Stop 9 Church
We want to share important pieces of our worship service with those who might not have been able to be there in person.
Stop 9 Church
A True Definition of Strength: A Deeper Look at the Story of Samson (Part 2)
All right, we're going to start worship this morning. When all I see is the battle.
Speaker 2:You see my victory. When all I see is the mountain, you see the mountain move. And as I walk through the shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now, for I am safe with you. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. And if you are for me, who can be against me?
Speaker 2:For Jesus there's nothing impossible for you. When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. When all I see is a cross, god, you see the empty tomb. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Every fear I lay at your feet, I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you.
Speaker 3:God, the battle belongs to you. An almighty fortress, you go before us.
Speaker 2:Nothing can stand against the power of our God you shine in the shadows, you win every battle.
Speaker 3:Nothing can stand against the power of our God. An almighty fortress. You go before us Nothing can stand against the power of our God, you shine in the shadows.
Speaker 2:You win every battle, nothing can stand against the power of our God, our God. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Every fear I lay at your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, the battle belongs to you.
Speaker 3:Oh God, the battle belongs to you.
Speaker 2:In heavenly armor we'll enter the land. The battle belongs to the Lord. No weapon that's fashioned against us will stand.
Speaker 2:The battle belongs to the Lord and we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord. We sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord. When your enemy presses in hard, do not fear. The battle belongs to the Lord. Take courage, my friend. Your redemption is near. The battle belongs to the Lord and we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord. We sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord. All my words fall short.
Speaker 3:How could?
Speaker 2:I express all my gratitude. I could sing these songs, as I often do, but every song must end and you never do. So, I throw up my hands and praise you again and again, cause all that. I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah, and I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. I've got one response.
Speaker 3:I've got just one move.
Speaker 2:With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again, cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah, and I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else fit for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. Come on, my soul, oh don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs.
Speaker 2:Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song, cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. So I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, singing Alleluia, alleluia, amen.
Speaker 3:Good morning. Today we're reading from Judges 14. But Samson told his father Get her for me. She looks good to me. His father and mother didn't realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines who ruled over Israel at that time.
Speaker 1:Good morning. We'll go ahead and begin with the word of prayer, so let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, god. We thank you for an opportunity to get together as a family, to be connected, to be encouraged, to be motivated by the things that you're doing in our life. And, god, we're thankful that we serve such a loving God that doesn't give up on us and continues to seek his plan, and we're thankful for Jesus and the part that he played in that plan and his example of how to love and interact and his great sacrifice for us. We're thankful for the spirit that you give us to help guide us and interact for us as well. Thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to continue our series this morning and we are looking at this idea of a true definition of strength and we're looking at the story of Samson, and Samson is a story that we grew up listening to. It's a story that we grew up and had thoughts and thought Samson was this great hero. If you're like me, you think Samson was this huge, massive, hulk-looking guy, and as we dive into this story, hopefully we're going to learn some of the truths about God that we see through Samson. But sometimes in movies and in stories that we read, there is a hero. That is very obvious, and so I'm going to show a clip up here not a clip, but a picture and I want you to tell me who the hero is in this movie. Okay, hopefully some of you know these movies in the 830 service. Nobody knew any of the movies I put up there, and so it was really awkward because I was describing the movie and the hero. It was just really random. So here we go.
Speaker 1:Who's the hero? Harry Potter, right, that one's. It's in the title I gave you, I set, I gave you a change up right off the bat. It's an easy one. It's Harry Potter. Most of the time we think of Harry Potter, we think of that guy right there. There is somebody, though, that's in the story, that's in the background and is in some of the most important moments, and sometimes he's the only guy that steps up. Does anybody know who the hidden character or the hidden hero is? Neville, right there, that man, neville? Is it Longbottom? Yes, I'm a Harry Potter guy, for sure. He's in the big moments and he's kind of the guy in the background. He's not always the guy that gets all the credit. He's not one of the big three when it comes to Harry, hermione and Ron, but he's Neville. Okay, and we need Neville's. Sometimes we need the guy that's in the background that keeps things going.
Speaker 1:Here's another movie. Any Star Wars fans? Okay, who's the hero in Star Wars? Luke Skywalker? Who'd you say? Anakin? Yeah, chewbacca, I got a Chewbacca. Han Solo no one's named the coolest character, obi-wan Yoda Don't forget about Yoda. All right, these are all sort of some of the heroes. That's just some of them. But again, in Star Wars, there's a character that is not always in the big scene, or he actually is in the big scene, but he's not always the guy that gets all the light shined on him because he's not a guy. It's R2-D2. R2-d2 is in some of the biggest moments and actually saves a lot of the situations because he does what he's supposed to do, and so R2-D2 is a hidden character. All right.
Speaker 1:This next one, morgan, had to like brief me on this movie because I fall asleep. Okay, and some of you are like how could you fall asleep during Lord of the Rings? Because the first one's boring. Okay, just kidding, I'm going to try this week to watch the Lord of the Rings. Okay, lord of the Rings, who's the hero? Frodo, right, that's what I've learned.
Speaker 1:Last night during my summaries, I learned that Frodo is the hero. He's the guy that's supposed to carry the what the ring right. And if I understand right I think I haven't watched these movies, so I'm trying here If I understand right, there was a group of people that was going to help him get that ring where it needed to be, right, and so there was people that was actually designated to be in this group. But there's one guy that is not necessarily a part of the group, but he is a very, very good friend. Okay, and his name is Dumbledore. That's what I thought too. The guy with the beard, sam Wise Gamgee. What a name. He doesn't have any special talents, doesn't have any special gifts, doesn't really bring a whole lot to the table. But do you know what he is? Based off what I've heard, he's a great friend. He was a friend of Frodo and he refused to let Frodo go on this trip by himself, and so he's there, and actually in moments he ends up carrying the ring when Frodo couldn't, and then when Frodo's back around, I guess, from what I read he gives the ring back. He's the hero, but he's not always in the light. Does that make sense? I got one more for you. This is for my younger crowd, lloyd. Yes, that's coming One day, bryce.
Speaker 1:Inside Out okay, anybody seen Inside Out before? Okay, good, nobody in the 830 service had seen Inside Out. And how do you explain Inside Out when you've never seen it? So Inside Out is a movie about a girl who is learning all of her emotions, and so the movie is an animated movie about her emotions. So you see them kind of navigating her life and trying to help her through life. Okay.
Speaker 1:But there's a moment where things kind of go unravel and things are kind of falling apart and there's one character that is willing to basically step up when nobody else, or he just stepped up because he had to, he knew he had to, and I don't know that he always gets the credit for being the hero in this story, but in fact he is, and he also has a really catchy, annoying song that he sings. Anybody know who it is? The Big Purple Guy, you're absolutely right. Okay, so these are the main characters and that might be who we say the hero is, but here is the hidden hero in the movie Bing bong. Bing bong I don't know the rest of the song, but there's this moment where they're trying to escape but there's not enough power and he sings a song. He basically sacrifices himself his memory in Riley's life so that the rest of them could go save the day. So Bing Bong is the hero.
Speaker 1:This morning we're going to continue our series in Judges, looking at the life of Samson, and we looked last week. We spent a lot of time looking at this idea of where the Israelites were. The Israelites were in a bad spot. They were in a terrible situation. They were in a terrible cycle where they would praise God and then they would immediately fall and they would be worshiping idols. And they just got into this cycle and we talked about. It's a cycle that hasn't went anywhere. We too fall into that cycle, but they find themselves in captivity from the Philistines for 40 years. God has been trying to get their attention for 40 years and finally, without them asking, god intervenes. Because God has a plan for his people, and so he decides he's going to send a man into the story. And so last week we read about how they found out they were going to have a son. His mom and dad found out they were going to have a son, and right at the end of last week that son was born and his name is Samson.
Speaker 1:And what we know about Samson is that he was dedicated to God. He was a Nazarite. He was supposed to follow some rules, and so we got to go over those rules so that we can understand what happens later on in this story. The rules was is he was not supposed to cut his hair. He wasn't supposed to cut his hair, okay. He also wasn't supposed to drink any wine or alcohol. He's not even really supposed to be associated with anything grape related. He was supposed to stay away from it. It was a special dedication that he had with God. He also and I don't know if we highlighted this last week or not he wasn't supposed to touch anything that's dead Okay, and so those were kind of the big rules that he was to follow. Now Samson was to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. That was the plan. That was God's way of rescuing them. So here we go. Here's our first verse. We'll see what Samson decides to do One day.
Speaker 1:When Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistines' women caught his eye. So he returned home and he told his father and mother a young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye and I want to marry her. Go, get her for me. Love at first sight. Samson sees this woman and he thinks man, oh man, is she beautiful. I would love to marry that girl. In fact, you know I'm gonna marry that girl. And so he tells mom and dad, I need you to arrange this so that I can marry this girl.
Speaker 1:Now, based off of what we know so far, just in that one verse, what's the problem here? Where's there a potential red flag here? Where's there a potential red flag? She is a Philistine woman. Now, remember, samson's role in this story is that he's going to help deliver the Israelites from who. So he's signing up to destroy that young lady's family and so he's falling in love with a girl he shouldn't fall in love with. Now have they established a real great connection? I mean, are they communicating? No, he just sees her from a distance and says, yep, she's the one. And so he tells mom and dad I'm going to marry this girl. And it's a really silly thing as we sit back and read it now.
Speaker 1:Why would you put yourself in that position? Why would you put yourself in a position where, eventually, from what we know in history with how God's going to deliver his people, you're probably going to destroy her family, you might even destroy her and you might cause a lot of. But despite all of this, we can be dedicated and established and we're still going to fight our sinful behavior. Now, I don't think Samson sinned at this point, but he's not putting himself in a great spot. He's got a role, he's got a mission, he's got a plan and he's falling in love with the enemy at this point. But here's what I want you to know he's dedicated, he's established From birth. He was dedicated to God. Yet he's still going to battle and struggle with human behavior. And so we, as Christians, we can be dedicated, we can be established. We can be Christians for a long time in our life, but guess what we're still going to face. We can be Christians for a long time in our life, but guess what we're still going to face. We're still going to face those sinful behaviors. We know that. You know that it's going to consistently come up, and so that's one thing that we have to remember.
Speaker 1:So he goes to mom and dad. He says I want to marry this girl. And they try to talk him out of it. Mom and dad are reasonable. They understand he's dedicated to God and they say, samson, she might not be the best one, okay, but those of you that have been parents for a while, you know when you say that that's like a challenge, right, that might not be the best one and it's like alright, mom and Dad, I'm going to prove you wrong. Guess who? Samson still wants to marry that girl. He's still got eyes on that girl.
Speaker 1:But I want you to read verse 3 and 4 with me. We'll read this together, as Keaton read. It says but Samson told his father get her for me, she looks good to me. His father and mother didn't realize that the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines. And so we serve a God that continues to create opportunities for his plan to be accomplished, despite some of the decisions that we make. And so Samson's mom and dad's looking at this situation and they say we can't let him marry this girl. But God is already establishing that this is a great opportunity for Samson's creative relationship with the Philistines and ultimately deliver the Israelites from them. And so we serve a God that continues to create opportunities for his plan.
Speaker 1:In 2 Timothy we get this verse, verse 20 through 21. I'm not sure what that extra 20 is doing over there, but it's there. But it says in a wealthy home, some utensils are made of gold and silver and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions and the cheap ones are for everyday use. Paul's writing and he tells he says God's going to use all kinds of utensils for his plan. God's going to use all kinds of vessels for his plan. Some of them are going to be shiny and great things. Some of them are going to be the rusty clay pot that he still continues to use to solve or to finish his plan. And so it's a good reminder there in 2 Timothy that no matter what you feel like you are, you're a utensil. You're a vessel for God to use.
Speaker 1:Samson is not the hero that we created him to be. Vessel for God to use, samson is not the hero that we created him to be. We think of Samson. We think he's this awesome, great, fantastic guy. Well, I got news for you. We're going to try to cram two chapters into this morning and we're going to find out that he is not always the best, okay.
Speaker 1:But what? We find out? That God is the best and God still uses him, and God still has a plan. And so we have that. So we learn that God has options. No matter if we are the golden vessel or the old beaten up clay pot, god can still use us for his plan. I hope that makes sense. So now we got to keep going into the story. So Samson has his mindset he's going to marry this girl, and so in order to marry him or in order to marry her, he first has to meet her. And so mom and dad establish this we're going to go to where she lives and we're going to meet her.
Speaker 1:But along the way we get one of the coolest verses in all of Scripture. Along the way we get this verse, samson is walking along the path to meet the Philistine woman, but he's walking near the. Anybody know where he's? At the vineyard? Should he be around the vineyard? Probably not. Is he setting himself up to fail? Yeah, a little bit. He's told not to drink wine, not to be around anything, grapes, and he's just walking the line right by the vineyard, just checking it out, just seeing what's it like over there. And all of the sudden a lion comes out and is going to attack him and it says notice here. At that moment the spirit of the came powerfully upon him and he ripped the lion's jaw apart. What a cool moment. I wish there was instant replay on.
Speaker 1:This. Seems a little random, though, right. Why is there a lion? Did God send the lion to get his attention? Hey, you're kind of walking towards the vineyard. Maybe you shouldn't get so close to the vineyard. Is this God? We talked about this in the 830,. Is this God, first time showing Samson his strength? We don't read yet. We don't know about Samson's strength until this moment. So maybe this is God preparing him and saying hey, you're getting ready to go into the Philistine area. You may have to go to war. Here's what I provided you. He rips a lion apart by the jaw. That's not supposed to happen. That's not supposed to happen, but it does, but it does, and that's what happens. So he keeps reading. He tears the lion apart, he goes and meets the girl. He gets to the girl, he decides he's still going to marry this girl and so he's going back. So he's came back home. And now he's going back to where the girl is located because there's going to be a wedding. He's going to marry this girl.
Speaker 1:On the way, we learn that Samson went off the path to get to that vineyard, and so, as he's returning to see his girl, he decides I want to go see that lion's body, I want to go look at my trophy, basically this thing that I destroyed. I want to see this again. So he's walking along and he decides I'm going to go see that lion. So he goes off the path and he goes over by the vineyard and there is the carcass of the lion. Now, what's he not supposed to do? He's not supposed to touch anything dead. Guess what Samson's going to do? He's going to tow the lion, he's going to touch something that's dead.
Speaker 1:Not only that, what's happened over this time period is some bees have made honey in the lion. So Samson, being the smart, intelligent, rule-following guy that he is, reaches down into the body of the lion, scoops up some honey and does what with it? He eats it. So now, not only has he touched something dead, now he's consuming something that was inside of something that's dead. And it gets better not really, it gets worse, because then he scoops it up again and guess who he goes and sees he says here, mom and Dad, I found you some honey. Here, dad, have this, it's great. Here, mom, eat this, it's sweet. Do you think he told them where he got it? Do you think he told them where he got it? Why wouldn't he tell them? Because they're not going to be mad, they're going to be disappointed Because they've raised him with these restrictions. You're not supposed to do this. You're dedicated to God, so he's not going to tell them.
Speaker 1:So we learn about people for a little bit this morning. Just a few things. First thing is this we love to toe the line. We love to toe the line. We love to toe the line. We can rip Samson apart, just like he did that line. We can rip him apart and say why would you toe the line? Why would you put yourself so close to the vineyard?
Speaker 1:But then we ask questions like well, how much is too much before it's sin? Or how much can I get away with? Before thing, guys, I worked with teenagers for 15 years. They asked those questions Am I allowed to say this or is that a sin? Am I allowed to do this? Is that a sin? Well, the Bible doesn't say this. But if I do that, those are the things. We do, that as humans, and it's really messed up behavior because we don't want to sin but we're okay with getting as close as we can to it. It doesn't make sense. I'm not going to ask you if that makes sense. It doesn't make sense, but that's what we do. And so we tell the line, just like Samson did.
Speaker 1:We hide our stuff. Do you think Samson told anybody about killing that lion? No, he couldn't, because what did he do? He touched something that was dead. So he hides it. And then he hides the honey. Well, he doesn't. He gives it away, but he doesn't tell anybody where he got it.
Speaker 1:We hide our stuff. We keep it to ourselves. We don't share the things and the struggles that we're going through, because there's a sense of guilt and we think we've got to hold on to it. So Samson does the same thing. We learn that about people. Here's another thing that we learn we can be gifted with the Holy Spirit and still be spiritually immature. We read all throughout Judges Judges 13, 14, and 15, that the Lord has stirred up the Spirit within Samson. It does not mean that he was perfect. It just means that the Spirit of the Lord was working in him, and so he was still spiritually mature. He was still going to make mistakes. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. Hopefully you know that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that you're going to be perfect. It just means that the Lord is working through you. And then the last thing we learn is that our choices can lead to broken relationships and missed opportunities. We have to continue our story to understand this last part.
Speaker 1:Samson is going to meet with the family of the girl that he's marrying. Samson doesn't have a whole lot of friends, and so what they do is they basically hire 30 guys to come throw a bachelor party for Samson. And it's not just a one-day event to Topgolf, it's a seven-day party where they're going to hang out. When guys get together, they do guy things. When guys get together, they don't always make smart decisions. So Samson's hanging out with his guys, his buddies that are paid to be there, real good friends. He's hanging out with them and he says hey, guys, I got a riddle for you. I got a riddle for you and I bet you can't solve it. I bet you can't solve this riddle. He says, in fact, I'm going to give you the whole seven days and if you solve the riddle, I'm going to give you 30 fine clothes and robes. You're going to get a whole new outfit designed by Samson, if you can solve this riddle, but if you can't solve it, you're going to give me 30 robes and nice clothing. So, guys being guys, dudes being dudes, there's always a challenge.
Speaker 1:So four days go by and they can't figure out the riddle, because you know what the riddle had to do with, had to do with the lion and had to do with the honey that nobody else knew. There was no reason for anybody to be able to answer this riddle. But after four days, these men, these Philistine men, go to Samson's wife and they say hey, you're one of us. Remember, we're family, we're Philistines, we're your people. Don't make us look foolish, don't make us look like we don't know what we're talking about. Tell us the riddle.
Speaker 1:There's a problem though Samson's marriage with her. That was built on great foundation, and so they communicated every night together. They knew everything about each other, they knew everybody, they knew their favorite color and everything. No, they didn't talk guys. Remember why Samson wanted to marry her Because she's beautiful.
Speaker 1:I think that's all he was concerned about. Guess what he hadn't told her. She doesn't know the riddle. And so she goes to her husband. She goes to Samson. She's got the lovey-dovey eyes. She said honey, if you loved me, babe, if you really loved me, you would tell me the riddle. And Samson did what every guy does yes, honey, whatever you want, he tells her the riddle. And so later on those Philistine men show back up and guess what she shares with them the answer to the riddle she shares about the riddle.
Speaker 1:And so on the seventh day, at the last hour, basically, samson says do you know the answer to the riddle? And they say what's sweeter than honey and what's stronger than a lion? They know the answer. So now Samson owes them what? 30 sets of fine robes and clothes. Guess how he's going to get them. Here we go. The Spirit of the Lord. So God's still working in this. Notice that God is still working in this. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon and killed 30 men and he took their belongings and gave the clothing to the men who solved his riddle. Guess who? He goes and kills 30 Philistines. So he kills their people to get the robes and he hands them to the men. He says here you go. Well, this is his wedding party.
Speaker 1:The next few moments there's a lot of destruction here, I'm just going to warn you. So Samson decides he's done. She betrayed his trust. This beautiful relationship that they had built on trust and love has been destroyed. And so Samson decides they're in this fight and he runs home to mom and dad. He's going to live with mom and dad for a while. And so he lives with mom and dad for a while there in the basement.
Speaker 1:And finally, after a little while, he decides I really kind of missed that girl. She was really beautiful. I can't trust her, but she's pretty. And so he decides he's going to go back and try to meet up with his wife again. And so he knocks on his father-in-law's door. He says knock, knock, knock. He says who is it? He says it's Samson. And the father-in-law goes uh, oh, because in the meantime the father-in-law goes, uh-oh, because in the meantime the father-in-law thought there was no way that Samson was ever going to return. And so he's given his daughter to the best man of Samson's wedding. She is now married to another man, and Samson's a reasonable guy. He makes good choices.
Speaker 1:Samson has now lost his wife. He's feeling a little broken, a little insecure. He goes out and catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together in pairs and fastens a torch to each pair of the tails. Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all of their grain to the ground. Again, a reasonable guy Ties 300 foxes together, lights a torch and says you're free, burning all of their food supply.
Speaker 1:What do we not read in that verse? We don't ever read. Then the spirit of the Lord comes upon him. I think this is a moment Samson took in his own hands. This is a moment where he's angry, he's frustrated, he's trying to get his revenge. We don't read that the spirit of the Lord comes upon him and he catches 300 foxes. We just read that Samson does it. So he burns everything down. And so the Philistines are angry and frustrated, and so they have Samson's old wife killed and his father-in-law killed as well. And so it leads us to this point.
Speaker 1:Revenge doesn't always lead to peace. It oftentimes just deepens the conflict. Many of us feel like we have to get revenge. Many of us, if we get hurt by somebody, we hold a grudge and we think we've got to get even and time will come and they'll get the revenge. But you know what that does? It just continues to deepen the conflict in your life. You're just desiring someone to get it.
Speaker 1:So they kill Samson's wife, they kill his father-in-law, and so Samson, real quickly, in just a verse it says that he goes and kills a bunch more Philistines. That's all we get. He just takes out a bunch more. And then he goes and hides in a cave by himself. He's there in the cave waiting, and while he's in the cave, the Philistine army has decided this is enough, we've got to do something. Samson's going to ruin everything. We have to get this under control.
Speaker 1:And so they go to the land of Judah, which is the Israelites. They go to the land of Judah and they say hey, where is Samson? We need to capture Samson, we need to end this once and for all. And so they go to Judah, to the Israelites, asking where Samson is. Now, who is Samson supposed to be saving the Israelites? He's supposed to be saving the Israelites. Now would it be kind of hard to think that Samson was trying to save you. At this point right, based off what we've read I'm not criticizing the Israelites here Samson hasn't gave them a lot of positive reinforcement that he's here to save them. There's just been a lot of destruction. But here's what they do. They say, well, we won't tell you where he is. We'll go a step further than that. We'll actually go capture Samson for you, and so the Israelites for them.
Speaker 1:Their fear of the Philistine was greater than their trust in God. God had sent Samson to deliver the Israelites. It was a part of the plan. But the Israelites are a little bit more fearful of the Philistines than they are of trusting God, and we get that way too. We let fear overcome our faith oftentimes, and so they say, hey, we'll go get Samson, we'll go get Samson.
Speaker 1:So that leads us to this verse 3,000 men of Judah went down to Samson at the cave in the rock of Edom and they said we have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. And so Samson agrees Okay, you tie me up and you take me to the Philistines. Did Samson have the strength to break the ropes? Absolutely, we're going to learn in a little bit that he absolutely does. Samson says okay, you can take me to the Philistines. So he takes him up there and he's surrounded by the Philistine army. And here we go again. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson. Here's our answer to the question. He snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax and they fell from his wrist. And then he picks up a jawbone of a donkey and killed a thousand Philistines with it.
Speaker 1:Hollywood should be making a movie about Samson. What a film this would be. But it would be a film that points back to God, because in all of this destruction, in all of this chaos, in all of this moments of Samson, the thing that stays consistent is that God loves and wants to save his people. We learn this that God can use the unlikeliest tools and people to do his will. I don't know if Samson was the perfect guy for the job, but you know what? God still used him. I don't know exactly what kind of weapon a jawbone of a donkey is, but God used it.
Speaker 1:And many of us don't feel like we're equipped, many of us don't feel like we're qualified, many of us don't think we're an appropriate tool for God to use. But all throughout the story of Samson, we consistently see that God is willing and wants to use His people to do His plan and His love. And so, lastly, the main thing we learn, the more and more we've studied Judges and I've looked over this the last few weeks this story has nothing to do with Samson and everything to do with God. This story has absolutely. We could fixate on all the destruction and strength of Samson, but you know what? I think Samson was just an ordinary dude like you and I, and we can rip on him and we can harp on him, but you know what? He just fell into human desires, like you and I do. But the strength is, and what's powerful in this story is that God says I'm still going to use you, I'm not going to quit using you, even though you make these decisions. I'm still going to use you, I'm not going to quit on you, and next week we'll get into it.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure that Samson was the big, strong guy that we think he was. Nowhere in Scripture do we get a description that he's this big, muscular guy? In fact, what we get is a lot of people asking where does his strength come from? And if I walked in here in all kinds of big muscles, you wouldn't ask the question where does Josh get his strength? You'd say, man, that dude goes to the gym. But you don't say that because I don't go to the gym. But that's why Samson is just an ordinary dude that I at least this is how I painted the picture of Samson. I used to think he looked like Derrick Henry, just this massive dude with dreads. But you know what? He probably looked like me, and that's why people kept questioning where does he get his strength from? Where does this dude get his strength from? He got it from the Lord, and the Lord didn't quit on him, and the Lord's not going to quit on you either.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father. We thank you so much for your love. God. We thank you for the way that you work in our lives. God, we thank you for just your continued love, your unending love, and even though we make mistakes and even though we mess up and even though we don't always feel like the appropriate tool or person that you could use, god, all throughout Scripture you remind us that you are a perfect God that uses the unlikely things to do your will, and I pray that we remember that this morning, that we know that you're in control, that you have a plan, that you have a path for your will to be done, and we just get to be a part of it. God, I pray that we can have the trust and the faith to believe that this morning, to understand that we are worthy of your plan. We thank you for that. Thank you for Jesus and his example and his continued love for people and the unlovable, and the way that he continued to use them as well. Thank you for the spirit that works in us and guides us to fulfill your plan. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker 1:You get this last verse in Hebrews, chapter 12. It says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and now he is seated at the place and honor besides God throne. It brought Jesus joy to go to the cross for you and I, because he knew what it meant. He knew that it was going to mend the relationship that God had so desired to have again Since Genesis 3,. God was working so he could have a relationship with you and I, that he could be united with us again. And we read in Hebrews keep our eyes on Jesus. Because he went to the cross, because he knew the joy that awaited and that was a relationship with you and I.
Speaker 2:Holy, holy, holy. Lord, god Almighty, early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty and mighty God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide Thee, though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see. Only Thou art holy. There is none beside Thee, perfect in power, in love and purity and purity. Holy, holy, holy. Lord, god Almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty God in three persons, Blessed Trinity. I heard an old, old story how a Savior came from glory, how he gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me.
Speaker 3:I heard about his groaning of his precious blood's atoning Then.
Speaker 2:I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is to him.
Speaker 2:He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about his healing, of his cleansing power, revealing how he made the lame to walk again and cause the blind to see. And then I cried dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. I then obeyed his blessed commands and gained the victory. Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion he has built for me in glory, and I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea, about the angels singing and the old redemption story. And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory. Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him and all my love is to him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Amen.
Speaker 1:God bless you everybody, tell somebody about our victory this week. Thank, you.