There have been a number of times in my Christian
walk where I have met young Christians and some
of them and many of them are very on fire for
the Lord. They start doing a lot of stuff, right?
They show up and they show up at every Bible
study, they show up at every Sunday and they...
They begin to work in the case of new heights,
work in the teams and do the work of what needs
to be done. Some of them are called maybe to
be like a leader in their team and what that
is that God has called them to do. And they're
strong doing what it is that God has called them
to do. And then at some point they sort of lose
their steam. Stop doing what it is that God has
called them to do. Fade away. Sometimes it's
weeks, sometimes it's months, sometimes a couple
of years. I've also met a certain variety of
young Christian, which kind of right away. They
sound hyper -spiritual. They talk about Jesus.
But they really aren't on fire for the Lord.
They really aren't doing what it is that God
would have them to do. And I'm not judging any
one person when I say after a while it becomes
evident that they're fakers. They're people who
have said the name of Jesus, received perhaps
the free gift of salvation, but not actually
lived for Jesus after having done so. Now, you
know now, by now, most of the story of Samson.
You know most of the story and how the book is
that sandwich effect, that chiastic effect, where
we followed him up to that moment at which he
said, Lord, I need you. All that I have done,
I am parched. I will die of thirst. I need you.
And God broke open the rock at En -Hakor and
fed him, gave him fresh water. And then for 20
years, he would serve the Israelites as their
judge. So Samson was not a faker. He was the
savior of the people that God had ordained in
his day. He did actually do the job. He led the
nation. He brought about 20 years. Now, whether
we call it 20 years of peace, but he brought
about 20 years of God's reign over Israel. So
not a faker. Sometimes authenticity, leads to
a certain place. And we're going to see that
today. And then we're going to look at the conflict
that takes place there and what maybe we can
do about it. All right. I will tell you that
this little passage of scripture, even though
I have read this entire book before, surprised
me as I was reading it. The Lord really affected
my life. And so hopefully you'll get something
out of it today as well. So grab your Bibles
if you would. And we're going to go to Judges
chapter 16. Thank you very much for those of
you who participated in that little object lesson.
It is now time that the Lord would speak through
his word. Judges 16, verse 1. Now Samson went
to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into
her. So first of all, just a little background.
Gaza is the furthest city to the south. I think
it's to the south. But anyway, furthest city
on one edge of... And it was a city -state and
then combined into the greater nation. And Samson
goes there, which isn't really where he belongs,
right? He's the leader of the Israelites, the
leader of the Promised Land. He's reigning there
as a judge. And so this is kind of like a little
vacation for him. He's going pretty far away
off the beaten path, so to speak. And then he
sees a harlot. That means a woman who generally
will sleep around and probably was doing so for
money or as a profession. But we don't know that
for sure. And he went into her, so he participated
with her in what she was good at. Verse 2 says,
When it was told to the Gazites, so these are
the people of this city -state where he is, saying,
Samson has come here, they surrounded the place
and lay in wait for him all night at the gate
of the city. And they kept silent all night,
saying, Let us wait until the morning light when
we will kill him. So he's in there with the harlot,
and they're out there gathering forces to ambush
him when he tries to leave. And they would look
a little bit more deeply at their tactics in
a minute. Verse 3 now says, Now Samson lay until
midnight. So he's with the harlot until midnight.
And at midnight, which is well before dawn, he
arose and took hold of the doors of the city
gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up
along with the bars. Now, it's estimated that
the total of what he's pulling up is in the thousands
of pounds. This is a very big undertaking. And
it's a really big thing to be able to pull up
those posts that are sunk into the ground. They're
designed to resist siege. This is a really big
deal, okay? But it goes a little further than
that. So he lay until midnight. And at midnight,
he arose and took hold of the doors of the city
gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up
along with the bars. And then... He put them
on his shoulders and he carried them up to the
top of the mountain, which is opposite Hebron.
So as the crow flies from where that city gate
was to the mountain in question is 40 miles.
OK, so just the fact that he lifted them, that's
thousands of pounds. That's a miraculous event.
Obviously, he's a miraculous man. And then he
carried them 40 miles as the crow flies, which
is up and down over broken terrain and then up
the mountain. and deposits them on the mountain.
So here's what you know for sure, right? So they're
not going to go get them back. So this is done.
He could have pulverized them probably equally
easily, but the feat of strength in carrying
them away makes a huge statement we'll get to
in a second. There's no way that they're going
to go there and retrieve those pillars, the gates,
and the bars, and bring them back and reinstall
them. In fact, something like them probably doesn't
exist. It was created a long time ago by the
craftsmen who built the city of Gaza. And so
for them to make it, raw from raw materials will
probably take him five, ten years, right? So
he is literally taking away the gates of the
city and making them unavailable to the Gazites
going forward. Forty miles as the crow flies,
up and down over broken terrain, and then up
on the mountain, he deposits the gates. Verse
four then says, after this, it came about that
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose
name was Delilah. And so now you know where this
story is going to go. If you know the Bible at
all, you know where this is going to go from
here. Okay. So there are a few things in the
text that you need to see. The first one we're
going to talk a little bit about is tactics of
the enemy, all right? So notice that sometimes
when you serve God, you will offend people. So
Samson was just leading the Israelites. He's
called out by God. He's leading the Israelites.
He's been their judge. He has not wiped out the
Philistines. They are not actively attacking
the cities of the Philistines, the five major
cities of the Philistines, to wipe them out.
But he is creating a peace and a salvation, if
you will, for the Israelites. So he's doing what
it is that God would want him to do. But remember
that before all this started with Samson, the
Philistines were pretty much in charge. It was
the day of the Philistines, right? And he's done
enough to make them vengeful, but on top of that,
he's also done enough to make them worried. Sometimes
when you serve God, you will offend people. Notice
that the if -then statements of scripture sound
like threats. So when we hear things like, Matthew
28, where it says, Go ye therefore, and I will
be with you unto the end of the age. If you do
not go, God is not promising to be with you to
the end of the age. It's an if -then statement.
If you go and do the things that I have commanded
you to do, teaching them what I have commanded
you to teach them, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If you do that, then I will be low. I will be
with you even unto the end of the age. Well,
that sounds like a threat. Like God is saying,
you better do what I told you to do. And some
people don't like that. Promises sound like threats.
The power of God or his restraint both sound
like danger. Ephesians 2 says we were once objects
of wrath. Well, wrath is the opposition of God.
And so when you quote Ephesians 2 to a lost person,
you're explaining to them that they are encountering
the wrath of God, the opposition. God is against
you. That sounds like a threat. Romans 8, where
it says that he works all things together for
the good. of those who love him and are called
according to his purpose, right? So it sounds
like you're saying, well, if I don't love God
and I'm not called according to his purpose,
that he's not going to work everything out for
my good. Well, you don't have the promise. That's
not an if -then statement when you reverse it
like that. But it is a lack of the promise, right?
So you don't have the promise. It sounds like
a threat. But all the more clearly in Scripture,
For example, in Galatians 6, 7, it says, you
shall reap what you sow. And in 2 Corinthians
9, 6, it says, he who reaps, I'm sorry, he who
sows sparingly will reap sparingly, right? And
so there are actual statements in scripture that
says, if you do not honor God for who he is,
you will pay a dear price. Think for a second
about... Deuteronomy 28. You may not know this
off the top of your head. This is when they went
up on the mountain, you know, and half the people
were on one mountain, half the people on the
other mountain. And on one side, they cried out
the blessings of God that they would experience
in the promised land if they submitted to God.
And the other side, they cried out the curses
of God. Let me give you just a brief summary.
In the city, they would be cursed if they did
not follow the Lord, if they did not do what
God wanted them to do. In the field, cursed.
The breadbasket, empty. The kneading bowl, barren.
The womb, frustrated. The livestock, miscarrying.
Coming in, they would experience disaster. Going
out, experience confusion. The input would be
rebellion. The output would be immediate compounding
interest. God would make them pay. You plant
a vineyard, someone else drinks your wine. You
build a house, a stranger locks the front door.
You buy an ox, it's slaughtered before your eyes
and you get no meat. You sow much seed, the locusts
eat the harvest. You have sons and daughters,
they go into captivity. The psychological toll
of all of this in the morning? I wish it were
evening. In the evening, I wish it were morning.
Constant anxiety, fleeing when no one pursues,
madness, blindness. The final balance, everything
you put into the ground comes back as thorns.
You sowed the wind and you are now reaping the
whirlwind. That again is quoted then in Hosea
8. Everything you put in the ground coming back
as thorns. You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.
Itemized, documented, mendable. understand that
what God is really saying, because who's that
written to? Who's Ephesians written to? Who's
Romans written to? Who's Matthew? Jesus is speaking
to who, right? The church, the people of God.
This Deuteronomy 28 was written to God's people
and talking about if you are coming into the
promised land, if you're God's people and you
are refusing to do what God has called you to
do, then these will be the expressions of your
relationship with the Lord. It's not meant to
illustrate that God hates his people or he's
angry with you, right? Psalm 126 says that God's
anger smokes against his people, right? It's
not meant to be that he's angry with you because
you're not doing what God would have you to do,
but it shows that when we walk away from the
source of life, the universe itself ceases to
cooperate. God set this world up, even in its
fallen state, so that it works the way it works
because it's the way he works. And all creation
testifies to the glory of the Lord, Romans says.
And therefore, ultimately, we are without excuse.
And so people feel that daily. They experience
that. daily when they are not walking in the
Lord. And they are not going to be comfortable
with you walking in the Lord in front of them.
You experience the Lord. Like I had this happen
to me. I was going through a difficult time and
somebody asked me how I was doing. And I said,
well, I'm doing okay. I said, I'm blessed. I
said, I'm James chapter one blessed, where it
says, consider it pure joy when you face all
manner of trials and tribulations, but I'm blessed.
And they said, well, I'm not. We went on to talk
about the struggles that they were having. And
I'm like, that's terrible. I prayed with them,
and they said, well, tell them what's going on
with you. And I went on to explain the struggles
that I was having. Remind you, I had said that
I was blessed knowing that I was having these
struggles. And so the whole time I'm explaining,
I had joy in my heart. I was blessed. And the
more I talked about the stuff that I was going
through, the more angry with me the person that
I was talking to got. And I'm asking myself,
why is this conversation going this way? I'm
not saying, so I stopped. And then they probed
me some more, like, no, tell me more why it's
like that. And the conversation got worse and
worse. And I'm like, wait, we're going to stop
now. We're done. But let me explain something
to you about what the Bible says in James chapter
1 that I quoted to you, right? You will have
trouble. You will have tribulation. There's going
to be difficulty. But the joy of the Lord persists.
Now, does that mean you always got to be smiling,
making happy comments or complimenting people,
encouraging others? No, it doesn't mean that.
But the bottom line is if you're walking in the
joy of the Lord when you're facing trials and
tribulations, you run into somebody who's facing
trials and tribulations and they're not walking
in the joy of the Lord, your joy of the Lord
is going to be offensive. And the people were
upset with Samson. They decided to gather around
him and kill him. when he came out in the morning.
And sometimes when you serve God, you will offend
people. And God forbid that somebody might hear
just serving God might so offend somebody that
they might take your life or try to hurt you
or hurt your family. Very real persecutions have
broken out. And all people do is just live for
the Lord and do what God had commanded them to
do. And sometimes when you serve God. you will
offend people. Now notice then in this story,
we see a few tactics of the enemy. Okay, so here's
the first one. And this was a glaring truth.
And I had a brother who's with us today share
a real life modern illustration of this very
thing. Notice that the enemy does a lot to look
like they are not the enemy the rest of the time.
The bottom line is they gathered around the gate
waiting to kill Samson. While they were gathering
around the gate, They didn't look like they were
waiting to kill Samson. There were no picket
signs saying, hey, join us. We're going to kill
Samson, right? There was no bullhorns like, we're
going to kill Samson when he comes up. Come over
here on this side. We need more people. None
of that was going on. They're just gathering
around the gate, right? And they were going to
try to kill Samson. Sometimes the enemy likes
to look like they're not the enemy. Brother Adam
is the person that I pointed out and I talked
about. And he had an experience while he was
in the Middle East where they were throughout
the day supposed to be friendly with the people
that they saw. He had a very specific experience
where he had a man who was involved in an attack
on the base that they were in and then later
saw that same individual in the street and was
commanded to be nice to that person, to buy stuff
from that person. Like if that guy was shooting
at us just yesterday, I recognize him. And it
happened on more than one occasion. The enemy
knows how. Listen, they have old war, right?
America shows up in the Middle East to do things.
They're 3 ,000 years behind the times. They may
have better weaponry, but that is a really old
war. The war between Isaac and Ishmael is so
old that you and I cannot even fathom that war,
right? And when we're plugging in in that kind
of war over there, they are used to doing what
they do, right? And so they look like they are
not the enemy the rest of the time. And so while
they were sitting around the gate, if Samson
had walked out there in the morning at dawn and
saw them sitting there, he would have went, oh!
There's a bunch of enemies that are surrounding
here to kill me. Unless God told them or figured
out by some, they didn't even look like enemies.
They're just sitting there, right? This is going
on today. You have them in your life and in the
lives of your children and in your workplace,
right? And in our schools. Watch the elections,
right? You're like, well, I'm not politically
active and I'm not preaching anything. But the
nation is divided. There is a place in which
certain moral standards stand. And there is a
place in which the opposite stands. And it's
pretty localized, you can tell. And there's a
certain education, political movement, etc. that's
popular in a certain place. And they will vote
a certain line every time. And it's going to
be like that until Jesus comes again. It's probably
not going to change. Because you would have to
infiltrate their society. You would have to become
them, become like them, and then make the right
choices within them. And what's going to happen?
They're going to be offended. They're not going
to listen to you. You don't look like them. You
don't fit in. It's not going to work. So the
bottom line is, all day long, they are looking
like they're not the enemy. We have popular culture
things. It's on social media. It's on streaming
services. It's on video. It's on TV. Your favorite
movie. I went around the room and asked everybody
their favorite movie. Your favorite movie has
doctrine in it that's ungodly. I guarantee it.
I don't even care if it's a Christian movie.
So my favorite movie is The Face and the Giants.
If you look at it with a... If you look at it
closely, you can find doctrine that's not biblical.
There was a series of books that came out called
Left Behind. Took the world by storm. Hit the
top ten bestsellers list in New York. Number
one place for years on end. And the doctrine
behind those books, completely ungodly. Telling
how the world will come to an end and the order
in which things will happen. Did not follow scripture
at all. In fact, they were based on... the interpretations
of a witch who read Scripture and interpreted
it. She supposedly got saved and read Scripture,
interpreted it that way in the 1600s, and from
behind bars told people how the end times would
occur. And then the LaHaye brothers took that
story that she told in the 1600s from behind
bars, a formerly practicing witch, and turned
it into the Left Behind series and became billionaires
by now. And Christians all over the world went,
oh, this is such a cool thing. Listen. They're
right in your face. It's time you open your eyes
and realize that the enemy is good at not looking
like the enemy the rest of the time. Worse than
that, the enemy is good at lying in wait for
the perfect time. Call it biding. They're biding
their time. So you have in your house things
that are not godly. And they're not doing anything
except collecting dust right now. But next week,
next month, a few months down the road, or whenever,
someday, they're going to rear up. They're going
to bite you on the rear end. They're going to
distract your mind. They're going to pull you
away from God. The enemy is good at biding their
time. The teachings are the same. The nation's
standards are the same. For 200 years, 230 some
years in our nation, the government ordained
that marriage was between a man and a woman.
And the government had the power to decide that
marriage was between a man and a woman. And the
Bible teaches that marriage is between a man
and a woman, and God said so. But it wasn't God
or the Bible that was saying so in the United
States of America for 230 plus years. It was
the government. And if the government can say
that marriage is between a man and a woman, the
government can later say that marriage is between
anybody that wants to be married. And someday
it'll be dogs or whatever. The bottom line is,
if the government has that kind of power and
they're taking that power away from God, really
what they are is an enemy lying in wait, not
an ally, not a servant of the Lord. And so realize
that lying in wait for the perfect time is a
normal tactic of the enemy. So how do you solve
that? We got some military guys in here. If there's
a guy out there halfway, say half mile in the
bush, and you know there's a guy out there, it's
an enemy and he's in the bush. How do you solve
that? There's a man with an automatic rifle in
the bush a half mile away. We got him on, you
know, heat sensor. We picked him up on satellites.
He was over there. We saw him. We moved this.
We know he's there. How do you solve that? You
go get him. You send somebody out there, maybe
armor or armored or a sniper or something. You
use some tool at your disposal to go get him.
That's how you deal with enemies that are waiting,
biding their time to infest your life and mess
with you. You go get them. Or you retreat. Stop
acting like a Christian. Stop being godly. Stop
talking about the gospel, right? Lie yourself
and wait for hopefully the time. Except that
realize that when we act like that, we're going
directly opposite the scripture where Jesus commanded
us what we're supposed to be on a daily basis.
So this is what we cannot do as Christians. We
cannot bide our time. We cannot look like we
are the enemy part of the time, which cuts out
the conflict that we will experience. You can't
do that. Because when you do that, you will not
be following what it is that the Lord has laid
out for you. But kid yourself not, the enemy
is also quite good at outright opposition. The
enemy will happily attack you directly, given
the opportunity to do so without harm to themselves.
The enemy would like to convince you to jeopardize
your ministry, to do something ungodly and let
people know about it so no one will listen to
your witness for a nice long time. They would
love to do that. The enemy would like to come
against you directly, given the opportunity.
The enemy would like to... paralyze you or make
you mute if he could, right? Because that was
not, but he didn't want to kill you because he
don't want to send you to heaven. And if he could,
when he persecutes you, if you give glory to
the Lord in that moment, then pretty soon he'll
stop persecuting you because he doesn't want
God to get more glory. That's not the goal. But
the problem is when they're coming against us
without right opposition, we forget in that moment
to give glory to the God, to the God of heaven.
And instead we act like a man, like we blend
on in or act like a woman. or act like a child,
act like a villain, because that will stop the
opposition, right? If I'm throwing a fit, I'm
raising my voice, I'm breaking things, right?
Well, I'm quiet, I'm stomping off. That'll stop
the opposition, right? Well, yeah, sort of, because
sometimes when you serve God, you will offend
people. If you choose to serve the enemy, those
who are also serving the enemy are less likely
to be offended by you. Now, they will devour
you nonetheless, eventually, or you will devour
them, because that's the way evil works. It always
devours itself. By logical sense, we can see
that if this is what they do, then this is what
they will get good at. For thousands of years,
the Middle Eastern soldiers have also been citizens
when they're not on the clock. And they will
sell you a videotape or a bagel, right? And then
the next day, pick up their gun and come after
you and kill you. The zealots in Jesus's day
were wearing daggers on their head because they
had a rule amongst them that if someone declared,
that the Messiah had come to lead Israel to freedom,
that they were supposed to take that dagger and
kill the closest Roman citizen. Not Roman soldier,
Roman citizen. And then to keep killing until
someone told them the battle was over. That's
why they carried a dagger every day. And yet
they would sell bagels, yet they would walk around
cutting meat, they would do all the things that
merchants did, and so the Romans couldn't just
kill them. Even though they had a dagger on their
belt, they wouldn't just kill him because they
could be normal citizens, right? And at least
for the moment, there was no volatile action.
But they were ready, and so is the enemy. He
will consume a moment, if he can get a moment,
an hour, if he can get an hour, and an entire
life, if he can get an entire life. He has come
to kill, steal, and destroy. But when he stands
in front of you, he may well look like an angel
of light, as he can. And he's been getting good
at it since the Garden of Eden. We understand
that if they've been doing that for a really
long time, that they probably got pretty good
at it. That just makes sense. Now, notice that
Samson in this story is theoretically exposed
to all of this because of his own weakness. He
goes to Gaza. Doesn't say he had another agenda.
He goes into a harlot. He winds up here in place
to commit another act of great strength. Not
because he has dedicated his life to freeing
God's people, because he's visiting a harlot.
So sometimes God will take the stuff that you're
doing that you shouldn't be doing and put you
in place to do something amazing for God. And
before we're done, we'll see exactly how that
happens. But notice that he doesn't do something
amazing in the life of the harlot and a whole
bunch of other people that are living in Gaza
and a whole bunch of people that are living in
Israel. Notice that in the story, four verses
of Samson. First of all, carrying the gate, the
pillars of the gate, and the metal bars, he unseats
the whole thing, probably weighing 4 ,000, yes,
4 ,000 to 8 ,000 pounds, puts it on his shoulders,
carries it 40 miles, and I ask you, where does
it say that the Holy Spirit came on him? Doesn't
happen. Now, when he killed people with the goat,
right, with the donkey's jawbone, it says the
Holy Spirit came on him, right? As he's leading
Israel after En -Kohor. The Holy Spirit came
on him. But here, this great feat of strength,
where's the Holy Spirit? Not mentioned. God?
Not mentioned. The kingdom of God? Not mentioned.
Notice that they're surrounding the gate waiting
to kill him. They're already there. It says they
were there all night waiting for dawn. So this
small army has surrounded the gate to kill Samson.
He takes up the gate, carries it off. He walks
off with it. He's marching. They probably followed
him for a while. Maybe get him some point. I
don't know. And they don't touch him. There's
no battle. There's no fight. And yet, where is
God? Where is the glory to God in the story as
all of that is happening? And the answer is,
it's not there. But how can that be? This is
clearly a miracle. There's no way this happens
without a miracle, right? Or maybe is there?
Samson's example that we can follow in this circumstance,
first of all. is that you get started earlier
than expected. See, they gathered up around the
gate. They're going to attack him at dawn, but
he doesn't go out at dawn. He goes at midnight,
middle of the night, right? Who sleeps with a
harlot the first half of the night, for example.
So he's in there sleeping with a harlot the first
half of the night. He gets up at midnight. He
goes out, starts tearing up the gate. They're
gathered around already, many of them. They might
have thought they would have more by dawn. At
some point, they might have just been saying,
well, what is he doing? We got to see this. This
is incredible. And then when they saw him carrying
him, like, ah, that's really incredible. He gets
started earlier than expected. So let me tell
you this. If you're worried, and you shouldn't
be, but if you're concerned about this, you're
concerned that the enemy might already be in
your life not looking like the enemy, that the
enemy might be lying in wait for the perfect
time to undermine you or take you out, you're
concerned about outright opposition, step one,
get started earlier than you have to. Do some
work. Build yourself. Read your Bible. Pray.
Serve. Give. Become the kind of person. that
shines your light, vocal, living testimony for
the Lord when it appears like no one is listening.
Someone's always listening. The angels themselves
are witnesses to what we do in our spare time.
A man will answer for every, every careless word,
not just the ones that somebody hears, but every
careless word that comes out of his mouth. So
get started earlier than expected and discipline
yourself and get moving and doing what it is
that God would have you. Notice that he uses
the gift that God gave him. God gave him. Incredible
strength. It's really the only gift that God
has really given him. And so he uses it. He tears
up the gates. You can do the same. Your gift
might be preaching. It might be teaching. It
might be serving. It might be giving. It might
be administration. There's a whole bunch of them.
The Bible lays out whatever it is that God has
made you good at that you otherwise wouldn't
be good at. Do that. That's what Samson did.
Notice then he unseats the place of opposition.
They gathered around the gate to kill him. And
that gate is probably a big part of what made
it an undefeatable city by the Israelites. This
huge, powerful gate that the Israelites could
not batter their way past. And he unseats the
place of opposition. He removes its use. Indeed,
he gives them something else to worry about.
If you're concerned that there might be lying
in wait in your life an enemy that might take
you out, if you're concerned that the enemy is
not looking like an enemy right now, or even
that you're facing outright opposition right
now, or that you might later face... outright
opposition, then do this. Go against the gates
of hell and win. The Bible says the gates of
hell shall not prevail against the church. Lead
people to Christ and then God will be with you,
Matthew 28 says. And if you are busy doing the
things that God would have you to do, guess what
can take you out? Nothing. He is our protection.
He is our provision. He is our power. He is our
purpose. All out of the parable of the prodigal
son. And if you get started early, Use the gift
that God has given you. Unseek the place of opposition.
That is to say, overcome the gates of hell, as
we are given to do. You will give them something
else to worry about. They will say, well, why
did so -and -so, right? There was a woman who
owned one of the premier LGBTQ, and I think that
time they had maybe gotten to IA. I don't know
for sure. This is about 15 years ago. Magazines
in the United States of America. Two million
in readership. She gave her life to Jesus Christ.
The very next episode of the magazine that she
put out that went out to 2 million households
in support of that lifestyle was all about Jesus.
Before the next month, they lost almost a million
readers. But they kept 1 .1 million readers for
a while. I don't know the end of that story.
But what I submit to you is that there were a
lot of people that all of a sudden were going,
no, wait a minute. This is a leader in this lifestyle.
This is a leader of our community. This is a
leader of who they are. I know an evangelist.
I wouldn't call him a friend, but he's a deep
associate. I've had a number of contacts with
him who had the opportunity to share while China
was not a Christian allowing nation. He had the
opportunity to share with the son of the emperor
of China, the gospel. And that young man listened
regularly and eventually brought that evangelist
into the house of the emperor. And the emperor
listened regularly. And then that son of that
emperor came to the United States of America
on scholarships and was becoming an engineer
or something. And while he was here, accepted
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You think the
kingdom had something to worry about that day?
The kingdom of Satan? They were worried about
why are the people that we are counting on to
do the evil that we need to propagate in the
world are coming to Christ? Let's win them to
Jesus. That's our business. That's what we do.
And if we will do that, we will unseat the place
of opposition, use the gifts that God has given
us, and get started earlier than they are ready
for, and they will lose. Maybe they'll just sit
by aisle and watch as the gates of hell fail
to prevail against us. That's what they did in
Samson's case. You will certainly leave them
exposed because every Christian brings that gospel
then into the next conversation. This is what
Jesus said about us concerning the gates of hell.
They shall not prevail against us. In so prevailing
then, we gain strength. Every time I have ever
shared the gospel with somebody and they got
saved, it came to me like... like a cold drink
of water, like a meal, like the best tasting
meal, like dessert, right? It strengthened my
spirit. That person began to live for the Lord.
And some of you are here today. And then you
know what it's like when you've shared the gospel
and some of this, and it's not the gospel. If
you don't ask, it's not the gospel. If you don't
ask them to be saved, if you don't give them
the opportunity to pray, to be saved or to commit
their lives to the Lord verbally, it's not the
gospel. It's just you talking fancifully about
what's in this book or what it is that you know.
but not actually asking them to be saved. But
then if you ask them to be saved and they got
saved, you know what that was like. And if we
will do what it is that we are called to do,
when you serve, when you have the gift of serving
and you serve, you feel that little attaboy,
that pat on the back. You're like, yeah, God
is boosting me today, right? I'm feeling the
energy. And I hate to use those words, those
are enlightenment words, but the energy of being
connected to the God of the universe and his
power working through me. And you will get good
at winning. You will get good at prevailing.
You will get good at overcoming. You will get
good at facing trials and tribulations and maintaining
your joy as you do those very things. It'll come
that you can do it in your sleep, that you can
do it on your worst day. Wait for it. It'll come
that you can even do it in your sin. So you get
out of bed, sin against the Lord at 9 a .m.,
willfully sin against the Lord at noon, decline
to do what it is the Lord has called you to do
at 2, and then at 3, wind up in a witnessing
conversation and share the gospel and the person
professes to be getting saved. And you're like,
yeah! And then the 9 and the noon and the 2,
at least for a moment, they all sort of go away,
become not an issue anymore. Your strength was
shown. You shared the gospel. You prayed with
that person. You led them to know the Lord. I
submit to you. When you do that, you become like
Samson pulling up the gates. You have great victory,
but it's not God's victory. Even if that person
should get saved, it didn't happen the way the
Lord wanted it to happen. It happened as you
embrace the things in your life that are not
about God. And it just happened to along the
way still function the way God said that you
can. This brings us to our conclusion then. I
mentioned to you at the beginning, highly proficient
fakers. People who start out so excited about
Jesus and they're going to tell everybody, they're
going to live like they said they would within
after months or years. They back right down.
Paul said, some of you, some have quit. Some
have gave up the course. But we expect better
for you, he wrote to the church. Some folks are
the genuine article, being the best that they
can be, doing better than others even, even exhibiting
feats of superhuman whatever. As incredible as
those things are, they're still not what they
were called to be. In the Bible, in Matthew 5,
during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus in 5 .16
says, So let your light shine before men. And
we quote that verse quite a bit. It goes on to
say, so that they will glorify your Father in
heaven upon the day of his appearing. We usually
tag that on because it's pretty cool, right?
It's us expecting Jesus to come again. It's pretty
good. But the second half of that verse, so that
they will glorify your Father in the day of his
appearing, it's not just about what we're doing.
God has shined your light. They will glorify
your Father. It's how we're doing it. If I said,
for example, Jason, if I said to you, Go put
your tennis shoes on so that we can run a mile.
When Jason puts his tennis shoes on, he's going
to make sure they're on right. He's going to
make sure they're tied. He's going to choose
the right tennis shoes, the one that got the
padding in the bottom, right? So his feet don't
hurt afterwards. He's going to put his shoes
on in a way that when we run that mile, he's
going to face the least negative consequences.
So when I say to you, go shine your light, right?
Does a man light a lamp and put it under a bushel?
No, he doesn't do that. And in the same manner,
you shine your light. so that all men may see
it and glorify your Father in the day of his
appearing. It's about how you shine your light
as much as it is about the result of your shining
your light. In fact, I'll submit to you that
you may shine your light for the Lord in such
a way that they will not glorify your Father
in the day of Christ's appearing. And I submit
to you that this episode in Samson's life was
like that. He left the house of the harlot. He
went to the gate. He lifted what no one else
could lift, took a journey that no one else could
take. He robbed them of their safety, of their
defense. He dealt with them at the place of their
opposition. And yet God, God, no glory. And we
could do the same. Philippians 2 is not just
an example of God's great nature in Jesus Christ,
where it says, have this mind in you, which was
in Jesus Christ, that being God. in the flesh
he did not consider equality with god a thing
to be grasped but rather he submitted himself
to death even death on a cross that's not just
an example of his great nature but it's a call
to a lifestyle that we're supposed to live that's
why it says have this mind in you you see it's
a call to a lifestyle that we would humbly serve
the Lord, recognizing who he is, and submit ourselves
to whatever aspect of service God has called
us to, just as Jesus submitted himself even to
death. And not just death, but death on a cross.
James 1, which I used as my lesson at the VBS,
it's not just an early caution to fakers saying,
look, you got to get this right. Don't just listen
to the word of God, but actually live the word
of God. to somebody who's becoming a Christian.
It was being written to the church. So you could
be a Christian for a year or 50 and have the
command of the Lord, not just to be a hearer
of the word, but a doer of the word. Why do we
need that? Why would we need as Christians at
20 years or 30 years or 50 years? Why would we
need to be reminded that it is our job to do?
what we read, not just read what we read. Or
do what we hear, not just hear what we hear.
Because it is the tendency of the Christian to
allow the enemy, looking like they are not the
enemy, lying in wait for the perfect moment,
and even coming in outright opposition to come
against us to find a way to navigate this life.
not truly living what it is that God has called
us to in his word. Because if you live what God
has called us to in his word, sometimes you will
offend. So here's a simple action plan then.
Start early. Cultivate God's presence in your
life. Grow strong by God's presence in your life.
face and overcome even greater challenges, knowing
all the while that this is going to strengthen
you. It's going to make you more capable, more
powerful, more able. And that as that happens,
that new capability, that new power, when you
act in it, you will give all glory to God for
it. And probably the truth is God will send or
allow greater opposition to come against you.
When I was a kid, I used to play a game called
Stratego. I don't know if you know what that
game is or not, but basically you have an army
and they're on plastic pieces and people of different
ranks. And basically, if you have a piece that
has a certain rank, it can take another piece.
But if you expose a piece not knowing what their
rank is and their rank happens to be higher than
yours, then they take out your piece, right?
Sort of like a version of chess, but it's got
a general and then it has an assassin or a spy,
right? And he's low. He's got just one rank.
He's got a very low rank. And then he's the only
one that can take out the general. He's the highest
rank. So you have to protect your spy to the
last moment in time. To when you know where the
general is. And he's using the general, wiping
out your guys. Boom, boom, boom. Taking out another,
another. And you get your spy over there without
him knowing. And then your spy takes out his
general. Now you still have your general. And
if somewhere along the process you take out his
spy and take out his general, basically you win
because you have a general and he doesn't. There's
nothing he can do about it. You just keep taking
his pieces as long as you don't hit a bomb, right?
And then for bombs, you need miners. You see
the analogy? The bottom line is this. You're
living in the world. And if you want to kind
of think of the world as a great big house, one
great big house. And in this house are living
people who are the enemy and their tactics of
the enemy. They're going to be right in your
face. They might even be talking about Jesus.
And you have to draw close to the real Jesus
Christ, to the real one who saved your soul.
And you have to let him make you strong. And
sometime down the road, he might send you against
a general, a demon that would rip your head off
if you weren't walking in Christ. That's scriptural,
right? Seven sons of Sceva casting out demons.
And then they come into a room and they say,
we cast you out by the name of Paul, by the name
of Jesus. And he says, I know Paul and I know
Jesus, but I don't know you. And then he sends
all seven of them beaten in their underwear and
throws them out of the room, right? You see,
you're fakers. Don't be a faker because someday
God may send you up against something that he
expects you to be able to take. And you're going
to get stronger and stronger and stronger by
God's presence in your life and face overcome
even greater challenges. Witness not only to
the new victories that you will have because
of your new and growing and sustained strength,
but then witness to the sustained strength itself.
that has been built in you to run the daily race
and glorify God for that. Ricky, how many sit
-ups can you do in 60 seconds? Give me an estimate.
Just give me an estimate. 25 in a minute. Okay.
How many sit -ups have you done in your life?
Thousands. Let's see. I'll pick on somebody.
Let's see. Brother Tim, how many sit -ups do
you think you can do in 60 seconds? Be honest
with me. Three. Okay, three. How many sit -ups
would you say you've done in your life? Would
it be thousands, hundreds, and the hundreds?
You understand the analogy? I understand. Ricky
is younger than Brother Tim. No harm meant here,
right? Different people have different strokes
for different folks. We're not judging anybody.
Ricky is younger than Brother Tim, done thousands
of sit -ups. You could say he can do 25 sit -ups
in a minute because he's younger. I'm telling
you, even though he's taking time off from doing
sit -ups, he can do 25 right now because he's
done thousands. Understand? If you share the
gospel, if you read your Bible, if you serve
the Lord, if you give, if you exercise your spiritual
gifts, when the time comes that you need to be
able to do something, you're called by the Lord
to be able to do something, you will have the
ability. The more time you take off, the less
ability you will have. Don't take a minute off.
Walk with him daily. Samson was taking time off.
And he could still do mighty and incredible things
because for 20 years, he'd been serving the Lord.
But then when he did that mighty and incredible
thing, God got no glory out of it. Don't do it.
If you're living for Jesus, daily build yourself
in the Lord. And then whatever God decides for
you to do with your day, do it and do it in victory.
And if you want to do 100 sit -ups in a minute,
which is like unheard of, right? That's top marine
physics or whatever, physique, that kind of thing.
You're going to have to do sit -ups every day.
You want to beat the big demons? You want to
overcome the world's great plots and plans to
undermine you or addiction or sex temptation
or video temptation, watching stuff or your anger?
Walk with Jesus every day. Got one that you've
been trying for decades to beat? How much effort
are you putting into beating it? How much effort
have you? You say, well, I've been trying for
decades and I really haven't tried that much
each day. Well, maybe that's why you haven't
beat it. Maybe that's why you're not pulling
ahead in that area in your life. It's time. It's
time we realize that the enemy is at the gates
and the strength to prevail over them is in us,
in the Lord. I ask you to commit your life to
Jesus Christ as Lord. That means he tells you
what to do and you do it. As Savior, that means
he paid the price for your sins. And I ask you
to walk with him daily in everything that you
know how to do. And that as he makes you stronger,
give him glory for the strength, for the journey.