WEBVTT 00:00:02.519 --> 00:00:05.240 There have been a number of times in my Christian 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:09.880 walk where I have met young Christians and some 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:13.119 of them and many of them are very on fire for 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.500 the Lord. They start doing a lot of stuff, right? 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:17.219 They show up and they show up at every Bible 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:18.879 study, they show up at every Sunday and they... 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:20.879 They begin to work in the case of new heights, 00:00:20.899 --> 00:00:23.219 work in the teams and do the work of what needs 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:24.820 to be done. Some of them are called maybe to 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.359 be like a leader in their team and what that 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:28.940 is that God has called them to do. And they're 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:30.820 strong doing what it is that God has called them 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:33.780 to do. And then at some point they sort of lose 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.359 their steam. Stop doing what it is that God has 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:38.799 called them to do. Fade away. Sometimes it's 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.359 weeks, sometimes it's months, sometimes a couple 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.719 of years. I've also met a certain variety of 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.240 young Christian, which kind of right away. They 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.880 sound hyper -spiritual. They talk about Jesus. 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:53.200 But they really aren't on fire for the Lord. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:54.799 They really aren't doing what it is that God 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.359 would have them to do. And I'm not judging any 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.820 one person when I say after a while it becomes 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:02.439 evident that they're fakers. They're people who 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:05.359 have said the name of Jesus, received perhaps 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:07.819 the free gift of salvation, but not actually 00:01:07.819 --> 00:01:12.099 lived for Jesus after having done so. Now, you 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:14.819 know now, by now, most of the story of Samson. 00:01:14.859 --> 00:01:18.200 You know most of the story and how the book is 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.760 that sandwich effect, that chiastic effect, where 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.780 we followed him up to that moment at which he 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:28.019 said, Lord, I need you. All that I have done, 00:01:28.060 --> 00:01:30.840 I am parched. I will die of thirst. I need you. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.719 And God broke open the rock at En -Hakor and 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:38.579 fed him, gave him fresh water. And then for 20 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:42.200 years, he would serve the Israelites as their 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:46.540 judge. So Samson was not a faker. He was the 00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:49.560 savior of the people that God had ordained in 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:53.180 his day. He did actually do the job. He led the 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:56.579 nation. He brought about 20 years. Now, whether 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:59.760 we call it 20 years of peace, but he brought 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.620 about 20 years of God's reign over Israel. So 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:10.300 not a faker. Sometimes authenticity, leads to 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:12.759 a certain place. And we're going to see that 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:15.819 today. And then we're going to look at the conflict 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:18.060 that takes place there and what maybe we can 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:20.139 do about it. All right. I will tell you that 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:22.000 this little passage of scripture, even though 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.300 I have read this entire book before, surprised 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:27.039 me as I was reading it. The Lord really affected 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.039 my life. And so hopefully you'll get something 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.599 out of it today as well. So grab your Bibles 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.840 if you would. And we're going to go to Judges 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.229 chapter 16. Thank you very much for those of 00:02:37.229 --> 00:02:38.729 you who participated in that little object lesson. 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:41.270 It is now time that the Lord would speak through 00:02:41.270 --> 00:02:44.509 his word. Judges 16, verse 1. Now Samson went 00:02:44.509 --> 00:02:47.710 to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into 00:02:47.710 --> 00:02:50.050 her. So first of all, just a little background. 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:55.050 Gaza is the furthest city to the south. I think 00:02:55.050 --> 00:02:56.569 it's to the south. But anyway, furthest city 00:02:56.569 --> 00:03:00.990 on one edge of... And it was a city -state and 00:03:00.990 --> 00:03:04.629 then combined into the greater nation. And Samson 00:03:04.629 --> 00:03:07.210 goes there, which isn't really where he belongs, 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:09.550 right? He's the leader of the Israelites, the 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:11.810 leader of the Promised Land. He's reigning there 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:13.189 as a judge. And so this is kind of like a little 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:15.469 vacation for him. He's going pretty far away 00:03:15.469 --> 00:03:18.030 off the beaten path, so to speak. And then he 00:03:18.030 --> 00:03:20.430 sees a harlot. That means a woman who generally 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:23.650 will sleep around and probably was doing so for 00:03:23.650 --> 00:03:26.509 money or as a profession. But we don't know that 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:29.099 for sure. And he went into her, so he participated 00:03:29.099 --> 00:03:32.560 with her in what she was good at. Verse 2 says, 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.180 When it was told to the Gazites, so these are 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:37.520 the people of this city -state where he is, saying, 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:40.719 Samson has come here, they surrounded the place 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.120 and lay in wait for him all night at the gate 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.719 of the city. And they kept silent all night, 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:49.340 saying, Let us wait until the morning light when 00:03:49.340 --> 00:03:52.060 we will kill him. So he's in there with the harlot, 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.560 and they're out there gathering forces to ambush 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:58.860 him when he tries to leave. And they would look 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.360 a little bit more deeply at their tactics in 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:05.539 a minute. Verse 3 now says, Now Samson lay until 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:07.939 midnight. So he's with the harlot until midnight. 00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:10.800 And at midnight, which is well before dawn, he 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.780 arose and took hold of the doors of the city 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:16.800 gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:19.480 along with the bars. Now, it's estimated that 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:21.540 the total of what he's pulling up is in the thousands 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:24.500 of pounds. This is a very big undertaking. And 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:26.100 it's a really big thing to be able to pull up 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:27.759 those posts that are sunk into the ground. They're 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.860 designed to resist siege. This is a really big 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:33.079 deal, okay? But it goes a little further than 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.560 that. So he lay until midnight. And at midnight, 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:37.959 he arose and took hold of the doors of the city 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:40.259 gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up 00:04:40.259 --> 00:04:43.430 along with the bars. And then... He put them 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:46.629 on his shoulders and he carried them up to the 00:04:46.629 --> 00:04:49.689 top of the mountain, which is opposite Hebron. 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:52.649 So as the crow flies from where that city gate 00:04:52.649 --> 00:04:56.470 was to the mountain in question is 40 miles. 00:04:56.790 --> 00:05:00.490 OK, so just the fact that he lifted them, that's 00:05:00.490 --> 00:05:02.310 thousands of pounds. That's a miraculous event. 00:05:02.430 --> 00:05:05.410 Obviously, he's a miraculous man. And then he 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:08.689 carried them 40 miles as the crow flies, which 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:10.490 is up and down over broken terrain and then up 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:12.449 the mountain. and deposits them on the mountain. 00:05:12.509 --> 00:05:14.350 So here's what you know for sure, right? So they're 00:05:14.350 --> 00:05:16.269 not going to go get them back. So this is done. 00:05:16.449 --> 00:05:19.230 He could have pulverized them probably equally 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:21.529 easily, but the feat of strength in carrying 00:05:21.529 --> 00:05:23.430 them away makes a huge statement we'll get to 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:25.569 in a second. There's no way that they're going 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:28.689 to go there and retrieve those pillars, the gates, 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:31.089 and the bars, and bring them back and reinstall 00:05:31.089 --> 00:05:33.610 them. In fact, something like them probably doesn't 00:05:33.610 --> 00:05:35.949 exist. It was created a long time ago by the 00:05:35.949 --> 00:05:38.149 craftsmen who built the city of Gaza. And so 00:05:38.149 --> 00:05:41.339 for them to make it, raw from raw materials will 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:43.540 probably take him five, ten years, right? So 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:47.000 he is literally taking away the gates of the 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:49.939 city and making them unavailable to the Gazites 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:52.879 going forward. Forty miles as the crow flies, 00:05:53.019 --> 00:05:55.160 up and down over broken terrain, and then up 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:57.920 on the mountain, he deposits the gates. Verse 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.040 four then says, after this, it came about that 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.100 he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:05.500 name was Delilah. And so now you know where this 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:06.759 story is going to go. If you know the Bible at 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:08.160 all, you know where this is going to go from 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:10.050 here. Okay. So there are a few things in the 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:12.129 text that you need to see. The first one we're 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:14.050 going to talk a little bit about is tactics of 00:06:14.050 --> 00:06:17.069 the enemy, all right? So notice that sometimes 00:06:17.069 --> 00:06:20.769 when you serve God, you will offend people. So 00:06:20.769 --> 00:06:22.730 Samson was just leading the Israelites. He's 00:06:22.730 --> 00:06:24.350 called out by God. He's leading the Israelites. 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:27.009 He's been their judge. He has not wiped out the 00:06:27.009 --> 00:06:29.189 Philistines. They are not actively attacking 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:31.750 the cities of the Philistines, the five major 00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:33.449 cities of the Philistines, to wipe them out. 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:37.529 But he is creating a peace and a salvation, if 00:06:37.529 --> 00:06:40.500 you will, for the Israelites. So he's doing what 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:43.079 it is that God would want him to do. But remember 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:45.360 that before all this started with Samson, the 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.600 Philistines were pretty much in charge. It was 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.699 the day of the Philistines, right? And he's done 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:53.019 enough to make them vengeful, but on top of that, 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:56.139 he's also done enough to make them worried. Sometimes 00:06:56.139 --> 00:07:00.639 when you serve God, you will offend people. Notice 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.420 that the if -then statements of scripture sound 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:07.350 like threats. So when we hear things like, Matthew 00:07:07.350 --> 00:07:10.629 28, where it says, Go ye therefore, and I will 00:07:10.629 --> 00:07:13.329 be with you unto the end of the age. If you do 00:07:13.329 --> 00:07:16.170 not go, God is not promising to be with you to 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:18.029 the end of the age. It's an if -then statement. 00:07:18.149 --> 00:07:20.089 If you go and do the things that I have commanded 00:07:20.089 --> 00:07:21.769 you to do, teaching them what I have commanded 00:07:21.769 --> 00:07:25.430 you to teach them, baptizing them in the name 00:07:25.430 --> 00:07:26.709 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:07:26.769 --> 00:07:29.230 If you do that, then I will be low. I will be 00:07:29.230 --> 00:07:30.470 with you even unto the end of the age. Well, 00:07:30.490 --> 00:07:32.269 that sounds like a threat. Like God is saying, 00:07:32.310 --> 00:07:34.329 you better do what I told you to do. And some 00:07:34.329 --> 00:07:38.069 people don't like that. Promises sound like threats. 00:07:38.569 --> 00:07:43.069 The power of God or his restraint both sound 00:07:43.069 --> 00:07:47.019 like danger. Ephesians 2 says we were once objects 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:49.779 of wrath. Well, wrath is the opposition of God. 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.759 And so when you quote Ephesians 2 to a lost person, 00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:55.040 you're explaining to them that they are encountering 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.939 the wrath of God, the opposition. God is against 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:01.399 you. That sounds like a threat. Romans 8, where 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:04.000 it says that he works all things together for 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.480 the good. of those who love him and are called 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:08.779 according to his purpose, right? So it sounds 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:10.560 like you're saying, well, if I don't love God 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:12.680 and I'm not called according to his purpose, 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:14.579 that he's not going to work everything out for 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:17.339 my good. Well, you don't have the promise. That's 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:18.980 not an if -then statement when you reverse it 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:22.699 like that. But it is a lack of the promise, right? 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:24.879 So you don't have the promise. It sounds like 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.860 a threat. But all the more clearly in Scripture, 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.500 For example, in Galatians 6, 7, it says, you 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:34.259 shall reap what you sow. And in 2 Corinthians 00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:36.759 9, 6, it says, he who reaps, I'm sorry, he who 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:40.960 sows sparingly will reap sparingly, right? And 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.080 so there are actual statements in scripture that 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:46.259 says, if you do not honor God for who he is, 00:08:46.460 --> 00:08:49.139 you will pay a dear price. Think for a second 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:51.360 about... Deuteronomy 28. You may not know this 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:52.879 off the top of your head. This is when they went 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.379 up on the mountain, you know, and half the people 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:55.679 were on one mountain, half the people on the 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.759 other mountain. And on one side, they cried out 00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:59.399 the blessings of God that they would experience 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:01.100 in the promised land if they submitted to God. 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:03.240 And the other side, they cried out the curses 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:05.440 of God. Let me give you just a brief summary. 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:08.480 In the city, they would be cursed if they did 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.000 not follow the Lord, if they did not do what 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.100 God wanted them to do. In the field, cursed. 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:14.700 The breadbasket, empty. The kneading bowl, barren. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.120 The womb, frustrated. The livestock, miscarrying. 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:19.360 Coming in, they would experience disaster. Going 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.700 out, experience confusion. The input would be 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:24.419 rebellion. The output would be immediate compounding 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:26.980 interest. God would make them pay. You plant 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:29.320 a vineyard, someone else drinks your wine. You 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.080 build a house, a stranger locks the front door. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.799 You buy an ox, it's slaughtered before your eyes 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.120 and you get no meat. You sow much seed, the locusts 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:39.879 eat the harvest. You have sons and daughters, 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.480 they go into captivity. The psychological toll 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.389 of all of this in the morning? I wish it were 00:09:45.389 --> 00:09:48.149 evening. In the evening, I wish it were morning. 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:51.509 Constant anxiety, fleeing when no one pursues, 00:09:51.509 --> 00:09:54.850 madness, blindness. The final balance, everything 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:57.330 you put into the ground comes back as thorns. 00:09:57.330 --> 00:10:00.110 You sowed the wind and you are now reaping the 00:10:00.110 --> 00:10:03.250 whirlwind. That again is quoted then in Hosea 00:10:03.250 --> 00:10:05.809 8. Everything you put in the ground coming back 00:10:05.809 --> 00:10:08.309 as thorns. You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:12.799 Itemized, documented, mendable. understand that 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:14.820 what God is really saying, because who's that 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:17.919 written to? Who's Ephesians written to? Who's 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:21.759 Romans written to? Who's Matthew? Jesus is speaking 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.080 to who, right? The church, the people of God. 00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:29.759 This Deuteronomy 28 was written to God's people 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.659 and talking about if you are coming into the 00:10:31.659 --> 00:10:34.019 promised land, if you're God's people and you 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:35.759 are refusing to do what God has called you to 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.460 do, then these will be the expressions of your 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:41.570 relationship with the Lord. It's not meant to 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:43.809 illustrate that God hates his people or he's 00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:46.350 angry with you, right? Psalm 126 says that God's 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:48.649 anger smokes against his people, right? It's 00:10:48.649 --> 00:10:50.889 not meant to be that he's angry with you because 00:10:50.889 --> 00:10:52.230 you're not doing what God would have you to do, 00:10:52.309 --> 00:10:55.289 but it shows that when we walk away from the 00:10:55.289 --> 00:10:59.039 source of life, the universe itself ceases to 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:02.940 cooperate. God set this world up, even in its 00:11:02.940 --> 00:11:06.019 fallen state, so that it works the way it works 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:08.500 because it's the way he works. And all creation 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:10.620 testifies to the glory of the Lord, Romans says. 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:14.320 And therefore, ultimately, we are without excuse. 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:18.860 And so people feel that daily. They experience 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:21.279 that. daily when they are not walking in the 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.519 Lord. And they are not going to be comfortable 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:26.100 with you walking in the Lord in front of them. 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:28.360 You experience the Lord. Like I had this happen 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:30.919 to me. I was going through a difficult time and 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.360 somebody asked me how I was doing. And I said, 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:35.379 well, I'm doing okay. I said, I'm blessed. I 00:11:35.379 --> 00:11:36.960 said, I'm James chapter one blessed, where it 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.639 says, consider it pure joy when you face all 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:40.600 manner of trials and tribulations, but I'm blessed. 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:42.909 And they said, well, I'm not. We went on to talk 00:11:42.909 --> 00:11:44.590 about the struggles that they were having. And 00:11:44.590 --> 00:11:47.029 I'm like, that's terrible. I prayed with them, 00:11:47.090 --> 00:11:48.330 and they said, well, tell them what's going on 00:11:48.330 --> 00:11:50.049 with you. And I went on to explain the struggles 00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:51.909 that I was having. Remind you, I had said that 00:11:51.909 --> 00:11:53.470 I was blessed knowing that I was having these 00:11:53.470 --> 00:11:54.889 struggles. And so the whole time I'm explaining, 00:11:54.929 --> 00:11:57.029 I had joy in my heart. I was blessed. And the 00:11:57.029 --> 00:11:58.850 more I talked about the stuff that I was going 00:11:58.850 --> 00:12:01.570 through, the more angry with me the person that 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:03.809 I was talking to got. And I'm asking myself, 00:12:03.909 --> 00:12:05.909 why is this conversation going this way? I'm 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:08.250 not saying, so I stopped. And then they probed 00:12:08.250 --> 00:12:09.970 me some more, like, no, tell me more why it's 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:11.950 like that. And the conversation got worse and 00:12:11.950 --> 00:12:13.909 worse. And I'm like, wait, we're going to stop 00:12:13.909 --> 00:12:16.129 now. We're done. But let me explain something 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:18.330 to you about what the Bible says in James chapter 00:12:18.330 --> 00:12:20.860 1 that I quoted to you, right? You will have 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:22.720 trouble. You will have tribulation. There's going 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:26.200 to be difficulty. But the joy of the Lord persists. 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.019 Now, does that mean you always got to be smiling, 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.340 making happy comments or complimenting people, 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:32.120 encouraging others? No, it doesn't mean that. 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:34.320 But the bottom line is if you're walking in the 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:36.019 joy of the Lord when you're facing trials and 00:12:36.019 --> 00:12:37.360 tribulations, you run into somebody who's facing 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.220 trials and tribulations and they're not walking 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:41.039 in the joy of the Lord, your joy of the Lord 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:43.360 is going to be offensive. And the people were 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.779 upset with Samson. They decided to gather around 00:12:45.779 --> 00:12:48.610 him and kill him. when he came out in the morning. 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:52.190 And sometimes when you serve God, you will offend 00:12:52.190 --> 00:12:54.750 people. And God forbid that somebody might hear 00:12:54.750 --> 00:12:57.590 just serving God might so offend somebody that 00:12:57.590 --> 00:12:59.750 they might take your life or try to hurt you 00:12:59.750 --> 00:13:02.529 or hurt your family. Very real persecutions have 00:13:02.529 --> 00:13:04.929 broken out. And all people do is just live for 00:13:04.929 --> 00:13:06.690 the Lord and do what God had commanded them to 00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:10.120 do. And sometimes when you serve God. you will 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.679 offend people. Now notice then in this story, 00:13:12.779 --> 00:13:15.200 we see a few tactics of the enemy. Okay, so here's 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:17.500 the first one. And this was a glaring truth. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:20.299 And I had a brother who's with us today share 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:23.620 a real life modern illustration of this very 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:27.460 thing. Notice that the enemy does a lot to look 00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:30.120 like they are not the enemy the rest of the time. 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:33.360 The bottom line is they gathered around the gate 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.139 waiting to kill Samson. While they were gathering 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:36.830 around the gate, They didn't look like they were 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:38.529 waiting to kill Samson. There were no picket 00:13:38.529 --> 00:13:40.309 signs saying, hey, join us. We're going to kill 00:13:40.309 --> 00:13:42.809 Samson, right? There was no bullhorns like, we're 00:13:42.809 --> 00:13:44.230 going to kill Samson when he comes up. Come over 00:13:44.230 --> 00:13:46.570 here on this side. We need more people. None 00:13:46.570 --> 00:13:48.049 of that was going on. They're just gathering 00:13:48.049 --> 00:13:50.129 around the gate, right? And they were going to 00:13:50.129 --> 00:13:53.090 try to kill Samson. Sometimes the enemy likes 00:13:53.090 --> 00:13:56.169 to look like they're not the enemy. Brother Adam 00:13:56.169 --> 00:13:58.409 is the person that I pointed out and I talked 00:13:58.409 --> 00:14:00.250 about. And he had an experience while he was 00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:02.529 in the Middle East where they were throughout 00:14:02.529 --> 00:14:04.429 the day supposed to be friendly with the people 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:06.860 that they saw. He had a very specific experience 00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:09.080 where he had a man who was involved in an attack 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.299 on the base that they were in and then later 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:14.340 saw that same individual in the street and was 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:17.460 commanded to be nice to that person, to buy stuff 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:19.200 from that person. Like if that guy was shooting 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.620 at us just yesterday, I recognize him. And it 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:24.120 happened on more than one occasion. The enemy 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:26.480 knows how. Listen, they have old war, right? 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:28.639 America shows up in the Middle East to do things. 00:14:28.779 --> 00:14:31.500 They're 3 ,000 years behind the times. They may 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:33.779 have better weaponry, but that is a really old 00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:37.440 war. The war between Isaac and Ishmael is so 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.960 old that you and I cannot even fathom that war, 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.159 right? And when we're plugging in in that kind 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.279 of war over there, they are used to doing what 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:47.940 they do, right? And so they look like they are 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:51.000 not the enemy the rest of the time. And so while 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:52.539 they were sitting around the gate, if Samson 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:56.320 had walked out there in the morning at dawn and 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:57.759 saw them sitting there, he would have went, oh! 00:14:58.139 --> 00:14:59.460 There's a bunch of enemies that are surrounding 00:14:59.460 --> 00:15:01.679 here to kill me. Unless God told them or figured 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.279 out by some, they didn't even look like enemies. 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:05.259 They're just sitting there, right? This is going 00:15:05.259 --> 00:15:08.480 on today. You have them in your life and in the 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.000 lives of your children and in your workplace, 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:14.240 right? And in our schools. Watch the elections, 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:16.419 right? You're like, well, I'm not politically 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:18.159 active and I'm not preaching anything. But the 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:21.320 nation is divided. There is a place in which 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.759 certain moral standards stand. And there is a 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.379 place in which the opposite stands. And it's 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:30.980 pretty localized, you can tell. And there's a 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:34.639 certain education, political movement, etc. that's 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.879 popular in a certain place. And they will vote 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.080 a certain line every time. And it's going to 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:40.899 be like that until Jesus comes again. It's probably 00:15:40.899 --> 00:15:42.919 not going to change. Because you would have to 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:45.500 infiltrate their society. You would have to become 00:15:45.500 --> 00:15:48.799 them, become like them, and then make the right 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.039 choices within them. And what's going to happen? 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:54.299 They're going to be offended. They're not going 00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:56.610 to listen to you. You don't look like them. You 00:15:56.610 --> 00:15:58.529 don't fit in. It's not going to work. So the 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:01.350 bottom line is, all day long, they are looking 00:16:01.350 --> 00:16:03.990 like they're not the enemy. We have popular culture 00:16:03.990 --> 00:16:06.250 things. It's on social media. It's on streaming 00:16:06.250 --> 00:16:09.429 services. It's on video. It's on TV. Your favorite 00:16:09.429 --> 00:16:11.309 movie. I went around the room and asked everybody 00:16:11.309 --> 00:16:14.370 their favorite movie. Your favorite movie has 00:16:14.370 --> 00:16:18.350 doctrine in it that's ungodly. I guarantee it. 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:20.690 I don't even care if it's a Christian movie. 00:16:20.769 --> 00:16:22.409 So my favorite movie is The Face and the Giants. 00:16:22.490 --> 00:16:25.740 If you look at it with a... If you look at it 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:29.539 closely, you can find doctrine that's not biblical. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:32.840 There was a series of books that came out called 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.919 Left Behind. Took the world by storm. Hit the 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.559 top ten bestsellers list in New York. Number 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.639 one place for years on end. And the doctrine 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.179 behind those books, completely ungodly. Telling 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.419 how the world will come to an end and the order 00:16:47.419 --> 00:16:49.460 in which things will happen. Did not follow scripture 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:52.830 at all. In fact, they were based on... the interpretations 00:16:52.830 --> 00:16:56.210 of a witch who read Scripture and interpreted 00:16:56.210 --> 00:16:57.929 it. She supposedly got saved and read Scripture, 00:16:58.210 --> 00:17:01.929 interpreted it that way in the 1600s, and from 00:17:01.929 --> 00:17:05.029 behind bars told people how the end times would 00:17:05.029 --> 00:17:07.369 occur. And then the LaHaye brothers took that 00:17:07.369 --> 00:17:10.369 story that she told in the 1600s from behind 00:17:10.369 --> 00:17:13.390 bars, a formerly practicing witch, and turned 00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:16.210 it into the Left Behind series and became billionaires 00:17:16.210 --> 00:17:18.670 by now. And Christians all over the world went, 00:17:18.730 --> 00:17:21.539 oh, this is such a cool thing. Listen. They're 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:24.900 right in your face. It's time you open your eyes 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:29.200 and realize that the enemy is good at not looking 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.099 like the enemy the rest of the time. Worse than 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:35.279 that, the enemy is good at lying in wait for 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:37.799 the perfect time. Call it biding. They're biding 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:40.460 their time. So you have in your house things 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:42.839 that are not godly. And they're not doing anything 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:45.599 except collecting dust right now. But next week, 00:17:45.640 --> 00:17:47.940 next month, a few months down the road, or whenever, 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:50.750 someday, they're going to rear up. They're going 00:17:50.750 --> 00:17:52.549 to bite you on the rear end. They're going to 00:17:52.549 --> 00:17:54.329 distract your mind. They're going to pull you 00:17:54.329 --> 00:17:57.529 away from God. The enemy is good at biding their 00:17:57.529 --> 00:17:59.970 time. The teachings are the same. The nation's 00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:04.069 standards are the same. For 200 years, 230 some 00:18:04.069 --> 00:18:07.150 years in our nation, the government ordained 00:18:07.150 --> 00:18:08.869 that marriage was between a man and a woman. 00:18:09.150 --> 00:18:11.529 And the government had the power to decide that 00:18:11.529 --> 00:18:13.569 marriage was between a man and a woman. And the 00:18:13.569 --> 00:18:15.269 Bible teaches that marriage is between a man 00:18:15.269 --> 00:18:17.970 and a woman, and God said so. But it wasn't God 00:18:17.970 --> 00:18:20.670 or the Bible that was saying so in the United 00:18:20.670 --> 00:18:23.430 States of America for 230 plus years. It was 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:25.529 the government. And if the government can say 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:27.329 that marriage is between a man and a woman, the 00:18:27.329 --> 00:18:29.809 government can later say that marriage is between 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:31.849 anybody that wants to be married. And someday 00:18:31.849 --> 00:18:35.150 it'll be dogs or whatever. The bottom line is, 00:18:35.230 --> 00:18:37.529 if the government has that kind of power and 00:18:37.529 --> 00:18:39.849 they're taking that power away from God, really 00:18:39.849 --> 00:18:43.450 what they are is an enemy lying in wait, not 00:18:43.450 --> 00:18:47.069 an ally, not a servant of the Lord. And so realize 00:18:47.069 --> 00:18:50.089 that lying in wait for the perfect time is a 00:18:50.089 --> 00:18:52.450 normal tactic of the enemy. So how do you solve 00:18:52.450 --> 00:18:55.309 that? We got some military guys in here. If there's 00:18:55.309 --> 00:18:57.750 a guy out there halfway, say half mile in the 00:18:57.750 --> 00:19:00.450 bush, and you know there's a guy out there, it's 00:19:00.450 --> 00:19:03.009 an enemy and he's in the bush. How do you solve 00:19:03.009 --> 00:19:05.579 that? There's a man with an automatic rifle in 00:19:05.579 --> 00:19:08.019 the bush a half mile away. We got him on, you 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:10.279 know, heat sensor. We picked him up on satellites. 00:19:10.460 --> 00:19:12.619 He was over there. We saw him. We moved this. 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:14.940 We know he's there. How do you solve that? You 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:17.740 go get him. You send somebody out there, maybe 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:20.539 armor or armored or a sniper or something. You 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:23.039 use some tool at your disposal to go get him. 00:19:23.140 --> 00:19:26.099 That's how you deal with enemies that are waiting, 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:29.119 biding their time to infest your life and mess 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:34.039 with you. You go get them. Or you retreat. Stop 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.319 acting like a Christian. Stop being godly. Stop 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.200 talking about the gospel, right? Lie yourself 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:42.200 and wait for hopefully the time. Except that 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:44.799 realize that when we act like that, we're going 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.319 directly opposite the scripture where Jesus commanded 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.039 us what we're supposed to be on a daily basis. 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:51.359 So this is what we cannot do as Christians. We 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.319 cannot bide our time. We cannot look like we 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:56.539 are the enemy part of the time, which cuts out 00:19:56.539 --> 00:19:58.380 the conflict that we will experience. You can't 00:19:58.380 --> 00:20:00.549 do that. Because when you do that, you will not 00:20:00.549 --> 00:20:02.130 be following what it is that the Lord has laid 00:20:02.130 --> 00:20:04.569 out for you. But kid yourself not, the enemy 00:20:04.569 --> 00:20:07.750 is also quite good at outright opposition. The 00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:10.589 enemy will happily attack you directly, given 00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:12.710 the opportunity to do so without harm to themselves. 00:20:13.069 --> 00:20:16.029 The enemy would like to convince you to jeopardize 00:20:16.029 --> 00:20:18.690 your ministry, to do something ungodly and let 00:20:18.690 --> 00:20:20.369 people know about it so no one will listen to 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:21.950 your witness for a nice long time. They would 00:20:21.950 --> 00:20:24.049 love to do that. The enemy would like to come 00:20:24.049 --> 00:20:25.990 against you directly, given the opportunity. 00:20:26.009 --> 00:20:28.529 The enemy would like to... paralyze you or make 00:20:28.529 --> 00:20:31.309 you mute if he could, right? Because that was 00:20:31.309 --> 00:20:32.630 not, but he didn't want to kill you because he 00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:34.569 don't want to send you to heaven. And if he could, 00:20:34.609 --> 00:20:37.329 when he persecutes you, if you give glory to 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:39.470 the Lord in that moment, then pretty soon he'll 00:20:39.470 --> 00:20:41.569 stop persecuting you because he doesn't want 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:43.789 God to get more glory. That's not the goal. But 00:20:43.789 --> 00:20:45.730 the problem is when they're coming against us 00:20:45.730 --> 00:20:47.849 without right opposition, we forget in that moment 00:20:47.849 --> 00:20:50.349 to give glory to the God, to the God of heaven. 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:53.609 And instead we act like a man, like we blend 00:20:53.609 --> 00:20:56.869 on in or act like a woman. or act like a child, 00:20:57.009 --> 00:20:59.410 act like a villain, because that will stop the 00:20:59.410 --> 00:21:01.769 opposition, right? If I'm throwing a fit, I'm 00:21:01.769 --> 00:21:03.950 raising my voice, I'm breaking things, right? 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:06.569 Well, I'm quiet, I'm stomping off. That'll stop 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:09.309 the opposition, right? Well, yeah, sort of, because 00:21:09.309 --> 00:21:12.210 sometimes when you serve God, you will offend 00:21:12.210 --> 00:21:14.869 people. If you choose to serve the enemy, those 00:21:14.869 --> 00:21:16.829 who are also serving the enemy are less likely 00:21:16.829 --> 00:21:19.329 to be offended by you. Now, they will devour 00:21:19.329 --> 00:21:21.269 you nonetheless, eventually, or you will devour 00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:23.250 them, because that's the way evil works. It always 00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:27.079 devours itself. By logical sense, we can see 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.279 that if this is what they do, then this is what 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:32.680 they will get good at. For thousands of years, 00:21:33.019 --> 00:21:36.460 the Middle Eastern soldiers have also been citizens 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:39.319 when they're not on the clock. And they will 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:42.779 sell you a videotape or a bagel, right? And then 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:44.880 the next day, pick up their gun and come after 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.599 you and kill you. The zealots in Jesus's day 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.079 were wearing daggers on their head because they 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.460 had a rule amongst them that if someone declared, 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:57.329 that the Messiah had come to lead Israel to freedom, 00:21:57.390 --> 00:21:59.410 that they were supposed to take that dagger and 00:21:59.410 --> 00:22:03.210 kill the closest Roman citizen. Not Roman soldier, 00:22:03.390 --> 00:22:06.150 Roman citizen. And then to keep killing until 00:22:06.150 --> 00:22:08.990 someone told them the battle was over. That's 00:22:08.990 --> 00:22:11.109 why they carried a dagger every day. And yet 00:22:11.109 --> 00:22:13.029 they would sell bagels, yet they would walk around 00:22:13.029 --> 00:22:14.750 cutting meat, they would do all the things that 00:22:14.750 --> 00:22:16.950 merchants did, and so the Romans couldn't just 00:22:16.950 --> 00:22:19.390 kill them. Even though they had a dagger on their 00:22:19.390 --> 00:22:21.089 belt, they wouldn't just kill him because they 00:22:21.089 --> 00:22:23.369 could be normal citizens, right? And at least 00:22:23.369 --> 00:22:25.349 for the moment, there was no volatile action. 00:22:25.569 --> 00:22:28.470 But they were ready, and so is the enemy. He 00:22:28.470 --> 00:22:30.950 will consume a moment, if he can get a moment, 00:22:31.049 --> 00:22:33.250 an hour, if he can get an hour, and an entire 00:22:33.250 --> 00:22:35.710 life, if he can get an entire life. He has come 00:22:35.710 --> 00:22:38.369 to kill, steal, and destroy. But when he stands 00:22:38.369 --> 00:22:40.910 in front of you, he may well look like an angel 00:22:40.910 --> 00:22:43.869 of light, as he can. And he's been getting good 00:22:43.869 --> 00:22:46.490 at it since the Garden of Eden. We understand 00:22:46.490 --> 00:22:47.970 that if they've been doing that for a really 00:22:47.970 --> 00:22:49.869 long time, that they probably got pretty good 00:22:49.869 --> 00:22:52.990 at it. That just makes sense. Now, notice that 00:22:52.990 --> 00:22:55.730 Samson in this story is theoretically exposed 00:22:55.730 --> 00:22:59.069 to all of this because of his own weakness. He 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.710 goes to Gaza. Doesn't say he had another agenda. 00:23:02.009 --> 00:23:05.549 He goes into a harlot. He winds up here in place 00:23:05.549 --> 00:23:08.789 to commit another act of great strength. Not 00:23:08.789 --> 00:23:11.109 because he has dedicated his life to freeing 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:14.269 God's people, because he's visiting a harlot. 00:23:14.410 --> 00:23:16.730 So sometimes God will take the stuff that you're 00:23:16.730 --> 00:23:18.690 doing that you shouldn't be doing and put you 00:23:18.690 --> 00:23:21.849 in place to do something amazing for God. And 00:23:21.849 --> 00:23:23.529 before we're done, we'll see exactly how that 00:23:23.529 --> 00:23:26.109 happens. But notice that he doesn't do something 00:23:26.109 --> 00:23:28.630 amazing in the life of the harlot and a whole 00:23:28.630 --> 00:23:30.170 bunch of other people that are living in Gaza 00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:32.049 and a whole bunch of people that are living in 00:23:32.049 --> 00:23:35.089 Israel. Notice that in the story, four verses 00:23:35.089 --> 00:23:38.460 of Samson. First of all, carrying the gate, the 00:23:38.460 --> 00:23:41.480 pillars of the gate, and the metal bars, he unseats 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:43.799 the whole thing, probably weighing 4 ,000, yes, 00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:47.160 4 ,000 to 8 ,000 pounds, puts it on his shoulders, 00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:50.579 carries it 40 miles, and I ask you, where does 00:23:50.579 --> 00:23:53.259 it say that the Holy Spirit came on him? Doesn't 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:55.400 happen. Now, when he killed people with the goat, 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.180 right, with the donkey's jawbone, it says the 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:02.680 Holy Spirit came on him, right? As he's leading 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:05.299 Israel after En -Kohor. The Holy Spirit came 00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:08.119 on him. But here, this great feat of strength, 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:10.799 where's the Holy Spirit? Not mentioned. God? 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:13.700 Not mentioned. The kingdom of God? Not mentioned. 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:16.819 Notice that they're surrounding the gate waiting 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:19.000 to kill him. They're already there. It says they 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:21.640 were there all night waiting for dawn. So this 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:25.220 small army has surrounded the gate to kill Samson. 00:24:25.299 --> 00:24:27.960 He takes up the gate, carries it off. He walks 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:29.980 off with it. He's marching. They probably followed 00:24:29.980 --> 00:24:31.640 him for a while. Maybe get him some point. I 00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:34.200 don't know. And they don't touch him. There's 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:37.380 no battle. There's no fight. And yet, where is 00:24:37.380 --> 00:24:41.299 God? Where is the glory to God in the story as 00:24:41.299 --> 00:24:43.519 all of that is happening? And the answer is, 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:45.980 it's not there. But how can that be? This is 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:48.539 clearly a miracle. There's no way this happens 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:51.059 without a miracle, right? Or maybe is there? 00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:55.660 Samson's example that we can follow in this circumstance, 00:24:55.799 --> 00:24:58.220 first of all. is that you get started earlier 00:24:58.220 --> 00:25:00.700 than expected. See, they gathered up around the 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:02.200 gate. They're going to attack him at dawn, but 00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:03.319 he doesn't go out at dawn. He goes at midnight, 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:05.140 middle of the night, right? Who sleeps with a 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:07.099 harlot the first half of the night, for example. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:08.779 So he's in there sleeping with a harlot the first 00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:09.759 half of the night. He gets up at midnight. He 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:11.339 goes out, starts tearing up the gate. They're 00:25:11.339 --> 00:25:13.480 gathered around already, many of them. They might 00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:15.279 have thought they would have more by dawn. At 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.319 some point, they might have just been saying, 00:25:16.380 --> 00:25:18.740 well, what is he doing? We got to see this. This 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:20.740 is incredible. And then when they saw him carrying 00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:23.940 him, like, ah, that's really incredible. He gets 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.339 started earlier than expected. So let me tell 00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:29.000 you this. If you're worried, and you shouldn't 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.579 be, but if you're concerned about this, you're 00:25:31.579 --> 00:25:33.319 concerned that the enemy might already be in 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:35.380 your life not looking like the enemy, that the 00:25:35.380 --> 00:25:37.180 enemy might be lying in wait for the perfect 00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:39.579 time to undermine you or take you out, you're 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:42.480 concerned about outright opposition, step one, 00:25:42.579 --> 00:25:46.460 get started earlier than you have to. Do some 00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:49.220 work. Build yourself. Read your Bible. Pray. 00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:52.859 Serve. Give. Become the kind of person. that 00:25:52.859 --> 00:25:56.700 shines your light, vocal, living testimony for 00:25:56.700 --> 00:25:59.839 the Lord when it appears like no one is listening. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.900 Someone's always listening. The angels themselves 00:26:01.900 --> 00:26:03.900 are witnesses to what we do in our spare time. 00:26:04.099 --> 00:26:08.579 A man will answer for every, every careless word, 00:26:08.700 --> 00:26:10.740 not just the ones that somebody hears, but every 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:12.880 careless word that comes out of his mouth. So 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.359 get started earlier than expected and discipline 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.779 yourself and get moving and doing what it is 00:26:17.779 --> 00:26:19.779 that God would have you. Notice that he uses 00:26:19.779 --> 00:26:22.680 the gift that God gave him. God gave him. Incredible 00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:25.059 strength. It's really the only gift that God 00:26:25.059 --> 00:26:27.460 has really given him. And so he uses it. He tears 00:26:27.460 --> 00:26:29.759 up the gates. You can do the same. Your gift 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:31.299 might be preaching. It might be teaching. It 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:33.000 might be serving. It might be giving. It might 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.680 be administration. There's a whole bunch of them. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:36.960 The Bible lays out whatever it is that God has 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:39.420 made you good at that you otherwise wouldn't 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:41.960 be good at. Do that. That's what Samson did. 00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:45.440 Notice then he unseats the place of opposition. 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.069 They gathered around the gate to kill him. And 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:50.829 that gate is probably a big part of what made 00:26:50.829 --> 00:26:53.769 it an undefeatable city by the Israelites. This 00:26:53.769 --> 00:26:56.369 huge, powerful gate that the Israelites could 00:26:56.369 --> 00:26:58.930 not batter their way past. And he unseats the 00:26:58.930 --> 00:27:02.289 place of opposition. He removes its use. Indeed, 00:27:02.529 --> 00:27:04.369 he gives them something else to worry about. 00:27:04.589 --> 00:27:06.690 If you're concerned that there might be lying 00:27:06.690 --> 00:27:08.630 in wait in your life an enemy that might take 00:27:08.630 --> 00:27:11.109 you out, if you're concerned that the enemy is 00:27:11.109 --> 00:27:13.230 not looking like an enemy right now, or even 00:27:13.230 --> 00:27:15.009 that you're facing outright opposition right 00:27:15.009 --> 00:27:17.990 now, or that you might later face... outright 00:27:17.990 --> 00:27:21.029 opposition, then do this. Go against the gates 00:27:21.029 --> 00:27:24.210 of hell and win. The Bible says the gates of 00:27:24.210 --> 00:27:26.529 hell shall not prevail against the church. Lead 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:30.069 people to Christ and then God will be with you, 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:33.069 Matthew 28 says. And if you are busy doing the 00:27:33.069 --> 00:27:35.589 things that God would have you to do, guess what 00:27:35.589 --> 00:27:38.450 can take you out? Nothing. He is our protection. 00:27:38.569 --> 00:27:40.750 He is our provision. He is our power. He is our 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:43.809 purpose. All out of the parable of the prodigal 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:47.849 son. And if you get started early, Use the gift 00:27:47.849 --> 00:27:50.690 that God has given you. Unseek the place of opposition. 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:53.049 That is to say, overcome the gates of hell, as 00:27:53.049 --> 00:27:55.730 we are given to do. You will give them something 00:27:55.730 --> 00:27:57.890 else to worry about. They will say, well, why 00:27:57.890 --> 00:28:00.529 did so -and -so, right? There was a woman who 00:28:00.529 --> 00:28:04.750 owned one of the premier LGBTQ, and I think that 00:28:04.750 --> 00:28:06.589 time they had maybe gotten to IA. I don't know 00:28:06.589 --> 00:28:09.650 for sure. This is about 15 years ago. Magazines 00:28:09.650 --> 00:28:12.069 in the United States of America. Two million 00:28:12.069 --> 00:28:14.839 in readership. She gave her life to Jesus Christ. 00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:17.259 The very next episode of the magazine that she 00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:19.119 put out that went out to 2 million households 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:22.960 in support of that lifestyle was all about Jesus. 00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:25.779 Before the next month, they lost almost a million 00:28:25.779 --> 00:28:28.880 readers. But they kept 1 .1 million readers for 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.259 a while. I don't know the end of that story. 00:28:31.460 --> 00:28:33.220 But what I submit to you is that there were a 00:28:33.220 --> 00:28:34.799 lot of people that all of a sudden were going, 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:38.140 no, wait a minute. This is a leader in this lifestyle. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.880 This is a leader of our community. This is a 00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:43.039 leader of who they are. I know an evangelist. 00:28:43.059 --> 00:28:45.000 I wouldn't call him a friend, but he's a deep 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:46.339 associate. I've had a number of contacts with 00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:49.740 him who had the opportunity to share while China 00:28:49.740 --> 00:28:53.079 was not a Christian allowing nation. He had the 00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:56.000 opportunity to share with the son of the emperor 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.160 of China, the gospel. And that young man listened 00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.160 regularly and eventually brought that evangelist 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.619 into the house of the emperor. And the emperor 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:07.579 listened regularly. And then that son of that 00:29:07.579 --> 00:29:08.980 emperor came to the United States of America 00:29:08.980 --> 00:29:11.059 on scholarships and was becoming an engineer 00:29:11.059 --> 00:29:13.079 or something. And while he was here, accepted 00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:15.579 Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You think the 00:29:15.579 --> 00:29:17.400 kingdom had something to worry about that day? 00:29:17.819 --> 00:29:19.859 The kingdom of Satan? They were worried about 00:29:19.859 --> 00:29:22.380 why are the people that we are counting on to 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:24.519 do the evil that we need to propagate in the 00:29:24.519 --> 00:29:26.880 world are coming to Christ? Let's win them to 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.740 Jesus. That's our business. That's what we do. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:33.519 And if we will do that, we will unseat the place 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:36.279 of opposition, use the gifts that God has given 00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:39.039 us, and get started earlier than they are ready 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:42.480 for, and they will lose. Maybe they'll just sit 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.420 by aisle and watch as the gates of hell fail 00:29:45.420 --> 00:29:47.680 to prevail against us. That's what they did in 00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:49.980 Samson's case. You will certainly leave them 00:29:49.980 --> 00:29:52.980 exposed because every Christian brings that gospel 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:55.700 then into the next conversation. This is what 00:29:55.700 --> 00:29:58.519 Jesus said about us concerning the gates of hell. 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:02.099 They shall not prevail against us. In so prevailing 00:30:02.099 --> 00:30:05.660 then, we gain strength. Every time I have ever 00:30:05.660 --> 00:30:07.539 shared the gospel with somebody and they got 00:30:07.539 --> 00:30:10.960 saved, it came to me like... like a cold drink 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:13.720 of water, like a meal, like the best tasting 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:16.839 meal, like dessert, right? It strengthened my 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.079 spirit. That person began to live for the Lord. 00:30:19.140 --> 00:30:21.599 And some of you are here today. And then you 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:23.619 know what it's like when you've shared the gospel 00:30:23.619 --> 00:30:25.500 and some of this, and it's not the gospel. If 00:30:25.500 --> 00:30:27.319 you don't ask, it's not the gospel. If you don't 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:29.819 ask them to be saved, if you don't give them 00:30:29.819 --> 00:30:32.220 the opportunity to pray, to be saved or to commit 00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:34.079 their lives to the Lord verbally, it's not the 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.460 gospel. It's just you talking fancifully about 00:30:36.460 --> 00:30:38.619 what's in this book or what it is that you know. 00:30:39.019 --> 00:30:40.900 but not actually asking them to be saved. But 00:30:40.900 --> 00:30:42.920 then if you ask them to be saved and they got 00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:46.000 saved, you know what that was like. And if we 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:47.839 will do what it is that we are called to do, 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:50.420 when you serve, when you have the gift of serving 00:30:50.420 --> 00:30:52.359 and you serve, you feel that little attaboy, 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:53.900 that pat on the back. You're like, yeah, God 00:30:53.900 --> 00:30:57.559 is boosting me today, right? I'm feeling the 00:30:57.559 --> 00:30:59.849 energy. And I hate to use those words, those 00:30:59.849 --> 00:31:01.809 are enlightenment words, but the energy of being 00:31:01.809 --> 00:31:03.549 connected to the God of the universe and his 00:31:03.549 --> 00:31:06.390 power working through me. And you will get good 00:31:06.390 --> 00:31:08.910 at winning. You will get good at prevailing. 00:31:08.990 --> 00:31:10.690 You will get good at overcoming. You will get 00:31:10.690 --> 00:31:13.269 good at facing trials and tribulations and maintaining 00:31:13.269 --> 00:31:17.509 your joy as you do those very things. It'll come 00:31:17.509 --> 00:31:19.690 that you can do it in your sleep, that you can 00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:23.829 do it on your worst day. Wait for it. It'll come 00:31:23.829 --> 00:31:27.259 that you can even do it in your sin. So you get 00:31:27.259 --> 00:31:30.000 out of bed, sin against the Lord at 9 a .m., 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:32.440 willfully sin against the Lord at noon, decline 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:34.400 to do what it is the Lord has called you to do 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:37.000 at 2, and then at 3, wind up in a witnessing 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:40.079 conversation and share the gospel and the person 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.220 professes to be getting saved. And you're like, 00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:46.200 yeah! And then the 9 and the noon and the 2, 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:49.019 at least for a moment, they all sort of go away, 00:31:49.019 --> 00:31:51.960 become not an issue anymore. Your strength was 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:55.359 shown. You shared the gospel. You prayed with 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.619 that person. You led them to know the Lord. I 00:31:58.619 --> 00:32:02.380 submit to you. When you do that, you become like 00:32:02.380 --> 00:32:05.339 Samson pulling up the gates. You have great victory, 00:32:05.480 --> 00:32:07.880 but it's not God's victory. Even if that person 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:09.980 should get saved, it didn't happen the way the 00:32:09.980 --> 00:32:12.200 Lord wanted it to happen. It happened as you 00:32:12.200 --> 00:32:13.980 embrace the things in your life that are not 00:32:13.980 --> 00:32:16.390 about God. And it just happened to along the 00:32:16.390 --> 00:32:18.869 way still function the way God said that you 00:32:18.869 --> 00:32:21.990 can. This brings us to our conclusion then. I 00:32:21.990 --> 00:32:24.730 mentioned to you at the beginning, highly proficient 00:32:24.730 --> 00:32:28.250 fakers. People who start out so excited about 00:32:28.250 --> 00:32:30.009 Jesus and they're going to tell everybody, they're 00:32:30.009 --> 00:32:31.789 going to live like they said they would within 00:32:31.789 --> 00:32:33.829 after months or years. They back right down. 00:32:34.130 --> 00:32:36.279 Paul said, some of you, some have quit. Some 00:32:36.279 --> 00:32:38.240 have gave up the course. But we expect better 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:40.680 for you, he wrote to the church. Some folks are 00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:42.960 the genuine article, being the best that they 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.359 can be, doing better than others even, even exhibiting 00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:50.099 feats of superhuman whatever. As incredible as 00:32:50.099 --> 00:32:52.819 those things are, they're still not what they 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:55.720 were called to be. In the Bible, in Matthew 5, 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.579 during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus in 5 .16 00:32:58.579 --> 00:33:00.579 says, So let your light shine before men. And 00:33:00.579 --> 00:33:03.079 we quote that verse quite a bit. It goes on to 00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:05.180 say, so that they will glorify your Father in 00:33:05.180 --> 00:33:07.880 heaven upon the day of his appearing. We usually 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:09.519 tag that on because it's pretty cool, right? 00:33:09.640 --> 00:33:12.339 It's us expecting Jesus to come again. It's pretty 00:33:12.339 --> 00:33:15.359 good. But the second half of that verse, so that 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:17.920 they will glorify your Father in the day of his 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:20.859 appearing, it's not just about what we're doing. 00:33:21.079 --> 00:33:23.539 God has shined your light. They will glorify 00:33:23.539 --> 00:33:28.519 your Father. It's how we're doing it. If I said, 00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.259 for example, Jason, if I said to you, Go put 00:33:31.259 --> 00:33:33.799 your tennis shoes on so that we can run a mile. 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:36.160 When Jason puts his tennis shoes on, he's going 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:37.779 to make sure they're on right. He's going to 00:33:37.779 --> 00:33:39.440 make sure they're tied. He's going to choose 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:41.119 the right tennis shoes, the one that got the 00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:42.920 padding in the bottom, right? So his feet don't 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:44.819 hurt afterwards. He's going to put his shoes 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:47.559 on in a way that when we run that mile, he's 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:50.019 going to face the least negative consequences. 00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:53.460 So when I say to you, go shine your light, right? 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:56.500 Does a man light a lamp and put it under a bushel? 00:33:56.559 --> 00:33:58.920 No, he doesn't do that. And in the same manner, 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.210 you shine your light. so that all men may see 00:34:02.210 --> 00:34:04.910 it and glorify your Father in the day of his 00:34:04.910 --> 00:34:07.569 appearing. It's about how you shine your light 00:34:07.569 --> 00:34:10.449 as much as it is about the result of your shining 00:34:10.449 --> 00:34:12.650 your light. In fact, I'll submit to you that 00:34:12.650 --> 00:34:14.590 you may shine your light for the Lord in such 00:34:14.590 --> 00:34:17.570 a way that they will not glorify your Father 00:34:17.570 --> 00:34:20.610 in the day of Christ's appearing. And I submit 00:34:20.610 --> 00:34:23.989 to you that this episode in Samson's life was 00:34:23.989 --> 00:34:26.789 like that. He left the house of the harlot. He 00:34:26.789 --> 00:34:28.980 went to the gate. He lifted what no one else 00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:31.440 could lift, took a journey that no one else could 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:33.980 take. He robbed them of their safety, of their 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:36.579 defense. He dealt with them at the place of their 00:34:36.579 --> 00:34:41.639 opposition. And yet God, God, no glory. And we 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:45.380 could do the same. Philippians 2 is not just 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:48.340 an example of God's great nature in Jesus Christ, 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:51.300 where it says, have this mind in you, which was 00:34:51.300 --> 00:34:56.599 in Jesus Christ, that being God. in the flesh 00:34:56.599 --> 00:34:59.559 he did not consider equality with god a thing 00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:01.679 to be grasped but rather he submitted himself 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:06.840 to death even death on a cross that's not just 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.260 an example of his great nature but it's a call 00:35:10.260 --> 00:35:13.179 to a lifestyle that we're supposed to live that's 00:35:13.179 --> 00:35:16.400 why it says have this mind in you you see it's 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:19.530 a call to a lifestyle that we would humbly serve 00:35:19.530 --> 00:35:22.809 the Lord, recognizing who he is, and submit ourselves 00:35:22.809 --> 00:35:25.750 to whatever aspect of service God has called 00:35:25.750 --> 00:35:28.630 us to, just as Jesus submitted himself even to 00:35:28.630 --> 00:35:31.170 death. And not just death, but death on a cross. 00:35:31.510 --> 00:35:36.070 James 1, which I used as my lesson at the VBS, 00:35:36.369 --> 00:35:40.230 it's not just an early caution to fakers saying, 00:35:40.389 --> 00:35:42.409 look, you got to get this right. Don't just listen 00:35:42.409 --> 00:35:43.829 to the word of God, but actually live the word 00:35:43.829 --> 00:35:46.010 of God. to somebody who's becoming a Christian. 00:35:46.130 --> 00:35:49.110 It was being written to the church. So you could 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:52.570 be a Christian for a year or 50 and have the 00:35:52.570 --> 00:35:54.750 command of the Lord, not just to be a hearer 00:35:54.750 --> 00:35:57.690 of the word, but a doer of the word. Why do we 00:35:57.690 --> 00:36:00.289 need that? Why would we need as Christians at 00:36:00.289 --> 00:36:03.550 20 years or 30 years or 50 years? Why would we 00:36:03.550 --> 00:36:06.530 need to be reminded that it is our job to do? 00:36:07.130 --> 00:36:10.349 what we read, not just read what we read. Or 00:36:10.349 --> 00:36:13.929 do what we hear, not just hear what we hear. 00:36:14.030 --> 00:36:17.369 Because it is the tendency of the Christian to 00:36:17.369 --> 00:36:20.469 allow the enemy, looking like they are not the 00:36:20.469 --> 00:36:22.949 enemy, lying in wait for the perfect moment, 00:36:23.070 --> 00:36:26.250 and even coming in outright opposition to come 00:36:26.250 --> 00:36:30.070 against us to find a way to navigate this life. 00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:33.079 not truly living what it is that God has called 00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:36.519 us to in his word. Because if you live what God 00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:40.699 has called us to in his word, sometimes you will 00:36:40.699 --> 00:36:44.019 offend. So here's a simple action plan then. 00:36:44.179 --> 00:36:47.440 Start early. Cultivate God's presence in your 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:51.300 life. Grow strong by God's presence in your life. 00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:55.960 face and overcome even greater challenges, knowing 00:36:55.960 --> 00:36:58.059 all the while that this is going to strengthen 00:36:58.059 --> 00:37:01.039 you. It's going to make you more capable, more 00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:05.039 powerful, more able. And that as that happens, 00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:08.380 that new capability, that new power, when you 00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:11.260 act in it, you will give all glory to God for 00:37:11.260 --> 00:37:14.179 it. And probably the truth is God will send or 00:37:14.179 --> 00:37:17.119 allow greater opposition to come against you. 00:37:17.179 --> 00:37:19.539 When I was a kid, I used to play a game called 00:37:19.539 --> 00:37:21.340 Stratego. I don't know if you know what that 00:37:21.340 --> 00:37:23.579 game is or not, but basically you have an army 00:37:23.579 --> 00:37:26.380 and they're on plastic pieces and people of different 00:37:26.380 --> 00:37:28.500 ranks. And basically, if you have a piece that 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:30.699 has a certain rank, it can take another piece. 00:37:30.820 --> 00:37:32.900 But if you expose a piece not knowing what their 00:37:32.900 --> 00:37:34.840 rank is and their rank happens to be higher than 00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:36.699 yours, then they take out your piece, right? 00:37:36.780 --> 00:37:39.079 Sort of like a version of chess, but it's got 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:42.380 a general and then it has an assassin or a spy, 00:37:42.659 --> 00:37:46.170 right? And he's low. He's got just one rank. 00:37:46.250 --> 00:37:48.610 He's got a very low rank. And then he's the only 00:37:48.610 --> 00:37:50.369 one that can take out the general. He's the highest 00:37:50.369 --> 00:37:52.750 rank. So you have to protect your spy to the 00:37:52.750 --> 00:37:55.449 last moment in time. To when you know where the 00:37:55.449 --> 00:37:57.550 general is. And he's using the general, wiping 00:37:57.550 --> 00:37:59.909 out your guys. Boom, boom, boom. Taking out another, 00:38:00.010 --> 00:38:01.309 another. And you get your spy over there without 00:38:01.309 --> 00:38:03.989 him knowing. And then your spy takes out his 00:38:03.989 --> 00:38:06.449 general. Now you still have your general. And 00:38:06.449 --> 00:38:07.969 if somewhere along the process you take out his 00:38:07.969 --> 00:38:10.210 spy and take out his general, basically you win 00:38:10.210 --> 00:38:11.869 because you have a general and he doesn't. There's 00:38:11.869 --> 00:38:13.929 nothing he can do about it. You just keep taking 00:38:13.929 --> 00:38:16.409 his pieces as long as you don't hit a bomb, right? 00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:19.190 And then for bombs, you need miners. You see 00:38:19.190 --> 00:38:22.570 the analogy? The bottom line is this. You're 00:38:22.570 --> 00:38:24.329 living in the world. And if you want to kind 00:38:24.329 --> 00:38:25.969 of think of the world as a great big house, one 00:38:25.969 --> 00:38:28.130 great big house. And in this house are living 00:38:28.130 --> 00:38:30.969 people who are the enemy and their tactics of 00:38:30.969 --> 00:38:32.429 the enemy. They're going to be right in your 00:38:32.429 --> 00:38:34.050 face. They might even be talking about Jesus. 00:38:34.650 --> 00:38:37.889 And you have to draw close to the real Jesus 00:38:37.889 --> 00:38:40.710 Christ, to the real one who saved your soul. 00:38:41.050 --> 00:38:43.650 And you have to let him make you strong. And 00:38:43.650 --> 00:38:46.329 sometime down the road, he might send you against 00:38:46.329 --> 00:38:49.590 a general, a demon that would rip your head off 00:38:49.590 --> 00:38:52.190 if you weren't walking in Christ. That's scriptural, 00:38:52.289 --> 00:38:55.210 right? Seven sons of Sceva casting out demons. 00:38:55.510 --> 00:38:57.389 And then they come into a room and they say, 00:38:57.429 --> 00:39:00.010 we cast you out by the name of Paul, by the name 00:39:00.010 --> 00:39:02.590 of Jesus. And he says, I know Paul and I know 00:39:02.590 --> 00:39:05.179 Jesus, but I don't know you. And then he sends 00:39:05.179 --> 00:39:07.539 all seven of them beaten in their underwear and 00:39:07.539 --> 00:39:09.519 throws them out of the room, right? You see, 00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.820 you're fakers. Don't be a faker because someday 00:39:12.820 --> 00:39:14.500 God may send you up against something that he 00:39:14.500 --> 00:39:16.539 expects you to be able to take. And you're going 00:39:16.539 --> 00:39:18.840 to get stronger and stronger and stronger by 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:20.800 God's presence in your life and face overcome 00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:25.000 even greater challenges. Witness not only to 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:27.079 the new victories that you will have because 00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:29.460 of your new and growing and sustained strength, 00:39:29.639 --> 00:39:32.079 but then witness to the sustained strength itself. 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:36.219 that has been built in you to run the daily race 00:39:36.219 --> 00:39:39.679 and glorify God for that. Ricky, how many sit 00:39:39.679 --> 00:39:41.539 -ups can you do in 60 seconds? Give me an estimate. 00:39:43.219 --> 00:39:46.480 Just give me an estimate. 25 in a minute. Okay. 00:39:46.840 --> 00:39:48.460 How many sit -ups have you done in your life? 00:39:48.739 --> 00:39:52.059 Thousands. Let's see. I'll pick on somebody. 00:39:52.179 --> 00:39:54.659 Let's see. Brother Tim, how many sit -ups do 00:39:54.659 --> 00:39:57.280 you think you can do in 60 seconds? Be honest 00:39:57.280 --> 00:40:00.860 with me. Three. Okay, three. How many sit -ups 00:40:00.860 --> 00:40:02.380 would you say you've done in your life? Would 00:40:02.380 --> 00:40:05.000 it be thousands, hundreds, and the hundreds? 00:40:05.860 --> 00:40:07.980 You understand the analogy? I understand. Ricky 00:40:07.980 --> 00:40:11.239 is younger than Brother Tim. No harm meant here, 00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:12.940 right? Different people have different strokes 00:40:12.940 --> 00:40:14.699 for different folks. We're not judging anybody. 00:40:14.900 --> 00:40:16.800 Ricky is younger than Brother Tim, done thousands 00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:19.480 of sit -ups. You could say he can do 25 sit -ups 00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:21.360 in a minute because he's younger. I'm telling 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:23.739 you, even though he's taking time off from doing 00:40:23.739 --> 00:40:26.079 sit -ups, he can do 25 right now because he's 00:40:26.079 --> 00:40:30.980 done thousands. Understand? If you share the 00:40:30.980 --> 00:40:33.420 gospel, if you read your Bible, if you serve 00:40:33.420 --> 00:40:36.199 the Lord, if you give, if you exercise your spiritual 00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:39.019 gifts, when the time comes that you need to be 00:40:39.019 --> 00:40:40.820 able to do something, you're called by the Lord 00:40:40.820 --> 00:40:42.260 to be able to do something, you will have the 00:40:42.260 --> 00:40:44.679 ability. The more time you take off, the less 00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:46.800 ability you will have. Don't take a minute off. 00:40:47.079 --> 00:40:51.880 Walk with him daily. Samson was taking time off. 00:40:52.250 --> 00:40:54.610 And he could still do mighty and incredible things 00:40:54.610 --> 00:40:57.630 because for 20 years, he'd been serving the Lord. 00:40:57.769 --> 00:40:59.570 But then when he did that mighty and incredible 00:40:59.570 --> 00:41:02.190 thing, God got no glory out of it. Don't do it. 00:41:02.369 --> 00:41:06.570 If you're living for Jesus, daily build yourself 00:41:06.570 --> 00:41:09.489 in the Lord. And then whatever God decides for 00:41:09.489 --> 00:41:12.809 you to do with your day, do it and do it in victory. 00:41:13.110 --> 00:41:15.090 And if you want to do 100 sit -ups in a minute, 00:41:15.190 --> 00:41:16.889 which is like unheard of, right? That's top marine 00:41:16.889 --> 00:41:20.409 physics or whatever, physique, that kind of thing. 00:41:20.570 --> 00:41:21.750 You're going to have to do sit -ups every day. 00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:23.980 You want to beat the big demons? You want to 00:41:23.980 --> 00:41:26.179 overcome the world's great plots and plans to 00:41:26.179 --> 00:41:29.179 undermine you or addiction or sex temptation 00:41:29.179 --> 00:41:32.760 or video temptation, watching stuff or your anger? 00:41:33.179 --> 00:41:36.099 Walk with Jesus every day. Got one that you've 00:41:36.099 --> 00:41:38.639 been trying for decades to beat? How much effort 00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:40.739 are you putting into beating it? How much effort 00:41:40.739 --> 00:41:42.440 have you? You say, well, I've been trying for 00:41:42.440 --> 00:41:44.059 decades and I really haven't tried that much 00:41:44.059 --> 00:41:45.980 each day. Well, maybe that's why you haven't 00:41:45.980 --> 00:41:48.159 beat it. Maybe that's why you're not pulling 00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:51.539 ahead in that area in your life. It's time. It's 00:41:51.539 --> 00:41:54.420 time we realize that the enemy is at the gates 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:57.980 and the strength to prevail over them is in us, 00:41:58.039 --> 00:42:01.739 in the Lord. I ask you to commit your life to 00:42:01.739 --> 00:42:03.619 Jesus Christ as Lord. That means he tells you 00:42:03.619 --> 00:42:05.440 what to do and you do it. As Savior, that means 00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:07.739 he paid the price for your sins. And I ask you 00:42:07.739 --> 00:42:09.980 to walk with him daily in everything that you 00:42:09.980 --> 00:42:12.300 know how to do. And that as he makes you stronger, 00:42:12.420 --> 00:42:15.119 give him glory for the strength, for the journey.