Brace Yourself

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.680 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.720 Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:22.239 Let's go in our bibles for this fourth week of Unqualified, 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:27.040 which is incidentally the last week. I know, I know 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:33.879 you still feel broken, you still feel unqualified. Well, the 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.440 good news is that that realization is just the beginning 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.480 of a new reality. And I thought we would call 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.680 on the author of Hebrews. So find the book in 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.400 your Bible that's called Hebrews. It's not the name of 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.040 a Christian coffee shop anymore. It's just a book in 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:53.560 the Bible, and put it right there on the eleventh chapter. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.480 When you find it, it's coming up on the screen. 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.160 We do that for the lazy people. Just kidding. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.840 And together, I want to look at three verses towards 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.120 the conclusion of this book. It was a letter that 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.959 was written to a persecuted church by an anonymous author, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.440 and he's finishing up his sermon, or really his illustration 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.720 in this chapter that has been referred to as the 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.240 Hall of Faith because he's talking about people who demonstrated 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:28.839 great faith throughout history, and he comes upon an issue 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.360 that all preachers come upon at some point in time. 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.560 And this is something you get real nervous when you 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.039 hear a preacher say this. What he says in verse 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.320 thirty two, he says, and what more shall I say? 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.160 That's kind of like when the preacher says, I'm closing, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.000 and around here, you know what that means. When I 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:48.040 say I'm closing, it means absolutely nothing, Okay, And. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:49.240 What more shall I say? 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.280 I don't have time to tell you about Gideon, Barack 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:58.320 Simpson and Jeffa, about David and Samuel. 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.800 And the prophets who through faith and what they. 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:09.680 Did, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:11.280 what was promised. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.520 Would you touch your neighbor one more time? This is 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.040 like like you're only gonna do it twenty times after this. 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.040 Just touch them one more time and tell them you're 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.840 gonna get it. You're gonna get it. Tell them twice 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.640 you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it. Now, you 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.359 might have to go through some things because to gain 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:29.240 what was promised. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.200 Look what they had to do. They had to shut 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:32.440 the mouths of lions. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:36.880 Is a great thing when you can go to bed 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.880 with the lions and wake up in one piece. Come on, 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:40.640 have you ever had to go to bed with something 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.000 that scared you but you woke up the next morning 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.680 and realized, I'm still here. This is the day the 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:50.639 Lord has made, so I might as well rejoice. And 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:55.400 they they quenched the fury of the flames, and they 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.400 escaped the edge of the swords. Sometimes you cut it close, 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.040 and sometimes if it feels like you're going down, but 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.520 they escape the edge of the sword. God will always 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.640 make a way of escape. Sometimes it just won't be 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:07.440 when you want it. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.240 They escape the edge of the sword. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.560 And this is the part of the verse that I 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.960 thought would be appropriate for our study. And I'll give 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:16.960 you this and give you my title, and we'll sit 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:17.839 down and look at it. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:19.160 But it says. 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:27.520 That these people had their weakness turned to strength, whose 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.000 weakness was turned to strength. So I want to give 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.560 you my title, but I need your help because it's 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.520 really more of an admonition or an instruction than it 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:38.120 is a sermon. 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:42.120 Title. Would you shove your neighbor and tell them, brace yourself. 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:46.680 You may be seated. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:58.280 Brace yourself, Brace yourself. The weird thing to me about 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:04.200 the disciples is that when Jesus died, they were surprised, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:12.520 Like he didn't tell them over and over again. It's 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.960 the whole reason he was born was to die, and 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.640 then he did it, and they were shocked. 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.040 I understand them being sad. 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.720 I understand them even feeling shame that Barabbas was chosen 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.440 over Jesus, that a criminal was chosen over the Christ. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.760 I just don't understand the shock factor. He told you 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.000 he's going to Jerusalem. He told you. Not only did 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.360 he tell you, Isaiah told you. It's like not. 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.000 Only prophecy, but Jesus personally told you he's going to die. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.719 And then it shook their faith so badly when he 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.680 did the very thing that he was destined to do. 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:54.080 That's kind of weird to me. Was even weirder was that. 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:58.000 They were even more surprised by his resurrection than they 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:04.360 were by his crucifixion. And he predicted that part too, 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:06.840 you know, he told him it's only gonna be three days. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:08.040 That's why I'm borrowing this. 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:12.000 Tomb doesn't make sense to purchase something that you only 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.120 need a short term lease on. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:17.640 And so it's weird. It's weird. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.400 It's weird to me that they would be shocked when 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:25.800 his body wasn't there, and instead of assuming, well, I 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:27.800 get I guess he got up. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.880 I guess it was for real. I guess he's legitimately 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.640 the savior of the world with all power in his hand. 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.120 I guess he is the resurrection in the life. 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:38.800 If it worked on Lazarus, I guess he could do 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.320 it to himself too. Instead of that conclusion, they thought, oh, 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:47.200 they must have snatched his body. They were surprised, And 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.000 I guess it's easy for me to be surprised that 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.359 they were surprised, because you know, I'm not them, and 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.279 we've had two thousand years to think about it. You know, 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.720 some things nobody can prepare you for. You can see 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.039 him better in hindsight than you can when you're going 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.520 through them, and some things just are difficult to prepare for. 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.480 And no matter how many books you read about it, 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.840 there's nothing like living it. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:16.800 Can all the parents say, Amen, Now, I. 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.719 Don't care how many classes you took and how you 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:24.799 breathed and you know what to expect when you're expecting whatever. 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:26.440 They can't put that in a book. 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.640 That is a horror movie that you must live through 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:30.120 to fully understand. 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.200 Just some things you can't touch. A neighbor say, brace yourself. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.760 And Jesus has spent all this time preparing his disciples 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.320 for the very thing that he came to do to 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.640 redeem humanity through his death, and when he actually did 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.560 the thing that he was destined to do, they were surprised. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.760 Now we have a group of Christians decades later who 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.919 are part of this same lineage that the author of 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.840 Hebrews is encouraging it. And he's encouraging them in a 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.719 specific way. He's encouraging them to endure. And sometimes you 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.200 need somebody to tell you to keep going. Sometimes you 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.200 need somebody to tell you you're going to make it. 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:11.480 Sometimes you need. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.560 A coach to tell you that, I know you feel 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.440 out of breath, and I know you feel out of luck, 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.560 and I know you feel out of love, but you've 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.560 got more to give, and so keep pressing. And this 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.160 group really needed to hear it because they were suffering 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:31.280 the confiscation of their rights and the loss of their property, 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.840 and many of them had experienced the loss of their freedom, 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.800 many of them had been imprisoned, and some of them 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.360 had lost their lives. And he's writing back to the 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.880 ones who are still trying to trying. 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.280 To really find a footing for this newfound faith. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.320 You understand that Christianity was a fledgling religion. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.360 It was considered a sect of Judaism. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.000 It was like almost a cult, and it was an 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.640 upstart organization, and it was still in question as to 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.800 whether or not it was really going to have any 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.680 true influence or was it just a bunch of maniacs. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.320 And in the church that's addressed at Hebrews. 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.320 The people who grew up in the Jewish temple system, 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.600 they're getting accustomed. 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:12.600 To a new way of approaching God. 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.920 They'd always approached them through sacrifices and through sacrificing lambs 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.160 and goats. But now they're approaching God through the sacrifice 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.960 once for all of Jesus Christ. And he's the spotless 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.400 Lamb of God, and he's without blemish, and he's the 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.400 lamb slang from the foundation. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:28.560 Of the earth. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.280 But it's new to them, and anything that's new creates 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:33.400 a sense of instability. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:34.360 Anything that's new. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.719 That's why you know your first kid, you drive home 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.360 from the hospital twenty miles an hour. Now if you 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.200 have three, like we did, we drove home with Abbey 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:43.640 on the roof. We didn't care what's trapped her on. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:48.160 But when something is new, you know, it takes a 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.640 little while. And Christianity was really just it wasn't even 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:52.920 called Christianity yet, it. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.199 Was called the Way. There wasn't jewelry about it yet. 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.360 I mean, they didn't have their nonprofit tax except status yet, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.640 and they were under immense press, sure in a time 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.840 of political and religious instability. And so the writer of 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.560 Hebrews writes from that theme, and he tells them things 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.600 like you're running a race, and you got to make 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:14.520 sure that whatever is dislocated is is strengthened, and so 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.040 you can keep going, so this thing can become something. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.120 In order to do it, he doesn't just empty himself 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.760 of aphorisms that will encourage them in the general direction 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.320 of endurance and faithfulness, but he calls forth to the 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.040 witness stand some characters that have gone before them. He 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.120 refers to them as a great cloud of witnesses, and 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.880 he says, we're surrounded by people who made us, and 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.000 maybe we can find strength in the support system of 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.280 those who went through more and did it. Sometimes you 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:43.320 just need to come to church to be reminded I'm 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:44.160 not the only one. 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:46.360 I'm not the only one. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.440 He starts listing people, and all of chapter eleven, if 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.599 you want to look at it, has people, big headliners 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:53.120 of the faith. 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.439 And now he's running out of ink, he's running out 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:55.719 of time. 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.680 He's got to finish this letter, and so he wants 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.720 to throw out a few names. He wants to call 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:06.400 forth people who exemplify this kind of perseverance that is 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.520 now necessary for this new church. And so he calls 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.360 on people that we would recognize, like David, the shepherd 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:18.040 who became a king. He uses David as an illustration 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:23.240 that God can turn weakness into strength, and David's a 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.600 great example of that because well he was the last 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.680 one in his family. They didn't even think to bring 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:34.160 him in. When Samuel was trying to identify the next king, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.160 David took a slingshot and killed a giant. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.320 Everybody always doubted David. The odds were against him. Saul 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:43.960 told him not to even bother fighting. 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.240 But now to a church that is fighting against odds, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.760 he brings up the name of somebody who, against all 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.600 odds prevailed. He said, you know, it's like David had 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.760 a slingshot. Sometimes you got to go up against whatever 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.679 standing between you and your destiny with what you've got. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:04.720 Sometimes you can't let the fact that you feel weak 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:05.280 stop you. 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:06.200 From acting strong. 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:08.719 Sometimes you even have to fake it till you make 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:10.880 it and just stand in the face of your fear 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.520 and say I'm not going anywhere. And that's what David did. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.640 So I get why he would mention David. I get 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.640 why he would connect David to Samuel, because Samuel, as 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.040 I just mentioned, was the prophet who anointed David, and 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:30.800 Samuel was born out of a barn situation. His mother, Hannah, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.520 couldn't have a baby, and she prayed to the Lord, 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:37.199 and she was provoked by her rival every day, and 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:37.640 she was. 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.559 Provoked to the point that it drove her to prayer. 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.920 Sometimes you need people not to like you by the way, 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:44.800 so that you'll go to God. And you need things 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:46.760 not to turn out right the first time, so you'll 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.040 have to depend on him. And when she prayed, got 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.120 hurt her and she had a baby, and she took 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.720 that baby to the temple, and he served under a 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.960 priest named Eli, and Eli had some degenerate sons, and 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.839 so the temple system had totally fallen apart to the 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.439 point that it needed not only renovation, but it needed 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.480 restoration and renewal. And Samuel was a part of bringing 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.040 that to the forefront, and he served as a prophet. 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.040 And I understand why you'd bring him up, because he's 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.120 trying to say that God can bring somebody from a 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:19.400 barren situation to redeem a broken system. So it makes 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.680 sense that he would he would mention Samuel, the one 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.120 who anointed the first king. And then if you back 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.480 up from there, it makes sense since he's speaking to 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.280 a Jewish audience that he would mention some of the judges, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:38.600 because before Israel had kings, they had judges. Judges were 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.880 the ones that God would raise up to deliver them 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.680 from their enemies. When they went into the provinsed land, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.240 it didn't mean they didn't have any more problems. So 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.720 they would fight against these groups like the Philistines and 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.480 the Almonies, and God would raise up a deliver They 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.719 called him a judge like Gideon, and I understand why 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.280 he would bring up Gideon, because well, Gideon was a 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.720 whimp who was threshing wheat in a wine press. 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:05.160 But God called him a warrior. 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.360 And see, God will contradict the way you see yourself 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:14.000 and remind you of your calling. And he did that 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.480 for Gideon. And so Gideon had to get up and go, 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.960 and he felt like the least and the littlest in 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.839 his tribe try Ma Nasa. But he got up and 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:22.600 God used him in a great way anyway. 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.240 And Gideon ended up doing a great thing for God. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:24.960 So it makes sense. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.680 If you want to show weakness into strength, show me Gideon, 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:29.520 who was in a wine press, who became a warrior. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.120 I can get with that. I understand why you would bring. 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.720 Up Gideon, because Gideon started at. 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:41.360 The bottom weakness into strength. I don't just read the Bible, 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:42.040 you understand. 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.880 I even understand some of these lesser characters. The one 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:52.280 that you never heard of is probably Jephtha Jefta. He 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.440 was kind of weird, but he had a reason. His 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.400 mother was a prostitute and they didn't know who. 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.880 His father was. So when it says to his father was. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.920 In scripture, it just names the town he was from. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.920 That means it could have been anybody in town. That's 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.679 how much his mother got around. His brothers despised him 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.439 because of his background, his half brothers. 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:14.160 And kicked him out of his house. 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.439 And the Bible says that he found himself surrounded by 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:21.200 worthless men the Bible's words, not mine. Yet from a 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.800 worthless surrounding. God raised him up and he was a 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.280 deliverer and God used to He made bad decisions you 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:28.920 usually do when you come from a difficult background, but. 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:29.800 God used him anyway. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:32.960 So I get why they would mention Jefa, and I 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:34.440 get why they would mention Baraq. 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.600 I mean, from Hawaii to a senator. 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.640 In Chicago to the forty fourth president of the United 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:41.800 States of America. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.760 He definitely deserves a shout out. But there's another Barack 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:46.440 that they're. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.480 Mentioning who was raised up and he's delivered Israel. 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.760 He was a judge also, but he was paired. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.120 Up with this woman named Deborah, and he kind of 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.720 hid behind the woman because he said, I'll go if 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.200 you go, and uh. But God gave him a victory anyway. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.080 And so I see how somebody who was actually reluctant, 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.960 kind of like Moses, didn't want to deliver the children 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.880 that God can still use you in spite of your reluctance, 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.480 and so you don't have to do it all exactly right. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:19.680 What I can't, what I can't quite reconcile, is why 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:24.680 you would bring up Samson and Samson. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.680 Samson is the one that tripped me up, because, well, 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.480 when I say his name, what do you think of? Well, 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:41.760 that's good. Somebody said strength, and somebody said hair. And 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.000 it's actually it's one of those Bible stories. It's not 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:45.480 like Jeff though, where you kind of have to be 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.240 paid to read the Bible to know stuff like that. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.120 It's like one of those stories that if you ever 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.320 even walked by a church, you heard of him. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:55.920 He's like iconic, he's legendary. 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.640 He's known for he's known for strength, and he's also known. 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:01.960 For a trip to the barbershop. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.640 Isn't that weird how life will define you by your 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:11.200 worst decision, By the way that Samson was very strong 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.560 and he became weak, And that's what tripped me up 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.800 when I was reading the words of the author who 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.480 is up until this point so brilliantly built the case 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.920 that God can take you from weak to strength. Weakness 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.720 to strength. Now he's telling me about somebody who didn't 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:29.680 go from weakness to strength, but went from strength to weakness. 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.000 He went from strength to weakness. I mean Samson was strong. 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.160 He was whoever said strength, He was very strong. One 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.520 day he was he was going somewhere and a lion 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.960 ran up on him. Now, think about how you react 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.600 when you see a mouse. Okay, Samson saw a lion. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.000 He said, I got something for you. He tore the 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:54.280 lion in half with his hands. Wow. Strong. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:59.000 He one time lost the bet, and because he lost 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:00.600 the bet, he had to give the people that he 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:01.040 lost the. 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.959 Bet to thirty thirty outfits of clothing. That was what 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:05.600 the bet was. 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.680 But instead of going to old Navy, Samson found thirty 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.720 Philistines and killed them and took their breeches and their 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.120 shirts and their boots and said, here's your outfits. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.080 That's one way to do it. That's how strong he was. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.480 He just handled everything with brute's strength, just overpowered it. 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:25.200 Just whatever. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.200 The one time, his own people, the people from Judah, 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.240 they were frustrated with the decision that he made, and 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.119 they came to him and tied him up and handed 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.320 him over to the Philistines, and that was the people he. 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.400 Was called to deliver Israel from. And they handed him 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.360 over and they tied him up. But how many know. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:44.320 When God is with you, nothing that people put. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.480 On you can hold you. Yeah, because he broke free. 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.240 And when he broke free, he needed something to fight with. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:52.040 He didn't have anything. 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.080 So he saw the jawbone of a donkey and he 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.560 reached out and grabbed the jawbone. I feel like this 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.320 microphone is my jawbone. By the way, he took that 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.920 jawbone of a donkey and beat Watch this a thousand Philistines. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.960 Sometimes you got to use what you have, no matter how. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.439 Many are against you. If God is for. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.119 You, he could take a stick in your hand or 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:17.919 the chop one of a donkey and give you a 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:22.520 great victory. And he was that strong. He was that strong. 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:28.240 He started strong, he was the product of a miraculous birth. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:38.720 But he he went weak. He went weak. And I 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:42.159 want to look at a frame because the writer of 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.520 Hebrews mentioned him, and I got to figure out why 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.840 he would say weakness and to strength, about how this 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:54.800 man had so much power and so much potential. But 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.200 the end of his life was so pitiful, so much. 0:18:58.040 --> 0:18:59.240 Power, so much potential. 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.480 Have you ever seen somebody who just could have been 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:08.520 so much, just could have done so much? Have you 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:12.119 ever been that person who didn't live up to your 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:13.359 own expectations. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:16.760 It says that after twenty years of. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:23.280 Samson having fits of rage and feats of strength, because 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.920 sometimes the two go hand in hand, that Samson was 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:29.240 in the lap of a philistine woman. And I don't 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.000 have time to do the whole story, but I do 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:33.960 have time to read you this one verse in Judge 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.760 of sixteen nineteen that says that after Delilah put Samson 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.119 to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:42.000 shave off the seven braids of his hair. 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:43.200 This would not have been. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:46.000 A big deal if he didn't take the Nazarite val 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.720 because the Nazarite vow was a way of being set 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.560 apart to God for a special purpose. And there's three 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.720 things you can't do. You can't drink any alcohol, you 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.359 can't touch a dead body, and you can't cut your hair. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.120 He's already done the first two, and. 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.640 So this is the last association, the last strand, if 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.439 you will, of his connection with his identity. And when 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.800 he laid his head in her lap and fell asleep. 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.920 She began to subdue him, And the Bible says something 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:23.040 that to me is really sad that his strength left him, 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:30.639 that his strength left him, that his strength left him. 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.000 Maybe you're in a season of your life where you 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.640 feel like your strength has left you too. Maybe you're 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.359 in a season in your life where you can't do 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.280 what you used to do, or you can't be who 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:46.439 you were meant to be. His strength left him, and 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.560 that's why I don't understand why he would be an 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:54.360 example of weakness into strength. The other day, I went 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:59.160 to lift weights with Buck, And for the last couple 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:01.680 of years, I've really been trying to improve my strength 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.000 and I've gotten a lot stronger. 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.320 And so I'm like, I'm. 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.439 Like bench pressing more than I've ever been stressed in 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:11.879 my life. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:13.080 And for you women, you. 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.280 Don't understand what a big deal that is. But for 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.440 a man, our ego is inextricably bound to our bench 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.320 press number for as long as we shall. 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.240 Live, we'll be ninety seven years old. Time About what 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:22.720 do you bench? 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:22.879 Bro? 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:25.919 Do you even live? And so I've been. 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:31.000 I've been working, and I've been working on my weight training, 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:33.800 and I got to the point now where I can 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:37.399 bench press now for twelve reps what I used to 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:38.920 couldn't bench one time. 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:44.920 When I was twenty five. I'm glad that you're proud 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:45.119 of me. 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.720 It just feels good that you celebrate my accomplishments. 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:50.479 But I've been working. I've been working hard at it. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:52.600 And the other day I went down because we do 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.360 Chess Day on Monday, because I work hard on. 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.800 The weekend and Monday is International Chess Day. 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.520 At least it is in my way workout circles, and 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:03.879 so we went in to do the bench press and 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:05.800 Buck had put the weight on the bar for me 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:08.440 to warm up, and it was weird because even as 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.280 I was warming up, everything felt heavy, which I attributed 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.679 to the fact that, you know, you guys make me 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.800 work on the weekend, and so I'm a little tired. 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.119 I had actually done quite a lot the week before, 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:20.639 more than I normally do. 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:24.439 But that didn't make sense why I would feel weak. 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.240 And the moment that was really almost creepy to me 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:30.760 was when he put the weight on that I could 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:34.160 normally do twelve times, and when I went to. 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:37.000 Do it, I couldn't get it once. 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:41.760 And I know that's not as tragic as you know 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.280 some situations in the world. But to me, I've been 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:49.439 spent in two years getting stronger and to lose my 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:55.359 strength just all at once like that, I was like 0:22:55.480 --> 0:23:01.119 Lork Delilah, you know, yea my spinitch or something. I 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:03.560 didn't know what was going on, so I texted Chunks. Now, 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.520 Chunks is the CFO of our church, and Chunks used 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.480 to be a doctor, by which I mean he is 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:17.119 an ex physical therapist with a lapsed license. But he 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.240 was all I had, So I texted him. I said, 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.320 I don't get I said, this is crazy, and I 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:23.840 told him the weight that I was trying to do 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:24.440 twelve times. 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:25.840 I'm not going to tell you what the weight was 0:23:25.880 --> 0:23:26.960 because you might not think it's. 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:29.560 That much and then you hurt my feelings or I 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:31.760 might make you feel bad. I'll make you feel bad, dumb. 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:36.120 But I told him to wait, and he said, well, 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.040 that makes no sense. It wasn't that I had done. 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:40.720 It was at the end of my workout. It was 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:44.000 the beginning of my workout, so I wasn't I wasn't tired. 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:46.640 And it wasn't like my shoulder went out. 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:48.439 You know, sometimes you go to do something because I'm 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.439 getting close to forty now, so I'm expecting stuff to 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:51.359 just pop and slip. 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:52.520 I'm just waiting on it. 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:54.720 I'm waiting for stuff to blow up like fireworks in 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:55.440 my lower back. 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:58.720 And I know that's coming, but not yet. And so 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:01.440 I got it. I go to push it. I can't 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:03.120 push it. And I texted him. I said I don't 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:03.960 get it. I said I. 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:05.640 Should do it, so I couldn't even get it once 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:09.399 and he said that's weird. He said, you're too strong 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:14.240 for that. I said, no, that's what I'm trying to say. 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:17.520 Got me back to my nineteen ninety five weight like 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:18.440 I'm a sophomore. 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:24.639 And then he sent another text. He said, you know 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:25.919 how your shoulder. 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:30.359 Gives you trouble because see now he knows about all 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.080 my aches and pains because I'm always complaining that bath 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:37.720 around my shoulder blade. I always carry a lot of 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:42.480 tension and sometimes it flares up. And he told me something, 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:52.320 because he's a doctor, he said. He said, it's not 0:24:52.400 --> 0:24:58.560 a lack of strength, it's a lack of stability. When 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:02.439 he said that, I forgot all about my bench press, 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:06.720 and I started thinking about the Bible because I started 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:08.399 thinking about Samson immediately. 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:10.679 That's the first thing I thought about. I might be 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:12.520 kind of weird that I make these connections. 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:19.880 But he explained to me how when you have instability 0:25:20.040 --> 0:25:23.600 in one part of your body, it affects your strength 0:25:24.680 --> 0:25:26.919 in other parts of your body. Have any of you 0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:30.480 ever hurt yourself before in one area? Yeah, and it 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:33.119 led to pain in another. Now, the weird thing about 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:35.520 this was I didn't feel any pain. I would have 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:37.960 understood that. You know, you understand, you go to do it. Wow, 0:25:38.040 --> 0:25:39.879 you practice stern them. Okay, I got that. Get this 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:42.280 weight off of me. I'm hurt, but I wasn't even 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:44.679 feeling it at that point. It's just the fact that 0:25:44.760 --> 0:25:48.280 something is damaged in my scapula. Did I say it right? 0:25:48.280 --> 0:25:52.000 In my scapula. Something is damaged in my scapula, and 0:25:52.080 --> 0:25:56.320 when I'm going to push what's unstable back here is 0:25:56.400 --> 0:25:58.160 causing me to not be able to. 0:25:58.119 --> 0:25:59.920 Do what I can do. 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:02.240 And so the message the Lord gave me out of 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:06.280 this little experience is some of you are stronger than 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:10.399 you think you are, and if you ever stabilize in 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:14.399 the areas where you're injured, you're about to see some 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:18.000 strength released in your life on a level like you've 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:22.800 never known. So my message is this, it's time for 0:26:22.840 --> 0:26:26.640 you to stabilize. Would you hit five people in your 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:35.400 general seating area and tell them stabilize, Stabilize, stabilize. Then 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:38.359 the nation of Israel was in trouble in judges because 0:26:38.400 --> 0:26:42.080 they were unstable. They were strong, they had the promise, 0:26:42.359 --> 0:26:44.840 they had the power, but they weren't stable. 0:26:45.119 --> 0:26:46.080 They would serve. 0:26:45.880 --> 0:26:48.879 God a little while, serve themselves a little while, they 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:52.000 follow God a little while, follow their desires and the 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:54.359 rituals of the pagans that they were surrounded with. 0:26:54.320 --> 0:26:56.560 A little while. They never lost. 0:26:56.280 --> 0:27:00.359 Their strength, they just lost their stability. And Ai'm to 0:27:00.440 --> 0:27:03.679 tell you today that you're not weak. It's not that 0:27:03.720 --> 0:27:06.800 you're weak. It's not that you lost your strength. I'm 0:27:06.880 --> 0:27:09.639 still just as strong on that bench as I was. 0:27:10.080 --> 0:27:12.560 But what I gotta do is regain my. 0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:16.359 Stability in this season because stuff will come along in 0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:18.400 your life and take your stability. 0:27:18.720 --> 0:27:20.520 But when your stability is leaving. 0:27:20.280 --> 0:27:22.600 And watch this, I found out they have a piece 0:27:22.640 --> 0:27:27.000 of equipment in the gym called the stability ball. The 0:27:27.040 --> 0:27:30.160 stability ball, now, I don't understand how it can be 0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:35.720 called a stability ball. If it's stability, it ought to 0:27:35.720 --> 0:27:40.520 be a box, right. If it's a stability ball, how 0:27:40.520 --> 0:27:43.280 can it be a stability ball? Is a ball, it's 0:27:43.320 --> 0:27:46.640 moving all around. What they're doing is they're creating an 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:52.399 unstable situation so that I can stabilize the muscles, so. 0:27:52.320 --> 0:27:54.840 That I can grow the strength. This is a. 0:27:54.800 --> 0:27:59.439 Message for somebody who's in an unstable situation. God is 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:03.480 trying to strengthen your faith. God is trying to grow. 0:28:03.280 --> 0:28:04.760 You on the inside. 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:08.199 God is trying to create a faith within you that 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:11.600 is not shaken by the storms. Give you an anchor 0:28:11.600 --> 0:28:15.440 so that when the winds blow, you got. 0:28:15.200 --> 0:28:17.000 Something to stand on. 0:28:21.080 --> 0:28:26.600 And the problem was that Samson was an unstable deliverer 0:28:26.720 --> 0:28:32.399 sent to an unstable people, and they got him in 0:28:32.400 --> 0:28:38.000 all kinds of trouble. There is a connection between your 0:28:38.000 --> 0:28:43.960 strength and your stability. And some of you are much 0:28:44.360 --> 0:28:51.280 stronger than life is making you look. And you, oh, 0:28:54.200 --> 0:28:59.640 I'm so weak, I'm not fit to be a dad. Well, 0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:02.200 of course you feel that way. You grew up in 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:06.800 an unstable environment. Now you assume you're not strong, You've 0:29:06.880 --> 0:29:09.880 just never been stabilized. 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:11.560 State. 0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:18.400 Our nation is a strong nation, but a strong nation 0:29:19.280 --> 0:29:22.520 that is not a stable nation is a dangerous nation. 0:29:28.040 --> 0:29:33.800 Samson didn't lose his strength, and it didn't happen. 0:29:33.600 --> 0:29:34.160 All at once. 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:38.040 Little by little he made some decisions. I'm gonna show 0:29:38.080 --> 0:29:40.320 him to you real quick, and I won't take along 0:29:40.360 --> 0:29:44.520 with this. But God gave me five pillars to check 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:48.640 in your life, to see if you're stable. And as 0:29:48.640 --> 0:29:50.240 I give you these, I asked that you will write 0:29:50.240 --> 0:29:52.760 them down so you can use them against your husband. 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:58.120 Ask your neighbors, say are you stable? Come on, we're 0:29:58.120 --> 0:29:59.320 gonna check your stability. 0:29:59.440 --> 0:30:00.280 You know how you go. 0:30:00.120 --> 0:30:01.920 Buying the mall and they have those people in the 0:30:01.920 --> 0:30:05.280 middle of the mall with the magnet bracelets and they 0:30:05.320 --> 0:30:07.760 put the magnet on and they push down on you, 0:30:07.800 --> 0:30:09.920 and then they push down on you again. Well, the 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:12.560 reason that they didn't push me over the second time 0:30:13.080 --> 0:30:13.640 is because. 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:14.480 I braced myself. 0:30:15.280 --> 0:30:18.040 Now, see, when you know what to look for, when 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:21.440 you know where your instabilities are, you can work around 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:22.680 them and strengthen them. 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:25.000 That's what Trump says had me doing the last couple 0:30:25.040 --> 0:30:25.280 of weeks. 0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:29.280 He's had me doing all these weird exercises to stabilize. 0:30:30.400 --> 0:30:33.520 So I want to I want to check your stability today. Okay, 0:30:34.320 --> 0:30:38.800 I want to check your emotional stability. Are your emotion stable? 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:47.440 I should probably ask your kids, I should probably ask 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:57.240 your boss. Oh man, Samson was a drama queen operated 0:30:58.400 --> 0:31:03.920 not just by emotion, but he operated for emotions. 0:31:03.960 --> 0:31:06.240 There is the difference. You need to have emotions. 0:31:07.360 --> 0:31:09.040 I mean, come on, what kind of preacher would I 0:31:09.080 --> 0:31:13.320 be if I didn't have emotions? Can you imagine, like, 0:31:13.440 --> 0:31:16.000 you know, the band's finishing a song and I walk 0:31:16.080 --> 0:31:17.000 up with no emotion? 0:31:17.360 --> 0:31:19.440 How we just killed the whole thing? 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:19.680 Oh? 0:31:19.840 --> 0:31:21.560 Praise the Lord if you want to. I mean, you 0:31:21.600 --> 0:31:23.520 don't have to. You don't feel like it's all right. 0:31:26.640 --> 0:31:31.480 I'm glad God gave me my emotions, but he gave 0:31:31.480 --> 0:31:34.720 them to me. That means I get to use them 0:31:35.480 --> 0:31:40.120 for his purpose. And some of you, you don't have emotions. 0:31:40.160 --> 0:31:51.000 They have you. I'm gonna scan the room real quick. Yeah, yes, 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:54.040 about fifty to fifty men and women. See when I 0:31:54.080 --> 0:31:57.720 say emotions, you think I'm talking about her. I think 0:31:57.800 --> 0:31:59.600 men are ten times more emotional than women. 0:32:05.400 --> 0:32:08.040 Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, Governor Hockey, Oh yeah, yeah 0:32:08.080 --> 0:32:14.520 you are too, because look, Samson's wives would cry, but 0:32:14.680 --> 0:32:24.520 Samson would kill Who's more emotional. I mean, I need 0:32:24.560 --> 0:32:26.640 my emotions and you need your emotions to do what 0:32:26.680 --> 0:32:28.280 we're called to do. If you're going to preach, you 0:32:28.280 --> 0:32:30.760 need to feel it when you preach. I don't care 0:32:30.760 --> 0:32:32.680 what any of y'all say. You need me to holler 0:32:32.720 --> 0:32:35.400 every once in a while when I'm preaching you do 0:32:35.520 --> 0:32:42.680 you need me to hunt you one time, nothing more 0:32:42.720 --> 0:32:43.479 than to wake you up? 0:32:43.520 --> 0:32:45.680 And you need me every once in a while when 0:32:45.680 --> 0:32:50.520 I'm preaching. Bring it down to that level of intensity 0:32:52.160 --> 0:33:00.600 with a hushed, forced devotional whisper designed to communicate intensity 0:33:00.680 --> 0:33:03.280 with intimacy. 0:33:03.920 --> 0:33:06.200 The emotions. Isn't it crazy? Though? 0:33:06.320 --> 0:33:08.680 The same emotions that could make me a good preacher 0:33:08.720 --> 0:33:14.160 could make me a crazy driver because I could get 0:33:14.280 --> 0:33:16.720 just as loud behind the wheel as I can behind 0:33:16.720 --> 0:33:17.080 the mic. 0:33:19.440 --> 0:33:23.800 It's what you do with them. And I believe God 0:33:23.840 --> 0:33:24.400 gave Samson. 0:33:24.440 --> 0:33:26.360 If you want to read his story this week from 0:33:26.520 --> 0:33:29.440 Judges thirteen to sixteen, that would be your homework and 0:33:29.520 --> 0:33:32.920 read how God called him to deliver the Philistines, and 0:33:32.960 --> 0:33:36.560 he gave him the emotional passion to do it. But 0:33:37.520 --> 0:33:41.400 Samson took his passion and spent it on his preference 0:33:43.440 --> 0:33:47.719 instead of applying it to his purpose, so instead of 0:33:47.760 --> 0:33:51.440 delivering his people from the Philistines, he reacted out of 0:33:51.560 --> 0:33:58.160 rage and married the Philistines. Are you stable in your emotions? 0:33:59.160 --> 0:34:02.720 And are you stable in your commitment? Because if you 0:34:02.760 --> 0:34:05.360 consult your emotions to determine whether or not to keep 0:34:05.360 --> 0:34:06.560 your commitment, you'll. 0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:07.120 Never be stable. 0:34:08.840 --> 0:34:12.480 Three things Samson was told not to do, and he 0:34:12.560 --> 0:34:13.479 did all three of. 0:34:13.400 --> 0:34:15.560 Them because he wasn't committed. 0:34:15.920 --> 0:34:17.200 And I'm gonna take something I didn't tell any of 0:34:17.239 --> 0:34:19.080 the other worship experiences. If you want to hear it, say, 0:34:19.160 --> 0:34:22.320 oh yeah, say I totally want to hear this's Pastor Stevenna. 0:34:26.440 --> 0:34:28.960 When the angel came to tell Samson's mom that he 0:34:29.040 --> 0:34:31.239 was supposed to be a deliver of Israel, she never 0:34:31.280 --> 0:34:34.759 told his dad that, And I wonder did anybody ever 0:34:34.800 --> 0:34:38.800 tell him or did he just grow up knowing that 0:34:38.880 --> 0:34:40.839 he was strong and not know what he was strong for. 0:34:43.360 --> 0:34:45.000 Because when you have a strength that you don't give 0:34:45.000 --> 0:34:49.800 an assignment to, it turns into apathy and you spend 0:34:49.800 --> 0:34:51.440 it in all kinds of crazy ways. So I want 0:34:51.480 --> 0:34:55.080 you to check your ambition. That's the third thing, your ambition. 0:34:56.560 --> 0:35:00.680 Are you stable in your ambition? Because if what you 0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:03.040 want isn't what God wants. Even if you get it, 0:35:03.040 --> 0:35:07.840 it'll destroy you. And all I can find in the 0:35:07.840 --> 0:35:10.320 Bible that Samson ever wanted bad enough to do something 0:35:10.320 --> 0:35:15.799 to get it was revenge and women. So he had 0:35:15.840 --> 0:35:17.680 the strength to accomplish it, but he didn't have the 0:35:17.719 --> 0:35:19.680 ambition to point the strength in the right direction. 0:35:20.880 --> 0:35:23.120 Elijah asked me regularly. 0:35:22.960 --> 0:35:25.480 If I think he's going to be a great musician, 0:35:26.080 --> 0:35:29.080 and I tell him honestly, because I'm a dad, mom 0:35:29.120 --> 0:35:30.000 can tell him, yeah. 0:35:29.840 --> 0:35:31.680 Baby, you're gonna be the best. Uh huh. That's not 0:35:31.719 --> 0:35:33.600 my job. My job is to say it depends. 0:35:35.480 --> 0:35:38.479 Because one coach that I had said there's three things 0:35:38.480 --> 0:35:40.080 you need to be great in sports, and I believe 0:35:40.080 --> 0:35:42.680 it applies to anything in life. He said, you need talent, 0:35:42.719 --> 0:35:46.200 and Elijah's got talent. He's always been beaten on something 0:35:46.239 --> 0:35:48.680 in rhythm since he was like he's beaten on Holly 0:35:48.719 --> 0:35:49.799 when he was inside of her. 0:35:50.400 --> 0:35:51.600 Feel him kicking and stuff. 0:35:52.480 --> 0:35:55.160 And he's got the second thing you need, which is opportunity, 0:35:55.760 --> 0:35:56.560 because I bought. 0:35:56.400 --> 0:35:58.320 Him the instruments and I put him in the classes. 0:35:58.640 --> 0:36:00.560 But he said the third thing you need is drive, 0:36:00.880 --> 0:36:07.799 and nobody can put the desire in you. Nobody can 0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:09.799 can can put it in you to want it? 0:36:10.320 --> 0:36:10.480 Can? 0:36:10.520 --> 0:36:12.120 I tell you the problem with a lot of us. 0:36:12.280 --> 0:36:16.920 We don't want enough. We don't want enough. We just 0:36:16.960 --> 0:36:18.799 want a job. We don't want to make a difference there. 0:36:21.880 --> 0:36:24.279 We just want enough for us. We don't ever ask God, God, 0:36:24.400 --> 0:36:26.080 would you give me more than enough? And I'm not 0:36:26.120 --> 0:36:29.400 just talking about money. I'm talking about other resources as well. 0:36:29.920 --> 0:36:32.439 I need more opportunity to be a blessing. I don't 0:36:32.480 --> 0:36:34.600 just want to be blessed. I want to be a blessing. 0:36:34.800 --> 0:36:37.440 Samson was only strong enough to get what he wanted, 0:36:39.040 --> 0:36:44.000 nothing more, and he underperformed his potential because he didn't 0:36:44.000 --> 0:36:45.840 have a stable ambition. 0:36:46.960 --> 0:36:48.400 He saw a woman he wanted, or he took her. 0:36:48.440 --> 0:36:49.360 He took what he wanted. 0:36:51.320 --> 0:36:54.400 But if your ambition is not aligned with your assignment, 0:36:55.080 --> 0:37:00.400 even your achievements will be empty. 0:37:00.960 --> 0:37:02.040 And he lost his strength. 0:37:03.200 --> 0:37:06.760 He lost it in stages, with every compromise, and eventually 0:37:06.760 --> 0:37:08.200 he came to the point where he felt weak. 0:37:08.239 --> 0:37:08.919 But he wasn't weak. 0:37:08.960 --> 0:37:12.879 He was unstable, an unstable man in an unstable nation. 0:37:15.120 --> 0:37:17.080 And you know what I think Sampson's big deal was. 0:37:17.120 --> 0:37:18.040 And maybe this is just a. 0:37:18.040 --> 0:37:21.560 Breakout session for the students in the church is are 0:37:21.600 --> 0:37:27.000 you stable in your relationships? Sampson got into all of 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:30.600 his trouble listening to the wrong people, wanting to be 0:37:30.640 --> 0:37:33.800 around the wrong people. He was hooking up with the 0:37:33.800 --> 0:37:35.560 Philistines that he was supposed to kill. 0:37:37.440 --> 0:37:39.960 I'm not telling you to kill anybody, but I am saying. 0:37:41.239 --> 0:37:44.319 That in this season of your life, if God is 0:37:44.360 --> 0:37:48.759 to stabilize you so that you can be stronger, you 0:37:48.800 --> 0:38:00.560 can't keep leaning on weak people. Thank you, thanks for 0:38:00.600 --> 0:38:03.840 the applause. I feel the love. There's very little of it, 0:38:03.880 --> 0:38:11.200 but what little there is I feel it. Because if 0:38:11.200 --> 0:38:13.120 you get around the wrong group of friends, anythink I'm 0:38:13.120 --> 0:38:14.880 just talking to teenagers. I'm talking about some of us 0:38:14.880 --> 0:38:16.440 that live in isolation. It's not that we have the 0:38:16.440 --> 0:38:20.799 wrong people, we have nobody. Samson wouldn't listen to his 0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:24.320 parents who told him, don't marry that philistine woman. He 0:38:24.360 --> 0:38:26.200 wouldn't listen to the ones who really loved him. He 0:38:26.239 --> 0:38:27.799 fell in love with the ones who hated him. 0:38:29.680 --> 0:38:30.319 So if you keep. 0:38:30.320 --> 0:38:32.480 Leaning on weak people, don't be surprised when they let 0:38:32.480 --> 0:38:35.200 you down. If you put your head in Delilah's laugh 0:38:35.440 --> 0:38:37.040 don't be surprised when you wake up. 0:38:37.080 --> 0:38:39.200 Ball Come on. 0:38:39.239 --> 0:38:42.319 In this season, you might need some new people. You 0:38:42.400 --> 0:38:45.080 might have to join a new group. You might need 0:38:45.080 --> 0:38:48.680 a new squad. Touch somebody say I got goals. I 0:38:48.719 --> 0:38:52.040 got squad goals. And in this season of my life, 0:38:52.160 --> 0:38:55.600 I need somebody who's stable. I can't just bear around 0:38:55.640 --> 0:38:58.439 people who are this way one day and another way 0:38:58.480 --> 0:39:01.000 the next. I need to be around some people who 0:39:01.120 --> 0:39:04.080 have faith. Check your neighbor and say, are you stable? 0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:06.920 Come on, check them out, push on them a little bit. 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:10.000 Can Can you take a storm and stay with me? 0:39:10.480 --> 0:39:13.319 Can you put up with the trials of life and persevere? 0:39:13.800 --> 0:39:20.080 I need some stable people. Stable stable, stable, stable. It 0:39:20.080 --> 0:39:23.120 means that you know, it can't just be pushed around. 0:39:23.840 --> 0:39:28.600 See this camera is on a tripod. You can't see it. 0:39:29.200 --> 0:39:32.920 But the reason that it's able to hold steady is 0:39:32.960 --> 0:39:36.360 because of what's under it. God said, it's not what's 0:39:36.400 --> 0:39:40.759 happening at the surface that's causing your life to go. 0:39:40.880 --> 0:39:41.560 Up and down. 0:39:42.280 --> 0:39:48.320 You'll just leave a stable foundation. Are you stable? 0:39:51.680 --> 0:39:53.600 And so He's gonna stabilize. 0:39:53.719 --> 0:39:57.480 It's the fifth thing, my belief. How many believers do 0:39:57.560 --> 0:39:57.920 I have. 0:40:00.120 --> 0:40:03.200 Belief? Belief belief in what you can't see. 0:40:03.280 --> 0:40:06.560 They cut Sampson's hair, and after they cut his hair, 0:40:06.760 --> 0:40:09.799 he had forfeited his strength because he had lost his stability. 0:40:10.040 --> 0:40:12.160 And then so once they took his stability, they took 0:40:12.200 --> 0:40:15.279 his sight. They gouged out his eyes. But when they 0:40:15.280 --> 0:40:18.320 took out his eyes physically, it was only an external 0:40:18.360 --> 0:40:22.680 indication of what had already happened internally, because Sampson hadn't 0:40:22.719 --> 0:40:31.720 had vision for twenty years, and he became a slave. 0:40:31.800 --> 0:40:35.840 A strong man became a slave. His strength was turned 0:40:35.840 --> 0:40:40.120 into weakness. And they let him out one day to 0:40:40.200 --> 0:40:45.960 the temple of Dagon, that was their grain god, the Philistines, 0:40:46.000 --> 0:40:48.040 the suppressive people. They brought him out and they had 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:51.200 three thousand people watching him, and the one who had 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:53.520 made a laughing stock of them, they were now laughing at. 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:59.839 And I want to show it to you real quick. 0:41:00.120 --> 0:41:03.640 It says, while they were in high spirits twenty five 0:41:03.840 --> 0:41:07.960 they said, let's bring out Samson to entertain us. So 0:41:08.680 --> 0:41:11.240 they called Samson out of the prison and he performed 0:41:11.239 --> 0:41:14.200 for them. But then they made a mistake. 0:41:16.840 --> 0:41:22.200 What they did next was their downfall, because. 0:41:22.000 --> 0:41:26.080 The Bible says that they stood him among the pillars. 0:41:27.560 --> 0:41:32.400 What do pillars do to a building? They stabilized the building, 0:41:34.040 --> 0:41:39.279 so they put him among the pillars. And when they 0:41:39.280 --> 0:41:41.480 put him among the pillars, see, he can't see. He 0:41:41.520 --> 0:41:44.160 doesn't have his eyes anymore. And I want you to 0:41:44.200 --> 0:41:47.759 watch with me how it was in his most vulnerable 0:41:47.800 --> 0:41:53.880 state that Samson accomplished his greatest victory. I came to 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:57.000 preach this message today for somebody who needs a second chance. 0:41:58.200 --> 0:42:01.800 Maybe your strength has seemed very lately, maybe you've collapsed 0:42:01.880 --> 0:42:07.160 under the pressure of an unstable life. But Samson, now 0:42:08.200 --> 0:42:11.839 Samson is standing there and he doesn't have his sight. 0:42:12.640 --> 0:42:18.319 And they shaved his hair. But another mistake that they 0:42:18.360 --> 0:42:21.880 made when they shaved his head is when they shaved 0:42:21.880 --> 0:42:28.440 his head, they should have taken his scalp. Because one 0:42:28.480 --> 0:42:35.719 thing about hair is see that's when Holly sometimes she'll say, 0:42:35.840 --> 0:42:37.960 I'm thinking about getting a hair cut. 0:42:38.120 --> 0:42:40.440 What do you think? And I say try it. If 0:42:40.440 --> 0:42:43.719 you don't like it, it'll always what. 0:42:45.239 --> 0:42:48.120 And so Samson now has been a while and they 0:42:48.160 --> 0:42:50.520 cut his hair, and he gave up his strength. But 0:42:50.600 --> 0:42:54.080 guess what, it's growing back. I came with an announcement 0:42:54.360 --> 0:42:57.120 for somebody who's been living under oppression. 0:42:57.040 --> 0:43:01.320 Your strength is coming back. 0:43:03.160 --> 0:43:05.120 That's three people tell him he'scrolling back. 0:43:06.239 --> 0:43:07.600 It's going back. I see it. 0:43:07.600 --> 0:43:08.439 It's gone back. 0:43:11.080 --> 0:43:14.360 And he said to the servant, why this sermon is 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:15.279 a blessing to me. 0:43:15.800 --> 0:43:19.720 Thank you Lord for second chances, thank you for new strength, 0:43:20.120 --> 0:43:20.600 thank you. 0:43:20.640 --> 0:43:22.120 For renewing my mind. 0:43:22.440 --> 0:43:29.160 Thank you for placing me about the pillar. He said, 0:43:29.200 --> 0:43:33.440 put me where I can feel the pillars. So they 0:43:33.480 --> 0:43:35.440 put him where he could feel the pillars. Everybody say, 0:43:35.480 --> 0:43:39.320 dumb move. They put him where he could feel the pillars, 0:43:39.520 --> 0:43:42.479 and he's with his with his eyes scooched out. He said, 0:43:42.520 --> 0:43:44.359 I want to feel the pillars that I may lean 0:43:44.440 --> 0:43:48.279 against them. And then I want to go to verse 0:43:49.040 --> 0:43:52.680 twenty nine because I think it brings full circle what 0:43:52.800 --> 0:44:00.960 I've been trying to say to you today. Then Samson reached. Okay, 0:44:02.360 --> 0:44:05.600 he can't see, but he can reach. 0:44:08.480 --> 0:44:09.920 He's reaching. 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:14.920 Just say, I'm saying, reached towards the two central pillars 0:44:14.960 --> 0:44:18.479 on which the temple stood. Now the next two words 0:44:18.480 --> 0:44:21.320 I'm gonna need your help with because I can't see. 0:44:22.120 --> 0:44:24.400 But the Bible says that Sampson did something in this 0:44:24.520 --> 0:44:28.719 moment that created his greatest victory. And when I say three, 0:44:28.760 --> 0:44:30.560 I want you to shout out what he did next? 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:31.719 What did he do? One? Two? 0:44:31.760 --> 0:44:32.000 Three? 0:44:33.520 --> 0:44:37.640 He did? Why he did? What? What you're gonna do 0:44:37.680 --> 0:44:40.799 in this next season? What you're gonna do when the 0:44:40.880 --> 0:44:43.040 storms rage, What you're. 0:44:42.920 --> 0:44:45.160 Gonna do when it seems like hope is lost. 0:44:45.560 --> 0:44:48.399 What you're gonna do when friends forsake you. What you're 0:44:48.400 --> 0:44:50.200 gonna do when you don't know what to do? 0:44:50.640 --> 0:44:55.520 I'm grace myself, brace yourself. 0:44:55.680 --> 0:44:57.160 Why has not seen? 0:44:57.360 --> 0:45:01.439 There, has not hurt either, hasn't into the hearts of man? 0:45:02.680 --> 0:45:07.960 What God has prepared? I revealed it by a spirit. 0:45:09.320 --> 0:45:13.359 It was when he couldn't see that he believed, and 0:45:13.440 --> 0:45:15.920 Samson prayed to the Lord in his weak state. 0:45:16.239 --> 0:45:21.239 Now I understand it. He turned weakness into. 0:45:21.000 --> 0:45:28.680 Strength because he believed when he couldn't see, and he 0:45:28.680 --> 0:45:29.360 he did. 0:45:30.760 --> 0:45:34.400 In his death what he was never able to do 0:45:34.480 --> 0:45:40.560 in his life. He braced himself. And when he braced himself, 0:45:41.520 --> 0:45:42.520 he pushed the pillars. 0:45:42.520 --> 0:45:44.520 And when he pushed the pillars with all of his might, 0:45:44.680 --> 0:45:49.640 because he braced himself, he found out his strength never 0:45:49.880 --> 0:45:55.040 left him. It was there all along. And you're about 0:45:55.080 --> 0:45:58.359 to discover today. This is a stabilizing word. God sent 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:02.680 me with a message to stabilize you today. You've been 0:46:02.719 --> 0:46:05.480 tossed and driven. Like James says, you've been like a 0:46:05.520 --> 0:46:07.600 wave of the sea, tossed and driven with the wind. 0:46:08.360 --> 0:46:11.960 A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. 0:46:13.440 --> 0:46:15.520 And you hadn't been strong because you hadn't been stable. 0:46:16.680 --> 0:46:28.280 But if you brace yourself, well, look there's my sermon, points. 0:46:24.600 --> 0:46:25.680 Fork, how that turned out. 0:46:29.840 --> 0:46:32.280 Would you do me the proud honor of locating twelve 0:46:32.360 --> 0:46:35.280 people and repreaching my sermon and tell embrace yourself? 0:46:35.440 --> 0:46:37.359 Would you? Would you find him right now and tell 0:46:37.400 --> 0:46:40.640 embrace yourself for what God's about to do in your life. 0:46:41.160 --> 0:46:44.960 You can't be shaky. You can't believe it one day 0:46:44.960 --> 0:46:47.319 and not believe it. You can't be emotional. You can't 0:46:47.320 --> 0:46:50.920 be overly emotional. You can't kind of have bathed. You 0:46:50.960 --> 0:46:53.600 can't think so, you can't hope, so you can't wish 0:46:53.600 --> 0:46:54.040 it to be. 0:46:54.160 --> 0:46:57.120 So come on, you're about to get your strength back. 0:46:57.400 --> 0:47:02.000 You're stronger then you think you are. You're stronger than 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:06.160 you've been before. Your hair is growing back. You're standing 0:47:06.280 --> 0:47:11.200 among stillers, and this is your moment to stay alive 0:47:12.520 --> 0:47:17.040 and bus with all your mind stop. 0:47:21.920 --> 0:47:23.040 Thank you for joining us. 0:47:23.320 --> 0:47:25.799 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:47:25.880 --> 0:47:29.360 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:47:29.800 --> 0:47:32.000 You can click the link in the description to give 0:47:32.080 --> 0:47:36.000 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:47:36.080 --> 0:47:40.040 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:47:40.320 --> 0:47:41.640 You can share it with your friends. 0:47:41.960 --> 0:47:44.239 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:47:44.280 --> 0:47:46.399 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:47:46.400 --> 0:47:47.279 Elevation Church. 0:47:47.320 --> 0:47:49.000 Thanks again for listening. God bless you