Latest / Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st / What Could Have Been

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What Could Have Been · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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Hey man, such an awesome reminder.
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Lord, I need you. And that's a that's an everyday
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truth. Maybe we don't pray that every
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day, but it's an everyday truth that we need the Lord so told
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the graduates. Well, one, let me just let you
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know they're not here because I told them they could leave
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because they've already heard me.
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So that's why they slipped out. They had permission.
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But we are glad to be able to honor them today.
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And one of the things I was pointing out in the first
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service is that graduation is such a big milestone for us and
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our society, One, because it it's sort of marks this
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transition when you leave grade school into what's next, then
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all sudden you're kind of adulting.
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You're making more decisions, you're responsible for more
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decisions. You have more expectations.
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You also have more freedoms, you have more opportunities.
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And so it's a very, it's a cool time in life, but there's a lot
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that all of a sudden you, this, this world opens up to you.
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And so most graduates get this these questions every year their
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senior year. And I tried to encourage seniors
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early in the fall. I'm like, just have an answer.
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People aren't trying to make you feel pressure.
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People aren't trying to be a bully.
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They just want to have conversation.
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They're really being supportive. But people will generally ask a
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senior in high school, So what are you doing?
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Where are you going? What are you going to do?
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Where are you going? What are you going to do?
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I mean, and it, it's this constant questions that come to
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you after graduation. Like people just want to know
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the plan. And so there's this, there's
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this question that's looming even with this new freedom,
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these new opportunities, this looming question that can weigh
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on a graduate. Like, where am I headed to right
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now? Like it's just like, which way
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do I go in life? Like, what am I supposed to do?
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And you know, they're not going to have all the answers.
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And I'll try to encourage them. Like you're not, no one expects
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you to know your whole life when you're 18 and how that's going
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to play out. And so, but that's still like
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you're just wondering like, what do I, where, where am I headed?
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Like, where am I going? What is life got for me?
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And you know what? It's not just graduates is, is
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it man? There are so many different
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transition moments that come in life.
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Some of some are planned and some are unexpected.
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And we asked that question again, like where?
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Where am I headed? Which way do I go?
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And I love that Scripture gives us good guidance, like the best
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guidance. And I love that early Christians
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were not originally called Christians.
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Not, not right. At first, people didn't know
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what to call them. Like these are people who most
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of them used to be Jews, but not all of them used to be Jews.
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But they're all following Jesus. But he died, but he rose again.
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And so this is, this is a whole new movement.
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And so at 1st, and you can look at this in Acts, they were
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called followers of the way and they were following Jesus's way.
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They were followers of the way. Such a cool name.
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I think for, for, for Christians, because that's what
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we're doing. Like we the way to go is Jesus
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and we are following that path according to how he leads us and
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guides us. Psalms is is is full of of, you
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know, such awesome chaters of Psalms.
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I always tell people, if you're new to scripture, one of the
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books you may want to start in the Psalms because one, they're
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short chapters. So if you're just starting, it's
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easy to kind of get into the rhythm.
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And two, it will hit you where you are there.
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There are some Psalms that will hit you right where you are
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right then, often, more often than you would expect.
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One Psalm, the really long 1 Psalm 119 is over and over again
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showing the worth and value of Scripture.
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But one of the things that it says, it talks about direction a
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good bit. But one of the more famous
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verses from that chapter says your word is a lamp unto my feet
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and a light unto my path. And so the word of God lighting
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the way for us, so we know which way to go.
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What's the way? Well, and that's all well and
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good, but sometimes we still have things that try to derail
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us. Sometimes we still need
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guardrails that are on the sides of the road so we can keep it
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between the lines, so we can keep moving forward in the
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direction we're supposed to go. Oftentimes the Bible talks about
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the following in faith as a narrow path, and even in
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Proverbs, it talks about not letting your foot swerve to the
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to the left or to the right. So there's this moving forward
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along a path that God has laid out the way the God that the
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Bible gives us. And but I also want to point to
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you to one of those, one of those curbs, one of those
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guardrails that keeps us in in line where we're supposed to be.
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And so that's going to be in first John chapter one.
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I'm going to be in. First John chapter 1, I mean,
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sorry, first John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17.
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It says this do not love the world or the things in the
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world. If anyone loves the world, the
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love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world.
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And here's three big potholes when you got we have to watch
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out for all the things in the world.
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The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the
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pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world.
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And the world is passing away along with its desires.
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But whoever does the will of God abides forever keeping us on the
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the right path, the right way. Let me pray.
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God, thank you so much for your word.
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Thank you for the wisdom we can glean from it.
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Thank you for the confidence we can have in doing life from it.
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Lord, help us to be wise enough to understand the direction you
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lead us to be wise enough to heed the warnings that you give
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us and not allow our lives to swerve or waver from the
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direction that you want us to go.
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We love you very much and it's in Jesus name I pray.
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Amen. So in your notes, you'll notice,
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I don't think there's a slab in your notes.
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You notice a couple of weird things.
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One, there's the title, What could have been?
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We'll get into that in a second. There's also some some
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dichotomies here, some some comparisons.
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Man is selfish. God is just.
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Man takes, God provides. Man is undisciplined.
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God is faithful. Man gets trapped.
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God frees. Man marked by flaws.
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God gives more grace, man gets trapped, God frees.
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Oh, that's wrong there twice. And and so this, this comparison
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between God and man, it's not a man versus God.
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It's just more of a comparison because this is what happens in
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life. Man does it.
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Man will go and swerve off the path, but God is very, very
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fateful, very steady in how he responds and even the direction
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he's still guiding and leading us.
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And so that's one that's in there as we speak today, as we
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talk about our main person we're going to talk about, I just
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wanted to pay attention to how many times those those come into
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play as we look in scripture. So we also like, you know, along
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this journey of life, we like to hear great stories, stories of
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greatness, great accomplishments, great men,
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things that that keep our attention, draw us in, make us
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wonder. We are filled, given this, this
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capacity for imagination and wonder.
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And we we hear things and sometimes wonder, is it real?
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Could it really happen? Scripture tickles that part of
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our imagination in our mind very much.
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And what's amazing always is that it's true.
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But there's, there's also people even in our era now that we
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wonder about one such person. His name is Vincent.
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That and Vincent was a troubled child.
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He was one of like 10 kids. He was mean, I mean mean mean he
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was a bully. He was stronger than the other
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kids. He was faster than the other
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kids and and he didn't have a whole lot.
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So he would beat up people, threaten them to take their
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money so he could eat lunch. He would do, he was just
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ordering. He playing, playing with
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friends. He didn't have a lot of respect
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for for people. And so one time they were
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playing a game where they're tagging each other with rocks.
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That's now that is, that is a country game right there.
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They're tagging each other with rocks.
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The game was over. He didn't think the game was
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over just because the other kid went inside and he chunked the
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rock through the door and hit the kid in the kitchen.
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So, I mean, he was just, he was a problem.
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There's all kinds of things about his childhood he was an
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issue. Well, then he gets into middle
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school and high school and there's, there's a Ave. that
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people steered him toward and come to find out he all that
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meanness, he was really, really good at sports.
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And, and I'm talking freakishly good at sports.
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So they channelled that aggression and that and that
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temper and, and that energy towards sports.
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And he was able to shift and be not the worst kid in your
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classroom if you're a teacher, but be one that you're like, oh,
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look what's happening here. And so he got, he gets to be a
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senior in high school. We don't know, we hear stories
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of his accolades in in school, but here's some things.
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His senior in high school this phenomenal athlete he rushed for
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well over 1100 yards in less games that are played now for
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high school he averaged over 10 yards per carry as a running
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back which that's a lot if you don't know football in his
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baseball season his senior year there were 25 games and in 25
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games each he hit twenty home runs.
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His batting average was over 500 and in track, which he really
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loved and excelled at, he was faster than most.
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He could jump higher, longer, further than than most.
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He set records in triple jump, long jump, high jump, and the
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decathlon that they ran. Then in high school, he was so
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far ahead his junior and senior year that he didn't he didn't
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like to do long distance and that's the last event and so
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he's like, can I just opt out of it?
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And he was so far ahead points wise that no one was going to
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catch him. So he won the decathlon by only
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doing 9 events because he was that dominant.
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Now, this is a kid who went to a high school that didn't have a
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track, didn't know what a pole vault was until he showed up to
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the track meet, watched another kid do it and just said, hey,
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can I borrow that? And they're like, yeah, but this
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pole is only rated for like, 150 lbs.
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Oh, by the way, he still holds a high jump record for indoor high
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jump in Alabama. And he did all this weighing
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over 200 lbs Freakishly athletic.
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You should not be able to do these things.
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But this wild kid, they called him a wild boar, but that boar
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got shortened to Bo. And he we know him as Bo
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Jackson. The rest of his stuff, have fun
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on YouTube and look him up. You can see what he did at
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Auburn. You can see what he did in his
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professional career as a baseball player and a football
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player. But one of the things about Bo
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Jackson is you look in Marvel and go, wow, he just did that.
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But then you look at his whole story and there's this big
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question mark that's on the story of Bo Jackson, at least
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from a sports fan, because he was injured early and that
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injury ended his career. This hip injury that actually
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it's a hip injury that only Bo could have sustained because
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most people that have a £300 man on their leg will fall down.
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He had the muscle to just keep going and it popped his hip out
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of socket. So he, he, he was just an
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amazing athlete. But there's this question of
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what could have been, what could have been, if Bo Jackson's
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career had had not been stalled by or Hanford by that.
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Well, there's a the guy in the Bible who is actually stronger,
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more impressive than Bo Jackson. His physical proudness and, and
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feats are more legendary and that he's just as real and it's
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the man Samson. Now Samson is a story that you
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may know about. You may remember coloring sheets
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if you grew up in Church of a guy pushing some columns or
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something like that. And he always had long hair.
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There's a reason for that. And and so you may remember some
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of that. But there's some pieces of
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Samson's story story today that I may not that I may get to
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share that you're not familiar with.
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And so I hope that may be the case.
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But Samson, Samson was someone that I mean, God had a direction
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for him, but the way was hard for him.
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Staying on the way was hard for him.
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And so let's look at his story real as briefly as we can.
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The scripts or references that I have there in your in your
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worship guide, those are those are those specific references
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are there because those are the time that Scripture clearly
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indicates that there was God and Samson working, whether it's
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through prayer or the Spirit coming on to Samson.
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And I'm going to try to fill in the blanks quickly as I can.
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So Samson is born in a time of it's this is one of the darkest
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ages in the history of Israel. Pastors is preaching the sermon
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series on Ruth. It happens during that this
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time, but it's a it is a dark time in the history of Israel.
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People, God's people continually go and do their own thing and
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turn away from God. And that's how we start chapter
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13 of Judges, if you will look with me.
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And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight
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of the Lord. By the time you get to chapter
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13 of Judges, you're like, come on, people like it's AI mean.
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It's the same pattern. So the people of Israel again
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did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
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And so Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40
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years. There was a certain man of Zora
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of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his
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wife was barren and had no children.
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And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said
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to her, Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but
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you shall conceive and bear a son.
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Therefore be careful to drink no wine or strong, strong drink,
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and eat nothing unclean, For behold, you shall conceive and
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bear a son. No razor shall come upon his
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head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb,
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and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the
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Philistines. Skip to the bottom the end of
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chapter 13. And the woman bore a son, and
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called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the
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Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in
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mana. Muhammad Dan between Zora and
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Eshtel. This is one of those stories
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like this is one of those amazing birth stories.
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This happens in Scripture. We've seen this before.
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If you read your Bible, it happens in several places, Old
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and New Testament. There is a couple, no kid,
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heavenly messenger comes and says, guess what?
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You're going to have a kid. He's going to do great things
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and this is how his life is going to be marked.
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I mean, we've got people like Abraham and and Sarah and their
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special son Isaac that was born to them in their old age when
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they should they had no business having kids and they're and
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God's like here you go. And so, you know, look at
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Samuel, the birth of Samuel, the prophet that comes after Samson
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here. His mother cried and prayed,
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wanting to bear a son and she gave him over to the Lord and he
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is born and he's the king anointer and God does great
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things through him. Look forward to the New
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Testament. You've got the birth of Jesus
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where a birth that shouldn't have happened in circumstances.
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So be so bizarre. A virgin giving birth to
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someone, but God said this one's going to be special and you'll
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be blessed and sure enough, thankfully that was all true.
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John the Baptist, a couple in their old age and the Angel
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appears and says you're going to give birth to a son.
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And John was like like Samson and and Samuel.
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He was good to be a Nazarite from birth.
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That meant that he was set apart for the service of God.
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He was set apart to be holy and different than everyone else.
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Now a Nazarite vow was something that anyone could participate
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in. You can see that in the law, but
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it was usually a chosen a chosen commitment for a certain time.
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But there are these rare circumstances where it's someone
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from from the womb that God's going to do something very
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special in. And the end of that chapter
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wraps up with that reminder of that special guidance from the
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Lord, the way of Samson, because he was supposed to help deliver
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the people from the Philistines. And at the end of chapter 13,
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there is in the spirit of the Lord begin to stir him.
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Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.
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His purpose was to go and help deliver Israel, begin to deliver
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Israel from the oppression of the Philistines to get them
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right on track back to God and and free in the land that God
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had promised them. And God stirred Samson.
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And I am convinced now this is a little bit of Jason, but I'm
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convinced that stirring is God saying, here's the path.
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Here's where you need to go. You need to do the hard things
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that I'm leading you to do, but you need to be about it and do
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it. I've equipped you.
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I've gifted you. You have all that you need.
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And he was stirred. And yet it seems like Samson was
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just like, yeah, no, I don't want to do that.
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And it's like, oh, come on. Like this is supposed to be one
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of those great birth stories and, and legendary and like,
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really, really. And he's just like, Nah, I'm not
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into that. And so Samson grows.
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The next thing we see is Samson is not the the leader that we
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hoped that he was going to be and said he's pretty, he's
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pretty self absorbed. He's kind of doing his own thing
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and, and it's just, it's wrecking him.
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He had a way and he chose detours.
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And you're going to see real quick that how in those in those
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detours, he serves up unwanted drama and and heartache and hurt
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in his life, unnecessary things that had he stayed the course
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that God had laid out for him. I can't help but think that
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things have been a little bit different for him personally.
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And yet even though he was trying to detour, God's purposes
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were still right. God's purposes and directive was
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still good. And God was even using Samson's
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knuckleheadness to accomplish his will.
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And so let's look at a few of those incidents real quick.
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In chapter 14 of the book of Judges, we see that one of
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those, one of those three things that first John warned us about
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the lust of the eye is the desire of the eye catches Samson
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and he sees a girl. He sees a girl and he thinks,
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man, God did right when he made that one.
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And so he is all about this girl and she, he can't get her out of
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his mind. He is, he is.
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Here's the thing though, she is not from his people.
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She is one of the Philistines. And and so 1, he shouldn't even
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be looking that way, but he is. He's obsessed.
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He's whooped. He tells his, he tells his folks
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and they're like, can you not find any decent girl in all of
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Israel? Like look around here, there's
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all these kind of girls. I'm sure they suggested some
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names and he's like, Nah, this one mom, this is the one she I
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got to have her. And so he convinces his parents.
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Only child. He convinces at this point.
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At this point, he does have brothers.
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We find out later. But I guess, I guess he's still
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the only child at this one. I don't know.
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He convinces his parents to go to Timna to meet this girl, to
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set up the arrangement that they did in that time for a wedding.
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And so he's going and then we can pick up this weird incident
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that happens where God still is not even though Samson is doing
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his thing and he is, he is detouring, he is deviating.
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He is not listening to the guardrails or heeding the
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warnings. God still hasn't let go of him,
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so look in chapter 14, verses 6:00 and 7:00.
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Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timna, and
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they came to the vineyards of Timna, and behold, a young lion
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came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord
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rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore
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the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.
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But he did not tell his father and or his mother what he had
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done. Then he went down and talked
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with a woman, because she was right in Samson's eyes.
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There it is again. It was in previous scriptures
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that she was right in his eyes. And again, it's like his eyes
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are just filled. His eyes like he sees something
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and his desire, his desire is, is is overcoming what God has
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told him to do, the sustainability of walking right
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with God. And he's like, I don't care.
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I got to have that thing that I see, that person that I see.
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And so he's letting it feel his decisions.
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So he goes on. The drama happens like crazy
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after this. He gets there and Samson is not,
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he's not just a big guy with a small hat.
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You know what's the praise? Big shirt, small hat.
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He's not one of those guys. Like he's not just a big muscle
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guy with no brains. He, he shows us some of his wits
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and some of his, his brilliance. He goes to the wedding, he's
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meeting all the people. They're doing the ceremonies as
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his custom in that area. There's like a party going on
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and he's bringing all these people in and he offers them up
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a Riddle. Because after, after the lion
20:58
had died, after some time, he had gone back.
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He had picked up some honey out of the carcass of the lion,
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which by the way, he wasn't supposed to touch drapes.
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He's in a vineyard. He shouldn't have been there to
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begin with. In fact, he may not have even
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encountered the lion if he had been where he was supposed to
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be. Well, then in the crisscrossing
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back and forth during this time, he goes back and there's been
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enough time that the bees have made a hive in the carcass of
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the lion. There's honey there.
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The lust of the flesh kicks in. He's like, oh, honey, I'm hungry
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and that looks good. I want it.
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And so he goes and grabs it. He's not supposed to touch dead
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things. So he's once again in a vineyard
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and once, and now he's touching dead things and he's eating from
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it. I like honey a lot.
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I don't know if I could do that. So this is all happening.
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He even gives some to his mom and dad, but he did not tell him
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where he got the honey from. And then he gives this Riddle
21:53
about involving the lion and the honey.
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He says, if you can solve my Riddle, then I'll give you some
22:00
some prizes, 30 new garments for each of you, or a garment for
22:06
each of you. There's 30 guys there, he said.
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But if you can't get my Riddle, then you owe me 30 garments.
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And so it's just why competition?
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But they're doing it well, they can't solve the Riddle.
22:16
They convince his fiance to tell, they find out the answer
22:20
and she's like, and they're threatening her.
22:22
They're like, we're going to burn you up.
22:24
We're going to burn your house down and your father's house
22:26
down and you if you don't tell us.
22:28
And so she finds out the answer from Samson.
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He is, they tell him the answer, the answer, he's bad.
22:34
And then we have this occasion where because he owes 30
22:36
garments to these guys now. Chapter 1419 and 20.
22:39
And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and he went down
22:41
to Ashkelon and struck down 30 men of the town and took their
22:45
spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the Riddle.
22:48
In hot anger. He went back to his father's
22:49
house and Samson's wife was given to his companion who had
22:52
been his best man. Again, drama that he did not
22:54
want. And so all this is going on.
22:58
The way it's happening is ugly, it's sloppy, and Samson's paying
23:01
the price for it. But what is happening is what
23:03
God wanted him to do the whole time.
23:05
He wanted him to be a judge in Israel and to and to go after
23:09
the Philistines. He was to conquer them.
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He was to be someone who stood in the gap between them and the
23:15
and the Israelites so that their oppression would end and so the
23:18
Israel would be free in their land, but also ultimately in
23:23
tune and in line with God again. So it's it's happening kind of
23:27
funny, but the Lord is still using Sampson to begin this
23:30
attack, this task. Sampson finally has his
23:32
attention on the Philistines in a way to go after them.
23:35
Well, that happens. Sampson decides he's going to
23:38
come back. He cools off.
23:40
He was mad. He did not know that they had
23:42
given his bride to his best man. So he comes back and he's like,
23:47
where's my wife? And they're like, we thought
23:50
that was over and well, how about her better looking little
23:53
sister? Way to go, Dad.
23:56
Well, that didn't that didn't work out too good.
23:58
The Philistines then burn his wife and her father because
24:01
Samson had burnt all their crops up.
24:04
And so it is. I'm telling you, it's drama.
24:06
God's still using him because in Sampson burning up all his crops
24:09
and he just crippled their entire economy for at least a
24:12
year or so, that was it. Hit the Philistines in a hard
24:15
blow. But all this Revs up to this
24:19
climactic moment where he's like, OK, I've gotten you back.
24:21
Well, the Philistines aren't aren't having it.
24:24
Sampson's off by himself pouting.
24:26
And this Philistines coming to Israel to take Sampson, and
24:31
there's 1000 or more of them there.
24:33
And the Judeans are and the Israelites are like, what have
24:36
you done? Like what have you done?
24:38
They're coming in here after us. And he's like, what are you
24:40
going to do to me? He's like, well, we're going to
24:42
tie you up and take you to them. He's like, OK, just don't fight
24:44
me. You can tie me up and take them
24:46
to me. Take them, take me to them.
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He goes. And then we see in in chapter
24:51
15, they're at Lee, they're at Lehigh.
24:54
And when he came to Lehigh, the Philistines came shouting to
24:58
meet him. He's tied up the spirit of the
25:00
Lord rushed upon him and the ropes that were on his arms
25:03
became as flax that has caught fire and his bonds melted off
25:06
his hands. He found fresh jawbone of a
25:08
donkey, took out his hand, took it and struck down 1000 men.
25:13
After you whoop 1000 of a of a people with a jawbone of a farm
25:18
animal, they're going to leave you alone and that's what they
25:23
did. So he stayed in Israel.
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He had, he had, he had done something that God was directing
25:29
to do earlier in a different way, but he had done that and he
25:32
judged Israel for 20 years. In the next passage I gave you,
25:37
he's super thirsty. And we see one of the only times
25:40
he prays to the Lord and he's complaining like God, I just did
25:42
this thing and now I'm super thirsty.
25:44
I'm going to die off thirst out here.
25:45
And God actually graciously opens up some waters for him to
25:48
drink. But he judged the Philistines.
25:51
He does. He was a judge in Israel in the
25:54
days of the Philistines for 20 years. 20 years is a long time.
25:58
He actually was on the right path.
25:59
He derailed for a while and he came back and he is the judge
26:02
for 20 years. Long time.
26:05
I our graduates, I was telling them like y'all haven't even
26:08
been alive for 20 years yet and they were, they're already
26:11
thinking their life is pretty full.
26:14
But 20 years, he did this and we don't have a lot about that 20
26:16
years because sometimes when you're doing what you're
26:18
supposed to do, there's no need for the fanfare.
26:21
There's no need for extra. It's just like, well, you're
26:23
doing what you're supposed to do.
26:24
This is your expectation and it's OK.
26:26
It's OK to fulfill your expectation, to fulfill your
26:28
mission, to fulfill the continue in the way that God has shaped
26:32
and molded and gifted you. That's OK.
26:35
In fact, the next time we see him, it's when he deviates from
26:37
the way. Again, this is the familiar
26:40
story of Delilah. The eyes he get, he gets he gets
26:43
distracted, he gets maybe, I don't know, bored.
26:46
He gets, I don't know what his motivation was, but he decides
26:50
that he's going to have he's going to leave the Israel Israel
26:55
again. He's going to be looking at the
26:57
at the ladies over in Philistines and he finds Delilah
27:00
and he is smitten with her three times.
27:03
She tries to get him to tell her what the source of his strength
27:06
is. And he's he tricks them every
27:08
time. He whoops up some Philistines
27:10
and he just have a has a great old time with it.
27:12
But at this point, he has conquered people.
27:15
He has he has set himself up as a threat, like the Philistines
27:19
won't come into Israel at all. As long as Samson's there,
27:21
things are good. He look what I've done.
27:24
And that pride of life has crept in.
27:26
And so in the biggest, boldest pride, this moment of his life,
27:29
he tells Lila, if you cut my hair.
27:31
Because remember the three things.
27:33
And that's right. Don't touch that things.
27:35
Don't he anything from the vine or drink and then don't cut your
27:39
hair. He's already struck out like
27:41
there's been two strikes against him and this is the third
27:43
strike. He's like, just go and cut my
27:44
hair, thinking that nothing else is going to change.
27:46
He's going to be able to break bonds.
27:48
He's going to be able to whoop up on the Philistines.
27:50
And of course, if you know the story, his hair gets cut.
27:54
That outer marking, that the last step that set him apart as
27:58
a man of God in the eyes of the whole society was removed.
28:03
They time up, they gouge out his eyes.
28:06
They make him a spectacle, a trophy to mock and to entertain
28:10
them. They're his torture is their
28:12
entertainment. They have this big festival to
28:14
their fake fish God Dagon, and there are 3000 plus there in
28:19
this temple and they bring Samson.
28:21
They bring Samson out as a this is our victory that Dagon has
28:24
given us. Look at this.
28:25
Look at this poor excuse, pathetic man.
28:28
And so he's sitting there in the middle.
28:30
He's entertaining them with his blindness, his suffering, and he
28:34
cries out to God another time. This is in chapter 16 at the end
28:39
he says. Then Samson called to the Lord
28:40
and said, Oh Lord God, Please remember me and please
28:44
strengthen me only this once, Oh God, that I may be avenged on
28:47
the Philistines from my two eyes.
28:50
And Samson grasped the 2 middle pillars on which the house
28:53
rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on
28:56
the one and his left on the other.
28:58
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.
29:00
And he bowed with all his strength.
29:01
And the house fell upon the Lords and upon all the people
29:05
who were in it. So the dead whom he killed and
29:07
his death were more than those he killed in his during his
29:10
life. Then his brothers and family
29:13
came, took him, and buried him with his father.
29:15
And again, it reminds us that he had judged Israel for 20 years
29:20
now at at that point. And what's crazy is there's 4
29:24
chapters and judges about this guy.
29:26
He has a miraculous birth, all this set up and his and
29:29
scripture is pretty silent on Samson after this.
29:32
There's just not a lot. There's not a lot of reference
29:34
to him. There's not a lot of, of
29:37
remember the days of. I mean, there's, it's just, it
29:39
happened. And maybe it's it's because we
29:42
look at it and there's just like, man, what could have been
29:45
man, if Samson had just stayed on the path, If he just stayed
29:48
on the way, would he have been the judge that completely
29:53
annihilated the Philistines? Would he have been the one that
29:55
completely removed that oppression that the children of
29:58
Israel were facing? What could have been if Samson
30:03
would have just stayed on the way?
30:05
We see it that way. As spectators, that's our
30:07
privilege to look and cast a judgement like that.
30:11
But get personal for a second. What about your path?
30:15
How many detours have you taken? How many times do you know that
30:18
the last something, something you saw all of a sudden was more
30:21
important than what God wanted in your life and you went after
30:24
it? Or some urge you felt was more
30:27
important than what God's designed for you is?
30:30
And you, you, you pursued that urge or that you're just, you're
30:34
just, your nose was up so, so high.
30:36
You were so proud of yourself. You thought you were untouchable
30:39
and you proceeded anyway and you detoured off of the way that God
30:44
had designed for you. So that's what happened to
30:47
Samson because it so it could be easy for someone else looking
30:52
and observing you and me to say, man, what could have been, man,
30:56
if you'd just done this, what, what would have been the story
30:59
what what could have been? But that's not the whole story.
31:05
Here's the part that's frustrating.
31:07
I don't know what is, but I know that God is gracious.
31:12
And there was more to Samson than just a disappointment and
31:15
great strength. Yes, he conquered.
31:18
He did what God had intended him to do.
31:20
He did it in a way that was kicking and screaming the whole
31:22
way. Except there was those 20 years,
31:25
right? There was the acknowledgement of
31:28
God working in him. Even the author of of Judges
31:32
makes clear that the Spirit rushed upon Samson and these
31:36
many of these deeds were done because of God's hand in his
31:39
life. He was intelligent, He was
31:42
strong, he was artistic, he wrote poetry.
31:45
We see that in this story too. But the redeeming factor that we
31:50
can have some some solace in and encouragement is in found in
31:55
Hebrews Hebrews Chapter 11 is known as the Hall of Fame of
31:58
faith. The writer of Hebrews is telling
32:00
us that look at all these people that have followed the Lord and
32:03
done it. And now as followers of Christ,
32:05
we can be faithful, we can follow the Lord too.
32:07
We have this this cloud of witness.
32:09
We have these people that have gone before us that have done
32:12
this. It is possible.
32:13
It's encouragement, this encouragement to to go forth do
32:17
great things for the Lord stay on the path he has for you is
32:20
gifted you stay the course and see what he does in your life.
32:23
It will have heavenly and forever impact.
32:28
And in Hebrews 11 this knucklehead is mentioned.
32:37
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell
32:40
of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jepfa of David and Samuel and the
32:46
prophets. And he goes on from there.
32:51
There's more to him than just a very great, what could have been
32:53
story. Yes, he messed up, but this
32:56
gives us a little glimpse of how God sees us too.
32:59
We, we, you've messed up. I've messed up.
33:02
That's easy. Like that's a, that's a Gimme.
33:05
There's times that you have veered off the course that the
33:07
Lord has laid out for you. Some of you are in the ditch
33:09
right now. God can still he has purpose in
33:16
your life though. And God is still encouraging us
33:19
to stay the course, stay the path and stay on the path.
33:21
Repent, turn away from what has lured you away and get right
33:27
back on the path of the Lord. At the end, what you have done
33:30
for him is what matters at the end it Samson's faithfulness.
33:37
The times that he he had faithfulness in the Lord, the
33:40
time that his faith was used, exercised, That's what's matter.
33:45
That's why he's listed in this list.
33:47
This great man who did God did great things through what could
33:52
have been. I don't know, maybe scratch that
33:54
out. Maybe put what's going to be So
33:58
no matter where you are, maybe you're one of those people
34:01
that's in the ditch right now. You've swerved, you've chased
34:03
after something and you may not feel like you can get out of it.
34:07
God, God can work in that. God can work in your life.
34:10
It takes some humility. It takes some admitting that
34:12
you're wrong, but God can straighten that out and put you
34:15
back on the path. Early Christians were called
34:17
followers of the way. There's a today's Star Wars day.
34:25
I don't know if y'all knew that, but as a big Star Wars fan, it's
34:27
May the 4th and so May the fourth be with you.
34:31
And I thought I was going to do something about Star Wars this
34:35
whole time. I was excited.
34:36
Oh, senior Sunday is the Star Wars day.
34:37
I'm going to do something about Star Wars the whole time.
34:38
And God did not let me do that. Probably because it would have
34:41
been some pride of life kicking in.
34:44
But I will talk about one Star Wars thing because I don't want,
34:49
I don't want you to think life is hopeless if you've messed up
34:52
once, twice, 10 times. There's a, there's a character
34:57
in an offshoots Star Wars show called The Mandalorian.
35:00
And he follows this ideal, but he calls it the way.
35:06
And so when he makes decisions hard, a lot of times the hard
35:09
decisions come up. It's like, well, this is the
35:10
way. And I like that simplicity of
35:14
that, of that character. And then tying that with what
35:18
early Christians were called, I'm reminded that you know what?
35:21
We are human. We are gifted by God.
35:24
If you are a blood vault St. of the Lord, if you confess Christ
35:28
as your savior and Lord, you've been gifted.
35:31
You've been supernaturally gifted.
35:33
Samson was supernaturally gifted.
35:34
You have been super supernaturally gifted with a
35:36
gift set that is necessary and needed in our church.
35:41
But maybe you swear from it. Maybe there's times you're
35:44
having a hard time saying on the path, this is the way seek the
35:49
Lord, be repentant, know and trust his word and talk to him
35:56
often. Say in his presence and you will
35:58
continue to move forward in the right way.
36:02
I gave the students a Lantern. See if it works.
36:08
I gave him this Lantern because it looks like it has a little
36:10
flame inside of it. And as a believer each of us has
36:16
been given the the gift of the Holy Spirit.
36:19
Paul tells his protege Timothy and second Timothy 1/6.
36:23
He says, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the
36:26
gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my
36:30
hands. As believers, we get to fan into
36:34
flame, seek out the Lord, read his word, trust and pray to him.
36:38
We get to fan the flame that's within us and allow that fire to
36:42
not be destructive, but be useful to forge things in our
36:45
lives and the lives of others. To be a light on our own path,
36:48
but also a light to others to to make a difference, to be a
36:51
brilliant, a brilliant beacon in a very dark time.
36:56
And so we have that opportunity and that blessing to stay on the
37:00
path, follow the Lord and to fan in the flame, accepting all that
37:06
he has for us in the way that he wants to to to do it.
37:10
So I encourage you today, if you don't know the Lord as your
37:12
personal Lord and Savior, I'd love to talk to you about that.
37:15
Pastor Kyle would love to talk to you about that.
37:16
We have several in here that would love to to help you come
37:19
to a saving knowledge of the Lord and be gifted by the Holy
37:22
Spirit in your own life. If you're a believer that just
37:25
needs to confess some things, come to this altar, come pray,
37:28
just get right, get get right back on on the path repents and
37:32
get going again. God is gracious and what he
37:35
remembers is not the what it could have been, but look what
37:37
you did and when we see him in glory.
37:41
So if you'll stand, we'll pray. God, we love you.
37:44
Thank you so much for today. God pray your will be done in
37:47
our lives. I pray that we will be faithful
37:49
to follow you along the the the path that you have designed for
37:52
us. You've equipped us far.
37:54
You've gifted us far. God keep us from the lust of the
37:57
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
37:59
Lord, help us to to heed the warnings of those guardrails and
38:02
not to fall into those pits, but to continue forward Lord, so
38:06
that we can look forward and see all that you're doing and going
38:09
to do. We love you and Jesus name we
38:11
pray, Amen.