WEBVTT - God Gave It To Me 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:08.360 you for joining us today. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.280 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.440 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:21.120 in your life. Enjoy the message. Now it is time 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:26.119 for the Word of God. What a wonderful time of 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.280 worship today. I trust that wherever you are, you've been 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.319 able to worship too. Prepare your heart, warm your heart 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.839 to God's presence. I want to take you over to 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:40.639 Judges chapter fifteen for just a moment. There is a 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.599 classic rock radio host I listened to and he has 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.400 a segment called bens that should have been huge but weren't. 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.279 And I think one day I'll get to do a 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.600 series called Bible Stories that should have been huge but weren't. 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.360 So this is one of those. Never preached it before 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.320 on a Sunday. I was privileged to share it with 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.520 some leaders a year and a half ago, and today 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.800 I would like to share it with you. Prayerfully that 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.840 God would open your heart as I opened my mouth, 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:15.640 and that He would open the heavens over your life 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.560 and your home to speak to you exactly what you 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:21.560 need for the challenges that you face. Judges, Chapter fifteen, 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:27.760 Verses fourteen through twenty. We're gonna talk about Samson for 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.920 a moment today. Not that story, not the one where 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:34.920 he got his hair cut off and lost his strength 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:39.880 and pop, I didn't need a spinach. Not the cartoon part. Yeah, 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.600 we cartoonized these Bible characters, and we kind of make 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.880 them like these mythical figures. But the only real hero 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:54.120 in the Bible is Jesus. And everybody else that we study, 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:59.240 they're human, and we love that because they do heroic things, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:03.040 but they have humancies. And if I looked long enough 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.360 at your life, I'm sure i'd find some heroic things, 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.880 some amazing accomplishments, some incredible characteristics about your life and 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.600 your kindness in the way that you love, in the 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.679 way that you are used by God. But if I 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.839 looked a little bit closer, I'm sure I would find 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:22.080 some human tendencies. Even these singers behind me, don't let 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:26.680 the fact that they sing like angels fool you, because 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.800 all of us, whether we preach or sing or parent, 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.840 we have deeply heroic capacities and deeply human instincts, and Samson, 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.320 of course, is used as a model for that. But 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:38.760 I want to tell you about something in his life 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.000 today that you probably never heard about before. The Bible 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.120 says in Judges, chapter fifteen. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.320 Verse fourteen, as he approached Lehi. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.119 The Philistines that was the enemy that he was delivering 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:57.200 Israel from, the Philistines came toward him, shouting. The spirit 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.480 of the Lord came powerfully upon him. Now, let's note 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:06.600 something real quick. It says the Philistines plural came toward 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:12.960 him singular. So he's outnumbered. So he's outmatched, so he's 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.400 out manned. So whatever is going to happen, if he's 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.760 going to survive, it is going to have to be supernatural. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.200 Somebody in here is looking at something running toward you 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.440 in your life right now, and for you to survive it, 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:31.200 something supernatural is going to have to happen. Well, the 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:35.080 spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and the 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:40.360 ropes on his arms became like charred flax. I didn't 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.440 even see a fire. No, some of the stuff that 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.560 God does to set you free, you won't see. He'll 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.760 just do it. You won't even see the fire, but 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.200 he'll free you. They became like charred flax. I'm preaching 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.160 too early. Let me calm back down for a moment. 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.160 I'm just reading my scripture. I'd better modulate this sermon 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:02.040 real quick. They became like charred flas and the bindings 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.240 dropped from his hands. What was God doing? He was 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:12.120 freeing him for the fight. God is freeing you for 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.640 the fight, not from the fight. You still got a fight, 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.000 but you're gonna have two free hands to do it 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:27.000 with and the spirit of God. Now look at verse fifteen. 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:29.719 He's got two free hands, but he needs a weapon. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:34.440 The Bible says, finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:40.400 he grabbed it and struck down one thousand men. Then 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.520 Samson said, with a donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:48.160 of them. With a donkey's jawbone, I have killed a 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:52.840 thousand men. Sampson has a little rap career over there 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:57.599 on soundfloul. Now listen to this. This is crazy. When 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:02.440 he finished speaking, finished kill him enemies one man with 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:06.240 a donkey's jawbone. When he finished speaking his little distract 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.160 to the Philistines. When he finished that, he threw away 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:15.000 the jawbone and the place was called raymac Lehigh, which 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:22.800 means jawbone hill. Real creative guy Samson, And because he 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.880 was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, you 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:32.880 have given your servant this great victory. Must I now 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:38.040 die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised, 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.479 into the hands of my enemy, into the hands of 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.000 these Philistines. And the Bible says then God opened up 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.039 the hollow place in Lehigh, and water came out of it. 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:53.880 When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:58.280 the spring was called in Hakori, and it is still 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.760 there in Lehigh. Simpson led Israel for twenty years in 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.640 the days of the Philistines. Before you take your seat, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.880 touch your neighbor and say, God's not through with you yet. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:16.320 You may be seated. Don't summarize me too soon, because 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.960 God's not through with me yet. Hey, the last several weeks, 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.320 I've been in a little spontaneous series. I didn't even 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.520 realize it was a series when I started it off. 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.599 Many of the things that you start on in your life, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:30.920 God doesn't show you what they are until you get 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.320 through them, So don't give up. But I preached a 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.520 few weeks ago a sermon called God can use this too. 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.440 Everybody say, God can use this too. 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.560 And that was the first week. Then the next week 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.920 I came back and talked about how God put it 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.279 up there. I don't remember it at the moment. Yeah, God, 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.400 And I fussy y'all for forgetting my sermons. I forget 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.120 my sermons. Yeah, I said, God will work it in. 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:04.320 And we were surprised because we were expecting to hear 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.440 God will work it out. But when we realized that 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.200 a lot of times the external conflict in our life 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.600 is not God's primary priority, it is our character. We 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.320 realize that He is building us up on the inside 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.720 so that whatever He blesses us with, we will be 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.320 able to accommodate that blessing. God will work it in, 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.360 and that anything that is shocking or surprising to you 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.080 in your life does not have that same effect on God. 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.040 He's seen whatever it is you're dealing with before, and 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.000 he uses all of those things for his purpose. Then 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.040 last week I had a really good time talking about 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.320 God's got the hard part, just to remind you that 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.480 when you get there, God might have already done the 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.320 thing that you thought you were going to have to 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.200 do that kept you from wanting to show up. Like 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.360 I just thought of this example real quick. When the 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.360 women went to the tomb and they were like, who's 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.320 going to roll the stone away? We're not strong enough 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.440 for that. And when they got there, they found out 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:09.280 that God dispassed dispatches angels in advance of your arrival, 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.000 and the angel had already rolled the stone, and they 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:17.400 were like, oh, God already did that. Oh I could 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:20.200 have just relaxed and enjoyed the journey. Oh I didn't 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.520 have to stress about that so much, because God's got 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.240 the hard part. Well, these are three statements that you 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.680 can make whenever you find yourself in a fight wherever 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:35.000 that fight breaks out. I talked earlier about your freed 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.520 up to fight, Well, you also have to have, I 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:43.000 believe sometimes some faith statements to fight with. And these 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.280 three things are powerful tools so that when the enemy 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.640 says to you, you know, I can't do this, and 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.680 you get that thought in your head and you say 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.600 I can't do this, Well, that's the devil talking. But 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.840 he's just using your voice to do it, and you're 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.520 saying I can't do this, and so you just remind him. 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.760 God's got the hard part, or when something comes up 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.520 it just pops up and you didn't see it come in. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.640 You say, oh, oh, oh, God will work it in. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.280 And then when something happens that you didn't want to happen, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.440 you just say, oh, God can use this too, the 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.640 good and the bad, the happy end, the sad, the 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.160 emotions I want and the emotions that I can't get 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.400 counseling to cast out. God can use this too. Today 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.960 I want to give you a fourth statement, and the 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:35.200 title of my sermon is God gave it to me. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.600 God gave it to me. 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:42.320 Say that out loud, God gave. 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.200 It to me, and don't say it timid like you 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:47.920 know you have to be shy about it. Look at 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:52.280 your neighbors, say God gave it to me. Yeah, ask him. 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:57.559 You like my hair, God gave it to me. If 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.280 you think I ought to have more, take it up 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.200 with him. He gave me the follicles, He gave me. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:08.520 God gave it to me. This view toward life will 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.600 keep you from becoming prideful, because you will realize that 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.520 even the things that you are good at are things 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:20.440 that came from grace and were grown by God. You 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.480 will never boast again. In a gift that God gave you, 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.920 because if it was a gift, what are you bragging about? 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.720 If it was a gift, then why would you feel 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.480 puffed up? I'll show you a scripture real quick about this. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.360 And First Corinthians four to seven. The church was fighting 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.040 about different leaders, and they liked this leader and that 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.400 leader in this preacher and that preacher. And Paul ask 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.600 a series of three questions. Watch please, first Corinthians four seven, 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.080 for who makes you different from anyone else? What do 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:51.840 you have that you did not receive? And if you 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.600 did receive it, why do you boast as though you 0:10:53.640 --> 0:11:00.800 did not tell your neighbor? You're not that smart the 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.439 idea that you had that hurts your feelings a little bit. 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.120 You feel like I'm attacking your IQ. Now. I'm just 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.120 saying that there's a difference between a good idea and 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.079 a God idea, and the ones that really change our 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.480 lives are the ideas that come from God. How many 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.520 no God can give you one idea that can revolutionize 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.600 your company, one idea, one person to reach out to 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.360 that can help you with the challenge that you're dealing 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.840 with that you don't know who to ask about God 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.079 can give you one idea that can result in a 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.120 brand new path for your life. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.520 And so we learn to value what God gives. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:43.920 And it's different when God gives it. It's different when 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.360 God gives it. Another scripture that I would share with 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.720 you before we talk about Samson briefly, is when Jesus 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.680 told his disciples, I'm leaving you physically, but I'm giving 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:56.160 my peace to you internally. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:57.959 And I do not. 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:02.199 Give as the world give. What does that mean? They 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.480 can't take it away because they didn't put it there. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:14.160 So nobody can steal your peace without your permission. Nobody 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.840 can ruin your day unless you turn the responsibility over 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.120 to them. The Bible says, this is the day that 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:26.520 the Lord has made. So the one who gave you today, 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.400 the one who put you in this moment of your life, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.080 the one who gave it to you, also expects you 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:38.439 to guard it, to guard what you have been given. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.640 And that is so important that the gifts that God 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.600 has put inside of you, the ways that He has 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:48.319 blessed you, the things that He has put in your 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.720 life and called you a steward over that you take 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.040 care of what God gave you. 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.040 Yeah, you take care of the car I gave you. 0:12:59.280 --> 0:12:59.920 Take care of it. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:01.960 Clean that thing up. I gave it to you. I 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:03.200 know you paid a little bit of it, but I 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:04.720 paid most of it. So take care of what I 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:10.360 gave you. The Bible I'm preaching from today. First of all, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:15.000 it's very big, and secondly, it's very special. This Bible 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.600 belonged to my father in law. He had it for 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.400 twenty years. He's still living. Sounded like I was doing 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.120 his funeral for a minute. They're didn't it? And I 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:25.880 told him over and over again, I would go sneak 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.040 and read this Bible at his house because he was 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.440 a pastor for twenty years, and he put every note 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.839 that he ever preached from in this Bible. And I 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.240 would go down there and steal sermons of going his 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.480 basement and look through pages and steal sermons from him 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.280 and outlines because they're all there in the margin. I 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:43.160 don't know if you can see that, but it's very 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.760 special to me. And you couldn't buy this Bible from 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:51.080 me because a couple Christmases ago he said, you don't 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:52.520 have to wait for me to die. I'll just give 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.280 it to you now. That way you'll pray for me 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.000 to stay alive longer, and he gave it to me. 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:03.800 He gave it to me. So if you want a 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.760 Bible today here at church, we will give you one. 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.360 We have them to give to you for free, but 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:14.160 not this one. You can't have this one because it 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.760 was given to me. And it's got the same words. 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.520 You know, the same words as the free one on 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.360 the phone, but it was given to me, so it's different. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.520 So don't offer me one hundred dollars, you can't have it. 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.200 Don't offer me a thousand dollars, you can't have it. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.680 You get the ten thousand dollars. We can talk and 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:36.120 maybe you just copy the notes and you take the 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:37.440 Bible and I take the wisdom. 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.280 But I'm saying it would take a lot, it would 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.960 take a lot. There is a number. Oh, there's a number. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.680 But this one's different because of who gave it to me. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.040 And sometimes I worry. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.880 About you because I think you give stuff away too cheap. 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.800 That was given to you by somebody really important. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.400 I see you giving away your dignity sometimes just to 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.320 defend a political position. But you would give away your 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.840 dignity and your respect and your kindness and the fruit 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.480 of the spirit, which is love, to come down to 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.920 a hateful level that was dictated by a cancerous culture. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.720 You would give away your healthy heart. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.440 To engage in a hellish debate. 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.200 And I just want to say, if this isn't a political. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:40.960 Message, but Jesus gave us unity as his church, so 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:45.760 let's don't let a devil divide us over stupid stuff when. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.280 It took his precious blood to bring us together. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:05.080 When it's given. If we're just unified over some good ideas, 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.520 you know, this is what is remarkable to me about 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:14.200 the story of Samson is that he represents a flawed 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.680 figure who was given at a specific time in history 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:23.040 to deliver a people from their sin. One of the 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:28.240 interesting things about Samson is that from his very birth 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.160 he was different. If you know this about Samson, because 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:32.640 all we ever talked about is Delilah cut his hair 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:33.880 off and he was a dummy and he shouldn't have 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.880 done that. Just like we do with everybody, by the way, 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:38.960 we just summarized their whole life down to one thing, 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:47.320 either their gift or their glitch glitch one time, and 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:51.320 we will write your biography with one sentence on your 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.760 one glitch on the other hand, we are just as 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:00.680 good at deifying people for what they do well so 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:02.120 that we will call you a singer. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.680 This student's instagram messaged me one time. 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:05.879 And I just told y'all not to get caught up 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.560 in this stuff, but sometimes I do. I was singing 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:14.080 a song that I wrote, and he said, preachers preach. 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:21.520 Singers sing stick to preaching, Stephen, and I wanted to 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.560 tell him what he could do with that comment, because 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:25.879 you don't get to tell me what to do with 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.159 the song that God put in my heart. It's different 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.320 when it's given. But now I'm up here carnal and 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.000 I need to pray, just to reset the whole tone 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.439 of auditorium for the Holy Spirit. But let me encourage 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:44.520 you with this. Never let anybody identify you with your 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:50.120 gift or with your glitch, because you are so much 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:54.280 more than both of those. You are so much more 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.680 than both of those. You are so much more than addict, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.120 so much more than that. You are so much more 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.760 than organist, guitarist. You are so much more than mom. 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.639 Don't even let your kids narrow your life down to 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.720 the one thing that you do for them, because you 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.159 are so much more than that. Married couples quit be 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.439 in your kid's administrative assistant before you're each other spouses 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.880 and you end up without a marriage and they left 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:26.600 your house and they don't even come see you when 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:26.960 they go. 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.880 Don't let people shrink you down to one thing. 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:42.399 I am preaching, like doctor Phil I love Samson because 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.159 he gives me hope to know that God gives great 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:52.840 callings to flawed people. He delivered Israel from the Philistines 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.800 for twenty years, and he flirted with the Philistines that 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.960 he delivered them from. A matter of fact, when I 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.680 read you the passage in Judges chapter fifteen, I didn't 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.640 get to tell you much of the background to flash 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.560 back to all of the things that led Samson here. 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:14.080 But in fact, it was his insistence to go get 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:17.600 a Philistine wife that caused this issue to begin with. 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.000 His parents warned him against it, his parents tried to 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:24.800 dissuade him from it, but he had to have this 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.919 Philistine girl. And the problem with it was that he 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:34.160 liked what God had given him to fight. He liked 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.680 the Philistine but the Philistines were the one that he 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.679 was called to fight against. So now I understand in 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:46.359 my life the complication of my desires that some of 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:48.119 the things that God has called me to do and 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.399 be effective in will be wrapped up in things that 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.560 I struggle with. Some of the things that God will 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.520 call me to make my contribution in will be wrapped 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.840 up in the things that I am in constant conflict with. This. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.120 This was the case with Samson. So he marries this 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.840 woman who's a philistine, who his parents said, I'm telling 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.199 you this is not going to end well. And it 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:13.240 didn't because she was given to another man in marriage 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:17.560 while Samson was away. And when Samson found out about that, 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:23.080 he was very angry. And since Sampson was very impulsive, 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.040 and since Samson was very innovative, oh yeah, he was both. 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.600 He was impulsive and innovative. Tell your neighbor, I'm both. 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:38.240 I can be both things at once and innovative impulsive. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:45.560 Samson found three hundred foxes, tied their tails together, found 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.879 a match, and set their tails on fire. 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:49.240 This is in your Bible. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.800 The Bible that you say is boring, the Bible that 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.400 you don't read enough. This is the greatest Bible story 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:01.119 that you'd never heard before. He takes three hundred foxtails, 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.080 ties them together, lights the tails on fire, sends them 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.400 running through the fields of the Philistines, destroys their fields. 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.160 The Philistines hear about what Sampson did. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.920 They send their army to Sampson's ex wife's house, burn 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.080 the house down. Sampson is mad about that. They're mad 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.480 at him. They're looking for Sampson. They come to the 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:23.320 people of Judah. They say, we want Samson. And they said, 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.840 you want Samson, we'll give you Samson. We'd rather you 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.080 take Samson than take us, because when it comes down 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:30.480 to it, we're all kind of selfish in our heart. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:33.919 And so they come to Sampson and they tie him 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.800 up and they turn him over. And as he's walking 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:40.359 down to the Philistines, we come upon verse fourteen, chapter 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.960 fifteen that I read to you a moment ago, where 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:46.520 the Bible says that suddenly the spirit of the Lord 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:47.640 came upon Sampson. 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:49.600 Oh, I feel like preaching to somebody today. 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:54.040 And when the spirit of the Lord came on Samson, 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.840 the ropes that were holding him became weak. Because of 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.119 the spirit of the Lord. He was stronger than what 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.760 bound him. Because of the spirit of the Lord, he 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.360 was free from what held him. Because of the spirit 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:14.399 of the Lord. The thing that restrained him one moment 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:18.480 had to release him the next. When the spirit of 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.000 the Lord comes on your life, you might be surprised 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.080 what you can do that you couldn't do before you 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:26.040 knew to. 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:27.359 Call on God. 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.400 And the strength that Samson needed to break the ropes 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:35.240 in the passage was given to him from God. 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.120 He didn't break those strength those ropes with muscles. 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:49.800 He broke those ropes with God. With God. You didn't 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:56.399 break those ropes with muscles. You broke those ropes with God. 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:01.680 I mean, just to realize how much God has done 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:03.360 in your life is reason enough to come to church 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:08.840 every Sunday. Because a whole week passes, and you don't 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:13.560 remember what he released you from. A whole week passes, 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:16.359 and you don't remember what he redeemed you from. A 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:20.520 whole week passes, and you are so consumed by the 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.560 next struggle that you didn't even give credit for the 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:29.480 last blessing. And so Sampson is now free to fight, 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:34.160 and there's a thousand Philistines coming at him, and he's 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.480 got two hands, but he's only one man. So he 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:42.560 needs a weapon, and we all need weapons. From time 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:45.320 to time, and I just want to ask a question 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:48.520 Elevation Church. I want to ask a question to everybody online. 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:52.480 Of all of the weapons that God could have put 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:57.480 in Sampson's path, if Sampson had been given the option 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:00.600 to select a weapon, do you think he would have 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:06.120 chosen this one? Read again in Judges, chapter fifteen, verse fifteen. 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:08.879 I love how the Bible says it just like it 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:11.719 makes sense, But it doesn't make any sense. Finding a 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:15.200 fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:19.719 down one thousand men, with no explanation. 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:22.920 Of how one jawbone. 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:27.199 In the hands of one hot tempered man killed one 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:32.560 thousand men. There is no nuance given to it. There 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:36.200 is no mention of his prowess or his skill. There 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:38.560 is no talk of his training. That when he was 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:42.160 a little boy, he's the practice with jawbones of donkeys. 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:44.159 He always had a thing for donkeys, ever since he 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:44.440 was little. 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:47.600 When they would talk about donkeys in elementary school, he 0:24:47.680 --> 0:24:50.080 was drawn to donkeys, he says, he was a little boy, 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:52.560 he always had a thing for donkey's, a fascination with donkeys, 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:55.480 the curvature of their jaw bones, specifically the density of 0:24:55.520 --> 0:25:00.280 their jawbones. It was absolutely incredible. So if Simpson would 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:03.520 have been able to select a weapon, don't you think 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:07.680 he would have selected a better one than the jawbone 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:12.200 of a donkey. Let's just name a few, just off 0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:13.800 the top of your head. I know you didn't study 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:16.639 Judge's fifteen this week, but just work with me for 0:25:16.640 --> 0:25:19.640 a moment. What would be a better weapon that existed 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:23.600 in this time? Okay, I gotta clarify. Ye, I'll be 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:26.000 shouting out all kinds of illegal stuff, but something that 0:25:26.119 --> 0:25:30.000 was existing in this time. Yeah, a spear would have 0:25:30.000 --> 0:25:33.399 been better. Definitely. I'd rather stab them with a spear 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:36.800 than hit them with a jawbone of a donkey. 0:25:38.200 --> 0:25:42.320 A sword, Yeah, yeah, I'd rather have a sword. 0:25:42.920 --> 0:25:46.400 If I gotta fight a thousand Philistines, I'd rather fight 0:25:46.440 --> 0:25:53.960 them with the sword. Yeah. What else? A slingshot? Yeah? 0:25:53.960 --> 0:25:56.359 I kind of like that too, because then you can 0:25:56.480 --> 0:25:59.960 keep your distance right that way you can know their comment, 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.240 and that way there's no I mean, the jawbone of 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:06.760 a donkey. This is bloody, you said. The Bible doesn't 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:09.920 say it was bloody. Yes it does. Look at verse 0:26:09.920 --> 0:26:13.280 fifteen again, did you see it? It said he found 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:20.359 the jawbone of a donkey, but not just any jawbone. 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:23.400 Yeah, it's a fresh jawbone of a donkey. 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:29.200 Oh well, that makes it better. Think about this. It's 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:32.560 a thousand of them and one of me, and I've 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:34.160 got the jawbone of a donkey. 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:37.400 But at least it's fresh. 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:40.960 At least it's a fresh one. At least it's not 0:26:41.040 --> 0:26:41.720 a dry one. 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:44.200 At least it's not brittle. 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:48.320 If it was a dry one, it would be brittle, 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:51.800 and if it was brittle, it would break. 0:26:52.760 --> 0:26:54.120 But the Bible says. 0:26:54.600 --> 0:26:59.800 That Samson, with a thousand Philistines shouting at him and 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:03.400 running toward him and his life on the line, he 0:27:03.480 --> 0:27:06.080 needs something in this moment, and his hands are free, 0:27:06.520 --> 0:27:08.840 but he has no weapon for the fight that he 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.080 didn't expect. Who am I preaching to today? You have 0:27:12.200 --> 0:27:14.080 no weapon in your hand for the fight that you 0:27:14.119 --> 0:27:18.040 didn't expect. And added to this, the one that you 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:20.920 found is not the one that you would have chosen 0:27:21.320 --> 0:27:24.360 if you had been asked about what weapon to fight with. 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:29.160 But God says, and I don't care about what they say. 0:27:29.680 --> 0:27:32.520 But God says, and I don't care about what your 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:36.119 mind says. But God says, and I don't care what 0:27:36.160 --> 0:27:39.800 the economy says, but God says, and I don't care 0:27:39.840 --> 0:27:43.480 what your background is, but God says, and I don't 0:27:43.520 --> 0:27:47.040 know how big they are. God says that the worst 0:27:47.080 --> 0:27:52.520 weapon with him is better than the best one without him. 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:58.000 So I'd rather have a jawbone of a donkey than 0:27:58.080 --> 0:27:59.719 a semi automatic weapon. 0:28:00.160 --> 0:28:01.160 If God is with. 0:28:01.200 --> 0:28:04.600 The donkey, I'll take the donkey every time. 0:28:04.960 --> 0:28:06.840 Give me that jaw bone. 0:28:08.720 --> 0:28:12.280 Give me that jaw bone. You know you got to 0:28:12.280 --> 0:28:13.480 touch your neighbor and tell them that. 0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:15.280 Give me that jaw bone. 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:20.080 It's not the best weapon, but it's a fresh weapon. 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:21.440 It's not the. 0:28:21.359 --> 0:28:23.120 Best weapon, but it's. 0:28:22.960 --> 0:28:26.200 The one I've got. I used to come home telling 0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:28.119 Holly all the time. I don't know if I'm a 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:30.040 quif to be a pastor. I don't know if I'm 0:28:30.040 --> 0:28:31.840 good at being a pastor. I don't know if I 0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:33.639 know enough to be a pastor. I don't know if 0:28:33.640 --> 0:28:35.360 I've experienced enough to be a pastor. 0:28:35.640 --> 0:28:37.640 I just don't know if I'm the pastor the people need. 0:28:37.720 --> 0:28:39.560 And she would say, well, you're the one we've got. 0:28:42.600 --> 0:28:48.840 Which weapon is the best the one you've got, which 0:28:49.480 --> 0:28:54.160 one is the best, the one you've got. Look at 0:28:54.240 --> 0:28:55.680 your kids today and tell them. 0:28:55.880 --> 0:28:58.000 I know I might not be the best at this 0:28:58.200 --> 0:28:58.800 raising you. 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:01.520 I might not be the pairing you would have picked, 0:29:01.920 --> 0:29:03.320 but I'm the one you got. 0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:07.520 I might be a donkey, but I have. 0:29:07.520 --> 0:29:11.920 A destiny and God made me to be this in 0:29:12.080 --> 0:29:15.240 your life right now. So I feel kind of confident 0:29:15.280 --> 0:29:18.080 about it because I feel kind of like it doesn't 0:29:18.080 --> 0:29:20.480 have to look like much to do a lot. I 0:29:20.520 --> 0:29:22.240 feel kind of like it doesn't have to be that 0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:28.600 impressive to be effective. That's what the Donkey's jawbone teaches me. 0:29:29.920 --> 0:29:39.840 It's effective even though it isn't impressive. Samson m impressive. 0:29:40.640 --> 0:29:42.480 I even brought my preaching folder today. I put my 0:29:42.520 --> 0:29:45.960 notes in this folder that I bought from a thrift store. 0:29:48.520 --> 0:29:59.720 In honor of Samson. All that baby oil, The Ultimate Warrior. 0:30:00.080 --> 0:30:03.520 Y'all don't know nothing. Don't make me start calling on 0:30:04.240 --> 0:30:12.480 the Lord. And I was trying to make a list. 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:17.840 I was thinking about, how, Okay, this is gonna be 0:30:17.880 --> 0:30:21.120 really corny, but I'm gonna try to do it. The Ultimate Warrior, 0:30:21.200 --> 0:30:24.120 right that was a wrestling character from back in our day. 0:30:24.160 --> 0:30:26.719 I know wrestling is fake and men in tights and 0:30:26.760 --> 0:30:29.080 all that grosses you out and all that, but some 0:30:29.120 --> 0:30:32.640 of us love it. We don't know why we love it. 0:30:33.920 --> 0:30:35.960 We don't even admit that we love it sometimes, but 0:30:36.880 --> 0:30:41.640 it's just it's just an ultimate It's an ultimate expression 0:30:41.640 --> 0:30:50.600 of masculine Anyway, we would think of Sampson as being 0:30:52.720 --> 0:30:56.720 a warrior with weaknesses, and we would say that he 0:30:56.760 --> 0:31:01.960 accomplished great things externally, although he battled with greater things internally. 0:31:02.080 --> 0:31:06.520 We would know that the story of Sampson ends in 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:11.480 a crushing defeat for his own life. Because I want 0:31:11.480 --> 0:31:16.520 to point something out to you from this passage, is 0:31:16.520 --> 0:31:22.200 that when it starts with God, it ends in victory. 0:31:23.280 --> 0:31:28.760 When it starts with me, it ends in defeat. Now 0:31:28.800 --> 0:31:34.400 take that and apply it over your day, over your business, venture, 0:31:35.640 --> 0:31:38.440 over your relationship. I'll say it again. If it starts 0:31:38.480 --> 0:31:45.360 with God, your day, your career, your relationship, it ends 0:31:45.400 --> 0:31:49.560 in victory. Even if it goes through seasons of defeat, 0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:54.640 that's so annoyted. I'm afraid you missed it. So if 0:31:54.680 --> 0:31:58.920 it started with God, there may be a season of defeat, 0:31:59.640 --> 0:32:05.600 a island Saturday, a bloody cross, but it will end 0:32:05.840 --> 0:32:14.920 in victory. An empty tomb. The sad thing about Samson 0:32:15.120 --> 0:32:20.840 is that he was born supernaturally. His mother's womb was barren. 0:32:21.160 --> 0:32:24.080 An angel came to his father, well, first came to 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:26.520 his mother and said. The angel came to his mother 0:32:26.560 --> 0:32:29.240 and said, You're going to have a baby. And Simpson's 0:32:29.320 --> 0:32:33.520 dad wasn't there, future dad, her husband wasn't there. And 0:32:34.280 --> 0:32:36.560 when he came back, she said, an angel just told 0:32:36.600 --> 0:32:38.240 me I'm gonna have a baby. And he's like, what 0:32:38.320 --> 0:32:40.440 angel who came and told you you're gonna have a baby. 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:42.160 And the angel came back and said, you're gonna have 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:48.160 a baby. And because this child is special, protected, protect it. 0:32:48.440 --> 0:32:51.400 Because God is giving you this child. And this child 0:32:51.480 --> 0:32:53.080 is not just given to you, but this child is 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:56.720 going to be given to the whole nation. This child 0:32:56.760 --> 0:32:58.800 is going to do amazing things. So you need to 0:32:59.040 --> 0:33:03.680 raise this child a very special way because he is given. 0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:08.840 And it's different when it's given. When something is given 0:33:08.920 --> 0:33:13.560 by God, it must be guarded. When something is given 0:33:13.640 --> 0:33:16.920 by God, it must be guarded. And here we see 0:33:16.960 --> 0:33:21.720 Samson doing something amazing with the donkey's jawbone. 0:33:23.360 --> 0:33:28.400 It's amazing what he did, but it's ridiculous what he 0:33:28.480 --> 0:33:30.880 does next, because. 0:33:30.560 --> 0:33:35.040 You would think that after seeing such an incredible intervention 0:33:35.440 --> 0:33:39.720 of God, such a sovereign display of the strength of God. 0:33:39.680 --> 0:33:41.160 That hey, a minute ago, i. 0:33:41.080 --> 0:33:44.720 Couldn't even use my hands, and now I'm looking at 0:33:45.000 --> 0:33:47.280 a thousand dead Philistines and I'm still breathing. 0:33:47.760 --> 0:33:49.600 You would think that he would praise God. 0:33:49.680 --> 0:33:56.200 But Samson, Samson does something so stupid, and I do 0:33:56.280 --> 0:33:58.000 it too, and you do it too. 0:33:59.240 --> 0:34:01.400 Is that after Sampson won. 0:34:01.400 --> 0:34:04.800 A great victory, and some of you are in here, 0:34:04.880 --> 0:34:07.400 and you have won a great victory. 0:34:07.760 --> 0:34:10.960 You have seen God do amazing things in your life. 0:34:11.040 --> 0:34:16.960 But here comes the mistake verse sixteen. Then Sampson said, 0:34:17.680 --> 0:34:21.600 with the donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys of them. 0:34:23.640 --> 0:34:27.479 With the donkey's jawbone, I have killed a thousand men. 0:34:28.680 --> 0:34:32.640 You mean God just saved your life, and you want 0:34:32.680 --> 0:34:38.040 to write a song about a donkey's jawbone. Put the 0:34:38.120 --> 0:34:42.160 lyrics back up there to his song. Samson's like, oh, 0:34:42.200 --> 0:34:47.400 this is amazing, Wow, incredible. He's still holding the jawbone, 0:34:47.560 --> 0:34:55.040 and he goes with the donkey's jaw bone. Let's see, 0:34:55.040 --> 0:34:57.080 God just gave me a great miracle. God just gave 0:34:57.120 --> 0:34:58.879 me a great success. God just did a great thing. 0:34:58.960 --> 0:35:03.880 What should I think about? With a donkey's jaw bone? 0:35:04.200 --> 0:35:08.560 I have kid a thousand men. No, put this in there, 0:35:08.680 --> 0:35:13.359 a donkey's jaw bone. I have made donkeys of them. Yeah, 0:35:13.360 --> 0:35:16.360 that's clever, see because I'm talking about donkeys and I 0:35:16.440 --> 0:35:22.879 made them donkeys. Why are we thinking about donkeys when 0:35:22.920 --> 0:35:29.439 God just delivered you? Why are you praising the thing 0:35:29.520 --> 0:35:30.880 that he used. 0:35:33.440 --> 0:35:39.479 When you know good and well that it wasn't enough 0:35:39.520 --> 0:35:43.160 to get the job done. Why do we become so 0:35:43.360 --> 0:35:48.120 attached to jaw bones? Why do we get so. 0:35:48.239 --> 0:35:53.560 Addicted to jaw bones? Well you mean by that, Pastor Stephen, 0:35:53.880 --> 0:35:56.040 I mean when you start to think that the thing 0:35:56.120 --> 0:36:00.480 that God did through you, you start to think that 0:36:00.719 --> 0:36:03.560 the thing that God did through you proves how great 0:36:03.600 --> 0:36:03.960 you are. 0:36:05.320 --> 0:36:07.399 Because I recked Simpson song over and over again. 0:36:07.400 --> 0:36:10.160 Put it back ut verse sixteen, with a donkey's jawbone, 0:36:10.280 --> 0:36:13.080 I have made donkeys of them. He's talking about them, 0:36:13.400 --> 0:36:16.719 he's talking about the donkey, he's talking about the jawbone. 0:36:16.800 --> 0:36:20.719 He's definitely talking about himself. He's talking about killing. This 0:36:20.760 --> 0:36:24.200 is a violent song, This is a specific song. But 0:36:24.320 --> 0:36:30.960 where is God in your song? Why? Didn't your song 0:36:31.160 --> 0:36:37.200 start with God? Because you know the miracle? Did you 0:36:37.239 --> 0:36:40.800 know it wasn't a jawbone? You know it was only 0:36:41.000 --> 0:36:45.960 God that kept the jawbone from breaking. So don't praise 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:50.880 the thing that you used. Praise the one that kept 0:36:50.880 --> 0:37:01.680 it from breaking. Don't depend on the donkey's jawbon, depend 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:06.799 on the one who could use something as ridiculous, as 0:37:06.920 --> 0:37:09.759 small as a donkey's jaw bone. Now, I just need 0:37:09.800 --> 0:37:11.560 to see who I'm preaching to. How many of you 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:15.120 God has done so much through some ridiculous things in 0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:19.680 your life that it just doesn't make sense, all right, 0:37:20.719 --> 0:37:23.840 So don't sing to the thing that doesn't make sense. 0:37:24.680 --> 0:37:28.400 Don't worship the thing that doesn't make sense. Don't depend 0:37:28.520 --> 0:37:31.280 on the thing that doesn't make sense. Because the truth 0:37:31.320 --> 0:37:33.719 of the matter is, Samson, if God had left your 0:37:33.719 --> 0:37:35.879 hand tied, you couldn't have even used the job bone 0:37:35.880 --> 0:37:38.960 to begin with. And if God wouldn't have brought you 0:37:39.040 --> 0:37:41.600 out of that situation, you wouldn't even be here today. 0:37:41.960 --> 0:37:43.920 And if God would have let you get caught, you 0:37:43.920 --> 0:37:46.440 wouldn't have had mercy. You'd be locked up. And if 0:37:46.440 --> 0:37:48.880 God wouldn't have brought you through that season, you wouldn't 0:37:48.920 --> 0:37:51.719 be singing about the joy of the Lord. So don't 0:37:51.760 --> 0:37:54.600 worship the way that it came. Worship the one who 0:37:54.680 --> 0:37:55.600 gave it, and. 0:37:55.560 --> 0:37:58.520 Turn your song around and turn your spirit. 0:38:02.520 --> 0:38:07.080 You see what I'm saying with the donkey's jaw bone, 0:38:08.120 --> 0:38:10.319 I don't care what melody you put to that. That's 0:38:10.360 --> 0:38:15.960 a dumb song to say. With a donkey's jawbone. With 0:38:16.120 --> 0:38:20.000 the power of God, with the strength of God, with 0:38:20.120 --> 0:38:23.560 the anointing of the Holy Spirit, with the get up 0:38:23.600 --> 0:38:27.320 and go of God, with the resurrection power of Jesus, 0:38:27.640 --> 0:38:30.160 with the word of God, with the promise of God. 0:38:30.480 --> 0:38:34.839 That's what I'm praising, Not a jaw bone. 0:38:35.120 --> 0:38:36.000 I'm praising the. 0:38:35.960 --> 0:38:39.880 God of the jawbone. I'm praising the God who knew 0:38:40.200 --> 0:38:43.040 I would need a donkey to decompose. 0:38:42.520 --> 0:38:46.680 Right there and have something for me to grab. The 0:38:46.719 --> 0:38:49.320 truth of the matter is the only reason we're. 0:38:49.160 --> 0:38:52.839 Here today is because we grabbed what we had and 0:38:52.920 --> 0:38:57.640 God did what he does. Howbody had that testimony, It 0:38:57.680 --> 0:38:59.960 wasn't enough, it didn't make sense, it didn't look good. 0:39:00.080 --> 0:39:03.480 They were screaming and coming my way. But I grabbed 0:39:03.520 --> 0:39:06.680 what I had, didn't have a sword, grabbed what I 0:39:06.760 --> 0:39:08.400 had didn't have a spear. 0:39:08.840 --> 0:39:09.919 Grabbed what I had. 0:39:10.040 --> 0:39:11.879 Some of you didn't have a dad to raise you, 0:39:12.320 --> 0:39:14.000 grabbed what I had. Some of you didn't get a 0:39:14.000 --> 0:39:17.000 college education, grabbed what I had. Some of you don't 0:39:17.040 --> 0:39:20.000 have the best help right now. I grabbed what I had. 0:39:20.160 --> 0:39:22.640 I didn't have the best team around me. I grabbed 0:39:22.640 --> 0:39:25.520 what I had. I wasn't raised in that culture. But 0:39:25.600 --> 0:39:28.719 I grabbed what I had, and God did what he does. 0:39:29.080 --> 0:39:32.560 And I'm not singing to a donkey. 0:39:36.440 --> 0:39:40.760 I thought your neighbors say, grab what you have, grab 0:39:40.840 --> 0:39:41.360 what you have. 0:39:42.800 --> 0:39:45.520 You don't need a better weapon. You need a more 0:39:45.600 --> 0:39:50.319 worshipful spirit. You need greater faith, you need more innovation. 0:39:53.960 --> 0:39:55.120 God gave it to me. 0:39:56.719 --> 0:39:59.080 It's a jewel bone, yeah, but God gave it to me, 0:39:59.400 --> 0:40:04.719 and a jaw bone with Jesus, a job bone with Jesus, 0:40:05.640 --> 0:40:09.680 a simple thing with Jesus, a silly thing with Jesus, 0:40:09.960 --> 0:40:12.000 a small thing with Jesus. 0:40:13.080 --> 0:40:16.360 It's better than the world's best weapons without him. For 0:40:16.440 --> 0:40:18.560 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 0:40:18.640 --> 0:40:24.520 through God. For the pulling down of strongholds. So a 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:30.040 crazy thing happens to Samson. He praises the thing that 0:40:30.120 --> 0:40:34.759 he has to throw away because after you get done 0:40:34.920 --> 0:40:38.240 glorifying the jawbone, Hey, hey, God gave you that job, 0:40:38.880 --> 0:40:43.600 but it's just a jawbone. And if that one goes away, 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:47.960 God to kill another donkey. 0:40:49.200 --> 0:40:52.000 I don't know who this is for, but you better 0:40:52.120 --> 0:40:56.080 get this while you can, because God gave this message 0:40:56.080 --> 0:41:00.160 to me for you, because he wants you to know 0:41:00.640 --> 0:41:02.200 you don't need better weapons. 0:41:02.239 --> 0:41:06.080 He can do it with a jawbone. And you don't 0:41:06.080 --> 0:41:07.719 even have to like your job for God to use 0:41:07.760 --> 0:41:12.240 it to provide for you. When did we start raising 0:41:12.239 --> 0:41:16.080 a generation that thought I have to like everything. I 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:20.080 have to like my job. I don't even like myself 0:41:20.120 --> 0:41:23.360 half the time, let alone people I work with. But 0:41:23.480 --> 0:41:26.120 God can use it. And the miracle of the jawbone 0:41:26.320 --> 0:41:30.000 is that it was fresh, so it didn't break. And 0:41:30.000 --> 0:41:33.880 that is the miracle of your life that you didn't break. 0:41:35.000 --> 0:41:38.279 Jaw bones only eighteen inches. It isn't big, but it 0:41:38.280 --> 0:41:44.160 didn't break. It didn't bougie, but it didn't break. Am 0:41:44.160 --> 0:41:45.920 I talking about a jawbone or your car? 0:41:46.719 --> 0:41:48.280 It isn't the best. 0:41:48.080 --> 0:41:52.680 One, but it didn't break. That's the miracle. It didn't break. 0:41:53.360 --> 0:41:55.120 Come on, get this in your spirit. It didn't break. 0:41:55.800 --> 0:41:57.920 Think about the miracle of God in your life. It 0:41:57.960 --> 0:42:01.960 didn't break. My heart was torn, but it didn't break. 0:42:02.560 --> 0:42:05.760 It's still beating, it's still loving, it's still pumping. God 0:42:05.800 --> 0:42:11.720 still has a purpose for me. It didn't break. Yeah, 0:42:12.200 --> 0:42:18.120 And Samson verse seventeen throws that bone away. And the 0:42:18.120 --> 0:42:24.640 place was called raymonth Lehigh, which means shawbone hill. Because 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:27.919 of course, rather than name in the place something about God, 0:42:28.000 --> 0:42:33.799 Samson names it something about the jawbone. Because we name 0:42:34.080 --> 0:42:41.359 stuff wrong, we get caught up. And then I want 0:42:41.360 --> 0:42:42.959 to show you something that can happen in your life. 0:42:44.320 --> 0:42:50.799 Samson is winning, but he's worn out. Did you know 0:42:50.880 --> 0:42:58.000 that's possible? You can be winning and worn out. People 0:42:58.000 --> 0:42:59.960 think that the only people who need preaching of encourage 0:43:00.040 --> 0:43:02.920 and an inspiration are those who are losing. You know, 0:43:02.920 --> 0:43:05.520 you're in a losing season, you're in a you just 0:43:05.640 --> 0:43:08.040 lost a relationship, you just lost someone you love. Uh uh. 0:43:09.280 --> 0:43:14.359 You can be winning and worn out and everybody can 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:19.360 look at you and envy you and not have empathy 0:43:19.560 --> 0:43:24.640 for you because their envy doesn't know how much energy 0:43:24.760 --> 0:43:32.520 it costs you to win. Preaching what I know and 0:43:32.560 --> 0:43:35.080 everybody around you loves to lean on you when you're 0:43:35.120 --> 0:43:39.239 like that, and they'll say things like, oh, you're just 0:43:39.400 --> 0:43:43.920 my rock, You're just my everything. 0:43:43.960 --> 0:43:46.879 Well, I'm not supposed to be your everything. Please don't 0:43:46.880 --> 0:43:47.840 make me your everything. 0:43:48.440 --> 0:43:51.440 I'm not supposed to be. I don't want you to 0:43:52.160 --> 0:43:54.640 come to me as you're a full time giver of 0:43:54.640 --> 0:43:58.359 love and joy, because see, you can be winning and 0:43:58.400 --> 0:44:01.919 worn out because the people who are with you don't 0:44:01.960 --> 0:44:06.440 even know what it takes. And that that's a dangerous place, 0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:10.080 because then you get to where Samson was in verse eighteen, 0:44:11.000 --> 0:44:14.160 and he begins to feel like, even though I won 0:44:16.120 --> 0:44:19.640 for what, you ever felt that way, even though I 0:44:19.680 --> 0:44:25.600 won for what? It can be very empty to stand 0:44:25.880 --> 0:44:33.120 in a victory that you believe you produced. It can 0:44:33.160 --> 0:44:37.920 be impossible to sustain a victory that you think you started. 0:44:39.440 --> 0:44:44.440 Samson's whole life started in a barren womb. It started 0:44:44.480 --> 0:44:49.360 with God. Samson's strength was given by God. And the 0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:52.600 thing that Samson forgot while he was busy making up 0:44:52.680 --> 0:44:56.680 poems about the instrument that God used, I heard a 0:44:56.719 --> 0:45:00.400 story about a guitar player. He was playing a very 0:45:00.480 --> 0:45:03.440 expensive guitar, and he was playing it so beautifully. A 0:45:03.480 --> 0:45:06.680 great guitar player, a master musician, and he played it, 0:45:06.840 --> 0:45:09.880 and everybody around him was talking about how beautiful the 0:45:09.920 --> 0:45:14.000 guitar was, the wood it was made from, the intonation 0:45:14.120 --> 0:45:17.560 of the guitar, even the inlays of the guitar, all 0:45:17.640 --> 0:45:20.799 of the ivory on the guitar, how expensive it was, 0:45:21.160 --> 0:45:22.839 and the whole time he was playing it, they were 0:45:22.840 --> 0:45:26.240 all talking about how wonderful the guitar was. And finally, 0:45:26.360 --> 0:45:29.399 just very quietly and humbly, he took the guitar, said 0:45:29.400 --> 0:45:32.080 it gently in the stand, looked back at the audience 0:45:32.080 --> 0:45:37.840 and said, how does the guitar sound now? Because while 0:45:37.880 --> 0:45:42.840 you were busy noticing the instrument, you did not realize 0:45:43.520 --> 0:45:47.600 is that the mastery was not in the wood. It 0:45:47.760 --> 0:45:49.920 was in the one who knew what to do with it. 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:58.240 Your life gets confusing and gets hard when you start 0:45:58.280 --> 0:46:06.359 praising the guitar, the jawbone, the thing, the skill, the gift. 0:46:06.520 --> 0:46:09.320 The thing. When you start praising that, here's what happens. 0:46:09.360 --> 0:46:17.200 Verse eighteen. Samson was very thirsty because he won, but 0:46:17.280 --> 0:46:23.480 he was worn out. He won, he was delivered, but 0:46:23.560 --> 0:46:27.160 he was dry. 0:46:27.920 --> 0:46:30.080 He won a victory, but he was thirsty. 0:46:30.200 --> 0:46:31.080 Keep it up. I'm not done. 0:46:31.280 --> 0:46:34.680 He cried out to the Lord, you have given. 0:46:34.440 --> 0:46:36.920 Your servant this great victory. Must I now die of 0:46:37.000 --> 0:46:39.640 thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. Now 0:46:40.080 --> 0:46:43.239 he's asking a question, God, what good is winning if 0:46:43.239 --> 0:46:46.000 I'm just going to die of dehydration. But look what 0:46:46.040 --> 0:46:48.799 happens in verse nineteen something very interesting. The Bible says, 0:46:49.080 --> 0:46:55.759 then God opened up the hollow place in Lehigh. 0:46:54.280 --> 0:46:56.839 Somewhere that waters should have never been. 0:46:58.120 --> 0:47:02.960 And then everybody say, then God opened up the hollow 0:47:03.000 --> 0:47:07.120 place in Lehigh, and water came out of it. So 0:47:07.280 --> 0:47:11.160 it was a dry basin, but then it was a 0:47:11.200 --> 0:47:16.520 depressed place. But then God opened up the hollow place 0:47:17.080 --> 0:47:20.760 and water that was beneath the ground came up out 0:47:20.800 --> 0:47:24.760 of the ground. And when Samson drank, his strength returned 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:25.760 and he revived. 0:47:25.800 --> 0:47:28.239 So the spring was called in Hakori and is still 0:47:28.239 --> 0:47:28.680 there in Leon. 0:47:28.920 --> 0:47:30.919 But I want to focus on that one word then, 0:47:31.440 --> 0:47:33.120 because I want to go back to the verse before 0:47:33.160 --> 0:47:35.560 it and see what happened that made God open the 0:47:35.600 --> 0:47:37.320 spring so Samson. 0:47:37.000 --> 0:47:39.160 Could be revived. Because I want to see in this 0:47:39.360 --> 0:47:41.080 season of my life, what. 0:47:41.160 --> 0:47:43.560 Is going to have to happen for God to refresh 0:47:43.640 --> 0:47:46.000 me so that I can do everything that He has 0:47:46.120 --> 0:47:50.200 called me and named me, and nun me, and empowered me, 0:47:50.520 --> 0:47:54.040 and graced me, and freed me, and raised me, and 0:47:54.120 --> 0:47:58.200 appointed me and assigned me to do. And it is 0:47:58.239 --> 0:48:02.480 so simple you almost miss it. In eighteen because he 0:48:02.600 --> 0:48:05.560 was very thirsty. He cried out to the Lord you. 0:48:08.040 --> 0:48:11.040 That's the first time he talked to God in this 0:48:11.120 --> 0:48:17.719 whole passage. And when he said, you have given your 0:48:17.760 --> 0:48:21.520 servant this great victory, and then he goes on to complaint, 0:48:21.920 --> 0:48:24.640 must I know die and full in the hands of 0:48:24.680 --> 0:48:28.680 the unset He didn't even pray right, just the fact 0:48:28.680 --> 0:48:30.880 that he did next verse verse nineteen. 0:48:31.360 --> 0:48:37.160 Then when he said you then. 0:48:38.440 --> 0:48:42.960 Then I gotta get you to then, because you can't 0:48:43.200 --> 0:48:47.279 die in this dry place. You can't die in this discouragement. 0:48:47.719 --> 0:48:50.120 What good is it for you for God to give 0:48:50.200 --> 0:48:52.680 all of this victory and you die because you have 0:48:52.760 --> 0:48:59.799 nothing to drink? So God said when the Sampson's song 0:49:00.120 --> 0:49:03.400 changed from I have to you have. 0:49:03.480 --> 0:49:05.719 Oh that's so good. They keep taking down my verse 0:49:05.760 --> 0:49:07.560 I'm not done with it verse eighteen. 0:49:08.040 --> 0:49:10.440 You did it, God, You've made it happen. 0:49:10.760 --> 0:49:11.920 You gave me victory. 0:49:12.239 --> 0:49:15.840 You've made it enough. You supplied my needs. You brought 0:49:15.880 --> 0:49:21.040 me through that, You gave me victory. Then God open 0:49:21.160 --> 0:49:24.000 the spring. Then God did what only he could do. 0:49:27.800 --> 0:49:33.880 Here's the principle. When you refocus, God refills. Let me 0:49:34.000 --> 0:49:37.600 say that again all the way to rock Hill. When 0:49:37.880 --> 0:49:43.640 you refocus, God refills. I feel a fresh flow coming 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:47.120 to somebody's life today. I feel a fresh flow coming 0:49:47.160 --> 0:49:50.840 to somebody's stanley today. I feel fresh strength coming to 0:49:50.960 --> 0:49:58.799 your breed hands today. Refocus not on the donkey, not 0:49:58.960 --> 0:49:59.880 on the dryness. 0:50:01.040 --> 0:50:04.600 But God gave it to me, I said, God gave 0:50:04.640 --> 0:50:05.080 it to me. 0:50:06.120 --> 0:50:07.200 God gave it to me. 0:50:08.800 --> 0:50:11.040 And if he gave me this calling, no one can 0:50:11.080 --> 0:50:13.760 take it. My very best. 0:50:13.520 --> 0:50:16.120 Friend in the world comes to church every week and 0:50:16.200 --> 0:50:19.360 sits in this seat. And this week he happened to 0:50:19.400 --> 0:50:21.480 wear and I saw him while I was preaching. 0:50:21.640 --> 0:50:22.960 A jacket that I gave him. 0:50:23.000 --> 0:50:27.960 Stand up he and show him that Viori hoodie thingy 0:50:28.000 --> 0:50:28.680 that I gave you. 0:50:29.880 --> 0:50:31.959 Now, I want you to find him in the lobby. 0:50:31.800 --> 0:50:35.759 And try to take it from him. He doesn't even 0:50:35.840 --> 0:50:37.960 know how to fight, but he'll fight you so good 0:50:38.239 --> 0:50:40.240 you'll think he's Brazilian jiu jitsu. 0:50:40.920 --> 0:50:42.920 You will think he's a UFC fighter. 0:50:43.200 --> 0:50:46.080 If you try to take it, why because I gave 0:50:46.120 --> 0:50:50.000 it to him, because it means something to him, because 0:50:50.040 --> 0:50:51.319 I wanted him to have it. 0:50:51.800 --> 0:50:54.239 Offer him one hundred dollars, he won't sell it. 0:50:54.840 --> 0:50:57.440 Offer him a thousand. He might take it by another 0:50:57.520 --> 0:51:00.719 one and not tell me what happened. But what I'm 0:51:00.800 --> 0:51:05.080 saying is it's different. When it's given. You can't take 0:51:05.120 --> 0:51:07.480 it because it was given. 0:51:07.719 --> 0:51:09.400 It's different. It's special to me. 0:51:10.000 --> 0:51:13.280 I thought for this, I bleded for this, I cried 0:51:13.360 --> 0:51:13.680 for this. 0:51:14.040 --> 0:51:15.239 I survived for this. 0:51:15.640 --> 0:51:18.560 I did not come this stark to give it over. 0:51:25.680 --> 0:51:30.480 And besides how hard I fought, I did not earn it. 0:51:30.480 --> 0:51:34.920 It was given. I want you to hold to this 0:51:35.000 --> 0:51:37.919 word in this season of your life. Everything that God 0:51:37.920 --> 0:51:41.000 has funken over you, everything that you know is supposed 0:51:41.040 --> 0:51:43.680 to come to pass, every seed that He put in 0:51:43.719 --> 0:51:46.680 your heart. I'm tying it into last week that hasn't 0:51:46.719 --> 0:51:49.480 become a stalk yet. You just haven't made it to 0:51:49.560 --> 0:51:53.720 your then yet. But if you will stop singing about 0:51:53.800 --> 0:51:57.360 donkey jaw bones, and if you will stop crying about 0:51:57.440 --> 0:52:00.360 donkeys who left your life, and if you will stop 0:52:00.440 --> 0:52:03.959 focusing on the donkey and start focusing on what God 0:52:04.000 --> 0:52:07.400 did for you. I'm telling you there is a springing 0:52:07.520 --> 0:52:12.560 lee high. Oh yeah, there's there's a joy spring. There's 0:52:12.600 --> 0:52:17.120 a hoop spring. There's a peace spring. There's a new spring. 0:52:17.840 --> 0:52:21.000 Will you not see it? Will you not perceive it? 0:52:22.160 --> 0:52:23.399 God gave it to me. 0:52:25.239 --> 0:52:30.840 Twenty seconds in praising for this day. That twenty seconds 0:52:30.840 --> 0:52:36.000 in praising for your breast. Why am I praising him something? 0:52:36.120 --> 0:52:40.239 Gave it to me. I gotta make the gongs. 0:52:40.440 --> 0:52:44.919 He gave it to me. I can't go down just yet. 0:52:45.520 --> 0:52:52.920 He gave me this assignment. I five at least ten 0:52:53.000 --> 0:52:55.720 people have saved. Praise him for what he gave you. 0:52:55.760 --> 0:52:58.719 Don't praise what he gave you. Praise him for what 0:52:58.840 --> 0:53:00.239 he gave you us. 0:53:00.239 --> 0:53:06.080 If it goes away, he could give you another one. 0:53:08.480 --> 0:53:09.920 I want you to get grateful. 0:53:10.200 --> 0:53:11.600 I want you to get joyful. 0:53:11.840 --> 0:53:13.640 I want you to start listening. 0:53:13.320 --> 0:53:16.319 Some victories and start giving some credit to the God 0:53:16.320 --> 0:53:18.480 who made you like He wanted to make you, to 0:53:18.680 --> 0:53:28.080 use your how he wanted. Listen to me, stop despising 0:53:28.360 --> 0:53:32.200 what God gave you how he made you. You are 0:53:32.239 --> 0:53:35.440 glitches and you are gifts, but you are neither. You 0:53:35.520 --> 0:53:44.400 are God's everyone's standing. I went through a season a 0:53:44.440 --> 0:53:46.960 few years ago where I hated the sound of my 0:53:47.080 --> 0:53:51.520 own voice. And you would too if you had to 0:53:51.560 --> 0:53:57.000 listen to yourself as much as I do. Somebody told 0:53:57.000 --> 0:54:02.280 me recently it was my dental hygienis. She is talking 0:54:02.320 --> 0:54:06.120 my head off, cleaning up. I answer, I didn't know 0:54:06.160 --> 0:54:10.760 how to have a conversation with the thing in my mouth. Ah. 0:54:10.920 --> 0:54:12.880 She said, I saw a clip of you on Instagram. 0:54:13.840 --> 0:54:16.239 I said, huh, said the one you posted today. I said, 0:54:16.239 --> 0:54:19.960 I don't post those. I don't know which one they 0:54:20.000 --> 0:54:23.760 posted today. And she said, you don't post your own clips. 0:54:23.760 --> 0:54:25.360 I said, would you want to go through everything you 0:54:25.400 --> 0:54:27.360 said and have to listen to yourself say it again 0:54:27.719 --> 0:54:29.040 and think of how you could have said it better? 0:54:29.080 --> 0:54:31.640 It's torture. How many of you liked to hear your 0:54:31.640 --> 0:54:33.160 own voice if you ever hear it back on a recording. 0:54:33.200 --> 0:54:38.320 How mean you really just enjoy that well repent of pride. No. 0:54:38.520 --> 0:54:42.239 I think it's great, because honestly, God had to deal 0:54:42.280 --> 0:54:45.360 with me about that, and he did it through a 0:54:45.440 --> 0:54:50.040 conversation that I had with Abby. I was talking to 0:54:50.080 --> 0:54:55.400 her about singing, and she said something negative about her voice. 0:54:56.680 --> 0:54:59.920 And at that time, listen to me. I was going 0:55:00.160 --> 0:55:02.400 through such a season of dealing with this, and she 0:55:02.600 --> 0:55:04.759 was much smaller, so I don't even know if she 0:55:04.800 --> 0:55:07.840 remembers this. As she was saying, Oh, I don't have 0:55:07.880 --> 0:55:09.520 a great voice, or I'm not a great singer, or 0:55:09.560 --> 0:55:13.120 this or that, I said, hey, let's make a deal. 0:55:15.239 --> 0:55:18.520 God gave you your voice, and I want you to 0:55:18.600 --> 0:55:20.319 value it. And I'm not one of these parents who 0:55:20.320 --> 0:55:24.320 tells their kids you can sing better than Adele, because 0:55:24.320 --> 0:55:32.279 she can't. So what I was trying to get her 0:55:32.280 --> 0:55:33.799 to do. I said, you don't know how God wants 0:55:33.840 --> 0:55:40.400 to use that voice, so let's value your voice. And 0:55:40.480 --> 0:55:43.360 as I was going through a season, come here, Chris. 0:55:44.360 --> 0:55:47.880 I get to work with all these incredible singers. And 0:55:47.920 --> 0:55:50.200 you would think that that would be wonderful, but it's 0:55:50.239 --> 0:55:54.480 also try to stand next to Chris Brown in a 0:55:54.480 --> 0:55:59.000 songwriting room and sing something. And I would listen to 0:55:59.040 --> 0:56:01.799 myself singing, and I would hear them singing and all 0:56:01.880 --> 0:56:05.600 the vibrato and the tambour and the beauty of the instrument. 0:56:06.880 --> 0:56:10.720 And I went home one day and I was thinking, 0:56:10.719 --> 0:56:12.239 I hate my voice. I hate my voice. This a 0:56:12.239 --> 0:56:14.880 few years ago, and the Lord said, you hate what 0:56:15.000 --> 0:56:21.160 I gave you. So I realized that the enemy was 0:56:21.200 --> 0:56:22.879 trying to get me in a cycle. Now I'm telling 0:56:22.920 --> 0:56:27.239 you a me story for a U application. This is 0:56:27.280 --> 0:56:32.000 not confession time for me. It's illustration time. God said, 0:56:32.040 --> 0:56:36.080 you can't hate what I gave you and pray for 0:56:36.160 --> 0:56:48.560 me to use it. Because one side of it is pride. 0:56:48.800 --> 0:56:51.960 I killed one thousand men. The other side of it 0:56:52.000 --> 0:56:57.719 is insecurity. I have nothing to give, and both of 0:56:57.760 --> 0:57:02.839 them are rooted in the wrong starting place. God gave 0:57:02.880 --> 0:57:11.359 it to me. My voice, your voice, your personality, your 0:57:11.440 --> 0:57:15.600 listening ear, your wisdom, your guidance, your experience, your style. 0:57:16.200 --> 0:57:18.560 God gave it to you. And you know what this means. 0:57:19.360 --> 0:57:21.040 You don't have to be jealous of what he gave 0:57:21.080 --> 0:57:27.000 anybody else. You are not in competition with them. You 0:57:27.040 --> 0:57:32.080 don't have to apologize for it. Diminish it. I saw 0:57:32.080 --> 0:57:34.640 it like this all on one hand, I'm tempted to 0:57:34.680 --> 0:57:37.919 diminish it. I hate my voice, I hate my height. 0:57:38.000 --> 0:57:39.640 Well what are you gonna do about that? You better 0:57:39.680 --> 0:57:44.040 get some heels, get a couple extra interests. But that's 0:57:44.080 --> 0:57:47.160 about as good as it's gonna get. Better take your 0:57:47.200 --> 0:57:50.480 five foot four self and get out there and be 0:57:50.680 --> 0:57:56.960 God's jawbone. The beautiful thing about it is, I'm no 0:57:57.040 --> 0:58:00.840 longer tempted to diminish it, and I'm not tempted to 0:58:00.880 --> 0:58:04.400 depend on it because I know it had nothing to 0:58:04.440 --> 0:58:06.680 do with the success of the weapon. It had to 0:58:06.680 --> 0:58:14.000 do with the strength of my God. God gave it 0:58:14.040 --> 0:58:18.720 to me. Say it again, God gave it to me. Now, 0:58:18.720 --> 0:58:20.760 I want you to confess that over this challenge you're 0:58:20.800 --> 0:58:25.040 going through to God gave it to me, even the challenge, 0:58:25.640 --> 0:58:28.080 even the giant, even the fight. God gave me this fight. 0:58:28.960 --> 0:58:32.600 He must know I can win it. He must be 0:58:32.640 --> 0:58:34.640 planning to do something to show how great he is. 0:58:35.360 --> 0:58:38.640 God gave it to me. God gave me this thing 0:58:38.720 --> 0:58:43.640 to face. It's a matter of stewardship. And when Samson's 0:58:43.680 --> 0:58:47.400 life comes down to it, all it has to do 0:58:47.440 --> 0:58:50.800 with how he used his strength. What are you doing 0:58:50.840 --> 0:58:53.280 with the strength God gave you? What are you doing 0:58:53.280 --> 0:58:54.480 with the stuff he gave you? What are you doing 0:58:54.480 --> 0:58:57.160 with the days he gave you? If God gave it, 0:58:57.600 --> 0:59:01.680 you don't get to waste it. If God gave it, 0:59:01.720 --> 0:59:03.560 you don't get to bury it. You remember the parable 0:59:03.600 --> 0:59:05.400 about the man who was given a talent and he 0:59:05.480 --> 0:59:09.240 hid it because he had one and somebody else had five. 0:59:09.320 --> 0:59:13.360 God gave you that one. Do something with it. Use it. 0:59:14.120 --> 0:59:16.280 You are listening to a preach or preach to you 0:59:16.400 --> 0:59:19.160 right now who doesn't even naturally like the sound of 0:59:19.200 --> 0:59:22.240 his own voice. Don't tell me what you can't do 0:59:22.360 --> 0:59:25.640 for God. Don't tell me what God can't use. Don't 0:59:25.680 --> 0:59:27.800 tell me what God can do. I want to hear it. 0:59:29.240 --> 0:59:34.120 He is the God of the jawbone, and I want 0:59:34.160 --> 0:59:36.200 to pray over those things in your life right now, 0:59:36.240 --> 0:59:39.640 whether they are gifts or glitches. I want you to 0:59:39.640 --> 0:59:44.200 see him as in the same hands, the hands of God. 0:59:44.400 --> 0:59:47.320 Bow your head and close your eyes. There's something significant 0:59:47.320 --> 0:59:49.680 that God is trying to get you to take responsibility 0:59:49.680 --> 0:59:54.840 for today, and as you take responsibility for that thing, 0:59:54.960 --> 0:59:58.200 he is calling you to reframe it and refocus it. 1:00:00.200 --> 1:00:04.080 Place is not the problem. The starting place is God. 1:00:05.240 --> 1:00:08.800 So now, God, we worship you because you're great, and 1:00:08.840 --> 1:00:11.320 we thank you for all of the battles that you've 1:00:11.360 --> 1:00:14.320 won for your people, and we thank you for all 1:00:14.360 --> 1:00:18.280 the times that all we had was a donkey's jawbone. 1:00:18.440 --> 1:00:21.760 But you did it. Say it that loud you did it. 1:00:23.880 --> 1:00:25.600 He's the one who cleansed you. Tell them again, you 1:00:25.640 --> 1:00:28.120 did it. He's the one who set you free. Tell 1:00:28.160 --> 1:00:30.800 them again, you did it. God. We're not going to 1:00:30.840 --> 1:00:32.520 get to this place in our life and think that 1:00:32.560 --> 1:00:35.600 we've got to do it by ourselves. We have a 1:00:35.680 --> 1:00:40.040 really good record of what you've done. Right now, I 1:00:40.080 --> 1:00:42.880 want to give somebody an invitation to receive Christ who 1:00:42.920 --> 1:00:46.760 has never placed your faith in Jesus. The starting place 1:00:46.800 --> 1:00:53.200 of your salvation is not you, It is God. And 1:00:53.320 --> 1:00:57.080 salvation is not spelled d O, it is spelled d 1:00:58.480 --> 1:01:03.640 N E done. The work for you to be saved 1:01:04.240 --> 1:01:08.360 is finished by Jesus Christ. Right now, God is calling 1:01:08.400 --> 1:01:11.360 some of you to repent of your sin and give 1:01:11.360 --> 1:01:13.400 your life to Him. He gave it to you to 1:01:13.400 --> 1:01:16.280 begin with. If God has brought you here this day 1:01:16.480 --> 1:01:18.840 and he's calling you right now to come to Jesus, 1:01:18.920 --> 1:01:21.520 I'm going to lead you in a prayer. And in 1:01:21.600 --> 1:01:26.040 this prayer it's not magical, but it is miraculous. For 1:01:26.080 --> 1:01:28.640 the Bible says that if you will call on the 1:01:28.720 --> 1:01:31.560 name of Jesus, everyone who calls on the name of 1:01:31.600 --> 1:01:35.040 the Lord will be saved, not might be saved, not 1:01:35.120 --> 1:01:38.200 could be saved, will be saved today. If you will 1:01:38.200 --> 1:01:40.960 call on his name, he will save you and change 1:01:40.960 --> 1:01:44.000 you from the inside out. So as a church family 1:01:44.080 --> 1:01:46.760 for all of those coming to God, repeat after me, 1:01:47.080 --> 1:01:54.320 Heavenly Father, Today is my day of salvation. I am 1:01:54.360 --> 1:01:59.400 a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that 1:01:59.560 --> 1:02:04.120 Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior 1:02:04.160 --> 1:02:09.280 of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord 1:02:09.320 --> 1:02:13.320 of my life. I believe he died that I would 1:02:13.360 --> 1:02:18.400 be forgiven and rose again to give me life. 1:02:18.600 --> 1:02:24.120 I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. 1:02:24.640 --> 1:02:25.200 On the counter. 1:02:25.280 --> 1:02:27.360 Three shoot your hands up if you prayed that one, 1:02:27.680 --> 1:02:28.479 two three. 1:02:28.800 --> 1:02:29.840 We're celebrating you. 1:02:29.840 --> 1:02:35.080 All over this rumle. God bless you, God, geek you, 1:02:36.520 --> 1:02:39.320 God make his faith sign on you. God be gracious 1:02:39.320 --> 1:02:39.560 to you. 1:02:41.360 --> 1:02:44.080 Let's celebrate all those and just play sat. 1:02:43.920 --> 1:02:47.120 Faith in Christ the lod lived up with grace. God 1:02:47.200 --> 1:02:48.000 of praise, Schirch. 1:02:50.080 --> 1:02:52.640 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 1:02:52.680 --> 1:02:55.680 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 1:02:55.720 --> 1:02:58.640 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 1:02:58.680 --> 1:03:03.120 link in the description give now or visit Elevationchurch dot org. 1:03:03.160 --> 1:03:06.840 Slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, 1:03:07.120 --> 1:03:09.840 you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 1:03:10.120 --> 1:03:12.400 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:03:12.480 --> 1:03:14.600 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:03:14.600 --> 1:03:17.160 Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.