34):
It's kind of like our kids, mykids, all three of my kids
Brooklyn six, cruz two, elianaone.
They're all sick at home, withdifferent sicknesses right now.
If you ever say one prayer forme, pray 10 for my wife, please.
She's at home with the kids andthey love to do what is right
in their eyes.
What's wrong with our kids?
I don't even know.
They love to.
(07:55):
If it was up to them, like theywould eat candy all day long
and then they would watch TV allday long and then, because of
the candy and because of the TV,then they would wanna stay up
all night long just so theycould get a little sleep and
they could go and do it all overagain the next day.
They love doing things that areright in their own eyes.
(08:17):
Why do we love doing thingsthat are right in our own eyes?
You can write it down.
It won't be on the screen.
Judges 21, verse 25 says inthose days in the book of Judges
, there was no king.
Everyone say no king.
There was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right inhis eyes.
What is sin?
(08:37):
Sin is when you do what's rightin your eyes but it's not right
in the sight of the Lord.
And so when do we do that?
When we don't see Jesus as ourking, we do what's right in our
eyes, not in his eyes, and so wetherefore end up falling into
sin.
And it said they did that afterEhud had died, god would send a
(09:02):
judge to come in and deliverthem and rule over them so they
would not fall into sin again.
But when the judge would die,they would fall back into sin.
Aren't you thankful that Jesusis our eternal judge?
He's already died, he's alreadyrisen from the dead and he
lives eternally, so that wedon't have to fall into sin over
(09:24):
and over again.
Put your hands together forJesus.
He is our, he's our judge.
Verse two says the Lord soldthem into the hand of Jabin, the
king of Canaan.
As a reminder God selling hispeople does not mean that he's
making a profit off of hispeople.
It's actually the worst thingthat God could ever do to you.
(09:44):
It is handing you over to thesin that you want most.
But the reason he does it is toshow you, to prove to you, that
no sin will ever satisfy likehe can satisfy your life.
Can I get an amen?
So the Lord sold them into thehand of Jabin.
Jabin was the king of Canaan.
(10:05):
He reigned in Hazor.
The commander of Jabin's armythe Canaanite army was Sisera,
who lived in Heshereth Hagoyim.
Verse three then the people ofIsrael cried out to the Lord we
talked about last week.
Crying out to the Lord is notjust saying help, not just
saying God, get me out of this.
It's saying God, you were right, I was wrong, I confess, I
(10:29):
repent.
Get me out so I can live foryou, worship you and serve you
again.
The people of Israel cried outto the Lord for help, for Jabin
and Sisera had 900 chariots ofiron and he oppressed the people
of Israel cruelly for 20 years.
Now why did the author of thisbook tell us that the enemy had
(10:53):
900 chariots of iron?
You realize that the Canaaniteswere in the Iron Age, the
Israelites were still in theBronze Age, meaning the
Canaanites had 900 iron chariotsin the Bronze Age.
Meaning the Canaanites had 900iron chariots.
The Israelites all they had tofight with were it might be a
club or a stick or a rock or aslingshot.
It would look like peoplecoming out of the woods with
(11:14):
like a crowbar and a pitchforkversus a real army.
These chariots back then wouldbe likened today to an M1 Abrams
tank.
In other words, if there is anarmy that has 900 tanks, you do
not have a chance against thisarmy.
The odds are stacked againstyou.
(11:37):
But my question is can youremember how that felt, when you
felt like that all of the oddswere stacked against you, when
nothing was going your way inlife?
It felt like that, everywhereyou turned, you just kept
falling into sin, falling intoaddiction, that you was just
doing everything that was rightin your eyes, but there was no
direction, there was no truth.
(11:58):
It was like you had no king.
You had no one to live for, youhad no one to tell you how to
live or what to do in your life.
Can you remember what it waslike before you were saved, and
do you remember crying out toGod for that first time and
saying God, I need you, god, Ibelieve in you.
God, I believe that Jesus diedfor my sin and he rose from the
(12:21):
dead and I want to ask him to bemy Lord and I want to ask him
to be my king.
God, would you deliver me so Ican live in your peace?
Do you remember that, becausethat's what Jesus did when he
saved you.
The Bible says in Mark, chapter10, for even the son of man,
jesus, he did not come to beserved, but he came to serve and
(12:45):
to give his life as a ransomfor many.
In other words, when Jesus came, he didn't come to be served by
you.
He came first to serve you.
And how did he serve you?
By giving his life all the wayunto death.
That's what Jesus did for you.
He gave his life for you.
He gave his life for you.
So when Jesus calls you toserve him, he's not calling you
(13:07):
to do anything that he hasn'talready done for you.
He calls us to serve himbecause he served us first.
So the point is this serveJesus with your life because he
served you with his, because heserved you with his.
Serve Jesus with your lifebecause he served you with his
(13:28):
Number two.
Why do we serve?
Well, god calls and he giftsyou to serve.
So he calls you.
It's a calling in our life.
It's a humbling in the life ofa believer.
We have to humble ourselves tosay God, I can't save myself.
Jesus, you gotta save me.
We humble ourselves when wecome to the baptism waters In
(13:52):
front of people saying I wannaget baptized to show people that
I believe in Jesus.
No longer I live life formyself, I live life for Jesus
Christ.
The life of salvation ishumility.
Everyone say humility for JesusChrist.
The life of salvation ishumility.
Everyone say humility.
And in the same way, thesalvation life is not to be
served but to serve, because weare never more like Jesus than
(14:16):
we are serving Jesus saved.
Jesus serves you to save youand he saved you so you can
serve him in return, so thatother people can get saved too.
He calls you, but he doesn'tjust tell you to serve.
This is the goodness of God.
He doesn't just call you toserve, he gifts you to serve.
He doesn't just tell you to dosomething.
He gives you the very abilitythat you need from him in order
(14:41):
to accomplish what he's calledyou to do.
If you're following me, sayyeah, so check it out.
Verse four, judges 4-4.
I wanna show you this Now.
Deborah was a prophetess, thewife of Lippidoth, and she was
judging Israel at that time.
There were some 12 judgesthroughout the book of Judges,
and Deborah was the only womanjudge out of the 12.
(15:04):
And so Deborah is?
She's first of all a prophetess, which means she's filled with
the spirit of God in order tocommunicate the word of God.
And when would she do it?
Verse five we won't have it onthe screen, but verse five says
she was sit under a palm tree.
How many ladies would you lovethat for your life?
She was sit under a palm tree,and it says that all of Israel
(15:27):
would come to her and she wouldgive them counsel and she would
show them what God had for theirlife.
She was this leader that Godraised up for the people of God.
She was a prophetess, she wasjudging them.
But here's what I think is sointeresting, because I believe
that God is raising up todaygodly women to serve godly women
(15:51):
, to teach godly women, tocommunicate the word of God.
God wants to use godly women.
God wants to use godly men.
God created us equal and Godwants to use us all equally.
Can I get an amen?
That's what we see from God'sword.
But here's what's interestingEven with the great calling in
(16:12):
her life, she always understoodthe divine order.
From the word of God.
It doesn't say and herhusband's name was Lippidoth.
No, it says that she was thewife of Lippidoth, which means
that, as God, had a high callingin her life and ministry, as
Ephesians 5 tells us, that todayhusbands are called, we're
(16:35):
called to love our wives and tolead them, as Christ loved the
church.
And it also says in Ephesians 5that, wives, you are to submit
yourself to your husband as tothe Lord, amen.
So we see in scripture, as Godhas created us all equally in
his image, he's all called usequally unto ministry.
(16:57):
Yet at the same time, there isa divine order within man and
woman, within husband and wife,because there's a divine order
within the Trinity the Father,the Son submits to the Father,
the Spirit submits to the son.
We see, in other words, even ina marriage, we are picturing
this beautiful relationship ofthe Trinity, even as man and
(17:21):
wife.
So we see, it says that Deborahsent and summoned Barak, who was
the general of the Israelitearmy.
He was the son of Ben-Oam andfrom Kadesh, naphtali.
And Deborah said to Barak hasnot the Lord, the God of Israel,
commanded you, go gather yourmen at Mount Tabor, taking
(17:44):
10,000 from the people ofNaphtali and the people of
Zebulun?
And didn't God say that hewould draw out Sisera, the
general of Jabin's army to meetyou by the river Kishon, with
his chariots and his troops, andI will give him into your hand.
This is fascinating.
Deborah's coming up to Jabinand she's saying Jabin, god has
(18:04):
called you to do this.
I want to encourage you to doit.
Notice, deborah didn't come toBarak and she didn't come to
Barak and say Barak, if you'renot gonna do it, then I'm gonna
do it.
If you're not gonna tell yourarmy, then I'm gonna tell your
army.
She did not take over asgeneral.
She stayed in her lane as Barakwas called to stay in his lane,
(18:25):
as they're both called to stayin their calling and within
their gifting.
But she came to Barak and shesaid I know what God told you to
do and here's what she's saying.
I wanna encourage you to do itand I will go with you if you do
it.
You, ladies in this room, I wantyou to know that you have the
power of encouragement over yourman.
You have the power ofencouragement over your man.
(18:47):
You're not called to tell yourman.
If you won't do it, then I'lldo it.
You're not taking the place ofyour man.
Know what you're doing andyou're not criticizing your man.
Know what you're doing isyou're encouraging him.
You will never know what yourencouragement to your man means
to him, more than anyone else inhis life.
God uses you, ladies, toencourage your man, your husband
(19:11):
.
And it's like Ruth telling BoazI'm not going to propose to you
, but, boaz, if you propose tome, I just want you to know.
I'm going to say yes.
In the same way, deborah issaying I'm not telling you what
to do and I'm not going to do itfor you.
I'm just telling you, if you goand do what God calls you to do
, then I'm going to go and do itwith you.
And that's what a godly wifedoes.
Husband, I'm not gonna tell youwhat to do.
(19:32):
I'm not gonna lead you to leadme or lead you to lead my family
.
I just want you to know thatwhen you follow God with all
your life, I'm with you and I'mfollowing Jesus with you all
along the way.
Amen, that's what we seethrough the word of God.
And so here's what Barak says.
What does Barak say back?
He said well, if you will gowith me, I will go, but if you
don't go with me, I will not go.
It's like I told my wife if youever leave me, you can go, but
(19:54):
I'm coming with you.
Okay, it's kind of like thesame thing there.
That was a joke.
All right, barak said if you gowith me I will go, but if you
will not go, then I'm not going.
In other words, barak knew thatGod was with Deborah with him,
and she said I'll surely go withyou.
Nevertheless, the road on whichyou are going will not lead to
(20:16):
your glory.
As we serve others, as we liveout our calling and our gifting,
it's never for our glory, it'snever for our name, it's never
for our fame, it's not even forour good, it's not even for our
gain.
Said for, for the Lord willsell Sisera into the hand of a
woman.
(20:36):
Why?
Because God wanted to show hispower.
We'll get there.
Then Deborah arose and wentwith Barak to Kadesh.
I just want to remind you thatDeborah had a calling on her
life and God gave her thegifting.
Barak had a calling on his lifeand God gave him the gifting.
God has a calling on your lifeand God gave him the gifting.
God has a calling on your lifeand God gives you the gifting to
serve him in his church, in hiscommunity and in this world.
(21:00):
And I just want to remind youthat Ephesians 4 says when Jesus
ascended on high, when he rosefrom the dead, is when he gave
gifts to his people.
In other words, when youbelieve in Jesus's resurrection
is when he gives you the giftsthat he has given you to serve.
It's a reminder God doesn'tcall the gifted, he gifts the
(21:24):
called.
It's a reminder that God didn'tlook at you and say, oh man, I
really wish she was on my team,I really wish he was on my team.
Man, they're so talented,they're so able, they're so
awesome.
Man, I could do a lot of goodthrough them.
That's not how God rolls.
God calls us when we're makinga mess and a wreck of our life
(21:46):
and God says I want to do morethrough them for my glory than
they could ever do forthemselves.
I remember back in high school,my least favorite class, the
class that I hated the most.
It was in the ninth grade.
I wanted to opt out, but Icouldn't.
With speech class, the numberone thing I hated doing, talking
(22:08):
in front of people In college.
True story freshman year rolledback around again.
Oh my gosh, I gotta take aspeech class.
I'm up in front of people.
I'm sweating, I'm nervous, I'mshaking like I just wanted to
run and scream like a girl right, like it was the worst thing
ever.
But what do I do now with mylife?
(22:29):
I love preaching the word of Godbefore people.
Why?
Because God doesn't call thegifted.
God gifts the called.
In other words, god may becalling something to you in your
life right now or maybe in thefuture, and you're thinking I
can't do it.
And I want you to hear me sayyou are right, you can't do it.
(22:49):
The point isn't that you can doit.
The point is that God wants todo it through you.
Can I get an amen?
So here's what we see that youneed to discover If you want to
know what your giftedness is.
Your calling is discover yourshape.
What are your spiritual gifts?
Well, what are you passionateabout?
What is your heart?
What are your abilities?
(23:09):
What are you good at that Godhas gifted you with?
What is your personality likeand what are your experiences
that God has put in your path toprepare you for your present
and your future.
What is your shape?
Because I would encourage you inour discipleship pathway here,
worship group, serve missionthat you will always have a
place to serve Jesus here,because he's called you and he's
(23:31):
gifted you that you'd be ableto serve Jesus in our worship
services, maybe on our worshipteam, or maybe back in our
production team, or maybe in ourkids ministry or our student
ministry or our young adultministry, or maybe God is
calling you to lead a group, ormaybe God is calling you to
serve in our senior adultministry or maybe our men's
(23:51):
ministry or maybe our women'sministry.
Maybe you want to be a greeteror a golf cart driver or a
parking lot host on ourhospitality ministry.
Maybe you want to work on helpwith our social media or our web
design or our videos in ourcreative ministry, or maybe you
want to be a part of our localmission where you go out and you
spread the word of Godthroughout Powder Springs and
(24:13):
beyond, or our global missionteam going to other countries on
mission trips.
Whatever it is, the question isthis what has God called you to
do for his glory?
Because what he's called you todo, he will gift you to do it.
Number three the third reasonwhy we serve is God empowers you
(24:33):
.
When you serve, everyone sayserve is God empowers you.
When you serve, everyone sayempower.
He empowers you when you serve.
This is crazy.
The story gets crazier.
One of the craziest story ofall the Bible.
Stick with me, we'll go throughit fast.
Watch this.
Sisera called out all of hischariots 900 chariots of iron.
Having chariots are like havingtanks, like M1 Abram tanks.
(24:53):
You have a serious advantageright If there are 900 tanks
versus 10,000 men.
You put your money on the tanksevery time.
And all the men who were withhim, from Herosheth Hagayim to
the river Kishon and Deborah,said to Barak get up, big boy,
for this is the day in which theLord has given Sisera that
(25:15):
sissy boy into your hand.
Does not the Lord go out beforeyou?
God is with you and if God isfor you, then who can be against
you?
So Barak went down from MountTabor with 10,000 men following
him.
Why was Barak hesitant?
Because his army had clubs andsticks and rocks and slingshots
(25:35):
against 900 M1 Abram tanks.
You would hesitate too.
Check this out, but it says theIsraelites came up against the
900 chariots of the Canaanitesand the Lord routed Sisera, the
Canaanites and all his chariotsand all his army before Barak by
the edge of the sword.
(25:56):
That's what God does Listen whenGod calls you to serve and when
he gifts you to serve, heempowers you.
(26:17):
I believe when you feel thepower of God most is when you're
serving him the most.
When you feel God closest toyou is when you are serving him.
When you feel God workingthrough you is when you're
serving him, and God loves to domiracles through his people who
(26:38):
are willing to serve him.
What was this miracle?
There was only one way that 900tanks could lose to 10,000 men.
It actually tells us in the nextchapter, judges 5,.
It retells the story.
You can read it for yourselflater.
It says that God sent arainstorm which caused a flood,
(26:58):
and the only way to beat 9,000chariots were for them to get
stuck in the mud.
It was dry season.
It never rained during thattime.
It would be like snowing inJuly today.
But God did it.
He sent the rain, he caused thefloods, the chariots got stuck
and the 10,000 men pursued allof the Canaanites and God's
(27:18):
people won again.
Put your hands together rightnow for the way that God works
and that's what God wants to doin your life, because God is.
He wants to do miracles in youand he wants to do miracles in
you and he wants to do miraclesthrough you.
And God does miracles when wehumble ourselves and when we
(27:40):
serve him and when we serveothers I think about last week
there was a man who was invitedby one of you here in this room
came for his first time.
He was a dad and he texted me.
I wanna read this text to youreal quick.
You just gotta hear this textfor yourself because this is
just so powerful.
The dad texted me that was herefor his first time.
(28:00):
He said hey, pastor Chip.
He said my wife and I couldn'tstop talking about how awesome
the service was and how welcomedeveryone made us and made us
feel.
He said it was truly amazingand I felt like it was 100%
God's plan for me to be therethat day, because the message
you gave was absolutely what Ineeded.
I was crying my eyes out and itallowed me to take a leap of
(28:24):
faith this week about an issuethat I've been battling with and
I feel at ease so much more nowthan beforehand.
That's what God wants to do.
If this person in this room didnot invite this man, if those
of you in here, whoever you areand you probably don't even know
it that you made him feelwelcome and you made him feel
(28:44):
loved so that he would sit downand listen to God's word and
allow God's word to speak intohis life.
God wanted to do a miracle inhis life that day and God used
you to do it.
Can I get an amen?
I want you to know that God isdoing miracles.
In our kids' ministry, asPastor James talked about, had
100 kids last week.
We're averaging about 100 kidsin our kids' ministry this time
last year was about 50 to 60.
(29:06):
It's doubled in over a year.
We see all these baptismshappening in our kids and our
students.
That is nothing that we'redoing.
That is the miracle of the HolySpirit.
I love that.
Our kids and our studentministry and our young adult
ministry are leading the way inour church growth and leading
the way in multi-ethnicityreaching the community for Jesus
Christ.
(29:26):
Can I get an amen?
I love the miracles that God isdoing.
What does God do?
It says, for God is the one whoworks in you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure.
To will means if you ever wantto do the right thing that
desire to do the right thingcame from God If you ever do a
work for God, you serve God.
It is actually God who does itin you and it is God who does it
(29:49):
through you.
It's not you, it's God, whichmeans he's not after your
ability, he's after youravailability.
Your greatest ability to God isyour availability.
Is just saying God, what can Ido for you, god?
How can I serve you God?
I am here.
Lastly, number four, this is itwe're done, why we serve?
(30:14):
Because God can use anyone toserve him.
God can use absolutely anyoneto serve him.
Let me read you this story, theend of the story.
So Sisera fled away on foot asall the tanks and all the people
of the tanks, of all thechariots, got killed, to the
tent of Jael.
Jael was a housewife of anomadic tribe that was known as
(30:38):
the Kenites.
Just a quick little historicalbackground housewives of nomadic
tribes, the wives would be theones who would set up and tear
down the tents.
So they were very skilled innailing tent pegs all day long,
the next day, taking them up,setting the tent back up over
and over and over again.
She was the wife of Heber theKenite, for there was peace
(31:00):
between Jabin, the king, andHazor, the house of Heber the
Kenite, and Jael came out tomeet this housewife, came out to
meet Sisera, who was fleeingaway during this battle, and she
said turn away, turn aside, myLord, turn aside, come into my
tent, come into me, don't beafraid.
So Sisera, the general of theCanaanite army, turned aside to
(31:24):
her and went into the tent andshe covered him with a rug.
Come here, you, big boy, youstrong military man, you, why
don't you take a little nappynap right here?
Right is what she's saying.
And he said to her please justgive me a little water to drink,
for I'm thirsty.
So she opened up a skin of milkand gave him a drink.
You, big boy, you don't getwater.
(31:44):
I'm going to give you, baby boy, I'm going to give you some
milk, right, because milk putsmen to sleep.
Let's go, verse 20.
And he said to her stand at theopening of the tent, sisera
said and if any man comes andasks you, is anyone here, tell
him nope, nobody's here, butJael.
The wife of Heber hear thistook a tent peg.
(32:05):
This would be ladies today'shousehold common item.
This is like you taking afrying pan, okay.
Or maybe a steak knife.
She took a tent peg, and took ahammer in her hand, jl.
She went softly to him while hewas sleeping, jl, and she drove
the peg into his temple untilit went down into the ground
(32:28):
while he was lying fast asleepfrom weariness.
And the most unnecessarysentence in the entire Bible,
and so he died.
This sentence should say and soshe nailed it Right there, okay
, and so he died.
What is this story teaching us?
If God can use an unsuspectingnomadic housewife to take the
(32:55):
life of an enemy general who isoppressing the people of God and
end a 20-year war, god can useanyone.
God can use you.
You might be saying I'm tooweak, I've got nothing to offer.
(33:16):
My past is so messed up.
The apostle Paul said but Godsaid to me my grace is
sufficient for you.
My power is made perfect inyour weakness, paul said.
Therefore, I'm gonna boast allthe more gladly of my weaknesses
(33:38):
so that the power of Christwould rest upon me.
One of the most powerful thingsthat we can do is to humble
ourselves before the Lord and wecan say God, you can use me,
not because of me, but becauseof you, because Jesus, you
(34:02):
served me.
Jesus, you served me, jesusserved you.
He, you served me.
Jesus served you.
He served you to save you soyou can serve him for others to
be saved to.
I think about a lady that cameto us just a couple of weeks ago
(34:22):
and she said I wasn't sure fora long time what to do for the
Lord.
She just said our wasn't surefor a long time what to do for
the Lord.
She just said our family wasjust so broken.
She said my dad was inaddiction.
My son was in addiction.
What do I have to offer theLord?
And she said it hit me.
I can minister to people whoseparents are in addiction.
(34:48):
I can minister to people whosechildren are in addiction that
God has given her thisexperience and this heart and
this ability to come along andto start a Bible study group so
that they can find hope in Jesus, like she has found hope in
Jesus.
That's exactly what God wantsto do through you.
(35:12):
Why do we serve?
Because Jesus served us.
Why do we serve Because he'sgiven you a calling and a
gifting?
Why do we serve Because he justwants to empower you and work
through you?
Why do we serve Because hewants to use you in anyone's
life and Jesus can use anyonefor his will and his glory.
I'm going to ask us all to bowour heads and close our eyes.
(35:35):
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed during this time.
I just want to encourage youright now just talk to Jesus.
You just talk to him and justmaybe you need to tell him.
Maybe it's been a while sinceyou've told him Jesus.
Thank you for serving me withyour life.
Jesus, thank you for saving me.
(36:01):
Jesus, help me to live my lifeas a service to others and help
other people to get savedthrough my service to you.
And maybe you're here thismorning and you can't pray that
because you haven't given yourlife to him yet, you haven't
(36:23):
been saved yet.
But right here, right now, Ican help you with that and you
can, just from your own heart,your own words.
You can pray to Jesus right nowand just say Jesus, I believe
in you and I need you.
You can tell him Jesus, I justwanna say thank you.
I believe that you died on thecross for my sins and I ask you
(36:43):
to forgive me of all of my sin,past, present and future.
You can tell him Jesus, Ibelieve that you rose from the
dead.
So I wanna turn from my lifeand I wanna turn and I wanna
live it for you, not inperfection I can't do that but
in direction.
I wanna live my life for you,jesus, and you can tell him.
Jesus, I believe that your wordis true and I confess with my
(37:07):
mouth that, jesus, I believethat your word is true and I
confess with my mouth that,jesus, you are Lord and you are
my God and you are my savior,and all I need is you and the
Bible promises.
If you do that, he will saveyou, you'll be saved, you'll be
forgiven, you'll have a fixedhome in heaven forever and you
(37:29):
will be a child of God.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthat truth and we pray for
everyone who just prayed thatprayer, given their life to you.
We celebrate that in Jesus'name and all God's people said
amen.
Put your hands together foranybody who prayed that this
morning.
God is so good.
Jesus served you so we couldsave you.
Our ushers are coming forwardright now.
(37:50):
We're going to take the Lord'sSupper together.
They're going to.
If you don't already have theelements of the Lord's Supper,
just go ahead and just raiseyour hand.
They're just going to come backthrough the crowd right now and
make sure that you get one.
Thank you, I don't have one.
Thank you, keith, and make surethat you get one right now and
we're gonna take this together.
I will lead you through ittogether, but I want you to see
(38:10):
that this is a disposable cup.
The wafer, the bread, is at thetop.
You'll just peel back the toplayer, as you see, and then,
after that, the juice will beunder.
I wanna remind you this morningthat I can't think of a better
Sunday to take the Lord's Suppertogether than the Sunday that
(38:31):
we remember that Jesus served uswith his life to save our life
for his glory.
I wanna remind you that Jesussaid in Luke 22, he said I
earnestly, when he took theLord's Supper with his disciples
.
Jesus said I earnestly, takethis.
He took the Lord's Supper withhis disciples.
Jesus said I earnestly, takethis with you, eat this meal
(38:51):
with you.
You know that Jesus loves itwhen we do this together,
because we are communing withhim and we're communing with one
another.
We're saying Jesus, you are mysavior, and we're saying and
these are my blood thought,brothers and sisters in Jesus
Christ, this is the family ofGod.
(39:13):
I want to remind you that theword of God says in Matthew 26,
verse 26, as Jesus was takingthe Lord's supper with his
disciples.
It says now, as they wereeating, jesus took bread.
I wanna encourage you just topeel it back and to take the
bread off the top.
As they were eating, jesus tookbread and after blessing the
(39:36):
bread, he broke it and he gaveit to the disciples and he said
take this, take and eat.
This is my body.
So this is our opportunity toremember that Jesus was
physically, bodily crucified,sacrificed, suffered and died
(40:06):
with his body for your salvation.
Jesus said take, eat inremembrance of me.
He says in verse 27,.
And Jesus took a cup and whenhe had given thanks, he gave it
(40:30):
to them, saying drink of it allof you, for this is my blood of
the covenant, which is pouredout for many for the forgiveness
of sins.
Traditionally we have believedthat grape juice is the closest
representation to the blood ofJesus Christ and as we drink
(40:53):
this as a symbol that Jesus shedhis blood on the cross as a way
to cover over the biblical wordis to atone over our sin.
That Jesus shed every drop ofhis blood to cover every single
(41:15):
sin in our life.
He said drink of it all of you.
This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out
for many, for you, for theforgiveness of your sins.
Lord Jesus, we love you.
(41:36):
Thank you for this opportunityto be served by you, to be saved
by you, to remember thismorning all that you did with
your body, with your blood, forthe forgiveness of our sins, for
(41:56):
our salvation.
Lord Jesus, we praise you, weglorify you, and because you
served us with your life, may weserve you with our life, and we
just wanna say thank you and weworship you together, right
here, right now, and we give youall the glory that you deserve
(42:19):
In Jesus' name.
In all God's people said let'sstand together and let's worship
Jesus together.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.