"What did you learn in Sunday
School this morning?" a father asked his son.
The son explained: "We learned
about how Moses went behind enemy lines to rescue the Jews from the Egyptians.
Moses ordered the engineers to build a pontoon bridge. Then, after the people
crossed, he sent bombers back to blow up the bridge and the Egyptian tanks
that were following them. And then..."
The father interrupted: "Did your
teacher REALLY tell it like that?"
"No," said his son, "but
if I told you what he said you would never BELIEVE it!" from Bible
Illustrator.
I remember who my rescuers were.
There was Aunt Alice Swartz who was the first to tell me the stories of
the Bible in my first Sunday School class.
Then there was my first pastor, Houston Booth.
Houston was the one God used to lead my whole family and me to accept
Christ as our Savior. My Father
and mother prayed for me and loved me even when I was a rebellious son.
My wife continues to love me and support me through thick and through
thin. There have been many people
in the churches I have served who continued to encourage me.
Gerald kept reminding me that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Harold kept telling me to keep on hoeing, but pray for the harvest.
I am thankful for those who continue to rescue me by their prayers,
their encouraging words, and self-sacrificing lives.
When I worked in the coal mines we have a device we carried that was
called a self rescuer. It was
designed to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.
In the case of a fire you were told to wear the device to make the air
breathable. But, there are many
cases in which it takes more than a self rescuer to save you.
Scripture Text:
Judges 4:1 (KJS) And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight
of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the LORD sold them into the hand of
Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host [was]
Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 And the children of Israel
cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty
years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. 4 And Deborah, a
prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she
dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount
Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 And she
sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto
him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, [saying], Go and draw toward
mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali
and of the children of Zebulun? 7 And I will draw unto thee to the river
Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his
multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.8
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but
if thou wilt not go with me, [then] I will not go. 9 And she said, I will
surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be
for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And
Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
What is a rescuer?
A rescuer is a savior, a champion, a redeemer, a liberator, a winner, a
hero, and a victor. Barak’s
name meant lightning and Deborah’s name meant honey bee (float like a butter
fly, but she could sting like a bee.) Barak
was quick to follow the leading of Deborah, and Deborah stung Jabin with the
promise of the Lord.
“Caroline Hebard is devoted to saving
lives. She is part of the U.S.
Disaster Response Team. She is
trained to go at a moment's notice to scenes of natural disasters and rescue
those who are in life-threatening situations.
Her slogan is, "Always ready so that others may live." What a marvelous goal for Christian witnesses.
We are to be trained and always ready to reach out to those who are
without Jesus Christ so they may live eternally.”
By Hank Wittemore,
"They Go Anywhere to Save Lives," Parade Magazine, 12 September,
1993, 4
Who are God’s rescuers?
Deborah and Barak were the rescuers in
the scripture text we read today. How
would you describe a rescuer?
1.
They have self-worth.
They believe that they are worth saving.
“I am worth saving.”
2.
They have self-realization.
They realize that they need to be saved.
“I need to be saved.”
3.
They have self-appreciation.
They appreciate the fact that they need some help.
“I want someone to save me.”
4.
They are self-giving.
Because they have been saved they
give themselves to save others. “Let me save someone else.”
Have you been rescued?
Have you let God save you?
Will you?
Have you become a rescuer? Have you seen the need?
Have you hear the call. Have
you made the commitment? Have
you decided to go?
Who is the real rescuer? V. 7 Depend on God to keep His promise. The real rescuer is God who selects people to be in his
service to become his champions. God
rescued his people from Jabin by using two people to be his champions.
They were Deborah and Barak. The
real rescuers take a chance. They
make the commitment. They go out
to bring them in before it is too
late.
“GOD'S PURSUIT Several years ago an eastern paper reported this
story: One evening a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck
behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to
gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up, the truck did too.
The faster she drove, the faster the truck did. Now scared, she exited the
freeway. But the truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main
street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light
and continued the chase. Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her
car into a service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help. The
truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking the back
door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the back seat. The woman was
running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver
had spotted a would-be rapist in the woman's car. The chase was not his effort
to harm her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety. Likewise, many
people run from God, fearing what he might do to them. But His plans are for
good not evil--to rescue us from the hidden sins that endanger our lives.”
From Bible Illustrator.
“A miner once said to a preacher,
"I'd like to be a Christian, but I can't receive what you said
tonight." "Why not?" asked the preacher. "Well, I'd give
anything to believe that God would forgive my sins, but I can't believe He'll
forgive me if I just turn to Him. It's too cheap." The preacher looked at
him and said, "Have you been working today?" Surprised, the man
replied, "Yes, I was down in the pit as usual. Why?" "How did
you get out of the pit?" "The way I usually do. I got into the cage
and was pulled to the top." "How much did you pay to come out of the
pit?" The miner looked at the preacher in astonishment. "Pay? Of
course, I didn't pay anything." "Well," said the preacher,
"weren't you afraid to trust yourself to that cage? Wasn't it too
cheap?" "Oh, no," he said; "it was cheap for me, but it
cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft." Then the implication
of what he had said struck him, and he saw that though he could have salvation
without money and without price, it had cost the infinite God a great price to
rescue lost men.” From Bible
Illustrator.