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Control Your Passions
14 Plays14 days ago
Judges 13:1-14:20
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Transcript
Power Without Control: The Symbolism of the Farmer's Mower
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Speaker
One Saturday afternoon, there was an old farmer and he was out mowing his front yard with a riding lawn mower. You know these type of riding lawn mowers, they're the zero turn mowers.
00:00:15
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Big horsepower, huge engine, dual blades. It's bright green. You know that brand. But that afternoon he was out mowing his front yard and The steering linkage had worn out and it had busted.
00:00:34
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The mower started veering off course, going a direction he never intended it to go. Unfortunately, it mowed down the shrubs, then onto his wife's prized roses, and eventually landing him right in the middle of a ditch.
00:00:52
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All the power in the world and no
Guidance of the Holy Spirit: Avoiding Life's Pitfalls
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control. It's a dangerous combination. And if we're honest, that can be us sometimes. We all got desires.
00:01:04
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We all have energy. We all have passions. But without the control of the Holy Spirit, our passions can run amok and drive us into the ditches of life.
00:01:17
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It can drive you and I places we never wanted to be or never intended to go. Too much power without the ability to control it often leads to disaster.
Samson: A Story of Strength and Struggles
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This exactly where we see in our scripture this morning the story of Samson, which everybody knows this story, right? Everybody who's ever been in Bible class as a kid know this story.
00:01:43
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I had an illustrated copy of Samson when I was little. My mom used to read it, and I would anxiously wait until I got to the part where he had his hands in the carcass. I just couldn't wait to get to that part because there was a gory picture that they had drawn I'm telling you a little bit too much and I'm revealing a little bit too much too early.
00:02:06
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Samson, brothers and sisters, is a man gifted with supernatural strength but who had little spiritual restraint. he He was a man empowered by God yet driven by his own appetites.
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A man gifted by God but who followed his own desires. A man set apart like you and I are. by God, but who was consumed by his passions.
00:02:33
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It's a story as old as the ages. But before we dive into Samson's story, which we'll get there, want to show you some greater truth, some greater picture right at the very beginning of chapter 13.
God's Grace and Deliverance Despite Israel's Sins
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It is the steady, undeserved grace of God.
00:02:54
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Even before Samson fails, God is already at work. Look with me here, Judges chapter 13. And I know if you're studious and you're looking at your notes, you're realizing this is two full chapters.
00:03:10
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You're right. But if you do flip your Bible just a couple times, you're going realize we're heading real close to the end of Judges, y'all. Just probably another month, right before we get to Easter.
00:03:21
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We'll be stepping into the Easter season not in Judges. And then beyond Easter, we're going to step into the Gospel of John. So look forward to that.
00:03:33
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Judges chapter 13 opens with a very familiar refrain. The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And they were oppressed by the Philistines for 40 years.
00:03:47
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And yet God sends deliverance. End of verse 5 says, he, Samson, will begin to rescue Israel
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from the Philistines. God's already at work here, folks. He's already setting the stage for deliverance. Not because Israel cried out. Not because they repented, which I put in my notes here.
00:04:15
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There's no R in our S-O-R-D message. acronym that we associate with the book of Judges, right? S meaning sin, o meaning oppression, R meaning repentance, and D meaning deliverance.
00:04:30
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They are sinning, they are oppressed, but there is no repentance, there is no crying out, but friends, God is at work because he is a God of grace. Grace we've often framed here at church is getting something you don't deserve.
00:04:46
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I always remember that with the G from grace and the G from get. That's the way my mind works. Getting something you don't deserve is grace. Not getting something you do deserve is mercy.
00:04:57
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Just flipping that around. God as being gracious means that he is showing freely and giving freely kindness and mercy and favor to humanity.
00:05:08
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Even when and especially when we don't deserve it. It's like a grandmother who cooks... Sunday dinner for her family, even though they rarely say thank you.
00:05:23
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She keeps showing up Sunday after Sunday, meal after meal, because that's her her heart. God's grace, brothers and sisters, is like that. It's persistent, it's undeserved, and it's faithful.
00:05:37
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The angel of the Lord appears here, and we'll see, to this barren woman.
Samson's Divine Calling and Modern Parallels
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promises her a son, God is moving forward. He's on the move even when we aren't expecting him to move.
00:05:55
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Even before we jump into Samson, even before we jump into how to control our passions this morning, I want you to know God is already on the move. He's already moving in your life and in my life, and he's moving us in grace.
00:06:12
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He does not empower us because he has or because we deserve it. It's because he is merciful.
00:06:21
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this leads us to see who Samson was really meant to be. It's important, y'all. We often see Samson at the end of Samson's life. all the problems that he experienced and how he ends his life. But that's not the way it starts. Look with me.
00:06:34
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Chapter 13, starting in verse 2, it says, In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children.
00:06:46
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And the angel Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and said, Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. So be careful.
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Now this is ah this is admonition to the wife. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink.
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He's going be Nazarite. That he's be set apart.
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he will begin to rescue israel from the philistines
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to be something miraculous he's going to be a nasleitete that means he's going to be set apart You might put down in your notes, dedicated or marked, consecrated, meaning he's he's set aside as holy.
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God had already had a plan and a destiny for Samson.
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I thought to myself, how do we relate this today, this idea of somebody being set apart? And I thought about these families, generations who have been farmers.
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You know, that's that's who they're known as, they're farmers. Granddad did it, dad did it, the son did it, and when the son has a new baby, what do they say? Oh, this baby is gonna carry on the business or the family name, right?
00:08:18
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They're Johnsons, they're the farmers, that's just what they what they do. There's a purpose attached to that name. There's an expectation attached to that
Samson's Strength: A Blessing and a Challenge
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calling.
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Samson had a holy calling from the very beginning. Before he ever had a choice to ruin it, God had set him apart as holy. Brothers and sisters, the same can be said for you and I. If you belong to Christ, you have been set aside.
00:08:46
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You've been set apart. There's a special calling upon your life. Not by some Nazarite vow, but by the Holy Spirit himself. You've been sealed. And you have a purpose.
00:08:59
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a calling and an expectation attached to that calling, which makes what happens next in the story even more tragic. Look with me, jump down to verse 24 and 25.
00:09:15
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When her son was born, she named him Samson, the Lord blessed him as he grew up. and And the Spirit of Lord began to stir him while he lived in Mahanadam, which is located in the towns of Zorah and Eshterol.
00:09:32
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Even from the beginning, we see he's gifted, Samson is, extraordinarily blessed. I put my notes spiritually and physically endowed.
00:09:45
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So as the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him, and God gave him supernatural power, he had strength, he had ability, had opportunity, and immediately this person came to my mind.
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If you're an Aggie, Johnny Manziel. Johnny Manziel was gifted beyond belief, wasn't he?
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Boy, my Aggies sure are quiet here today. I know, they're like, where is he going with this Johnny Manziel example? He's the modern day Samson, think about it.
00:10:20
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Gifted, physically, strong as an ox, quick on his feet, talented beyond means. He had ability, he had opportunity.
00:10:32
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And then that steering busted and he started going into the ditch.
00:10:41
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And he had people all around him, folks. Hey, Johnny, don't do that. Don't go there. Don't hang out those people. Don't take those drugs.
00:10:53
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But he wouldn't listen. And that God-given strength became destructive in his life. Power without submission is often this way. It's very dangerous. And it brings us to the tension in this story of Samson that I want to point out today.
The Need for Internal Transformation
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God is gracious, yes? God is gracious, yes?
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God empowers you and I, yes? But what happens when you and I respond poorly?
00:11:25
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Because see, verse 1 in chapter 13 should sound real familiar. we've We've said this about every single chapter that it started Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight again. It's like somebody who keeps refinancing debt without ever changing their spending habits.
00:11:44
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Every time I hear that, you want to Israelites, don't, no, not again. He just rescued you.
00:11:53
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I almost showed a video. I showed it one time here. Do you guys remember this who've been here quite some time? It was a picture of a sheep that got stuck in the ditch. you remember this? And they pulled the sheep out of the ditch and it ran and jumped right back in the ditch again.
00:12:07
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I think that's so funny every time I see that. And I think myself, that's the Israelites. Then I go, wait a second, that's me. you. That's you.
00:12:19
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Alistair Begg says this, he says, external deliverance without internal transformation always leads to nowhere.
00:12:28
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We see the same pattern in Samson's family. I love this. ah you know ah This was almost a a revelation to me as I re-read this story this this past week. We're so ah often focused on Samson and what Samson does or doesn't do, we we kind of forget what his parents did and didn't do. Look with me here. it's It's so odd.
Samson's Missteps and Parental Guidance
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It's this weird exchange between this angel of the Lord and his parents. Look, chapter 13, verse 6. It says, "'The woman ran out and told her husband, "'A man of God appeared to me.
00:12:59
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"'He looked like one of God's angels, terrifying to see. "'I didn't ask where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name.'
00:13:09
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But he told me, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic beverage. You must not eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.
00:13:21
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Then Manoah, who is the husband, who is the father of Samson, prayed to the Lord saying this, Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again so that he might give us more instruction about this son who is to be born.
00:13:40
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God answered Manoah's prayer, and the angel of God appeared once again to his wife as she was sitting there in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. So she quickly ran and told her husband, The man who appeared to me the other day is here again.
00:13:52
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And Manoah runs back to his wife, verse 11 says, and asks, He says, Are you the man who spoke to my wife the other day? Yes, yes, he replied. Manoah asked, When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern this boy's life and work?
00:14:06
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And you want to pause right there and go, was he in on any of these other conversations that Lord spoke before?
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put a note to myself.
00:14:19
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Marriage. Question mark, exclamation point. Is this not the conversations that many you guys have in your marriage? Or maybe it's just me. Honey, we got to do this, this, this, and this.
00:14:33
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And then ten minutes later... So what are we going to do again? We have to do what? And what? Friends, he just the angel of the Lord just explained exactly what the the wife is supposed to do and the husband is supposed to do and what Samson is going to be.
00:14:47
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And the husband like, I don't get it. I think I need a second visit to reconfirm what the angel had already said. i put a note to myself. It's like the Bible that sits on your coffee table at your house.
00:15:01
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The display Bible. You know I'm talking about. The one that's never been opened, that got to dust off every so often?
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Close to spiritual things, but not shaped by them. Does this describe your life? John Stott says, proximity to holy things doesn't guarantee our devotion to them.
00:15:24
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It's like a dusty Bible sit in your house that's never been opened. Just because you attend a Christian church doesn't make you Christian. Just because your parents were Christian don't mean you're Christians.
00:15:35
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Just because their parents are Christian doesn't make you Christian.
00:15:41
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Just because grandma and grandpa do it all over you and tell you how wonderful you are doesn't make you a Christian.
00:15:49
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Just because you walked down the aisle and said some prayer or maybe got dunked in some water doesn't make you a Christian.
00:15:57
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Especially if you're out living life not being controlled by the Holy Spirit. Rather being controlled by your passions. It's exactly where Samson finds himself here at the beginning of chapter 14. Look with me here. fourteen 14, 1 and following says, And one day Samson was in Timnah. One of the phil Philistine women caught his eye.
00:16:20
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I like that translation, right? She caught his eye. And when he returned home, he told his father and his mother, a young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye and I want to marry her.
00:16:32
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Get her for me. The ESV, I think, says, go get her for me. And his father and mother objected. Wait a second, isn't there one woman here in Camry? Is there not a Camry night around here that you can marry?
00:16:46
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Why must you go to Rockdale?
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This is exactly what he's saying here in verse 3. there a woman in tribe Israelites that can Isn't woman Israelites that you can marry? Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?
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Samson told his father, go get her for me. She looks good. I see her and she looks good to me. Let's just pause right there.
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I want her. I saw her. I desired her. She looks good. Go get her. That's the verbs pretty much in that order.
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interesting he doesn't say, is she godly? Is she wise? Is she an Israelite? Does she believe in the Lord? It doesn't matter that Samson's set apart.
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doesn't matter how holy he is, how consecrated he is, how dedicated he is. All that matters to him is this Philistine woman. What Samson wants, Samson He gets.
00:18:00
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You ever been in the grocery store? You hear little kids in the basket? Give me that. I want that. No joke, Kim and I were in the grocery store. Not not here, was a long time ago.
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We heard this. kim Kim will remember the story. This little kid. I want it. Mommy, I want it. No joke. The mom said, well, what do we say? this is how the kid responded.
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Now.
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And the mom laughed.
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And inside I cried a little bit.
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Sometimes the truth is, brothers sisters, as adults, we do the exact same thing. We might use bigger words, but oftentimes what we want, we go get.
00:18:49
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And what we want dictates how we live out our lives.
00:18:54
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Self-directed living, I put here, is spiritual immaturity. You'll notice the most mature Christians in their walk have a certain presence about themselves.
00:19:10
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They deny themselves. They're not driven by their lusts or their passions or I want this or I need this and I just got to go get it. It's not what dictates their life.
00:19:27
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just put a question to me, more or less a question to you, Interesting that it says he saw her and wanted her. right There's something with the sight.
00:19:38
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There's something with the power of our sight. The lusting of the eyes, the desire of the eyes. And what we perceive is right in our own eyes is often wrong in God's eyes.
00:19:52
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Not only does he desire this pagan woman, but I put he keeps driving that lawnmower further and further into the ditch.
Consequences of Ignoring Divine Calling
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He begins neglect his Nazarite vows. Look on here with me, verse 5 through 9. It says, And Samson and his parents were going to Timnah, and the young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah.
00:20:13
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And at that moment, the Spirit Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands. By the way, this was the illustrated kids' book that I always like to get to this part. I don't know why. i'm a little strange that way.
00:20:26
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He did it as easily as if he was a young goat and he and he didn't tell his father or his mother about it. When Samson arrived Timnah, he talked with the woman and he was very pleased with her.
00:20:37
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Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, turned off the path to look at that carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. And so he scooped some of that honey into his hands and he ate it along with the way.
00:20:54
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And every germaphobe is gasping here right now, going, he did what? Yes. He also gave some to his father and his mother, and they ate it. But he didn't tell them where he where he basically got that from.
00:21:07
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He's directed not to touch anything that had come in contact with being dead, and now he's here doing that.
00:21:17
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He's avoiding those things that he was told not to do.
00:21:23
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Don't touch death. Don't drink. And we'll see as his marriage to this Philistine woman goes on this seven-day marriage bender, which was pretty typical at those times. I'm pretty sure that we can deduce that Samson was drinking at that point one more step closer, one more thing that he was told not to do. It's like that...
00:21:49
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person that goes and visits the doctor and the doctor says, going to put you on a strict diet. You're no longer to have red meat.
00:21:58
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To which I would say, i need a second opinion.
00:22:02
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No, it's like that person who gets that strict diet and then says, I'm just going to have one piece of bacon on Saturday mornings instead of two. I'm going push the envelope just a little bit.
00:22:13
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One bite won't hurt. One compromise can't possibly lead to another compromise.
00:22:20
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And we play with that temptation. And we drift a little bit further from our devotion.
00:22:28
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I put a note to myself. Perhaps your brothers and sisters here at this church have reached out to you as you have formed your small groups. Ladies, thank you for what you guys are doing, by the way. Setting a model for the rest of us.
00:22:44
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As you form these small groups and you become more intimately connected with one another, I wonder if... By chance, if somebody were to reach out to you in that group and say, hey, I've noticed this about you.
00:22:58
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Perhaps you're drifting in in an area that's unsafe or unwise.
00:23:05
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wonder if that would be celebrated amongst us or if we would shun something like that.
00:23:12
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That's too personal. I don't want you in my business like that. Or is that precisely what God's word tells us, that we're to hold each other accountable so that we don't find ourselves compromising, doing what we want to do, following our uncontrolled passions at all costs?
00:23:35
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Brothers sisters, sometimes that's exactly how the Holy Spirit works, is He works through your brothers and sisters in Christ here to give you a friendly nudge, a friendly warning. Hey, maybe lay off
00:23:49
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all the wine that you plan on having this weekend. Uh-oh, I lost some of you right there.
00:23:57
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Maybe don't go out drinking with the guys this weekend.
00:24:03
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Or the ladies this weekend. And I know most of you are going to think, hey, this is a Baptist sermon in a Baptist church. He's got to address the drinking issue. If you've been here any amount of time, you know where I stand on this issue.
00:24:20
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You have the right to drink if that so pleases you. But you must do it within the the guidelines here of what Scripture tells us.
00:24:31
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It doesn't say you can't drink. says you can't go get drunk. But let me tell you, if you're pushing that boundary, that temptation is overwhelming you, and you can't control that, and your brother and sister in Christ comes and says something to you, could you maybe be a little bit open to that?
00:24:47
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Maybe somebody from the outside looking in on my situation may actually say, hey, yeah, that's wise counsel. And I just put how often do we neglect wise counsel? If only somebody had taken Samson aside and said, hey, look, you're going down the wrong path.
00:25:05
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not want to Might want to turn it back. How much different the story would have been? But you know how this story ends up. He makes this crazy riddle at his wedding feast.
00:25:17
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Right? Verse 14. Out of the one who eats came something to eat. out of the strong came something sweet.
00:25:25
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wonder if he meant for that to rhyme, by the way. But the guests are perplexed by this riddle. Right? So much so that they go to his soon-to-be bride and they bug her until she eventually goes to Samson.
00:25:44
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And like every new bride, she nags her soon-to-be husband until he finally gives in. Brothers and sisters, this is exactly what God's word says.
00:25:55
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She keeps after him and after him and after him, and eventually he goes, okay, yeah, here's here's the answer to the riddle. And she goes and tells the guests at the wedding.
00:26:07
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And Samson loses that bet.
00:26:12
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And it just spirals out. Turns chaotic. Anger erupts. Relationships fracture. Violence ensues. It's uncontrolled chaos. Look at the end of verse 19.
00:26:30
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Samson was furious about what had happened.
00:26:35
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Well, let's back up. The beginning of 19. The Spirit of Lord came powerfully upon him, and he went down to the town, and he killed 30 men, and he took their belongings, and he gave their clothes to men that had sold the river.
00:26:48
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Samson was furious about what had happened, so he went back to live with his father and his mother. Verse 20. So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been his best man.
00:27:01
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Out of control is what I put in my notes. It just cycled and spiraled out of control. Uncontrolled passions often do this. It's like the California brush fires. Start small, start somewhere else.
00:27:14
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Little bitty spark, little bitty flame. The wind catches it just the right way. Soon enough, it's engulfing half the state.
00:27:23
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Unchecked passion often is like this in our lives. So what do we do with this today?
Walking in the Spirit: Avoiding Chaos
00:27:28
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How do we avoid becoming spiritually powerful but personally out of control?
00:27:38
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A couple of applications for you guys. something that Something that we always want to start with, and I want to be real mindful when we talk about do's and don'ts when it comes to the Bible, because often we can think of it that way.
00:27:52
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We're going to do this and don't do this, but we do want to understand that the the only way that you're be successful in teaching stamping down the uncontrolled passions in your life is through the help of the Holy Spirit.
00:28:05
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You will not be able to do it in your own power. I just want i want that to be the very first thing is that we walk daily in the Spirit. That's the very first application. Each morning you wake up consciously, the first thing on your mind is I'm going to surrender my desires to God. First thing.
00:28:21
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Before turning on the local news, before clicking on the weather, before checking the stocks, before checking the cattle prices, Before scrolling on your phone, bow your head and say, Holy Spirit, you may have complete control over my thoughts today.
00:28:40
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Govern my thoughts.
00:28:43
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Guard me. Protect me from the temptations of the world. Because, brothers sisters, as soon as you turn that TV on, as soon as you turn that phone on, the temptations are already getting you.
00:28:56
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It's no wonder Facebook is so popular. They have figured you out. They have figured out what you like and don't like simply by what you scroll and slow down on. You don't even have to stop on it.
00:29:08
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It's all in a formula that figures it out. Those temptations from the world are constantly trying to pull you and get you to start drifting away from God's purpose. my My desire for you today is that you would begin your day with the Holy Spirit. Second, we must starve sinful appetites.
00:29:29
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This is the don't. So we're going don't do some things and we're going to do do some things. The first thing you're not going to do is you're not going to feed those appetites, whatever that is. If it's literally your appetite, if you are a sugar person like me, it means don't turn on the Food Network channel.
00:29:51
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The devil runs that channel. I know he does, especially when I'm trying to avoid sweets.
00:30:00
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If it's lust of the eyes, turn your entire TV off because it's on every channel. It really is.
00:30:12
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I put a certain TV programs, stir up ungodly thoughts, just turn them away. If receiving some magazines that you get in the mail cause you to lust, throw them out, cancel the subscription.
00:30:25
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Husbands, if you struggle in this area, tell your wife, getting that magazine. Stop it. it's It's pulling me into temptation. Trust me, she will cancel that subscription for you.
00:30:39
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If you find yourself in conversations that turn towards gossip, that's your sinful appetite, that you have to speak about other people, about what's going on in their business.
00:30:51
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When that happens, let me just encourage you, as soon as you start hearing that Gossip come up in that conversation. Simply just excuse yourself. And I find it super helpful if you confront it in a loving way by saying, oh, you know what, I'm just not even going gossip about that.
00:31:08
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And then you just turn and leave the conversation. It's a clear indication to the person who is gossiping that you want no part of that and that is it's ungodly. Because what happens, brothers sisters, it's like a buffet.
00:31:21
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You both sit there and you both start eating this gossip and it starts going back and forth. Oh, you had two helpless that? Let me show you with this. Oh, did you know about her? Oh, yeah, and him? And it just, brothers sisters, in a small church, it's rampant.
00:31:35
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It's rampant. And i'm telling you, as your pastor, stop it. Stop it. It's destructive. It's destructive to you and it's destructive to the church.
00:31:46
Speaker
Stop. sinful appetites and and we need to start doing something else in its place. We need to start strengthening our affections for what God would have us to do. Can I just put in parentheses here and invite some accountability here.
00:32:01
Speaker
Replace those fleshly cravings, those things that you lust with holy things.
Combating Personal Struggles with Accountability
00:32:08
Speaker
And I'm not, I'm going to use this example, but this is this is a real world example, but it has nothing to do with Tom and Dottie West. So understand that as I give them as an example. brother and sisters, they're up here fixing the landscaping all the time.
00:32:22
Speaker
They're up here changing plants. They're up here taking out rocks, putting in mulch. And I thought to myself, if I was ever in this position where like I'm struggling with sin, I'm struggling with eating, I'm struggling with alcohol, instead of struggling with that, I should just get myself to church and plant some plants. and plants Get out and change some rocks.
00:32:46
Speaker
Replace that with Sunday school class.
00:32:52
Speaker
Get yourself around some other godly brothers and sisters who can share life with you, who can let you know that same temptation that you feel they're feeling and how they're dealing with it.
00:33:05
Speaker
And when those passions arise in our lives, have somebody you can call. Have an accountability partner.
00:33:14
Speaker
Unshucked passions grow in secrecy. That means when you don't tell anybody and you struggle with that all by yourself, that passion just keeps growing. Satan does not want you to call your brothers and sisters and confess that, even though that's what god word God's Word tells us to do.
00:33:30
Speaker
You have to have that type of intimate relationship with your brothers and sisters here. You have to be comfortable to say, I'm going to pick the phone and I'm going to call Ronnie. I'm call Tom. I'm going to call Wes.
00:33:41
Speaker
Hey, I'm really struggling with this right now. Would you pray for me? Can I come over and set some fence posts? Can I get it out of the house? Can I get away from the computer?
00:33:55
Speaker
We need rely on each other a lot more. The challenge this week for you and I that You would choose one specific reoccurring temptation that you have in your life. And you know what it is.
00:34:07
Speaker
It's different from what I have. You guys struggle with your own stuff. Whether it's anger or worry or lust or anxiety or bitterness. Write that down and then find a verse in the Bible that addresses that.
00:34:22
Speaker
Write down that problem. Find a verse that addresses it.
00:34:28
Speaker
You can't find a verse that addresses it? Get with your Bible study class. They will help you find that. Place that somewhere where you see that every single day. Frigerator, bathroom mirror, your monitor on your computer, your truck dashboard.
00:34:46
Speaker
Some place that you see it and you're confronted by God's word every single day. Because what that says is, it says we're not doing this We're not feeding that appetite, but instead God's word says this, and we see that every single day, and it changes how we live life.
00:35:05
Speaker
I'll end with this.
Repairing Control Through Divine Help
00:35:06
Speaker
Remember that zero-turn mower with all that power and no control? The solution wasn't to remove the engine. It was to repair the control system.
00:35:19
Speaker
God doesn't remove our strength. don't He won't remove that desire or that passion from within you. It's not the way it works. He will, however, redeem you and give you the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit can do the heavy lifting in your life.
00:35:36
Speaker
When we resist His control, we veer toward the ditch. When we yield to Him, His power becomes our purpose.