Weapons of Mass Distraction - Week #1: The Strange Man…The Strange Woman

Hey, this is George Davis, and so glad to have you connected with us today.

Do I have an amazing series that's gonna be a blessing to you?

It's called Weapons of Mass Distraction.

No, I didn't say weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass distraction.

In this season, where I believe God wants us to have a fierce focus, the enemy of focus is distraction.

And I want to walk you through and show what I believe are our four of the greatest distractions that we face as Christians or just as people in general.

And I believe if we can get our focus right, keep our eyes on Jesus and don't allow these distractions to take us off course.

God's got some amazing things awaiting us in our future.

In fact, one of the very reasons you know God's got something great is that the enemy's trying his best to take your eyes off of the future and look back to the past or look around at something else.

So buckle up, get ready for an amazing word today, because this episode today, this uh portion today is gonna be a great blessing to you.

All right, we wrapped up last week.

Our relationship series entitled It's Complicated.

And I'm starting something new today, but really as I get into it, you probably kind of feel like it's it's an extenuation or an extension of what we were talking about.

But I want to start a series today entitled Weapons of Mass Distraction.

Weapons of Mass Distraction.

And for those of you who've been with us since the start of the year, you know the Lord gave us a word as a church that this is a year for us to have a fierce focus.

And for the whole first month of the year, I spent time just kind of talking about how to stay focused and how to make sure that we carried out these things that the Lord has set for us to do.

And I don't know about you, but the moment God says stay focused, it seems like there's been a ton of things trying to get me distracted.

Ton of things trying to pull me off course, a ton of things trying to pull me out of character.

And I've been fighting hard to stay focused because if you remember what God said, He said there's some real blessings for those of us that stay focused.

And so I want to just challenge you that God has really called us to this place of being able to be focused.

Well, if God tells us to have a fierce focus, then the the opposite of fierce focus or the enemy of fierce focus is mass distraction.

In fact, if you remember, for those of you that go back far enough, you're old enough to remember 2001 when 9-11 happened right after that.

Our military invaded Iraq and we went looking for weapons of mass destruction.

Look, what look look, we went looking for WMDs.

Well, we didn't find any WMDs, but I promise you, if we went looking at your house or my house, we'd find some WMDs.

We'd find some weapons of mass, not destruction, but distraction.

There's a story over in Matthew chapter 14 where Jesus says to his disciples, get into this boat and go over to the other side of this lake, the Sea of Galilee.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And they get in, and as they're heading across, a storm kicks up.

Second, this is the second time this happens.

One time he's in the boat with them.

This time he's not in the boat.

And as they're heading across, this storm kicks up, and they begin to panic because the waves are splashing.

They feel like they're going to capsize.

And the Bible says Jesus comes out there walking to them and he's walking on the waters.

Can you imagine it's nighttime and waves are crashing and the wind is blowing, and you see this figure in the distance and is walking toward you?

The Bible says fear jumped into the hearts of the disciples.

And Jesus said to them, Fear not, it is me.

And then Peter says something that every time I read it, it blows my mind.

He said, Lord, if it's you, then tell me to get out of this boat and walk on the water.

Now, how many of you can admit that that's probably not what you would have said?

Look at your neighbor and say, Don't even try.

I was fishing the day before yesterday up in Georgia with a couple people went and caught a bunch of fish, and it was a calm day, man.

It was a beautiful day.

The water was nice and calm.

And if I had seen somebody walking toward me and they told me they was Jesus, I promise y'all wouldn't say, Tell me to get out of this boat and walk on the water.

I might have said, What is my mother-in-law's maiden name?

If that's really you, what did I have for lunch on Tuesday?

Come on, somebody.

But I probably wouldn't have said, Let me get out of this boat and walk on the water.

It is a storm going on.

And Peter says, If that's really you, prove it to me.

Tell me to get out of this boat and walk on water.

Jesus said this, he said, Come.

Now let's pause for a moment.

I want to give you a chance to shout.

There's enough power in one word from God to make a man walk on the water.

He said, Come, and Peter got out of the boat, and the Bible says this he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

Somebody shout, Peter's walking in a miracle.

Come on, now shout it.

Say, Peter's walking in a miracle.

And I want you to understand that because the fact that Peter got out of the boat and was walking toward Jesus, he walked a long way.

Now the Bible doesn't tell us exactly how long he walked, but I promise you I can prove to you he walked a long way.

Because when they first saw Jesus, they couldn't tell it was Jesus because he was so far away.

And when Peter gets out of the boat to walk to Jesus, when he finally panics, Jesus reaches out and just grabs him by the hand.

So he had to have walked a long way.

He's walking a long way, walking in a miracle until he gets distracted.

What does he get distracted by?

The Bible says he saw the wind boisterous.

Well, you can't see the wind, but you can see the waves crashing, you can see your garments blowing.

But here's something I got news for you.

Before he ever got out of the boat, the wind was blowing.

Before he ever started his miracle, the wind was blowing.

The difference was when he got out of the boat, he had his eyes fixed on Jesus.

He's walking in his miracle, and then he stopped fixing his eyes on Jesus and fixed his eyes on something else around him.

And the Bible says he started to sink.

Now I can't prove this, but I believe with all my heart, if he had just got his eyes back on Jesus and away from the distraction, I believe he would have came right back up to the top of the water and he would have met Jesus and they would have both gone back to the boat like Denzel Washington.

And you wouldn't have been able to tell Peter nothing.

Come on, somebody.

But he began to sink only because he got his eyes off of Jesus.

Well, now that is the absolute definition of what it means to distract.

To distract means to draw the sight, the mind, or the attention in different directions.

You focus in on one thing, and then something shows up to draw the sight, your eyes, the mind, or the attention in a different direction.

The word distract means to perplex.

The word distract also, another definition, means to confuse.

I don't know if you realize this or not, but distractions many times come through family and friends.

Sometimes distractions can come through promotions on the job, things that look like a great opportunity.

Sometimes distractions come through relationships.

We just spent four weeks talking about that.

Sometimes distractions, hear me out, can come through grief.

Even on a day like this, Mother's Day.

Don't you allow the grief of missing your mom or if you're a mother missing your child to cause you to miss out on the reality that God has still been good to you.

I said, God has still been good to you.

Come on, if you're missing your mom, I get it.

I'm not trying to say you shouldn't miss your mom, but let's take a moment to celebrate however many years you did have a chance to spend with her.

And if she knew the Lord, you ought to be celebrating the fact she's in heaven.

Come on, somebody.

And there's gonna be a big family reunion one day.

You'll never be separated from her again.

But if we don't watch it, grief can can be a distraction.

Disappointment can be a distraction.

A broken heart can be a distraction.

Amen.

Bad reports from the doctor can be a distraction.

If we don't watch it, even money can become a distraction.

Chasing money can become a distraction.

Being offended can become a distraction.

Getting caught up in gossip, what he said and she said, and they said, and what somebody else is doing can become a distraction.

But there are four weapons that I believe cause distraction to the masses.

I'm gonna spend these next four weeks.

There are four things that I think all of us have to pay attention to, have to watch out for, have to keep our guard up so we don't fall victim to these weapons of mass distraction.

Now, this next one is not one of them, but it's the big umbrella.

So I'm gonna give you four, but the big umbrella that allows all distractions to happen is that we take our eyes off of Jesus.

The four that I'm gonna give you, they they can have they will have no effect on you.

They will not be able to touch you one iota if you keep your eyes on Jesus.

Can I tell you right now, you are walking in a miracle?

I don't know what's happening in your life, but you are walking in a miracle.

Uh I know this for some of you when I look out here, some of you, what you've gone through, most people would have packed it in and would have quit a long time ago.

But God has still been good to you.

Come on, somebody.

He's still been providing for you.

Come on, he's still been waking you up every morning.

Come on, he's still been healing your body, come on, he's still kept you in your right mind.

Come on, you are walking in a bona fide miracle right now, and there's more miracles in store because God is not finished with you yet.

But here's the thing: when you're walking in a miracle, you can't afford to get your eyes off of Jesus.

Because the main reason why the other distractions work is when we take our eyes off of Jesus, when we stop making God our priority, when we start lessening our commitment to the things of God, when we become too casual with church and too casual with reading our Bible, too casual with our prayer life, we start taking for granted things that we used to esteem.

You remember how it used to be when you were desperate for God?

When you really needed Him to step in and turn some things around, when you had no other option but Jesus, and everything about your life was pointed out toward him.

And then when God starts blessing, come on, God starts changing some things, God starts fixing some stuff, and life gets comfortable.

One of the first things we do is we take our eyes off of Jesus.

If you go back and read, I don't won't take time to read it today, but when when most people think of the what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, most people think of the homosexuality.

And that that is true.

God destroyed two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, because they were running rampant in sin.

But if you go back and read it, the other sin that God was just absolutely repulsed with with them is what's what's called prosperous ease.

They got so comfortable that they stopped having a hunger and running after God.

If you look over in the book of Revelation, one of the letters that God wrote was to the church, he said, you've walked away from your first love.

Another church, he said you become lukewarm.

One of the most dangerous places to be is when you stop having a red-hot passion for God and the things of God.

Because if we allow that to happen, it opens the door for one of these other distractions to hit us.

So I'm gonna spend some time today talking about the first weapon of mass distraction, and it's what I call the strange man or the strange woman.

The strange man, somebody say the strange man or the strange woman.

Say it again, say the strange man or the strange woman.

Now look at your neighbor and say, hello, friend.

Say you're sitting in the right section today, but I'm gonna need you to say some amen, because it might get tight in here in a minute.

All right, Proverbs chapter 2, verse 16 says this.

Proverbs 2:16

Watch that, it says, Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman.

If you look that up in the King James Version, it says, Wisdom will save you from the strange woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.

She has abandoned her husband and she ignores the covenant she made before God.

Entering her house leads to death.

It is the road or the pathway to the grave.

The man who visits her is what?

I can't hear you.

The man who visits her is what?

He's doomed.

He will never reach the paths of life.

Another way of saying that is he'll never fully accomplish what God designed for his life.

He'll never fully carry out what God intended.

He'll never have the happily ever after ending that God wanted for him because he got distracted.

Now, the Bible introduces us to this figure that we can call, if we look at the King James Version, we can call this person the strange woman.

Now, let's just take a moment and realize that we're not just talking about women, because there's a whole lot of strange men.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say there are more strange men than strange women.

Don't shout me down because I'm preaching so good.

The Bible's written during a male-dominated time, and so the angle in which uh uh Solomon approaches this, he's talking to the men to stay away from the strange woman, but it's not just a strange woman.

There's also some strange men.

What he's talking about is anybody, any situation that the strange man or woman represents any person, opportunity, or influence that could pull us away from God's will, from God's word, or God's design.

Literally, when we talk about the strange man or woman, we're not even just talking about a person, we're talking about a pattern.

And I'm gonna describe the pattern of what the strange woman or the strange man does to try to get our attention off of Jesus and lure us away from the purpose and plan of God.

And I and I'm asking you to pay close attention.

I'm asking you, even if you're in line, don't get up and get no coffee, don't get up and move it.

Stay focused in on this this this message because this message is one that God will use to save your whole life.

If you are that bird that's right now caught in the trap and getting ready to take another step that could tear everything up, God loves us so much that He'll always give us a way out.

Shout Amen, somebody.

So, what do we need to know about the strange man or the strange woman?

Number one is this they are subtle, not obvious.

Sneaky, they're subtle, they're not obvious.

Proverbs 7.10.

There are probably four four or five, six places in the book of Proverbs that talks about this same strange woman, strange man.

Proverbs 7.10 says, Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute, and with, watch this, crafty intent.

She came out to meet him, she's dressed in a seductive way and an alluring way, and a way to try to get his attention.

And the Bible says she had crafty intent.

Look, listen to this the strange man or the strange woman never looks dangerous, they always look desirable.

Say, there you go, getting quiet on me.

Can we just admit that the the enemy, when he's trying to draw our attention off track, he never sends you somebody that you think is ugly?

I mean, there's some folks they could show with a butt-necked with a neon sign, it wouldn't get your attention.

I tell my wife all the time, yeah, this lady's tried to holler at me, and don't worry.

I mean, she could have been butt-necked with a sign, it wouldn't have, it wouldn't have bothered me at all.

But it's not that one that that's the strange man or woman.

It's the one that is exactly what you like.

You better say amen.

They're gonna think I'm talking to you.

The enemy he loves to send something that doesn't appear to be dangerous, they appear to be desirable.

He doesn't show up looking wrong.

Listen to this.

The enemy shows up looking right but with wrong intentions.

Rarely does a true distraction announce itself.

Have you noticed that the devil never shows up like he does in the movies with a red cape on and horns and a pitchfork and showing up saying, ha ha ha, I'm here to destroy your life.

No, he shows up in a way that looks desirable, looks innocent, looks like it's not that big of a deal.

Give me an amen, somebody.

He shows up as opportunity, he shows up as attention, he shows up giving us affirmation, he shows up looking as a simple connection, an innocent connection that really doesn't mean anything.

The Bible literally says that this woman shows up with crafty intent.

You know what that means?

That means there was a plan behind her presentation.

Even if he or she didn't know there was a plan, they were a plant by the enemy with a with a presentation that was intended to draw this man, this woman, this person off course.

You are walking in a miracle now.

The devil doesn't like that you're walking in a miracle now.

Hear me out.

He knows he cannot stop you from walking in a miracle now.

The best he can do is get your attention off of Jesus so you start to sink.

And I'm saying to you, just like I said to Peter, even if you have been sinking right now, if everything I'm saying today describes where you have been, all you got to do is get your eyes back on Jesus.

Come on, get your eyes off of the distraction.

And you can get right back on top of the water in your miracle.

Give God a good shout of praise and displays.

When the strange man or woman show up, they have a full-blown agenda that is designed to derail God's purpose and distract our focus.

The struggle is this when the when the strange man or woman shows up, they are subtle, not obvious.

That's because the enemy goes for access before he goes for control.

Enemy can't control you unless you give him access.

So the first step is the enemy tries to get access.

That's where the the innocent direct message, DM shows up in your inboxing.

And you just answer them a question.

They ask you something about something you got on, and all you think you're doing is responding to a question.

But if you don't watch it, that innocent DM can turn into an emotional attachment.

If you don't watch it, that workfriend it starts off as just a work friend.

We were on an assignment together, had to run over to another plant to go check on something together.

We kind of had a little innocent banter in the car.

And before you know it, you start looking forward to seeing that person again the next day.

Before you know it, you start setting up opportunities to run into them at the elevator, run into them at the copier, and and then they start saying flattering stuff like, My, I've never seen anybody make copies like you.

Oh my God.

You're a copy-making fool.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Or you run into that connection that starts off innocent, starts off a no big deal, but as time goes on, watch it, it starts to pull your focus away from the things of God.

Second thing we need to know about the strange man or woman, they speak to your desires.

They speak to your desires.

Let's look at Proverbs chapter 7, beginning at verse 4.

Proverbs 7 · chapter mention

It says, Love wisdom like a sister.

Make insight a beloved member of your family.

Why, God?

Because if you do, you can let them protect you from an affair with an immoral woman.

They'll keep you from listening to the flattery of a promiscuous woman.

Then he says, While I was at the window of my house looking through the curtain, I saw some naive young men.

First thing you notice that the only way to give yourself space for the enemy to pull you off course is if you allow yourself to sit in the seat of the naive man or the naive woman.

So what does that mean?

Naive means I don't have all the information, I'm too green.

And even though you may be experienced, hear me out.

If you think you can handle whatever that is, that's nothing but a naive position.

He said, I looked out the window and I saw these naive young men.

And one in particular lacked common sense.

How do you know?

Because he was crossing the street near the house of that strange woman.

He was strolling down by the path of her house.

It was in the twilight, it was in the evening as deep darkness fell.

Well, this dude, this dude is already in trouble.

Bible says he's naive and he doesn't have common sense.

And watch this, he's he's walking toward or near the place he ought not be.

Yeah, have you ever wondered how Lot, the Bible says this about Lot, that Lot ended up in Sodom and Gomorrah.

From everything we read, Lot appeared to be a straight man.

From everything we read, that the Bible doesn't say that he was homosexual, but he appeared to be a straight man, but he ended up, the Bible said he ended up living in Sodom and Gomorrah, where all, hear me out, every other man in that city was homosexual.

How do you know that?

Because when these two male angels showed up at his house, the Bible says every single man in the city showed up and said, Send those men out here, we want to have sex with them.

Have you ever asked yourself how in the world did Lot end up living there?

Because I promise you that's not where I would have been living.

I'm gonna need some men to say amen in this place.

I'm gonna need a better amen than that.

Your wife is looking for a better amen than that, sir.

Have you ever wondered how did Lot end up living here?

In this place?

Because the Bible says this when he and Abram got into a dispute about which land they were going to take.

Abram said, You take whatever land you want, now take the rest.

Lot took the best land, and the Bible says this, he pitched his tent toward Sodom and Gomorrah.

In other words, he didn't start off in Sodom and Gomorrah, but he started off looking at Sodom and Gomorrah.

He started off in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

He started off being able to hear the chatter of what was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah.

This naive young man who has no sense, common sense, the Bible says he's walking by the house of this woman.

And he's walking by her house in the middle of the night.

There's never anything good that happens when we try to get close to the line of sin.

I tell my kids all the time, there's nothing good happening in the middle of the night.

All the trouble you want to get into happens in the middle of the night.

And if you think it's a good idea to be out in the middle of the night, you are opening the door for the enemy to come and bait you into something that is going to snare you and try to take your life.

You ought to shout, Amen, somebody.

Verse 10 said the woman approached him, seductively dressed and sly of heart.

She was the brash, rebellious type, never content to stay at home.

She's often out in the streets in the marketplace, soliciting at every corner.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and with a brazen look, she said, I've just made my peace offerings and fulfilled my vows.

You're the one I was looking for.

Me?

Yes.

You, you're the one I was looking for.

I came out to find you, and here you are.

Oh my God.

Girl, you was looking for me.

My bed is spread with beautiful blankets, with colored sheets of Egyptian linen.

I've perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon and Tiffany perfume.

Come, let's drink our fill of love until the morning.

Let's enjoy each other's caress, for my husband is not home.

He's away on a long trip.

He has taken a wallet full of money with him.

He ain't gonna be back till later this month.

So she seduced him.

Watch this with her pretty speech.

She enticed him with her flattering words.

He followed her at once like an ox on his way to the slaughter.

He was like a stag caught in a trap, awaiting the arrow that would pierce his heart.

He was like a bird flying into a trap, little knowing it was getting ready to cost him his whole life.

Notice what it says, man.

It says, verse 21 says, She seduced him with her speech.

This works both ways.

He seduced her with his speech.

Watch this, said all the right stuff.

Watch this.

Can I tell you this?

When the strange man or the strange woman shows up, when the enemy sends that distraction your way, listen to me.

He causes them to speak to your insufficiency and our hidden desires.

All of us have a little spot in us where that which is taboo entices.

The little thing that I know that's what's going on with Adam and Eve.

Got all these trees in the garden, but the one you shouldn't touch is one that catches your attention.

And the enemy knows how to show up and speak to that insufficiency.

He knows how to show up to speak to that broken heart.

He knows how to show up to speak to those daddy issues.

He knows how to show up and speak to whatever your wife may not be speaking to.

He knows how to show up and speak to your need for affirmation.

He knows how to show up and speak to the creative in you that's always dreaming.

And you need somebody to tell you to keep on dreaming.

And if you don't watch it, the enemy will show up and say all the righteous stuff to get you out of your place of safety and pull you out to a place of danger.

I'm preaching way better than y'all saying amen.

Listen to this, man.

Before the enemy presents a distracting temptation, he studies what you like, what you lack, and what you long for.

Listen to this.

If we don't govern our desires, then our desires will end up guiding our decisions.

The Bible has a whole lot of warnings about relationships.

I just spent four weeks talking about relationships.

But there's one in particular in 1 Corinthians 6.18 where it simply says flee fornication.

It says flee.

It doesn't say, you know, slowly back away from it.

It doesn't say do your best to stay out of it.

It says flee.

If you find yourself near fornication, the Bible says, get up, get out of dodge, and run quickly away from it.

Now let me help you understand what the word fornication means because you know there's been a lot of uh false teaching here lately.

And there's been a lot of folks trying to water it down and justify being able to have premarital sex and saying, Well, the Bible don't really say what churches are taught.

Let me tell you what fornication means.

It comes from a Greek.

Are you guys okay still?

You look a little glossy in the face.

I'm just in trouble, blink three times.

Fornication comes from the Greek word pornea, and it literally means inappropriate sexual activity.

It is a broad umbrella biblical term that refers to all sexual expression outside of a God-ordained covenant marriage between a husband and a wife.

It includes adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, prostitution, pornography, lustful thoughts, and any form of sexual impurity, whether in action, imagination, or intention, that falls outside of God's design.

Another way of saying it is this fornication is not just about the physical act, it includes any distortion of God's design for sexuality.

God is the one who has the patent on sexuality.

I know we've tried to hand it over to the devil, and we made, we've we've allowed the enemy to think that sex belongs to him, and we're afraid to talk about it in church.

And the reason why we get we get nervous and we get uptight and we we get uncomfortable and we talk about sex in church is because we've handed it over to the devil to pervert what God intended.

And what we got to do is get back to a biblical understanding that sex is not wrong.

It's the way we've tried to carry it out.

It's the way we've tried to exercise it.

Watch this with no barriers, with no boundaries.

And when that happens, it puts us in a posture where it throws everything else off in our system.

And what God is trying to get us to do is understand part of the way that the enemy is going to try to distract us is to try to find something that you really like that'll catch your attention, speak to your brokenness, and try to bait you out to making a decision that ends up causing you to be like an ox headed to the slaughter.

I'm thinking of a situation years ago, man.

And you know, I've been pastoring this year's 30, it will be 30 years, as you know.

And so years ago, man, I remember counseling an amazing couple, man.

And and the couple have been married for a number of years, and and and and the husband had gotten himself caught in a snare, had gotten distracted and was was was was drifting to this other woman and feeling like he wanted to leave his wife for this other woman.

And and I'm sitting down trying to counsel, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on because he got a beautiful wife and had a wife that is willing to take care of his physical needs, not like she's withholding sex from him, and he was just kind of in a posture where I don't really love her like I used to.

And I know enough to know when when you hear that, love is not something you fall in and out of.

I know enough to know that when that happens, something has gotten your attention.

Because I start poking and prodding.

And you know, sometimes for a man, it could be that they got to a place where they're having sexual problems, and instead of admitting that they're having sexual problems and seeking some help medically, they just kind of push away from their wife.

But the other thing that tends to happen that causes a man to stop having an attraction toward his wife when he gets caught in pornography, gets caught in the trap of pornography.

And so I started asking, I said, Hey, have you have you been you know dibling and dabbling in pornography?

He was honest.

I love when people are honest.

He said, Yeah, actually I have.

And and that's part of the problem.

You know, this other woman, man, she she's willing to do these other things, and and my wife just kind of you know only want to do this, you know, certain things we've always done.

And I had to stop and say, Hey, hey, hang on, the problem is not your wife.

This is just one of the dangers of pornography.

I can give you a list of them, but one of the dangers of pornography is that it sets up an imagination and an appetite that does not always honor God.

And what happened in this situation, he had been listening and watching the wrong things, and it established an appetite for something that he was now seeking to get satisfaction outside of his marriage when he had an amazing wife right there in his marriage.

And the good news is I had a chance to minister to him.

He said, Yeah, I think you're right, Bishop Davis.

And I'm gonna make a commitment, I'm gonna cut this off, and I'm gonna cut her off.

And at the end of the day, can I just celebrate with you that they got their marriage restored?

Come on, got healing from it, and have lived happily ever after, ever since.

Come on, give God a shout of praise.

But what I'm saying is, watch this when we allow our eyes, our attention to get turned towards something that is not of God, it can develop an appetite and make us think that what we have in front of us is not enough.

Here's the third thing that we gotta understand about the strange man or woman.

They pull you away gradually.

They pull you away gradually.

Proverbs 722 says this, all at once he followed her.

I know it says all at once, but we know it's not all at once because we got 18 verses of him leading up to this.

Even when immoral behavior, watch this, seems to come out of the blue, understand this, there was always a run-up to it.

And there was watch this, hear me out.

There's always many chances to correct it before it takes us somewhere that we shouldn't go.

It always starts with a look, with a conversation, with a moment, with a compromise, with a decision that if we don't stop that next decision, it takes us even further away.

Give me an amen, somebody.

Listen to this.

None of us fall suddenly.

If we fall, it's because we started to drift slowly and didn't turn around.

You still with me today?

Still love me today?

Everybody say, I love my pastor because he loves us enough to tell us the truth.

Amen.

Well, listen, here's a question.

Here's a question I have for you.

This is for every one of us in here.

Are you currently on that slow fade away from God?

There's a reason why God had me minister this right here.

Now, I had a strong leaning to minister this today.

Are you currently on that slow fade away from God?

Are you entertaining compromise?

Are you currently having secret conversations that you know you ought not to be having?

Are you looking forward to the next opportunity to test a boundary?

Are you telling yourself I'm not gonna let this get out of control?

Are you less excited about spending time in God's presence than you used to be?

Are you getting to church later and later, missing more and more services, watching online more than you have to?

Are you sitting further and further in the back when you used to be up here in the front section?

If so, hear me out, hear me out.

God loves you so much that this is your wake-up call right here.

That's what God is doing.

God is loving all of us.

I'm not talking, I'm talking to all of us, me too.

This is the wake-up call.

This is a wake-up call that says, hey, hey, hey, you haven't fallen into the trap fully, but now it's time to turn around and come back in the other direction.

Next month I'm ministering a series uh entitled Heroes.

It's about the uh kind of Heaven's Hall of Fame.

Hebrews chapter 11 tells us all these amazing men and women who did great things for God.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

But in God's heroes, they're not like superheroes like that that have no faults.

God takes us back, he shows us the flaws and the mistakes and the victories so we can learn from them.

We have several of them lined up, it's gonna be a blessing.

But one in particular, I'm gonna give you a sneak peek.

One I'm gonna talk about toward the end of next month is Samson.

And the moment I say the name Samson, I promise you, like if we did word association, when I say Samson, the next thing that comes to your mind is Delilah.

But what you don't realize is that Samson had a 20-year run as a judge of Israel, where he apparently was a righteous judge, did a good job.

He started off having a bunch of struggles with women, seemingly got it together for 20 years, and then his past came creeping back in and destroyed his future.

Samson wakes up one day, man, after a 20-year run, and he decides I want to go, I want to go see a prostitute.

And I can promise you, there were a little bit of things leading up to that that made him just get up one day and decide, I want to go see a prostitute.

And not a prostitute around the corner.

He wanted to go see a prostitute in Gaza.

Watch this, that was 25 miles away.

25 miles away when there was no automobile.

He's probably not riding a camel.

He's he's I tend to think he's walking 25 miles.

You know what?

That's like walking from here to St.

Augustine.

You know how bad you gotta have it and be in a bad way.

He walked 25 miles to go see a prostitute.

I want to break it down differently.

25 miles is 56,200 56,250 steps.

Why don't you see this?

It's even more than that.

It's 56,250 opportunities to change your mind.

Every step of the way, I promise you.

He was a Nazarite.

I mean he had this connection with God.

I promise you, God is speaking to him saying, This is not the right idea, son.

Just like he's speaking to some of us in here, this is not the right idea, sweetheart.

Hey, hey, hey, girl, I know you feel good about the attention he's showing you, but he's a married man that you don't you don't need that.

56,250 chances to wake up and hear God speaking to him.

And because he didn't, he ended up dying with his eyes gouged out.

Prisoner of the Philistines.

Here's the fourth thing we need to understand about the strange man or woman.

You still here?

They ultimately lead to destruction, not fulfillment.

I know the devil gives us the whole resort show and how great it can be.

And oh, it's so taboo, and ooh, look at look at this.

But the reality is, Proverbs 5, 3 says, For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, her mouth is smoother than oil, but in the end, somebody say, in the end.

In the end, she is as bitter as poison.

She's as dangerous as a double-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death.

Her steps lead straight to the grave.

She cares nothing about the pathway to life or God's purposes.

She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn't even realize it.

What's God telling us?

What looked like pleasure, what felt like connection, what seemed harmless in the beginning was actually leading to a great loss.

Loss of peace, loss of confidence, loss of relationships, loss of clarity, loss of calling.

God loves us so much.

I need you to hear this.

This is not a message of condemnation.

I'm I'm literally preaching this with all the all the heart that a father can give, man.

Because I'm saying to my spiritual sons and my spiritual daughters out here, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and wake up.

Because what God is trying to do with this message for all of us in here is wake us up, watch this, and protect our purpose.

God has a purpose for your life.

And whatever that strange man, strange woman is, they are not worth forfeiting what God wants to do in you.

Amen.

So I'm not gonna leave you there.

Let me tell you how do you overcome the strange man or strange woman.

How do you win this battle?

Number one is this, you gotta admit it.

As long as we're playing this not-me game, or I don't know what you're talking about, game.

One of the worst deceptions in the world is self-deception.

I could lie to you all day.

It's really horrible when I start lying to myself.

So it starts off, I've got to admit it.

I love Psalm 51, 17.

It says, the sacrifice that God desires, watch this, there's a broken spirit.

You will not reject a broken and a repentant heart, oh God.

My pastor Chris Hodges says, God never asks for perfection, he asks for transparency and humility.

Nobody's asking you to be perfect.

Nobody's saying you got to get it right all the time.

But at some point we have to have enough humility to say, I cannot handle this.

We have to have enough humility to stop playing the part, looking the part, and actually own up to the reality that I've allowed myself to look at something, deal with something, touch something, entertain something that I'm realizing has the potential to take me out of my miracle.

Second thing we gotta do after we admit it, we gotta avoid it.

Matthew 5 says, if your right eye caused you to sin, take it out and throw it away.

It's much better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.

If your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It's much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.

Now, I don't believe he's literally telling you that you gotta pluck your eye out or literally cut your arm off, unless that's actually what it takes to make sure you don't head in that direction again.

What he's really saying is this, listen to me, what he's really saying is don't play around with it, take drastic measures.

What do I mean by that?

I mean if you gotta change your phone number, change your phone number.

If you gotta get off social media altogether, get off social media.

Hear me out.

If you gotta quit this job and get a different job, you'd be better off to get another job than to let this woman or this man on your current job end up taking you down a dark hole that destroys all the things you said you loved.

Take drastic measures.

Listen to this: neither one of us, none of us are strong enough to keep flirting with death and not have it grab us.

Proverbs 6 says, Can you build a fire in your lap and then not burn your pants?

Can you walk barefoot on hot coals and not get blisters?

And here's the third thing that we gotta do.

After we admit it, avoid it, we gotta account for it.

James 5.16 says, make this your common practice.

Do this all the time.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you can live together, whole and healed.

Satan specializes in trying to keep the secret just between you and him.

He specializes in trying to tell you, I can handle this, it's not gonna get out of hand.

My pastor also says this we will always be as sick as our secrets.

If you're really serious about breaking free from the grip of that thing, trying to destroy your family, and trying to destroy your ministry, and trying to destroy your marriage.

Let's get rid of the secret.

Hear me, I'll find you somebody that loves you enough to let you be a human being, that loves you enough to listen and help guide you back where you ought to be.

Listen to me, listen to me.

All of us get weak at times.

You're not some alien, all of us get weak at times.

Question is in your weak moments, do you have somebody you can talk to that you can be honest with?

Do you have somebody that'll let you be honest enough to get rid of the secrets?

Do what you gotta do today to block the number, stop the conversation, eliminate whatever the secret thing is.

Because sin thrives on secrecy.

I went to the doctor, to the uh doctor a few months ago and you know, having these allergy symptoms, and found out that I was allergic to pollen, allergic to pet dander, and allergic to dust mites.

And you know, pet dander, I know what that was, knew what pollen was, but didn't really understand what dust mites were.

They showed me a little video of these dust mites and how ugly they were, and they said these are the things that are kind of dwelling in your pillowcase and your sheets, and it's causing you to have all this congestion.

And so they gave me some things you can do to battle them.

So you gotta wash your sheets in hot water every single week, and told me you get these cases you can put on your pillow and other things you can do with a different type of comforter.

They said the number one way to get rid of dust mites is you need to make sure you take the humidity in your room and take it below 50%.

Because dust mites need a humidity level above 50% to live.

So they told me to go out, I went out and I bought a couple of dehumidifiers that run in my room all day long, and it's sucking all the moisture out of the room.

And so you look at the little dial and it's at 49%, 47%.

You know what that tells me?

It tells me that the dust mice can't live there.

Why?

Because dust mice need humidity to live.

Can I tell you this?

Sin needs secrecy in order to live.

And if you want to get rid of the sin, watch this.

Let's get rid of the secrecy.

Eliminate everything in your life that you wouldn't want somebody else to find out about.

Now the enemy has no space to let that thing continue to grow.

I want you to lift one hand towards heaven.

I want you to make this confession with me.

They're gonna put it on the screens, and I want us to confess this together.

Let's say it out loud.

You ready?

One, two, three, let's go.

I am a child of the Most High God.

I am made righteous and I choose to live holy.

I turn away from anything that pulls me outside of God's design.

I know sin leads to death, so I'm not choosing that path.

Today I take authority over my thoughts, my desires, and my decisions.

I say no to sin before it ever becomes an action.

I repent of anything in my past, and I receive the strength of Holy Spirit to walk in purity.

I receive God's healing in my heart, so I won't reach for things to cut wrong things to cover my pain.

Like David said, I set no wicked thing before my eyes.

I guard my heart and I guard my home.

I reject every distraction, every strange man, every strange woman, and anything that tries to pull me off purpose.

I am locked in with fierce focus, and I will not be distracted from my assignment.

Holiness increases my capacity for God's best.

So I expect his hand to be strong on my life.

I declare divine health, divine provision, and divine protection are working for me.

When I pray, things move.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Come on, give God a shout of praise.

Come on, you can do better than come on, give him a shout.

Come on, lift your voice and give him a shout.

Come on, we thank you, Jesus.

Come on, we thank you, Jesus.

Jesus be the name.

Jesus be the day.

Jesus be the day Jesus beat the day.

Jesus beat the day.

Jesus be the day.

They get sold.

Well, lift your hands in this place.

Alright, I want you to look up here at me for a moment.

If you're in this place right now, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

I didn't say you were a bad person.

You could actually be one of the nicest people in the building and still not be saved.

That's because salvation is not something we earn from God by just being good.

We don't like get brownie points because we're good and then get points deductive when we do bad.

No matter how much good we do, it would never be enough to earn a relationship with God.

But here's the other side.

No matter how much bad you feel like you've done, the blood of Jesus Christ paid for all your bad stuff and mine.

And all God asks us to do is not, we don't have to write out a list of all the stuff we'll fix and get better at.

But all he asks us to do is take our life and surrender our entire life to Jesus Christ.

That means I'm no longer going to try to run my life, I'm no longer going to try to be the captain of my decisions.

I'm giving total control of my life, my habits, my decisions to Jesus Christ.

And I believe in my heart that God is raised from the dead.

The Bible says if you do that, you will be saved.

So if you're in this room, no matter how far you think you've drifted from God, today is your day where you can come and give your life over to Him.

And we're not gonna embarrass you here at this church.

I want you to do something real simple.

If you're ready to say yes to Jesus, there's a little card in the seat pocket in front of you.

It literally says, say yes to Jesus.

In a moment, I'm gonna have everybody to bow their heads.

When we do, would you reach out and grab that card and hang on to it?

Next thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna count to three.

When I get to three, I want you to do this.

Lift that card up in the air as high as you can.

And I'm gonna ask you to lift it up.

We're not gonna ask you to stand up.

I'm not gonna ask you to come to the front of the church.

The most I'm gonna ask you to do is lift that card in the air.

Then I'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer that'll cause your heart to be fully connected to Jesus Christ and cause him to change you from the inside out.

So go ahead and bow your heads all over the room.

If you're ready to surrender to him, reach out and grab that card, hang on to it.

And in just a moment, when I get to three, I'm gonna ask you to lift that card high in the air.

I'm gonna ask you to do it as soon as you hear me get to three, because the devil's gonna try everything he can to talk you out of this amazing decision you're getting ready to make right now.

But this is the decision that can start the process of changing your entire life.

So here we go.

One, two, three.

Lift that card up high.

Lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, thank you.

Thank you.

See that card there, another card there, beautiful, another card there, thank you.

Another one there, thank you.

See that card there?

Beautiful, another commitment to Jesus there.

Anybody else?

Come on, lift it up.

Don't be ashamed today.

Nothing to be ashamed of.

This is the pathway to establishing that relationship with God.

Anyone else before we pray?

Alright, every one of you that lift to that card in the air.

I want you to whisper this prayer right there at your seat.

Say, dear God in heaven, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for sending him to die in my place.

But thank you, Lord, for raising him from the dead.

I believe he's alive right now.

So I ask you, Jesus, to come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender my life to you for the rest of my days.

And according to the Bible, I am right now born again.

Amen.

Come on, put your hands together, impact.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's gonna take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month, and you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen.

Sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, um, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still gonna watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking us out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values, and so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here, and there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app, it's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.