The Tough Girl

Sermon Note

[Judges 4:1-3] After Ehud's death, the Israelites again did evil in the LORD's sight. [2] So the LORD turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. [3] Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help.

An IDOL is anything that clouds our VISION of God.

God has a SOFT SPOT in His heart for when you call out to Him.

[Judges 4:4-7] Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. [5] She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment. [6] One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. [7] And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him."

God is the great LIBERATOR and has made us all EQUAL in His eyes.

[Galatians 3:26-28] For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. [27] And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. [28] There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Step out in CONFIDENCE when God calls you to do something!

[Judges 4:8-10] Barak told her, "I will go, but only if you go with me." [9] "Very well," she replied, "I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the LORD's victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman." So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. [10] At Kedesh, Barak called together the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, and 10,000 warriors went up with him. Deborah also went with him.

If God wants to work through someone and they REFUSE, He will just use someone ELSE.

[Judges 4:17-21] Meanwhile, Sisera ran to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because Heber's family was on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor. [18] Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Come into my tent, sir. Come in. Don't be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. [19] "Please give me some water," he said. "I'm thirsty." So she gave him some milk from a leather bag and covered him again. [20] "Stand at the door of the tent," he told her. "If anybody comes and asks you if there is anyone here, say no." [21] But when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand. Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.

[Judges 5:24] "Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents.