Woman, Arise and Conquer
By Pastor Fernando Cabrera
Judges 4:1-24
1. Break out of the mold (4:4)
a. Leadership
i. God has called you to be a leader
1. For too long, woman have be held back from arising and taking their leadership role
ii. Some of you are stuck, just like Israel
b. Speak out for God
i. Prophetess – “Mouthpiece”
ii.
2. Let the beauty in the inside show in the outside
a. Deborah could have felt worthless, lonely and inadequate
b. There is a beauty that never fades
i. Beauty is heart deep
1. 70% of woman in one study found that when they were asked to go through a fashion magazine with models, they were depressed within three minutes
ii. The fact that I am woman does not make me a different kind of a Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of a woman.
c. There is nothing finer than a woman who know who she is
3. Embrace your destiny (4:5)
a. Don’t short change yourself
4. March on with strength (v.21)
a. She ordered Barak to descend from Mount Tabor with his 10,000 troops and attack Sisera with his 900 chariots of iron and larger army. That is comparable to an infantry unit attacking a tank battalion, but Deborah and Barak utterly destroyed the superior forces.
5. She did not compete, but complete (4:8-9)
a. Deborah did not have a hidden agenda to rule over her king, but to encourage her leader
b. Wives, you were created to be a helpmate
c. If Rosa Parks had not sat down, Martin Luther King would not have stood up
d. Some of you woman have a hard time working with other woman
i. You enjoy working with men… but feel uncomfortable working with other woman, especially in leadership
6. Your enemies shall perish before you (4:9)
a. The story of this battle is repeated in chapter 5, in one of the most brilliant poems ever written. The poetic version reveals that a sudden downpour swelled the Wadi Kishon and flooded the plain, bogging Sisera’s chariots and rendering them useless.
7. Whatever you got under the rug, kill it and get out (4:21)
a. Turn to somebody and ask them, “What’s under your rug?”
i. We put things under our rugs that we want to hide
1. This woman nail it…nail it to the cross
2. What you are hiding can kill you and put others in danger
ii. This woman fulfilled her destiny because she maintain her integrity
8. Sing through your storm (5:1)
a. Singing Through the Storms – The storm at Sinai continues. This Sinai was at the battle of Meggido, and the battle of Armegeddon (literally, Mount or City of Meggido in Rev 16:16). Thus "Megiddo" signified defeat and desolation, the place where those who set themselves against God and His Word are destroyed. And we are told that the storm is even fiercer here at the mountain where we have gathered (Heb 12:18-29). This is a fearful place, a terrible place of judgment. But we are safe as can be if we are on the Lord’s side.
b. Don’t wrestle, but worship (5:1)
i. You don’t know how you going to get out of your mess, but it takes a Deborah to sing to the storm – WORSHIP
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