Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Faith... the Judges, Part 14 of 62
TEXT: "Then Deborah sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, 'Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, "Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand'" (Judges 4:6-7).
IDEA: One mark of a leader is that he/she is able to motivate others to a cause.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see how Deborah embodies leadership principles.
Someone has said, “One mark of a leader is to ask ‘Is anyone following?’” We see in Deborah, this judge in the Old Testament, something she did to encourage and motivate Barak whom she wanted to get to help.
I. She confronted him with God’s command.
“Behold, the Lord, the God of Israel has commanded…” She is saying, “Barak, this is God’s will, not mine. It’s not an option but a requirement of God.”
In a fundraising campaign for a church, the pastor confronted a wealthy man in his congregation about giving a significant amount of money to their missions program. I was impressed when he said to this man, “Do you love Jesus Christ enough to give a quarter of a million dollars to our missions program?” There are lesser appeals, but when that’s a legitimate motivation, that ought to be put before Christians.
II. She strengthened Barak with God’s promise:
"Then Deborah sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, 'Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, "Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand'" (Judges 4:6-7).
It’s one thing to challenge someone to do a task; it’s another to remind the person of the great promises of God that God will enable and empower the person to do the job God is calling them to do.
III. She encouraged Barak with her presence.
Barak said (v 8), If you’ll go with me, then I will go . . . ” We’re not sure why he said that, but the probability is that he knew that if Deborah was with him, the people would rally around him because of the respect they had for her.
Whatever the reason, Deborah said, “I will surely go with you.”
IV. Above everything else, Deborah motivated Barak by her faith.
