Introduction:
2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence...
How Do I Know I'm Heading Down the Wrong Path? (Judges 14):
- I completely disregard God's Authority (Judges 14:1-4).
Luke 6:46 - "Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"
- I am willing to compromise for a little Pleasure (Judges 14:5-7).
- I waste time in Worldly pursuits (Judges 14:10-20).
Colossians 2:9-10 - For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Colossians 3:3 - For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:56-00:57
Will you bow with me in prayer, please?
00:58-01:00
Our Father in Heaven, we're about to turn to Your Word.
01:03-01:15
In our day of smartphones and media and television, radio, there are a lot of voices that we listen to.
01:16-01:17
Have our ear.
01:19-01:27
Father, just now we're turning our ear to Your Word, and I pray, Father, we would receive Your Word It is the Word of God.
01:30-01:43
And sometimes, Father, Your Word has a way of bringing a strong conviction or a rebuke that we might not want to hear, but we need to hear.
01:44-02:05
I just pray, Father, for myself, my brothers and sisters here, those that are watching this stream online, that we wouldn't have the arrogance to exalt our opinion over Your Word, but that You would grant us the humility to bow ourselves before You.
02:08-02:11
May Your Spirit, Father, truly bring revival.
02:13-02:17
That has to start in my heart.
02:20-02:22
to start in the hearts of the people here.
02:25-02:27
We seek Your face today, Father.
02:28-02:31
And we thank You ahead of time for the work that You are going to do.
02:32-02:33
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:34-02:37
And all of God's people said, Amen.
02:38-02:43
Amen. Many years ago, my wife Erin and I had this friend.
02:43-02:44
His name was Terry.
02:45-02:48
And he was a bull rider.
02:51-02:54
Actually, that's at the top of the list of things I never want to do.
02:55-02:55
Alright, ride a bull.
02:55-02:57
Anybody with me on that?
02:57-02:58
Okay.
02:58-03:05
Well, he was a bull rider, and because of some life struggles that he had, he sort of got away from it for a while.
03:06-03:08
But he was getting back into bull riding.
03:09-03:15
And he said to Aaron and I, he goes, "Hey, I want you guys to come and cheer me on I'm getting back into bull riding.
03:16-03:17
And we love to watch bull riding.
03:17-03:20
So we're like, yeah, where do we do this?
03:20-03:21
And where can we come and watch it?
03:21-03:22
There's actually a place-- what was it there?
03:22-03:24
By Montauk High School.
03:24-03:28
It was like in the middle of nowhere, they had this giant steel building.
03:29-03:31
And it was like this big shed or whatever.
03:31-03:40
And inside, they had-- it was basically training for the rodeo bulls.
03:40-03:41
Did you know they did that?
03:41-03:43
I did not know they did that.
03:43-03:50
They actually train the rodeo bulls and elect riders like this guy who are either starting out or getting back into the game.
03:50-03:52
It lets them sort of have like practice.
03:52-04:00
When we went into this place, you actually had to sign a waiver because they were like, "Yeah, these bulls don't really know their real rodeo routine.
04:00-04:07
So things get a little dicey." So we had to sign this thing like if we all get killed by a bull, we're not going to sue them or whatever.
04:07-04:18
And so we get into this, we're in this building where they're training these animals and our friend, he was so pumped up for this.
04:19-04:24
He was so excited because he's getting back into his passion, bull riding.
04:26-04:34
And he kept, Aaron and I were sitting on the bleachers and he kept coming over behind the bleachers talking to us, like psyching himself up, you know, adjusting his gloves.
04:35-04:41
He had his chaps, and he had his vest on, and adjusting his hat.
04:44-04:46
He went like next to next to last.
04:47-04:55
So this was about three hours-- no exaggeration-- three hours of this guy hyping himself up.
04:55-04:58
Just like, all right, all right, I'm ready for this.
04:58-05:00
Man, I can't wait to get back into this.
05:00-05:01
Oh, this is going to be great.
05:02-05:03
This is going to be fantastic.
05:04-05:05
Three hours of this.
05:06-05:09
So finally, he's in the chute.
05:10-05:12
And they're like, next up, they announce his name.
05:14-05:17
And they're like, this is it, this is it, this is what we've been waiting all night for.
05:18-05:18
(laughs)
05:20-05:22
They opened the gate.
05:24-05:39
And my only explanation for what happened next was both Terry and the bull were covered in Vaseline because he went flying off a bull before the bull was even completely out of the gate.
05:40-06:02
In fact, Erin, I was talking to Erin about this the other day, she goes, "Didn't he actually land back in the gate?" I'm like, "Yeah, I think he did." And Erin and I felt so bad for the guy because he was amping himself up for weeks and the night of the event, hours.
06:02-06:08
He was amping himself up, and it was like the world's biggest disappointment.
06:12-06:13
Huge buildup.
06:15-06:16
Sad disappointment.
06:18-06:20
Like, well, what does this have to do with Samson?
06:20-06:31
Well, last week in your Bible, we saw there was a whole chapter dedicated to God's calling on Samson.
06:32-06:41
It's a pretty big deal when Jesus Christ Himself shows up in the Old Testament to announce a birth, and that's exactly what happened.
06:45-06:59
Before Samson's miraculous birth, he was told by God - or his parents were told by God - that Samson, their son, would be uniquely separated to God from birth for His entire life.
07:01-07:04
Living under the Nazarite vow.
07:04-07:05
We talked about that last week.
07:05-07:06
Quick review.
07:06-07:07
Nazarite vow.
07:08-07:10
You weren't allowed to shave your head.
07:13-07:14
You weren't allowed to drink wine.
07:15-07:16
And you weren't allowed to touch the dead.
07:16-07:19
Those were the rules that went with the Nazarite vow.
07:19-07:23
You've got to keep that in the back of your mind as we go through Samson's story.
07:23-07:36
You know, it was Samson's great potential that resulted in such a great tragedy.
07:39-07:48
And we touched on this last week, and I need to remind you that we, church, we have way more than Samson ever did.
07:51-07:56
In Christ, the Bible says of all things that pertain to life and godliness." Did you know that?
07:56-08:06
2 Peter 1.3 says, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness." Samson didn't have that.
08:10-08:11
But in Christ, we do.
08:13-08:14
Here's the thing, church.
08:15-08:31
We too, like Samson, and live far below God's potential for us if we adopt Samson's philosophy of life, which sadly is the norm for too many of God's people.
08:34-08:38
Samson never learned to control his lusts.
08:40-08:43
The same can be said for too many Christians today.
08:43-08:46
So here we have again last week, Huge buildup!
08:49-08:58
And now we get to the first account of Samson's life, and like our friend Terry the bull rider, he did not get out of the gate strong.
09:02-09:09
Nor did Samson recognize the danger signs that his life was way off track.
09:11-09:19
So I just want to ask you today, Are you, church, are you living according to the resources that God has given?
09:22-09:26
And it's a question I've had to ask myself as I've been wrestling through this passage.
09:26-09:29
Am I living according to the resources that God has given me?
09:34-09:42
Or are we heading down the wrong path because we're unable to recognize some of the danger signs that our spiritual life is off course.
09:43-09:56
So on your outline today, just very simply, "How do I know I'm heading down the wrong path?" And I told you this last week, often Samson is a negative example, and that's pretty glaring here.
09:56-10:02
"How do I know I'm heading down the wrong path?" I'm going to give you three danger signs that I'm on the spiritual decline.
10:03-10:06
1) I completely disregard God's authority.
10:08-10:10
How do I know I'm heading down the wrong path?
10:10-10:13
I completely disregard God's authority.
10:13-10:14
Let's look at the first four verses.
10:15-10:23
It says, "Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
10:24-10:32
Then he came up and told his father and mother, 'I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah.
10:32-11:13
"Now get her for me as my wife!" But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all of our people that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." "The father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for He was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines." At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel.
11:15-11:15
Let's stop there.
11:16-11:16
The Philistines.
11:16-11:24
They dominated Israel from Judges 13 all the way up to 1 Samuel 7 in your Bibles.
11:24-11:25
Can you believe that?
11:26-11:37
Enter Samson among these pagan people as we saw last week, their weapons of warfare were intermarriage and integration and assimilation.
11:37-11:39
They didn't just come in and mow you down.
11:39-11:44
They sort of came in and assimilated you into their culture.
11:46-11:51
So Samson comes on the scene and not far from his home, he falls in lust with a Philistine girl.
11:53-12:03
And the first statement we get from Samson's mouth in the Bible I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah.
12:04-12:18
Now get her for me as my wife." Samson said to his parents, "Husbands, sitting here today, watching online, is there anybody here that you're like, 'That's how I totally met my wife?' Anybody?
12:20-12:24
That you went to your parents, you're like, 'I saw a pretty Irish girl.
12:25-12:34
Get her for me.'" I know that sounds strange to us, but you have to understand that's how it was in this culture.
12:34-12:42
You didn't give a girl your phone number or ask her out on a date or follow her to her house or anything creepy, stalky.
12:43-12:45
And you shouldn't do that today either.
12:46-12:49
But in this culture, that was how it happened.
12:49-12:52
You went to your parents and you're like, hey, arrange this.
12:52-12:55
I like her and you're gonna make it happen.
12:55-12:56
All right?
12:58-13:03
But we see in the passage, his choice of women had to have broken their hearts.
13:04-13:05
Remember, we saw that last week.
13:06-13:12
They knew from birth he was called to separation for his entire life as a Nazarite.
13:14-13:18
And now, he wants to marry the enemy.
13:20-13:30
And that's why Samson's parents - his dad, Manoah, we get his name - he says to Samson, This isn't God's plan.
13:31-13:33
Can't you find a nice Jewish girl?
13:36-13:44
But I want you to look back at verse 3 with me because this verse epitomizes Samson's entire life.
13:46-14:03
When he says, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." Literally, you can't read this metaphorically, because literally in the Hebrew what he's saying is, "Get her for me because I think she's hot.
14:04-14:10
She looks good to me." And it was a total lust decision.
14:13-14:18
But the way it's worded, you can't miss the obvious parallel here.
14:20-14:22
Samson defined himself right here.
14:22-14:23
He said, "She's right in my eyes.
14:23-14:27
This is what I want. She's right in my eyes." Does that sound like anything familiar?
14:28-14:29
Judges says twice.
14:31-14:39
17.21.25 Judges says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what?
14:39-14:46
What was right in his own eyes." And Samson, by his own mouth, was like, "Yeah, that's how I live.
14:47-14:52
I want her because she's right in my eyes.
14:57-14:59
And this is a huge problem.
15:00-15:02
We said this last week.
15:02-15:03
Again, I need to reemphasize this.
15:04-15:06
This is not talking about interracial marriage.
15:07-15:09
There's only one race - the human race.
15:09-15:13
This is talking about, as the New Testament does, interfaith marriages.
15:13-15:19
You should not be unequally yoked as a Christian marrying somebody who doesn't know and love the Lord.
15:19-15:50
should not happen. And that's what we're talking about here. It's not interfaith, it's not interracial rather, it's interfaith that we're talking about. So, this was direct disobedience by Samson. First of all, it was direct disobedience to his calling. He was a separated Nazarite from birth. Secondly, it was direct disobedience to the Word of God. We're not going to turn and everybody jot down Deuteronomy 7.
15:54-15:56
God strictly forbids this.
15:56-16:05
He goes, "Do not marry people of other faiths, or they will drag you down." So he was disobedient to his calling.
16:05-16:06
He was disobedient to the Word.
16:07-16:09
And he was disobedient to his parents.
16:11-16:14
Samson had some major authority issues.
16:15-16:18
I just have to ask, how are you doing there?
16:21-16:22
Who is your authority?
16:26-16:35
Would you say God's Word, "This is my authority." Or are you kind of your own authority?
16:37-16:40
And I know the answer we want to give in church, right?
16:40-16:44
We would all be like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, Jesus is my authority.
16:44-16:49
The Word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and my authority in all things.
16:51-16:58
And yeah, that's the right answer, but that answer isn't verified by what you say, it's verified by how you live.
16:59-16:59
Right?
17:01-17:07
That's why Jesus said what He said in Luke 6:46, the verse that should be tattooed on your brain.
17:08-17:13
Jesus said, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' Do not do what I tell you.
17:16-17:24
For the person that says, "Oh yeah, God's my authority." Well, are you living under the authority of God's Word?
17:24-17:29
Is God's Word active in your life in the way you make your decisions?
17:30-17:44
That you can point to your life and say, "I make this decision because of what God said." "I don't do this because of what God said." And if you can't do that, Jesus is saying to you, Why do you call Me Lord, but you don't do what I tell you to do?
17:45-17:46
And He's not your authority.
17:48-18:00
If that's the case, and if you think Jesus is your Savior, but He's not your Lord, then I've got to tell you, you believe in a brand of Christianity that is foreign to Jesus Himself.
18:04-18:12
You know, you go to church, and the preacher gets up and tells you, and what you're doing is wrong.
18:12-18:16
And you think to yourself, no, no, no, this is right in my eyes.
18:17-18:22
And you go to your small group and your small group leader tells you, hey what you're doing is wrong.
18:22-18:26
And you think to yourself, no, no, no, this is right in my eyes!
18:27-18:32
And your godly parents call you up and they say what you're doing is wrong.
18:32-18:35
And you think to yourself, no, no, no, this is right in my eyes.
18:36-18:37
And you turn to God's Word.
18:37-18:43
The Bible clearly tells you what you're doing is wrong to yourself, "No, no, no.
18:44-18:53
This is right in my eyes." And it should be a huge red flag when you begin ignoring counsel.
18:55-19:05
Say, "Hey, I know what's best for me." "Who do you think you are telling me what's best for me?" "I know what's best for me." That should be a huge red flag.
19:06-19:15
Ignoring counsel from God or from God's people, because like Samson, I want what I want, she's hot and I want her and my mind's made up.
19:18-19:19
You're heading down the wrong path.
19:22-19:37
And somebody would say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, Pastor Jeff, "wait, wait, wait, stop, stop, just hang on, "hang on, hang on, just wait a minute, hold on." I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff, but did you see what it said in verse four?
19:38-19:39
Did you read that verse, Pastor Jeff?
19:40-19:41
Let's look at verse 4 again.
19:41-19:46
Verse 4, "His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord." I'll look right there, Pastor Jeff.
19:46-19:47
This was from the Lord.
19:50-19:59
So how can we be so hard on Samson's choices when this was from the Lord?
19:59-20:04
Look, we already know for a fact this was against God's will.
20:04-20:05
Okay?
20:05-20:06
God made that abundantly clear.
20:07-20:07
Deuteronomy 7.
20:08-20:10
Abundantly crystal clear.
20:10-20:12
This is not God's will.
20:12-20:15
But, God used it.
20:19-20:20
In spite of Samson.
20:22-20:23
Not because of Samson.
20:25-20:26
Please hear me, church.
20:26-20:32
Despite Samson's disobedience, God's purpose was fulfilled.
20:32-20:36
God did not cause Samson to sin.
20:37-20:41
And God did not abandon His plans because Samson did sin.
20:46-20:51
It was in spite of, not because of.
20:56-20:59
And I've got to be honest with you.
21:00-21:02
I have to examine myself.
21:04-21:29
I've wondered at times in my life, that when my day comes to graduate to glory and I'm standing in heaven, receiving the fullness of God's promise, there's times I've wondered to myself, is Jesus going to tell me that there were many times in my ministry that He used me in spite of myself?
21:33-21:37
Jesus would say, "Yeah, Jeff, you know, there were a lot of times I used you in spite of you, not because of you.
21:43-21:46
And I don't know about you, but that's not what I want from...
21:46-21:48
That's not what I want.
21:49-22:05
I don't want God in heaven saying, "I don't use Jeff because we're partners in ministry here the way the Bible says we should be." God's like, "Yeah, I'll use him in spite of the stupid things that he does." And I'm sure that happens a lot.
22:05-22:11
But I certainly don't want that to be a banner over my ministry the way it was over Samson's.
22:11-22:12
How about you?
22:15-22:19
"Well, how do I know I'm heading down the wrong path, number one?" I completely disregard God's authority.
22:20-22:21
Nobody tells me what to do.
22:22-22:22
Right?
22:23-22:25
How do I know I'm heading down the wrong path?
22:25-22:32
Number two, I'm willing to compromise for a little pleasure.
22:33-22:36
I'm willing to compromise for a little pleasure.
22:36-22:36
Look at verse 5.
22:38-22:52
It says, "Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards at Timnah." Now, there was a separation between Samson and his parents here.
22:52-22:54
you're going to see that very clearly in a second.
22:54-22:57
It's implied in the text, but I got to give you the heads up here.
22:57-23:03
It says, "And behold, a young lion came toward him, roaring.
23:05-23:07
Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him.
23:08-23:13
And although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.
23:15-23:19
But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
23:20-23:25
Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.
23:27-23:28
There it is again.
23:28-23:29
He's like, yep, still hot.
23:32-23:37
After some days, he returned to take her.
23:37-23:40
And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion.
23:40-23:44
And behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey.
23:45-23:50
He scraped it out into his hands and went on eating as he went.
23:51-24:03
And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate, but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion." Stop there.
24:04-24:06
I just gotta say this, verse six.
24:07-24:09
I just, I love the way verse six is worded.
24:10-24:21
It says, "The spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, Samson, and although he had nothing in his hand, "He tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat." I just love how that's worded.
24:22-24:25
You're like, how did Samson tear that lion?
24:26-24:27
You're like, well, you know.
24:28-24:31
You know the way that you might tear a young goat apart?
24:34-24:37
It was in that manner that Samson tore the lion.
24:38-24:39
Like, oh, that makes sense.
24:39-24:41
I'm like, did that resonate with people?
24:42-24:42
Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:43-24:46
Yeah, little Billy was just tearing a goat apart yesterday.
24:48-24:49
Totally could...
24:53-24:54
You get the point, right?
24:55-24:56
I mean, it's an obvious point.
24:57-24:59
To Samson, that's how strong he was.
25:01-25:06
But there is a question though, that's debated among scholars, and that is this.
25:07-25:12
Did Samson violate his vow by touching the lion carcass?
25:12-25:17
Or did the vow only pertain to human bodies, not animal bodies?
25:18-25:20
And there's a lot of debate.
25:22-25:28
But I would say this, the text here leads us to believe that Samson absolutely violated his vow.
25:29-25:30
Like, well, how do you know that?
25:30-25:38
Because in verse 6 and in verse 9, both of those verses tell us that Samson did not tell his parents what had happened.
25:40-25:46
So, if Samson did nothing wrong, I can already see parents smiling.
25:47-25:52
If you did nothing wrong, why did you keep it a secret, right?
25:55-26:02
So here's the point that the text inspired by God's Spirit, here's the point that he's driving home.
26:03-26:07
Samson was willing to break his vow for a little pleasure.
26:08-26:15
to violate the Nazirite vow he was under for a mouthful of honey.
26:18-26:20
How often are we willing to do the same?
26:22-26:27
That we will justify a little disobedience for a moment's pleasure.
26:30-26:35
You have an affair for a moment of sexual pleasure.
26:38-26:41
Willing to violate the vows that you made to your spouse before God.
26:43-27:01
You watch this video online, "I shouldn't watch this, but I get a moment of pleasure from it." Or we cut corners at work, because there's a little financial perk I'm going to get if I'm willing to cut some corners and be a little dishonest.
27:03-27:12
I'm gonna tell just a little gossip because it just makes me feel better about myself when I'm running this other person down.
27:12-27:14
And I get a little pleasure from that.
27:14-27:20
And I know the Bible says I shouldn't do that, but I'm willing to violate God's word because it gives me, it's just,
27:20-27:20
(kissing)
27:20-27:24
just a little honey, and oh, it tastes so good.
27:24-27:25
Just a little bit of pleasure.
27:25-27:27
I'm willing to violate God's word.
27:29-27:30
for a piece of candy.
27:32-27:42
It is a huge red flag in your walk and it is a huge red flag in my walk when we put that moment of pleasure above obedience to the Lord.
27:43-27:48
And when you're doing that, you're heading down the wrong path.
27:51-27:52
How do I know I'm heading down the wrong path?
27:52-27:53
Number three.
27:56-27:56
Last one today.
27:59-28:06
"I waste time in worldly pursuits." "I waste time in worldly pursuits." Pick up v. 10.
28:06-28:16
It says, "His father went down to the woman and Samson prepared a feast there for so the young man used to do." Stop there for a second.
28:16-28:28
That word "feast" in the Hebrew implies "drinking party." So some scholars much smarter than me that Samson was likely drunk.
28:31-28:39
And it really makes a lot of sense when we look at the rest of the passage if that was the case.
28:39-28:45
I can't say that dogmatically, but it sure makes sense of a lot of things because he acts like a drunk guy.
28:46-28:47
Coming up, spoiler alert.
28:48-28:48
Alright?
28:50-28:54
It says, "As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
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And Samson said to them, 'Let me now put a riddle to you.
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If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.
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But if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and and 30 changes of clothes.
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And they said to Him, "What's your riddle, that we may hear it?" And He said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat.
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Out of the strong came something sweet." And in three days, they could not solve the riddle.
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On the fourth day, "He said to Samson's wife, 'Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire.'" Have you invited us here to impoverish us?
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That's how you know you have a gambling problem, by the way.
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Just make note of that.
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If the prospect of losing your bet, "Burn your house down." And Samson's wife wept over him and said, "You only hate me!
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You do not love me!
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You put a riddle to my people!
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And you have not told me what it is!" And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and I shall tell you." She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day, He told her because she pressed him hard.
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Then, she told the riddle to her people.
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Oh, Samson, newlywed, oh, the power of nagging.
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I have this whole piece in my notes here about nagging.
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Aaron, do you think I should share this?
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You know?
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Alright.
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Oh, the power of a woman's tears.
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So she tells the riddle to her people.
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Verse 18, "And the men of the city said to Him on the seventh day before the sun went down, 'What is sweeter than honey?
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What is stronger than a lion?' And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." Ouch.
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That was another tip for the newlyweds here.
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Please don't refer to your new wife as a heifer.
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"That will result in mandatory counseling from me.
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And it won't be gentle men, okay?
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It'll be like Nehemiah type counseling." Don't refer to your wife as a heifer, but what Samson said was pretty...
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"If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." "And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, He went down to Ashkelon.
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That was 23 miles away.
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And struck down 30 men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle.
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In hot anger, he went back to his father's house.
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And Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his best man.
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Okay, wait, hang on a second here.
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Who in their right mind would have married this woman at this point?
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I mean, think about it.
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Her husband - the things that he's done.
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The displays of physical strength that he has shown.
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His violent ruthlessness that he's demonstrated.
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Who's going to marry this woman?
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I can just speak for myself.
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I would not have wanted to be ripped apart as one tears a young goat.
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But here we have Samson, right?
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Samson, the mighty warrior.
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Samson, the man who the Lord would use to begin to vanquish the enemy.
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Here we have Samson the powerhouse!
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And Samson the nasty Nazarite!
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And in his debut, what was he doing?
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Telling riddles and making stupid bets?
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What?
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Really, Samson? Really? Really? Really?
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That's what we're going with here.
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You can bench press a Buick, and God calls you to clean up, and this is what you've decided to do? Really?
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And I would have to say once again, let's hold off on the finger pointing.
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Because God's people today are still getting caught up in meaningless things, True or false?
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And when I say God's people, I don't mean just people out there.
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I mean people in here are getting caught up in meaningless things.
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You know, "You, you, mighty warrior for Jesus!" And what are you doing, mighty warrior for Jesus?
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Why get online and I call people libtards?
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Like, really?
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Really?
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That's what we're going with.
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Or how about you?
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Ambassador for Christ.
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God making His appeal to you through the world.
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To the world.
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What are you doing?
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Well, I just basically spend most of my day arguing politics with people.
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Really?
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That's what we're going with here.
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Oh man of God.
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No time for prayer, but I have hours for watching football and monitoring my fantasy football team.
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A woman of God.
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No time for the Word, but plenty of time for binge-watching Netflix or taking another extensive lap on Pinterest.
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I've got to confess to you.
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I watched a movie last week about a pastor that turns into a dinosaur and fights ninjas.
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Because a pastor friend of mine sent me, he texted me a picture, it was like a review of this movie, and I'm like, "Well, that doesn't exist for real." He goes, "No, it exists for real." I'm like, "No, it doesn't." He goes, "Dude, Google it." I googled it and I'm like, oh, it's available for free on Tubi and we have Tubi.
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And I watched this and there's an hour and a half of my life that I will never get back.
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But church, here, like Samson, like Samson church, God called you and I into battle.
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And too often like Samson, we're wasting our time with Stupid stuff!
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I'm not condemning you, okay?
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If you have a fantasy football team, I don't want that to be your big take away from the sermon.
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I'm not condemning you.
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I'm just asking you, along with me, church, can we re -examine our time spent and ask ourselves, Am I acting like Samson?
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Do you know the mission that God's called you to?
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He's called you to make disciples.
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And I have to ask you like I've had to ask myself many times this week, how laser focused are you in fulfilling specifically what God has called you to do for His mission?
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Church, it's a huge red flag.
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I can't point to your life and say, "Here's how he's working for Christ." I can't do that!
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But what I am able to do is point to your life and say, "Here's how he wastes a lot of time." You're heading down the wrong path.
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Well, the story continues in the next chapter.
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Lord willing, we'll cover that next week.
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Samson, not a great debut, buddy. Not great. The man that God separated to himself from birth, empowered in a unique, unprecedented way to begin delivering Israel from the pagan Philistines, kicked off his story with lust, marrying the wrong woman, defiling himself, and wasting his time making a dumb bet with a silly riddle.
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What a waste of His resources.
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How about you?
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How are you doing with the resources that God has given you?
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Do you know what God has given you?
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God has given you His Word.
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This Word will transform you.
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It will change the course of your life in every area of your life.
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At home, at work, at school, at play, wherever.
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This is a sure foundation that God has given you that you have sitting on your lap right now.
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Are you using this resource?
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God has given us access to Himself in prayer.
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Any time, day or night, no matter what's happening, what's going on, you and I can go before the throne of the King of the universe and talk to Him the way that I'm talking to you right now.
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Are you using that resource?
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And the best gift of all that God has given us is the gift of Himself.
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God's Holy Spirit permanently resides in the hearts of God's people.
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To give a spiritual gift for the mutual up-building of the church, to manifest the fruit of the Spirit to conform us into the image of His Son.
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Are you using that resource?
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And church, if you're not, hey, today can be a new day.
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And it can be a new day for a lot of us to say, "You know what? Yeah.
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I've been a lot like Samson lately.
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For God's given me everything.
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And I'm using none of it for His glory." I'd like to ask if our elders would come forward.
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We're going to gather around the Lord's table here in a minute.
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Mark and Rich, if you'd come up and prepare yourselves, the worship team is going to play here in a moment.
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I need to remind you as we come to the Lord's table, a couple of verses in Colossians.
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Colossians 2 tells us, "For in Him, in Jesus, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him." the head of all rule and authority.
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Then you turn over a page to Colossians 3.
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It says, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." So putting these verses back to back respectively, the Bible says that Christ is in me.
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at the same time, I am in Christ.
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What does that mean?
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Well, this paper here.
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If I were to fold this, put it here, and close the Bible, in order to see this paper, I have to look at the Bible.
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I have to touch the Bible.
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I have to handle the Bible.
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I have to open the Bible.
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So you could say in a sense that this paper is now in Bible, right?
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And that's like me in Jesus Christ.
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That's like you in Jesus Christ.
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The Father sees me in the Son, and God deals with me based on my relationship with Jesus.
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But there's a problem with this illustration.
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The problem is the paper could fall out, right?
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And that's where the illustration breaks down because the glorious reality is when you're in Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God that's in Jesus Christ.
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So as we come to the Lord's table today, church, can we once again renew our minds afresh with the reality of the Gospel We are in Christ and Christ is in us.
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And church, can we once again renew our commitment to using the resources that God has given us?
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The worship team is going to play, and I'm going to ask you, when you are ready to receive the Lord's Supper, to come up to center aisles, you can receive and partake right here on the spot if you so choose, If you need a moment to reflect, you can take it back to your seat.
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We're not going to be taking it in unison.
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You come and take it as you're ready, as you're so led.
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And when everybody who is receiving has come to receive, we're going to worship the Lord by His power like He deserves to be worshipped.
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Alright?
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Come to the table.
Small Group Discussion
Read Judges 14
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
How do you address someone who calls him/herself a Christian, but doesn’t seem to acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship (believes “Jesus is my Savior”, but “it doesn’t matter how I live”)?
Why do you think Samson was oblivious to the danger signs of his spiritual decline? Are you able to see them in your life?
List the resources God has given you in Christ. Are you using them?
Breakout
Confession time: what is your biggest time-waster? Are you willing to be accountable in this group to redeem that time?
Pray for one another.