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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today.

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Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

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Speaker 1: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving

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Speaker 1: in your life. Enjoy the message. Now it is time

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Speaker 1: for the Word of God. What a wonderful time of

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Speaker 1: worship today. I trust that wherever you are, you've been

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Speaker 1: able to worship too. Prepare your heart, warm your heart

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Speaker 1: to God's presence. I want to take you over to

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Speaker 1: Judges chapter fifteen for just a moment. There is a

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Speaker 1: classic rock radio host I listened to and he has

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Speaker 1: a segment called bens that should have been huge but weren't.

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Speaker 1: And I think one day I'll get to do a

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Speaker 1: series called Bible Stories that should have been huge but weren't.

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Speaker 1: So this is one of those. Never preached it before

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Speaker 1: on a Sunday. I was privileged to share it with

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Speaker 1: some leaders a year and a half ago, and today

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Speaker 1: I would like to share it with you. Prayerfully that

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Speaker 1: God would open your heart as I opened my mouth,

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Speaker 1: and that He would open the heavens over your life

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Speaker 1: and your home to speak to you exactly what you

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Speaker 1: need for the challenges that you face. Judges, Chapter fifteen,

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Speaker 1: Verses fourteen through twenty. We're gonna talk about Samson for

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Speaker 1: a moment today. Not that story, not the one where

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Speaker 1: he got his hair cut off and lost his strength

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Speaker 1: and pop, I didn't need a spinach. Not the cartoon part. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we cartoonized these Bible characters, and we kind of make

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Speaker 1: them like these mythical figures. But the only real hero

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Speaker 1: in the Bible is Jesus. And everybody else that we study,

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Speaker 1: they're human, and we love that because they do heroic things,

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Speaker 1: but they have humancies. And if I looked long enough

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Speaker 1: at your life, I'm sure i'd find some heroic things,

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Speaker 1: some amazing accomplishments, some incredible characteristics about your life and

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Speaker 1: your kindness in the way that you love, in the

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Speaker 1: way that you are used by God. But if I

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Speaker 1: looked a little bit closer, I'm sure I would find

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Speaker 1: some human tendencies. Even these singers behind me, don't let

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Speaker 1: the fact that they sing like angels fool you, because

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Speaker 1: all of us, whether we preach or sing or parent,

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Speaker 1: we have deeply heroic capacities and deeply human instincts, and Samson,

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Speaker 1: of course, is used as a model for that. But

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Speaker 1: I want to tell you about something in his life

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Speaker 1: today that you probably never heard about before. The Bible

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Speaker 1: says in Judges, chapter fifteen.

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Speaker 2: Verse fourteen, as he approached Lehi.

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Speaker 1: The Philistines that was the enemy that he was delivering

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Speaker 1: Israel from, the Philistines came toward him, shouting. The spirit

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Speaker 1: of the Lord came powerfully upon him. Now, let's note

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Speaker 1: something real quick. It says the Philistines plural came toward

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Speaker 1: him singular. So he's outnumbered. So he's outmatched, so he's

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Speaker 1: out manned. So whatever is going to happen, if he's

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Speaker 1: going to survive, it is going to have to be supernatural.

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Speaker 1: Somebody in here is looking at something running toward you

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Speaker 1: in your life right now, and for you to survive it,

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Speaker 1: something supernatural is going to have to happen. Well, the

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Speaker 1: spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and the

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Speaker 1: ropes on his arms became like charred flax. I didn't

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Speaker 1: even see a fire. No, some of the stuff that

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Speaker 1: God does to set you free, you won't see. He'll

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Speaker 1: just do it. You won't even see the fire, but

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Speaker 1: he'll free you. They became like charred flax. I'm preaching

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Speaker 1: too early. Let me calm back down for a moment.

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Speaker 1: I'm just reading my scripture. I'd better modulate this sermon

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Speaker 1: real quick. They became like charred flas and the bindings

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Speaker 1: dropped from his hands. What was God doing? He was

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Speaker 1: freeing him for the fight. God is freeing you for

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Speaker 1: the fight, not from the fight. You still got a fight,

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Speaker 1: but you're gonna have two free hands to do it

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Speaker 1: with and the spirit of God. Now look at verse fifteen.

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Speaker 1: He's got two free hands, but he needs a weapon.

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Speaker 1: The Bible says, finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey,

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Speaker 1: he grabbed it and struck down one thousand men. Then

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Speaker 1: Samson said, with a donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys

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Speaker 1: of them. With a donkey's jawbone, I have killed a

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Speaker 1: thousand men. Sampson has a little rap career over there

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Speaker 1: on soundfloul. Now listen to this. This is crazy. When

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Speaker 1: he finished speaking, finished kill him enemies one man with

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Speaker 1: a donkey's jawbone. When he finished speaking his little distract

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Speaker 1: to the Philistines. When he finished that, he threw away

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Speaker 1: the jawbone and the place was called raymac Lehigh, which

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Speaker 1: means jawbone hill. Real creative guy Samson, And because he

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Speaker 1: was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, you

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Speaker 1: have given your servant this great victory. Must I now

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Speaker 1: die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised,

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Speaker 1: into the hands of my enemy, into the hands of

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Speaker 1: these Philistines. And the Bible says then God opened up

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Speaker 1: the hollow place in Lehigh, and water came out of it.

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Speaker 1: When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So

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Speaker 1: the spring was called in Hakori, and it is still

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Speaker 1: there in Lehigh. Simpson led Israel for twenty years in

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Speaker 1: the days of the Philistines. Before you take your seat,

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Speaker 1: touch your neighbor and say, God's not through with you yet.

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Speaker 1: You may be seated. Don't summarize me too soon, because

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Speaker 1: God's not through with me yet. Hey, the last several weeks,

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Speaker 1: I've been in a little spontaneous series. I didn't even

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Speaker 1: realize it was a series when I started it off.

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Speaker 1: Many of the things that you start on in your life,

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Speaker 1: God doesn't show you what they are until you get

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Speaker 1: through them, So don't give up. But I preached a

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Speaker 1: few weeks ago a sermon called God can use this too.

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Speaker 2: Everybody say, God can use this too.

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Speaker 1: And that was the first week. Then the next week

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Speaker 1: I came back and talked about how God put it

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Speaker 1: up there. I don't remember it at the moment. Yeah, God,

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Speaker 1: And I fussy y'all for forgetting my sermons. I forget

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Speaker 1: my sermons. Yeah, I said, God will work it in.

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Speaker 1: And we were surprised because we were expecting to hear

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Speaker 1: God will work it out. But when we realized that

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Speaker 1: a lot of times the external conflict in our life

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Speaker 1: is not God's primary priority, it is our character. We

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Speaker 1: realize that He is building us up on the inside

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Speaker 1: so that whatever He blesses us with, we will be

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Speaker 1: able to accommodate that blessing. God will work it in,

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Speaker 1: and that anything that is shocking or surprising to you

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Speaker 1: in your life does not have that same effect on God.

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Speaker 1: He's seen whatever it is you're dealing with before, and

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Speaker 1: he uses all of those things for his purpose. Then

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Speaker 1: last week I had a really good time talking about

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Speaker 1: God's got the hard part, just to remind you that

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Speaker 1: when you get there, God might have already done the

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Speaker 1: thing that you thought you were going to have to

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Speaker 1: do that kept you from wanting to show up. Like

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Speaker 1: I just thought of this example real quick. When the

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Speaker 1: women went to the tomb and they were like, who's

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Speaker 1: going to roll the stone away? We're not strong enough

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Speaker 1: for that. And when they got there, they found out

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Speaker 1: that God dispassed dispatches angels in advance of your arrival,

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Speaker 1: and the angel had already rolled the stone, and they

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Speaker 1: were like, oh, God already did that. Oh I could

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Speaker 1: have just relaxed and enjoyed the journey. Oh I didn't

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Speaker 1: have to stress about that so much, because God's got

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Speaker 1: the hard part. Well, these are three statements that you

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Speaker 1: can make whenever you find yourself in a fight wherever

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Speaker 1: that fight breaks out. I talked earlier about your freed

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Speaker 1: up to fight, Well, you also have to have, I

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Speaker 1: believe sometimes some faith statements to fight with. And these

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Speaker 1: three things are powerful tools so that when the enemy

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Speaker 1: says to you, you know, I can't do this, and

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Speaker 1: you get that thought in your head and you say

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Speaker 1: I can't do this, Well, that's the devil talking. But

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Speaker 1: he's just using your voice to do it, and you're

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Speaker 1: saying I can't do this, and so you just remind him.

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Speaker 1: God's got the hard part, or when something comes up

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Speaker 1: it just pops up and you didn't see it come in.

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Speaker 1: You say, oh, oh, oh, God will work it in.

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Speaker 1: And then when something happens that you didn't want to happen,

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Speaker 1: you just say, oh, God can use this too, the

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Speaker 1: good and the bad, the happy end, the sad, the

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Speaker 1: emotions I want and the emotions that I can't get

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Speaker 1: counseling to cast out. God can use this too. Today

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Speaker 1: I want to give you a fourth statement, and the

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Speaker 1: title of my sermon is God gave it to me.

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Speaker 1: God gave it to me.

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Speaker 2: Say that out loud, God gave.

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Speaker 1: It to me, and don't say it timid like you

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Speaker 1: know you have to be shy about it. Look at

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Speaker 1: your neighbors, say God gave it to me. Yeah, ask him.

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Speaker 1: You like my hair, God gave it to me. If

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Speaker 1: you think I ought to have more, take it up

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Speaker 1: with him. He gave me the follicles, He gave me.

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Speaker 1: God gave it to me. This view toward life will

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Speaker 1: keep you from becoming prideful, because you will realize that

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Speaker 1: even the things that you are good at are things

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Speaker 1: that came from grace and were grown by God. You

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Speaker 1: will never boast again. In a gift that God gave you,

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Speaker 1: because if it was a gift, what are you bragging about?

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Speaker 1: If it was a gift, then why would you feel

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Speaker 1: puffed up? I'll show you a scripture real quick about this.

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Speaker 1: And First Corinthians four to seven. The church was fighting

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Speaker 1: about different leaders, and they liked this leader and that

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Speaker 1: leader in this preacher and that preacher. And Paul ask

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Speaker 1: a series of three questions. Watch please, first Corinthians four seven,

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Speaker 1: for who makes you different from anyone else? What do

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Speaker 1: you have that you did not receive? And if you

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Speaker 1: did receive it, why do you boast as though you

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Speaker 1: did not tell your neighbor? You're not that smart the

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Speaker 1: idea that you had that hurts your feelings a little bit.

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Speaker 1: You feel like I'm attacking your IQ. Now. I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying that there's a difference between a good idea and

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Speaker 1: a God idea, and the ones that really change our

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Speaker 1: lives are the ideas that come from God. How many

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Speaker 1: no God can give you one idea that can revolutionize

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Speaker 1: your company, one idea, one person to reach out to

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Speaker 1: that can help you with the challenge that you're dealing

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Speaker 1: with that you don't know who to ask about God

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Speaker 1: can give you one idea that can result in a

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Speaker 1: brand new path for your life.

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Speaker 2: And so we learn to value what God gives.

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Speaker 1: And it's different when God gives it. It's different when

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Speaker 1: God gives it. Another scripture that I would share with

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Speaker 1: you before we talk about Samson briefly, is when Jesus

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Speaker 1: told his disciples, I'm leaving you physically, but I'm giving

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Speaker 1: my peace to you internally.

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Speaker 2: And I do not.

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Speaker 1: Give as the world give. What does that mean? They

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Speaker 1: can't take it away because they didn't put it there.

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Speaker 1: So nobody can steal your peace without your permission. Nobody

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Speaker 1: can ruin your day unless you turn the responsibility over

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Speaker 1: to them. The Bible says, this is the day that

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Speaker 1: the Lord has made. So the one who gave you today,

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Speaker 1: the one who put you in this moment of your life,

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Speaker 1: the one who gave it to you, also expects you

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Speaker 1: to guard it, to guard what you have been given.

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Speaker 1: And that is so important that the gifts that God

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Speaker 1: has put inside of you, the ways that He has

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Speaker 1: blessed you, the things that He has put in your

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Speaker 1: life and called you a steward over that you take

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Speaker 1: care of what God gave you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you take care of the car I gave you.

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Speaker 2: Take care of it.

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Speaker 1: Clean that thing up. I gave it to you. I

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Speaker 1: know you paid a little bit of it, but I

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Speaker 1: paid most of it. So take care of what I

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Speaker 1: gave you. The Bible I'm preaching from today. First of all,

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Speaker 1: it's very big, and secondly, it's very special. This Bible

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Speaker 1: belonged to my father in law. He had it for

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Speaker 1: twenty years. He's still living. Sounded like I was doing

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Speaker 1: his funeral for a minute. They're didn't it? And I

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Speaker 1: told him over and over again, I would go sneak

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Speaker 1: and read this Bible at his house because he was

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Speaker 1: a pastor for twenty years, and he put every note

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Speaker 1: that he ever preached from in this Bible. And I

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Speaker 1: would go down there and steal sermons of going his

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Speaker 1: basement and look through pages and steal sermons from him

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Speaker 1: and outlines because they're all there in the margin. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you can see that, but it's very

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Speaker 1: special to me. And you couldn't buy this Bible from

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Speaker 1: me because a couple Christmases ago he said, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to wait for me to die. I'll just give

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Speaker 1: it to you now. That way you'll pray for me

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Speaker 1: to stay alive longer, and he gave it to me.

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Speaker 1: He gave it to me. So if you want a

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Speaker 1: Bible today here at church, we will give you one.

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Speaker 1: We have them to give to you for free, but

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Speaker 1: not this one. You can't have this one because it

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Speaker 1: was given to me. And it's got the same words.

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Speaker 1: You know, the same words as the free one on

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Speaker 1: the phone, but it was given to me, so it's different.

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Speaker 1: So don't offer me one hundred dollars, you can't have it.

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Speaker 1: Don't offer me a thousand dollars, you can't have it.

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Speaker 1: You get the ten thousand dollars. We can talk and

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Speaker 1: maybe you just copy the notes and you take the

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Speaker 1: Bible and I take the wisdom.

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Speaker 2: But I'm saying it would take a lot, it would

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Speaker 2: take a lot. There is a number. Oh, there's a number.

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Speaker 1: But this one's different because of who gave it to me.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes I worry.

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Speaker 1: About you because I think you give stuff away too cheap.

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Speaker 2: That was given to you by somebody really important.

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Speaker 1: I see you giving away your dignity sometimes just to

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Speaker 1: defend a political position. But you would give away your

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Speaker 1: dignity and your respect and your kindness and the fruit

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Speaker 1: of the spirit, which is love, to come down to

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Speaker 1: a hateful level that was dictated by a cancerous culture.

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Speaker 2: You would give away your healthy heart.

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Speaker 1: To engage in a hellish debate.

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Speaker 2: And I just want to say, if this isn't a political.

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Speaker 1: Message, but Jesus gave us unity as his church, so

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Speaker 1: let's don't let a devil divide us over stupid stuff when.

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Speaker 2: It took his precious blood to bring us together.

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Speaker 1: When it's given. If we're just unified over some good ideas,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is what is remarkable to me about

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Speaker 1: the story of Samson is that he represents a flawed

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Speaker 1: figure who was given at a specific time in history

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Speaker 1: to deliver a people from their sin. One of the

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Speaker 1: interesting things about Samson is that from his very birth

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Speaker 1: he was different. If you know this about Samson, because

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Speaker 1: all we ever talked about is Delilah cut his hair

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Speaker 1: off and he was a dummy and he shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: done that. Just like we do with everybody, by the way,

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Speaker 1: we just summarized their whole life down to one thing,

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Speaker 1: either their gift or their glitch glitch one time, and

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Speaker 1: we will write your biography with one sentence on your

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Speaker 1: one glitch on the other hand, we are just as

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Speaker 1: good at deifying people for what they do well so

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Speaker 1: that we will call you a singer.

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Speaker 2: This student's instagram messaged me one time.

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Speaker 1: And I just told y'all not to get caught up

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Speaker 1: in this stuff, but sometimes I do. I was singing

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Speaker 1: a song that I wrote, and he said, preachers preach.

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Speaker 1: Singers sing stick to preaching, Stephen, and I wanted to

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Speaker 1: tell him what he could do with that comment, because

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Speaker 1: you don't get to tell me what to do with

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Speaker 1: the song that God put in my heart. It's different

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Speaker 1: when it's given. But now I'm up here carnal and

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Speaker 1: I need to pray, just to reset the whole tone

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Speaker 1: of auditorium for the Holy Spirit. But let me encourage

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Speaker 1: you with this. Never let anybody identify you with your

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Speaker 1: gift or with your glitch, because you are so much

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Speaker 1: more than both of those. You are so much more

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Speaker 1: than both of those. You are so much more than addict,

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Speaker 1: so much more than that. You are so much more

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Speaker 1: than organist, guitarist. You are so much more than mom.

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Speaker 1: Don't even let your kids narrow your life down to

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Speaker 1: the one thing that you do for them, because you

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Speaker 1: are so much more than that. Married couples quit be

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Speaker 1: in your kid's administrative assistant before you're each other spouses

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Speaker 1: and you end up without a marriage and they left

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Speaker 1: your house and they don't even come see you when

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Speaker 1: they go.

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Speaker 2: Don't let people shrink you down to one thing.

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Speaker 1: I am preaching, like doctor Phil I love Samson because

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Speaker 1: he gives me hope to know that God gives great

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Speaker 1: callings to flawed people. He delivered Israel from the Philistines

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Speaker 1: for twenty years, and he flirted with the Philistines that

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Speaker 1: he delivered them from. A matter of fact, when I

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Speaker 1: read you the passage in Judges chapter fifteen, I didn't

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Speaker 1: get to tell you much of the background to flash

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Speaker 1: back to all of the things that led Samson here.

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Speaker 1: But in fact, it was his insistence to go get

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Speaker 1: a Philistine wife that caused this issue to begin with.

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Speaker 1: His parents warned him against it, his parents tried to

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Speaker 1: dissuade him from it, but he had to have this

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Speaker 1: Philistine girl. And the problem with it was that he

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Speaker 1: liked what God had given him to fight. He liked

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Speaker 1: the Philistine but the Philistines were the one that he

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Speaker 1: was called to fight against. So now I understand in

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Speaker 1: my life the complication of my desires that some of

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Speaker 1: the things that God has called me to do and

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Speaker 1: be effective in will be wrapped up in things that

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Speaker 1: I struggle with. Some of the things that God will

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Speaker 1: call me to make my contribution in will be wrapped

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Speaker 1: up in the things that I am in constant conflict with. This.

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Speaker 1: This was the case with Samson. So he marries this

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Speaker 1: woman who's a philistine, who his parents said, I'm telling

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Speaker 1: you this is not going to end well. And it

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Speaker 1: didn't because she was given to another man in marriage

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Speaker 1: while Samson was away. And when Samson found out about that,

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Speaker 1: he was very angry. And since Sampson was very impulsive,

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Speaker 1: and since Samson was very innovative, oh yeah, he was both.

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Speaker 1: He was impulsive and innovative. Tell your neighbor, I'm both.

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Speaker 1: I can be both things at once and innovative impulsive.

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Speaker 1: Samson found three hundred foxes, tied their tails together, found

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Speaker 1: a match, and set their tails on fire.

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Speaker 2: This is in your Bible.

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Speaker 1: The Bible that you say is boring, the Bible that

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Speaker 1: you don't read enough. This is the greatest Bible story

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Speaker 1: that you'd never heard before. He takes three hundred foxtails,

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Speaker 1: ties them together, lights the tails on fire, sends them

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Speaker 1: running through the fields of the Philistines, destroys their fields.

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Speaker 2: The Philistines hear about what Sampson did.

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Speaker 1: They send their army to Sampson's ex wife's house, burn

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Speaker 1: the house down. Sampson is mad about that. They're mad

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Speaker 1: at him. They're looking for Sampson. They come to the

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Speaker 1: people of Judah. They say, we want Samson. And they said,

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Speaker 1: you want Samson, we'll give you Samson. We'd rather you

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Speaker 1: take Samson than take us, because when it comes down

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Speaker 1: to it, we're all kind of selfish in our heart.

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Speaker 1: And so they come to Sampson and they tie him

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Speaker 1: up and they turn him over. And as he's walking

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Speaker 1: down to the Philistines, we come upon verse fourteen, chapter

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Speaker 1: fifteen that I read to you a moment ago, where

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Speaker 1: the Bible says that suddenly the spirit of the Lord

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Speaker 1: came upon Sampson.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I feel like preaching to somebody today.

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Speaker 1: And when the spirit of the Lord came on Samson,

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Speaker 1: the ropes that were holding him became weak. Because of

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Speaker 1: the spirit of the Lord. He was stronger than what

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Speaker 1: bound him. Because of the spirit of the Lord, he

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Speaker 1: was free from what held him. Because of the spirit

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Speaker 1: of the Lord. The thing that restrained him one moment

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Speaker 1: had to release him the next. When the spirit of

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Speaker 1: the Lord comes on your life, you might be surprised

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Speaker 1: what you can do that you couldn't do before you

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Speaker 1: knew to.

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Speaker 2: Call on God.

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Speaker 1: And the strength that Samson needed to break the ropes

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Speaker 1: in the passage was given to him from God.

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Speaker 2: He didn't break those strength those ropes with muscles.

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Speaker 1: He broke those ropes with God. With God. You didn't

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Speaker 1: break those ropes with muscles. You broke those ropes with God.

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Speaker 1: I mean, just to realize how much God has done

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Speaker 1: in your life is reason enough to come to church

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Speaker 1: every Sunday. Because a whole week passes, and you don't

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Speaker 1: remember what he released you from. A whole week passes,

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Speaker 1: and you don't remember what he redeemed you from. A

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Speaker 1: whole week passes, and you are so consumed by the

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Speaker 1: next struggle that you didn't even give credit for the

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Speaker 1: last blessing. And so Sampson is now free to fight,

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Speaker 1: and there's a thousand Philistines coming at him, and he's

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Speaker 1: got two hands, but he's only one man. So he

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Speaker 1: needs a weapon, and we all need weapons. From time

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Speaker 1: to time, and I just want to ask a question

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Speaker 1: Elevation Church. I want to ask a question to everybody online.

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Speaker 1: Of all of the weapons that God could have put

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Speaker 1: in Sampson's path, if Sampson had been given the option

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Speaker 1: to select a weapon, do you think he would have

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Speaker 1: chosen this one? Read again in Judges, chapter fifteen, verse fifteen.

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Speaker 1: I love how the Bible says it just like it

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Speaker 1: makes sense, But it doesn't make any sense. Finding a

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Speaker 1: fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck

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Speaker 1: down one thousand men, with no explanation.

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Speaker 2: Of how one jawbone.

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Speaker 1: In the hands of one hot tempered man killed one

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Speaker 1: thousand men. There is no nuance given to it. There

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Speaker 1: is no mention of his prowess or his skill. There

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Speaker 1: is no talk of his training. That when he was

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Speaker 1: a little boy, he's the practice with jawbones of donkeys.

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Speaker 2: He always had a thing for donkeys, ever since he

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Speaker 2: was little.

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Speaker 1: When they would talk about donkeys in elementary school, he

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Speaker 1: was drawn to donkeys, he says, he was a little boy,

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Speaker 1: he always had a thing for donkey's, a fascination with donkeys,

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Speaker 1: the curvature of their jaw bones, specifically the density of

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Speaker 1: their jawbones. It was absolutely incredible. So if Simpson would

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Speaker 1: have been able to select a weapon, don't you think

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Speaker 1: he would have selected a better one than the jawbone

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Speaker 1: of a donkey. Let's just name a few, just off

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Speaker 1: the top of your head. I know you didn't study

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Speaker 1: Judge's fifteen this week, but just work with me for

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Speaker 1: a moment. What would be a better weapon that existed

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Speaker 1: in this time? Okay, I gotta clarify. Ye, I'll be

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Speaker 1: shouting out all kinds of illegal stuff, but something that

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Speaker 1: was existing in this time. Yeah, a spear would have

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Speaker 1: been better. Definitely. I'd rather stab them with a spear

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Speaker 1: than hit them with a jawbone of a donkey.

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Speaker 2: A sword, Yeah, yeah, I'd rather have a sword.

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Speaker 1: If I gotta fight a thousand Philistines, I'd rather fight

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Speaker 1: them with the sword. Yeah. What else? A slingshot? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I kind of like that too, because then you can

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Speaker 1: keep your distance right that way you can know their comment,

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Speaker 1: and that way there's no I mean, the jawbone of

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Speaker 1: a donkey. This is bloody, you said. The Bible doesn't

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Speaker 1: say it was bloody. Yes it does. Look at verse

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Speaker 1: fifteen again, did you see it? It said he found

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Speaker 1: the jawbone of a donkey, but not just any jawbone.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fresh jawbone of a donkey.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, that makes it better. Think about this. It's

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Speaker 1: a thousand of them and one of me, and I've

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Speaker 1: got the jawbone of a donkey.

432
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 2: But at least it's fresh.

433
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 1: At least it's a fresh one. At least it's not

434
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 1: a dry one.

435
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 2: At least it's not brittle.

436
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: If it was a dry one, it would be brittle,

437
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 1: and if it was brittle, it would break.

438
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:54,120
Speaker 2: But the Bible says.

439
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: That Samson, with a thousand Philistines shouting at him and

440
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,400
Speaker 1: running toward him and his life on the line, he

441
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: needs something in this moment, and his hands are free,

442
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: but he has no weapon for the fight that he

443
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,080
Speaker 1: didn't expect. Who am I preaching to today? You have

444
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 1: no weapon in your hand for the fight that you

445
00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: didn't expect. And added to this, the one that you

446
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 1: found is not the one that you would have chosen

447
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,360
Speaker 1: if you had been asked about what weapon to fight with.

448
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: But God says, and I don't care about what they say.

449
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 1: But God says, and I don't care about what your

450
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 1: mind says. But God says, and I don't care what

451
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 1: the economy says, but God says, and I don't care

452
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 1: what your background is, but God says, and I don't

453
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: know how big they are. God says that the worst

454
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 1: weapon with him is better than the best one without him.

455
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: So I'd rather have a jawbone of a donkey than

456
00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,719
Speaker 1: a semi automatic weapon.

457
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 2: If God is with.

458
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 1: The donkey, I'll take the donkey every time.

459
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 2: Give me that jaw bone.

460
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 1: Give me that jaw bone. You know you got to

461
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 1: touch your neighbor and tell them that.

462
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 2: Give me that jaw bone.

463
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: It's not the best weapon, but it's a fresh weapon.

464
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 1: It's not the.

465
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 2: Best weapon, but it's.

466
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,200
Speaker 1: The one I've got. I used to come home telling

467
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: Holly all the time. I don't know if I'm a

468
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: quif to be a pastor. I don't know if I'm

469
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 1: good at being a pastor. I don't know if I

470
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: know enough to be a pastor. I don't know if

471
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,360
Speaker 1: I've experienced enough to be a pastor.

472
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 2: I just don't know if I'm the pastor the people need.

473
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: And she would say, well, you're the one we've got.

474
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 1: Which weapon is the best the one you've got, which

475
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: one is the best, the one you've got. Look at

476
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: your kids today and tell them.

477
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 2: I know I might not be the best at this

478
00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 2: raising you.

479
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: I might not be the pairing you would have picked,

480
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: but I'm the one you got.

481
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 2: I might be a donkey, but I have.

482
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: A destiny and God made me to be this in

483
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 1: your life right now. So I feel kind of confident

484
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: about it because I feel kind of like it doesn't

485
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: have to look like much to do a lot. I

486
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: feel kind of like it doesn't have to be that

487
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 1: impressive to be effective. That's what the Donkey's jawbone teaches me.

488
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: It's effective even though it isn't impressive. Samson m impressive.

489
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,480
Speaker 1: I even brought my preaching folder today. I put my

490
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: notes in this folder that I bought from a thrift store.

491
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:59,720
Speaker 3: In honor of Samson. All that baby oil, The Ultimate Warrior.

492
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 1: Y'all don't know nothing. Don't make me start calling on

493
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: the Lord. And I was trying to make a list.

494
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: I was thinking about, how, Okay, this is gonna be

495
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: really corny, but I'm gonna try to do it. The Ultimate Warrior,

496
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: right that was a wrestling character from back in our day.

497
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,719
Speaker 1: I know wrestling is fake and men in tights and

498
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: all that grosses you out and all that, but some

499
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: of us love it. We don't know why we love it.

500
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: We don't even admit that we love it sometimes, but

501
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: it's just it's just an ultimate It's an ultimate expression

502
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:50,600
Speaker 1: of masculine Anyway, we would think of Sampson as being

503
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,720
Speaker 1: a warrior with weaknesses, and we would say that he

504
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: accomplished great things externally, although he battled with greater things internally.

505
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 1: We would know that the story of Sampson ends in

506
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: a crushing defeat for his own life. Because I want

507
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: to point something out to you from this passage, is

508
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 1: that when it starts with God, it ends in victory.

509
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: When it starts with me, it ends in defeat. Now

510
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: take that and apply it over your day, over your business, venture,

511
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: over your relationship. I'll say it again. If it starts

512
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: with God, your day, your career, your relationship, it ends

513
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 1: in victory. Even if it goes through seasons of defeat,

514
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: that's so annoyted. I'm afraid you missed it. So if

515
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: it started with God, there may be a season of defeat,

516
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 1: a island Saturday, a bloody cross, but it will end

517
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: in victory. An empty tomb. The sad thing about Samson

518
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:20,840
Speaker 1: is that he was born supernaturally. His mother's womb was barren.

519
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: An angel came to his father, well, first came to

520
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 1: his mother and said. The angel came to his mother

521
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 1: and said, You're going to have a baby. And Simpson's

522
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: dad wasn't there, future dad, her husband wasn't there. And

523
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 1: when he came back, she said, an angel just told

524
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: me I'm gonna have a baby. And he's like, what

525
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: angel who came and told you you're gonna have a baby.

526
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 1: And the angel came back and said, you're gonna have

527
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: a baby. And because this child is special, protected, protect it.

528
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: Because God is giving you this child. And this child

529
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: is not just given to you, but this child is

530
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 1: going to be given to the whole nation. This child

531
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: is going to do amazing things. So you need to

532
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: raise this child a very special way because he is given.

533
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: And it's different when it's given. When something is given

534
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: by God, it must be guarded. When something is given

535
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: by God, it must be guarded. And here we see

536
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: Samson doing something amazing with the donkey's jawbone.

537
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 2: It's amazing what he did, but it's ridiculous what he

538
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 2: does next, because.

539
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: You would think that after seeing such an incredible intervention

540
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,720
Speaker 1: of God, such a sovereign display of the strength of God.

541
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 2: That hey, a minute ago, i.

542
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,720
Speaker 1: Couldn't even use my hands, and now I'm looking at

543
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,280
Speaker 1: a thousand dead Philistines and I'm still breathing.

544
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 2: You would think that he would praise God.

545
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 1: But Samson, Samson does something so stupid, and I do

546
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 1: it too, and you do it too.

547
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 2: Is that after Sampson won.

548
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: A great victory, and some of you are in here,

549
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: and you have won a great victory.

550
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 2: You have seen God do amazing things in your life.

551
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 1: But here comes the mistake verse sixteen. Then Sampson said,

552
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: with the donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys of them.

553
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,479
Speaker 1: With the donkey's jawbone, I have killed a thousand men.

554
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: You mean God just saved your life, and you want

555
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: to write a song about a donkey's jawbone. Put the

556
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: lyrics back up there to his song. Samson's like, oh,

557
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: this is amazing, Wow, incredible. He's still holding the jawbone,

558
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 1: and he goes with the donkey's jaw bone. Let's see,

559
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 1: God just gave me a great miracle. God just gave

560
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:58,879
Speaker 1: me a great success. God just did a great thing.

561
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: What should I think about? With a donkey's jaw bone?

562
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 1: I have kid a thousand men. No, put this in there,

563
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,359
Speaker 1: a donkey's jaw bone. I have made donkeys of them. Yeah,

564
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,360
Speaker 1: that's clever, see because I'm talking about donkeys and I

565
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:22,879
Speaker 1: made them donkeys. Why are we thinking about donkeys when

566
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:29,439
Speaker 1: God just delivered you? Why are you praising the thing

567
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:30,880
Speaker 1: that he used.

568
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:39,479
Speaker 2: When you know good and well that it wasn't enough

569
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 2: to get the job done. Why do we become so

570
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 2: attached to jaw bones? Why do we get so.

571
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: Addicted to jaw bones? Well you mean by that, Pastor Stephen,

572
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: I mean when you start to think that the thing

573
00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,480
Speaker 1: that God did through you, you start to think that

574
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: the thing that God did through you proves how great

575
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:03,960
Speaker 1: you are.

576
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,399
Speaker 2: Because I recked Simpson song over and over again.

577
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 1: Put it back ut verse sixteen, with a donkey's jawbone,

578
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: I have made donkeys of them. He's talking about them,

579
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,719
Speaker 1: he's talking about the donkey, he's talking about the jawbone.

580
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 1: He's definitely talking about himself. He's talking about killing. This

581
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 1: is a violent song, This is a specific song. But

582
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 1: where is God in your song? Why? Didn't your song

583
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:37,200
Speaker 1: start with God? Because you know the miracle? Did you

584
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:40,800
Speaker 1: know it wasn't a jawbone? You know it was only

585
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: God that kept the jawbone from breaking. So don't praise

586
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,880
Speaker 1: the thing that you used. Praise the one that kept

587
00:36:50,880 --> 00:37:01,680
Speaker 1: it from breaking. Don't depend on the donkey's jawbon, depend

588
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 1: on the one who could use something as ridiculous, as

589
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,759
Speaker 1: small as a donkey's jaw bone. Now, I just need

590
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: to see who I'm preaching to. How many of you

591
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: God has done so much through some ridiculous things in

592
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 1: your life that it just doesn't make sense, all right,

593
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: So don't sing to the thing that doesn't make sense.

594
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 1: Don't worship the thing that doesn't make sense. Don't depend

595
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,280
Speaker 1: on the thing that doesn't make sense. Because the truth

596
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,719
Speaker 1: of the matter is, Samson, if God had left your

597
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:35,879
Speaker 1: hand tied, you couldn't have even used the job bone

598
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: to begin with. And if God wouldn't have brought you

599
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 1: out of that situation, you wouldn't even be here today.

600
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:43,920
Speaker 1: And if God would have let you get caught, you

601
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:46,440
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had mercy. You'd be locked up. And if

602
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,880
Speaker 1: God wouldn't have brought you through that season, you wouldn't

603
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 1: be singing about the joy of the Lord. So don't

604
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 1: worship the way that it came. Worship the one who

605
00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: gave it, and.

606
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 2: Turn your song around and turn your spirit.

607
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:07,080
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying with the donkey's jaw bone,

608
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,319
Speaker 1: I don't care what melody you put to that. That's

609
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 1: a dumb song to say. With a donkey's jawbone. With

610
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 1: the power of God, with the strength of God, with

611
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 1: the anointing of the Holy Spirit, with the get up

612
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 1: and go of God, with the resurrection power of Jesus,

613
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 1: with the word of God, with the promise of God.

614
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:34,839
Speaker 1: That's what I'm praising, Not a jaw bone.

615
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 2: I'm praising the.

616
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 1: God of the jawbone. I'm praising the God who knew

617
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: I would need a donkey to decompose.

618
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 2: Right there and have something for me to grab. The

619
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,320
Speaker 2: truth of the matter is the only reason we're.

620
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,839
Speaker 1: Here today is because we grabbed what we had and

621
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 1: God did what he does. Howbody had that testimony, It

622
00:38:57,680 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: wasn't enough, it didn't make sense, it didn't look good.

623
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 1: They were screaming and coming my way. But I grabbed

624
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,680
Speaker 1: what I had, didn't have a sword, grabbed what I

625
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 1: had didn't have a spear.

626
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:09,919
Speaker 2: Grabbed what I had.

627
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:11,879
Speaker 1: Some of you didn't have a dad to raise you,

628
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 1: grabbed what I had. Some of you didn't get a

629
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: college education, grabbed what I had. Some of you don't

630
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,000
Speaker 1: have the best help right now. I grabbed what I had.

631
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: I didn't have the best team around me. I grabbed

632
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 1: what I had. I wasn't raised in that culture. But

633
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,719
Speaker 1: I grabbed what I had, and God did what he does.

634
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:32,560
Speaker 1: And I'm not singing to a donkey.

635
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,760
Speaker 4: I thought your neighbors say, grab what you have, grab

636
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:41,360
Speaker 4: what you have.

637
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 1: You don't need a better weapon. You need a more

638
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:50,319
Speaker 1: worshipful spirit. You need greater faith, you need more innovation.

639
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: God gave it to me.

640
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 5: It's a jewel bone, yeah, but God gave it to me,

641
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:04,719
Speaker 5: and a jaw bone with Jesus, a job bone with Jesus,

642
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 5: a simple thing with Jesus, a silly thing with Jesus,

643
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 5: a small thing with Jesus.

644
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: It's better than the world's best weapons without him. For

645
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty

646
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 1: through God. For the pulling down of strongholds. So a

647
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:30,040
Speaker 1: crazy thing happens to Samson. He praises the thing that

648
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:34,759
Speaker 1: he has to throw away because after you get done

649
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:38,240
Speaker 1: glorifying the jawbone, Hey, hey, God gave you that job,

650
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:43,600
Speaker 1: but it's just a jawbone. And if that one goes away,

651
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 1: God to kill another donkey.

652
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 6: I don't know who this is for, but you better

653
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,080
Speaker 6: get this while you can, because God gave this message

654
00:40:56,080 --> 00:41:00,160
Speaker 6: to me for you, because he wants you to know

655
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:02,200
Speaker 6: you don't need better weapons.

656
00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 1: He can do it with a jawbone. And you don't

657
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:07,719
Speaker 1: even have to like your job for God to use

658
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:12,240
Speaker 1: it to provide for you. When did we start raising

659
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: a generation that thought I have to like everything. I

660
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:20,080
Speaker 1: have to like my job. I don't even like myself

661
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 1: half the time, let alone people I work with. But

662
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 1: God can use it. And the miracle of the jawbone

663
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,000
Speaker 1: is that it was fresh, so it didn't break. And

664
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,880
Speaker 1: that is the miracle of your life that you didn't break.

665
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 1: Jaw bones only eighteen inches. It isn't big, but it

666
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 1: didn't break. It didn't bougie, but it didn't break. Am

667
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 1: I talking about a jawbone or your car?

668
00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:48,280
Speaker 2: It isn't the best.

669
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: One, but it didn't break. That's the miracle. It didn't break.

670
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 1: Come on, get this in your spirit. It didn't break.

671
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 1: Think about the miracle of God in your life. It

672
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 1: didn't break. My heart was torn, but it didn't break.

673
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,760
Speaker 1: It's still beating, it's still loving, it's still pumping. God

674
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:11,720
Speaker 1: still has a purpose for me. It didn't break. Yeah,

675
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: And Samson verse seventeen throws that bone away. And the

676
00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:24,640
Speaker 1: place was called raymonth Lehigh, which means shawbone hill. Because

677
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,919
Speaker 1: of course, rather than name in the place something about God,

678
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:33,799
Speaker 1: Samson names it something about the jawbone. Because we name

679
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:41,359
Speaker 1: stuff wrong, we get caught up. And then I want

680
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:42,959
Speaker 1: to show you something that can happen in your life.

681
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 1: Samson is winning, but he's worn out. Did you know

682
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:58,000
Speaker 1: that's possible? You can be winning and worn out. People

683
00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: think that the only people who need preaching of encourage

684
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 1: and an inspiration are those who are losing. You know,

685
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:05,520
Speaker 1: you're in a losing season, you're in a you just

686
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,040
Speaker 1: lost a relationship, you just lost someone you love. Uh uh.

687
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:14,359
Speaker 1: You can be winning and worn out and everybody can

688
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:19,360
Speaker 1: look at you and envy you and not have empathy

689
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 1: for you because their envy doesn't know how much energy

690
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 1: it costs you to win. Preaching what I know and

691
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,080
Speaker 1: everybody around you loves to lean on you when you're

692
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: like that, and they'll say things like, oh, you're just

693
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,920
Speaker 1: my rock, You're just my everything.

694
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,879
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not supposed to be your everything. Please don't

695
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:47,840
Speaker 2: make me your everything.

696
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,440
Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to be. I don't want you to

697
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:54,640
Speaker 1: come to me as you're a full time giver of

698
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:58,359
Speaker 1: love and joy, because see, you can be winning and

699
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,919
Speaker 1: worn out because the people who are with you don't

700
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 1: even know what it takes. And that that's a dangerous place,

701
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: because then you get to where Samson was in verse eighteen,

702
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: and he begins to feel like, even though I won

703
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: for what, you ever felt that way, even though I

704
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 1: won for what? It can be very empty to stand

705
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:33,120
Speaker 1: in a victory that you believe you produced. It can

706
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 1: be impossible to sustain a victory that you think you started.

707
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:44,440
Speaker 1: Samson's whole life started in a barren womb. It started

708
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:49,360
Speaker 1: with God. Samson's strength was given by God. And the

709
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: thing that Samson forgot while he was busy making up

710
00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 1: poems about the instrument that God used, I heard a

711
00:44:56,719 --> 00:45:00,400
Speaker 1: story about a guitar player. He was playing a very

712
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:03,440
Speaker 1: expensive guitar, and he was playing it so beautifully. A

713
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,680
Speaker 1: great guitar player, a master musician, and he played it,

714
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,880
Speaker 1: and everybody around him was talking about how beautiful the

715
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 1: guitar was, the wood it was made from, the intonation

716
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 1: of the guitar, even the inlays of the guitar, all

717
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:20,799
Speaker 1: of the ivory on the guitar, how expensive it was,

718
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:22,839
Speaker 1: and the whole time he was playing it, they were

719
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:26,240
Speaker 1: all talking about how wonderful the guitar was. And finally,

720
00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:29,399
Speaker 1: just very quietly and humbly, he took the guitar, said

721
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 1: it gently in the stand, looked back at the audience

722
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 1: and said, how does the guitar sound now? Because while

723
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:42,840
Speaker 1: you were busy noticing the instrument, you did not realize

724
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,600
Speaker 1: is that the mastery was not in the wood. It

725
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:49,920
Speaker 1: was in the one who knew what to do with it.

726
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:58,240
Speaker 7: Your life gets confusing and gets hard when you start

727
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:06,359
Speaker 7: praising the guitar, the jawbone, the thing, the skill, the gift.

728
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,320
Speaker 1: The thing. When you start praising that, here's what happens.

729
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 1: Verse eighteen. Samson was very thirsty because he won, but

730
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 1: he was worn out. He won, he was delivered, but

731
00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:27,160
Speaker 1: he was dry.

732
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 2: He won a victory, but he was thirsty.

733
00:46:30,200 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 1: Keep it up. I'm not done.

734
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:34,680
Speaker 2: He cried out to the Lord, you have given.

735
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:36,920
Speaker 1: Your servant this great victory. Must I now die of

736
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,640
Speaker 1: thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. Now

737
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 1: he's asking a question, God, what good is winning if

738
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm just going to die of dehydration. But look what

739
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:48,799
Speaker 1: happens in verse nineteen something very interesting. The Bible says,

740
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 1: then God opened up the hollow place in Lehigh.

741
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,839
Speaker 2: Somewhere that waters should have never been.

742
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 1: And then everybody say, then God opened up the hollow

743
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:07,120
Speaker 1: place in Lehigh, and water came out of it. So

744
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,160
Speaker 1: it was a dry basin, but then it was a

745
00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: depressed place. But then God opened up the hollow place

746
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:20,760
Speaker 1: and water that was beneath the ground came up out

747
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,760
Speaker 1: of the ground. And when Samson drank, his strength returned

748
00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:25,760
Speaker 1: and he revived.

749
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:28,239
Speaker 2: So the spring was called in Hakori and is still

750
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:28,680
Speaker 2: there in Leon.

751
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:30,919
Speaker 1: But I want to focus on that one word then,

752
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: because I want to go back to the verse before

753
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 1: it and see what happened that made God open the

754
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:37,320
Speaker 1: spring so Samson.

755
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,160
Speaker 2: Could be revived. Because I want to see in this

756
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 2: season of my life, what.

757
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:43,560
Speaker 1: Is going to have to happen for God to refresh

758
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:46,000
Speaker 1: me so that I can do everything that He has

759
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:50,200
Speaker 1: called me and named me, and nun me, and empowered me,

760
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,040
Speaker 1: and graced me, and freed me, and raised me, and

761
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:58,200
Speaker 1: appointed me and assigned me to do. And it is

762
00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:02,480
Speaker 1: so simple you almost miss it. In eighteen because he

763
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: was very thirsty. He cried out to the Lord you.

764
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:11,040
Speaker 1: That's the first time he talked to God in this

765
00:48:11,120 --> 00:48:17,719
Speaker 1: whole passage. And when he said, you have given your

766
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:21,520
Speaker 1: servant this great victory, and then he goes on to complaint,

767
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 1: must I know die and full in the hands of

768
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 1: the unset He didn't even pray right, just the fact

769
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:30,880
Speaker 1: that he did next verse verse nineteen.

770
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 2: Then when he said you then.

771
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:42,960
Speaker 1: Then I gotta get you to then, because you can't

772
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:47,279
Speaker 1: die in this dry place. You can't die in this discouragement.

773
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 1: What good is it for you for God to give

774
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: all of this victory and you die because you have

775
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:59,799
Speaker 1: nothing to drink? So God said when the Sampson's song

776
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,400
Speaker 1: changed from I have to you have.

777
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:05,719
Speaker 2: Oh that's so good. They keep taking down my verse

778
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 2: I'm not done with it verse eighteen.

779
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: You did it, God, You've made it happen.

780
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:11,920
Speaker 2: You gave me victory.

781
00:49:12,239 --> 00:49:15,840
Speaker 1: You've made it enough. You supplied my needs. You brought

782
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:21,040
Speaker 1: me through that, You gave me victory. Then God open

783
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: the spring. Then God did what only he could do.

784
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 1: Here's the principle. When you refocus, God refills. Let me

785
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,600
Speaker 1: say that again all the way to rock Hill. When

786
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:43,640
Speaker 1: you refocus, God refills. I feel a fresh flow coming

787
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:47,120
Speaker 1: to somebody's life today. I feel a fresh flow coming

788
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:50,840
Speaker 1: to somebody's stanley today. I feel fresh strength coming to

789
00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:58,799
Speaker 1: your breed hands today. Refocus not on the donkey, not

790
00:49:58,960 --> 00:49:59,880
Speaker 1: on the dryness.

791
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 2: But God gave it to me, I said, God gave

792
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:05,080
Speaker 2: it to me.

793
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:07,200
Speaker 1: God gave it to me.

794
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 2: And if he gave me this calling, no one can

795
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:13,760
Speaker 2: take it. My very best.

796
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: Friend in the world comes to church every week and

797
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:19,360
Speaker 1: sits in this seat. And this week he happened to

798
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:21,480
Speaker 1: wear and I saw him while I was preaching.

799
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 2: A jacket that I gave him.

800
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:27,960
Speaker 1: Stand up he and show him that Viori hoodie thingy

801
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:28,680
Speaker 1: that I gave you.

802
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:31,959
Speaker 2: Now, I want you to find him in the lobby.

803
00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:35,759
Speaker 1: And try to take it from him. He doesn't even

804
00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:37,960
Speaker 1: know how to fight, but he'll fight you so good

805
00:50:38,239 --> 00:50:40,240
Speaker 1: you'll think he's Brazilian jiu jitsu.

806
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 2: You will think he's a UFC fighter.

807
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,080
Speaker 1: If you try to take it, why because I gave

808
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 1: it to him, because it means something to him, because

809
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 1: I wanted him to have it.

810
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 2: Offer him one hundred dollars, he won't sell it.

811
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:57,440
Speaker 1: Offer him a thousand. He might take it by another

812
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,719
Speaker 1: one and not tell me what happened. But what I'm

813
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:05,080
Speaker 1: saying is it's different. When it's given. You can't take

814
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:07,480
Speaker 1: it because it was given.

815
00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:09,400
Speaker 2: It's different. It's special to me.

816
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:13,280
Speaker 1: I thought for this, I bleded for this, I cried

817
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:13,680
Speaker 1: for this.

818
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:15,239
Speaker 2: I survived for this.

819
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:18,560
Speaker 4: I did not come this stark to give it over.

820
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:30,480
Speaker 4: And besides how hard I fought, I did not earn it.

821
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:34,920
Speaker 1: It was given. I want you to hold to this

822
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,919
Speaker 1: word in this season of your life. Everything that God

823
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 1: has funken over you, everything that you know is supposed

824
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:43,680
Speaker 1: to come to pass, every seed that He put in

825
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,680
Speaker 1: your heart. I'm tying it into last week that hasn't

826
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 1: become a stalk yet. You just haven't made it to

827
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:53,720
Speaker 1: your then yet. But if you will stop singing about

828
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:57,360
Speaker 1: donkey jaw bones, and if you will stop crying about

829
00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:00,360
Speaker 1: donkeys who left your life, and if you will stop

830
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:03,959
Speaker 1: focusing on the donkey and start focusing on what God

831
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,400
Speaker 1: did for you. I'm telling you there is a springing

832
00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: lee high. Oh yeah, there's there's a joy spring. There's

833
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:17,120
Speaker 1: a hoop spring. There's a peace spring. There's a new spring.

834
00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:21,000
Speaker 2: Will you not see it? Will you not perceive it?

835
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:23,399
Speaker 1: God gave it to me.

836
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:30,840
Speaker 8: Twenty seconds in praising for this day. That twenty seconds

837
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 8: in praising for your breast. Why am I praising him something?

838
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:40,239
Speaker 2: Gave it to me. I gotta make the gongs.

839
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,919
Speaker 1: He gave it to me. I can't go down just yet.

840
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:52,920
Speaker 1: He gave me this assignment. I five at least ten

841
00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,720
Speaker 1: people have saved. Praise him for what he gave you.

842
00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:58,719
Speaker 2: Don't praise what he gave you. Praise him for what

843
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:00,239
Speaker 2: he gave you us.

844
00:53:00,239 --> 00:53:06,080
Speaker 1: If it goes away, he could give you another one.

845
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:09,920
Speaker 2: I want you to get grateful.

846
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:11,600
Speaker 1: I want you to get joyful.

847
00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 2: I want you to start listening.

848
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:16,319
Speaker 1: Some victories and start giving some credit to the God

849
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:18,480
Speaker 1: who made you like He wanted to make you, to

850
00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:28,080
Speaker 1: use your how he wanted. Listen to me, stop despising

851
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:32,200
Speaker 1: what God gave you how he made you. You are

852
00:53:32,239 --> 00:53:35,440
Speaker 1: glitches and you are gifts, but you are neither. You

853
00:53:35,520 --> 00:53:44,400
Speaker 1: are God's everyone's standing. I went through a season a

854
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,960
Speaker 1: few years ago where I hated the sound of my

855
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:51,520
Speaker 1: own voice. And you would too if you had to

856
00:53:51,560 --> 00:53:57,000
Speaker 1: listen to yourself as much as I do. Somebody told

857
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:02,280
Speaker 1: me recently it was my dental hygienis. She is talking

858
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:06,120
Speaker 1: my head off, cleaning up. I answer, I didn't know

859
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:10,760
Speaker 1: how to have a conversation with the thing in my mouth. Ah.

860
00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:12,880
Speaker 1: She said, I saw a clip of you on Instagram.

861
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:16,239
Speaker 1: I said, huh, said the one you posted today. I said,

862
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 1: I don't post those. I don't know which one they

863
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:23,760
Speaker 1: posted today. And she said, you don't post your own clips.

864
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:25,360
Speaker 1: I said, would you want to go through everything you

865
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:27,360
Speaker 1: said and have to listen to yourself say it again

866
00:54:27,719 --> 00:54:29,040
Speaker 1: and think of how you could have said it better?

867
00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,640
Speaker 1: It's torture. How many of you liked to hear your

868
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:33,160
Speaker 1: own voice if you ever hear it back on a recording.

869
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:38,320
Speaker 1: How mean you really just enjoy that well repent of pride. No.

870
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:42,239
Speaker 1: I think it's great, because honestly, God had to deal

871
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:45,360
Speaker 1: with me about that, and he did it through a

872
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:50,040
Speaker 1: conversation that I had with Abby. I was talking to

873
00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:55,400
Speaker 1: her about singing, and she said something negative about her voice.

874
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,920
Speaker 1: And at that time, listen to me. I was going

875
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,400
Speaker 1: through such a season of dealing with this, and she

876
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:04,759
Speaker 1: was much smaller, so I don't even know if she

877
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,840
Speaker 1: remembers this. As she was saying, Oh, I don't have

878
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:09,520
Speaker 1: a great voice, or I'm not a great singer, or

879
00:55:09,560 --> 00:55:13,120
Speaker 1: this or that, I said, hey, let's make a deal.

880
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:18,520
Speaker 1: God gave you your voice, and I want you to

881
00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:20,319
Speaker 1: value it. And I'm not one of these parents who

882
00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:24,320
Speaker 1: tells their kids you can sing better than Adele, because

883
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:32,279
Speaker 1: she can't. So what I was trying to get her

884
00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:33,799
Speaker 1: to do. I said, you don't know how God wants

885
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:40,400
Speaker 1: to use that voice, so let's value your voice. And

886
00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:43,360
Speaker 1: as I was going through a season, come here, Chris.

887
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,880
Speaker 1: I get to work with all these incredible singers. And

888
00:55:47,920 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 1: you would think that that would be wonderful, but it's

889
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:54,480
Speaker 1: also try to stand next to Chris Brown in a

890
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:59,000
Speaker 1: songwriting room and sing something. And I would listen to

891
00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:01,799
Speaker 1: myself singing, and I would hear them singing and all

892
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:05,600
Speaker 1: the vibrato and the tambour and the beauty of the instrument.

893
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:10,720
Speaker 1: And I went home one day and I was thinking,

894
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:12,239
Speaker 1: I hate my voice. I hate my voice. This a

895
00:56:12,239 --> 00:56:14,880
Speaker 1: few years ago, and the Lord said, you hate what

896
00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:21,160
Speaker 1: I gave you. So I realized that the enemy was

897
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:22,879
Speaker 1: trying to get me in a cycle. Now I'm telling

898
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:27,239
Speaker 1: you a me story for a U application. This is

899
00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:32,000
Speaker 1: not confession time for me. It's illustration time. God said,

900
00:56:32,040 --> 00:56:36,080
Speaker 1: you can't hate what I gave you and pray for

901
00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:48,560
Speaker 1: me to use it. Because one side of it is pride.

902
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:51,960
Speaker 1: I killed one thousand men. The other side of it

903
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:57,719
Speaker 1: is insecurity. I have nothing to give, and both of

904
00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:02,839
Speaker 1: them are rooted in the wrong starting place. God gave

905
00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:11,359
Speaker 1: it to me. My voice, your voice, your personality, your

906
00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:15,600
Speaker 1: listening ear, your wisdom, your guidance, your experience, your style.

907
00:57:16,200 --> 00:57:18,560
Speaker 1: God gave it to you. And you know what this means.

908
00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:21,040
Speaker 1: You don't have to be jealous of what he gave

909
00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:27,000
Speaker 1: anybody else. You are not in competition with them. You

910
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:32,080
Speaker 1: don't have to apologize for it. Diminish it. I saw

911
00:57:32,080 --> 00:57:34,640
Speaker 1: it like this all on one hand, I'm tempted to

912
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:37,919
Speaker 1: diminish it. I hate my voice, I hate my height.

913
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:39,640
Speaker 1: Well what are you gonna do about that? You better

914
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:44,040
Speaker 1: get some heels, get a couple extra interests. But that's

915
00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:47,160
Speaker 1: about as good as it's gonna get. Better take your

916
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:50,480
Speaker 1: five foot four self and get out there and be

917
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:56,960
Speaker 1: God's jawbone. The beautiful thing about it is, I'm no

918
00:57:57,040 --> 00:58:00,840
Speaker 1: longer tempted to diminish it, and I'm not tempted to

919
00:58:00,880 --> 00:58:04,400
Speaker 1: depend on it because I know it had nothing to

920
00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:06,680
Speaker 1: do with the success of the weapon. It had to

921
00:58:06,680 --> 00:58:14,000
Speaker 1: do with the strength of my God. God gave it

922
00:58:14,040 --> 00:58:18,720
Speaker 1: to me. Say it again, God gave it to me. Now,

923
00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:20,760
Speaker 1: I want you to confess that over this challenge you're

924
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:25,040
Speaker 1: going through to God gave it to me, even the challenge,

925
00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:28,080
Speaker 1: even the giant, even the fight. God gave me this fight.

926
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:32,600
Speaker 1: He must know I can win it. He must be

927
00:58:32,640 --> 00:58:34,640
Speaker 1: planning to do something to show how great he is.

928
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:38,640
Speaker 1: God gave it to me. God gave me this thing

929
00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:43,640
Speaker 1: to face. It's a matter of stewardship. And when Samson's

930
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:47,400
Speaker 1: life comes down to it, all it has to do

931
00:58:47,440 --> 00:58:50,800
Speaker 1: with how he used his strength. What are you doing

932
00:58:50,840 --> 00:58:53,280
Speaker 1: with the strength God gave you? What are you doing

933
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:54,480
Speaker 1: with the stuff he gave you? What are you doing

934
00:58:54,480 --> 00:58:57,160
Speaker 1: with the days he gave you? If God gave it,

935
00:58:57,600 --> 00:59:01,680
Speaker 1: you don't get to waste it. If God gave it,

936
00:59:01,720 --> 00:59:03,560
Speaker 1: you don't get to bury it. You remember the parable

937
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:05,400
Speaker 1: about the man who was given a talent and he

938
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:09,240
Speaker 1: hid it because he had one and somebody else had five.

939
00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:13,360
Speaker 1: God gave you that one. Do something with it. Use it.

940
00:59:14,120 --> 00:59:16,280
Speaker 1: You are listening to a preach or preach to you

941
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:19,160
Speaker 1: right now who doesn't even naturally like the sound of

942
00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:22,240
Speaker 1: his own voice. Don't tell me what you can't do

943
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:25,640
Speaker 1: for God. Don't tell me what God can't use. Don't

944
00:59:25,680 --> 00:59:27,800
Speaker 1: tell me what God can do. I want to hear it.

945
00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:34,120
Speaker 1: He is the God of the jawbone, and I want

946
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 1: to pray over those things in your life right now,

947
00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:39,640
Speaker 1: whether they are gifts or glitches. I want you to

948
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:44,200
Speaker 1: see him as in the same hands, the hands of God.

949
00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:47,320
Speaker 1: Bow your head and close your eyes. There's something significant

950
00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:49,680
Speaker 1: that God is trying to get you to take responsibility

951
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:54,840
Speaker 1: for today, and as you take responsibility for that thing,

952
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:58,200
Speaker 1: he is calling you to reframe it and refocus it.

953
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:04,080
Speaker 1: Place is not the problem. The starting place is God.

954
01:00:05,240 --> 01:00:08,800
Speaker 1: So now, God, we worship you because you're great, and

955
01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:11,320
Speaker 1: we thank you for all of the battles that you've

956
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:14,320
Speaker 1: won for your people, and we thank you for all

957
01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:18,280
Speaker 1: the times that all we had was a donkey's jawbone.

958
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:21,760
Speaker 1: But you did it. Say it that loud you did it.

959
01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:25,600
Speaker 1: He's the one who cleansed you. Tell them again, you

960
01:00:25,640 --> 01:00:28,120
Speaker 1: did it. He's the one who set you free. Tell

961
01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:30,800
Speaker 1: them again, you did it. God. We're not going to

962
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:32,520
Speaker 1: get to this place in our life and think that

963
01:00:32,560 --> 01:00:35,600
Speaker 1: we've got to do it by ourselves. We have a

964
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:40,040
Speaker 1: really good record of what you've done. Right now, I

965
01:00:40,080 --> 01:00:42,880
Speaker 1: want to give somebody an invitation to receive Christ who

966
01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:46,760
Speaker 1: has never placed your faith in Jesus. The starting place

967
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:53,200
Speaker 1: of your salvation is not you, It is God. And

968
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:57,080
Speaker 1: salvation is not spelled d O, it is spelled d

969
01:00:58,480 --> 01:01:03,640
Speaker 1: N E done. The work for you to be saved

970
01:01:04,240 --> 01:01:08,360
Speaker 1: is finished by Jesus Christ. Right now, God is calling

971
01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:11,360
Speaker 1: some of you to repent of your sin and give

972
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:13,400
Speaker 1: your life to Him. He gave it to you to

973
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:16,280
Speaker 1: begin with. If God has brought you here this day

974
01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:18,840
Speaker 1: and he's calling you right now to come to Jesus,

975
01:01:18,920 --> 01:01:21,520
Speaker 1: I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And in

976
01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:26,040
Speaker 1: this prayer it's not magical, but it is miraculous. For

977
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:28,640
Speaker 1: the Bible says that if you will call on the

978
01:01:28,720 --> 01:01:31,560
Speaker 1: name of Jesus, everyone who calls on the name of

979
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:35,040
Speaker 1: the Lord will be saved, not might be saved, not

980
01:01:35,120 --> 01:01:38,200
Speaker 1: could be saved, will be saved today. If you will

981
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:40,960
Speaker 1: call on his name, he will save you and change

982
01:01:40,960 --> 01:01:44,000
Speaker 1: you from the inside out. So as a church family

983
01:01:44,080 --> 01:01:46,760
Speaker 1: for all of those coming to God, repeat after me,

984
01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:54,320
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, Today is my day of salvation. I am

985
01:01:54,360 --> 01:01:59,400
Speaker 1: a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that

986
01:01:59,560 --> 01:02:04,120
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior

987
01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:09,280
Speaker 1: of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord

988
01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:13,320
Speaker 1: of my life. I believe he died that I would

989
01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:18,400
Speaker 1: be forgiven and rose again to give me life.

990
01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:24,120
Speaker 2: I receive this new life. This is my new beginning.

991
01:02:24,640 --> 01:02:25,200
Speaker 1: On the counter.

992
01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:27,360
Speaker 2: Three shoot your hands up if you prayed that one,

993
01:02:27,680 --> 01:02:28,479
Speaker 2: two three.

994
01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:29,840
Speaker 1: We're celebrating you.

995
01:02:29,840 --> 01:02:35,080
Speaker 2: All over this rumle. God bless you, God, geek you,

996
01:02:36,520 --> 01:02:39,320
Speaker 2: God make his faith sign on you. God be gracious

997
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:39,560
Speaker 2: to you.

998
01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:44,080
Speaker 1: Let's celebrate all those and just play sat.

999
01:02:43,920 --> 01:02:47,120
Speaker 2: Faith in Christ the lod lived up with grace. God

1000
01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:48,000
Speaker 2: of praise, Schirch.

1001
01:02:50,080 --> 01:02:52,640
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of

1002
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:55,680
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of

1003
01:02:55,720 --> 01:02:58,640
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the

1004
01:02:58,680 --> 01:03:03,120
Speaker 1: link in the description give now or visit Elevationchurch dot org.

1005
01:03:03,160 --> 01:03:06,840
Speaker 1: Slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast,

1006
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:09,840
Speaker 1: you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.

1007
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:12,400
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

1008
01:03:12,480 --> 01:03:14,600
Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at

1009
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:17,160
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.