Final Victories

There have been a number of times in my Christian

walk where I have met young Christians and some

of them and many of them are very on fire for

the Lord. They start doing a lot of stuff, right?

They show up and they show up at every Bible

study, they show up at every Sunday and they...

They begin to work in the case of new heights,

work in the teams and do the work of what needs

to be done. Some of them are called maybe to

be like a leader in their team and what that

is that God has called them to do. And they're

strong doing what it is that God has called them

to do. And then at some point they sort of lose

their steam. Stop doing what it is that God has

called them to do. Fade away. Sometimes it's

weeks, sometimes it's months, sometimes a couple

of years. I've also met a certain variety of

young Christian, which kind of right away. They

sound hyper -spiritual. They talk about Jesus.

But they really aren't on fire for the Lord.

They really aren't doing what it is that God

would have them to do. And I'm not judging any

one person when I say after a while it becomes

evident that they're fakers. They're people who

have said the name of Jesus, received perhaps

the free gift of salvation, but not actually

lived for Jesus after having done so. Now, you

know now, by now, most of the story of Samson.

You know most of the story and how the book is

that sandwich effect, that chiastic effect, where

we followed him up to that moment at which he

said, Lord, I need you. All that I have done,

I am parched. I will die of thirst. I need you.

And God broke open the rock at En -Hakor and

fed him, gave him fresh water. And then for 20

years, he would serve the Israelites as their

judge. So Samson was not a faker. He was the

savior of the people that God had ordained in

his day. He did actually do the job. He led the

nation. He brought about 20 years. Now, whether

we call it 20 years of peace, but he brought

about 20 years of God's reign over Israel. So

not a faker. Sometimes authenticity, leads to

a certain place. And we're going to see that

today. And then we're going to look at the conflict

that takes place there and what maybe we can

do about it. All right. I will tell you that

this little passage of scripture, even though

I have read this entire book before, surprised

me as I was reading it. The Lord really affected

my life. And so hopefully you'll get something

out of it today as well. So grab your Bibles

if you would. And we're going to go to Judges

Judges 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16. Thank you very much for those of

you who participated in that little object lesson.

It is now time that the Lord would speak through

his word. Judges 16, verse 1. Now Samson went

Judges 16:1

to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into

her. So first of all, just a little background.

Gaza is the furthest city to the south. I think

it's to the south. But anyway, furthest city

on one edge of... And it was a city -state and

then combined into the greater nation. And Samson

goes there, which isn't really where he belongs,

right? He's the leader of the Israelites, the

leader of the Promised Land. He's reigning there

as a judge. And so this is kind of like a little

vacation for him. He's going pretty far away

off the beaten path, so to speak. And then he

sees a harlot. That means a woman who generally

will sleep around and probably was doing so for

money or as a profession. But we don't know that

for sure. And he went into her, so he participated

with her in what she was good at. Verse 2 says,

When it was told to the Gazites, so these are

the people of this city -state where he is, saying,

Samson has come here, they surrounded the place

and lay in wait for him all night at the gate

of the city. And they kept silent all night,

saying, Let us wait until the morning light when

we will kill him. So he's in there with the harlot,

and they're out there gathering forces to ambush

him when he tries to leave. And they would look

a little bit more deeply at their tactics in

a minute. Verse 3 now says, Now Samson lay until

midnight. So he's with the harlot until midnight.

And at midnight, which is well before dawn, he

arose and took hold of the doors of the city

gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up

along with the bars. Now, it's estimated that

the total of what he's pulling up is in the thousands

of pounds. This is a very big undertaking. And

it's a really big thing to be able to pull up

those posts that are sunk into the ground. They're

designed to resist siege. This is a really big

deal, okay? But it goes a little further than

that. So he lay until midnight. And at midnight,

he arose and took hold of the doors of the city

gate and the two posts. And he pulled them up

along with the bars. And then... He put them

on his shoulders and he carried them up to the

top of the mountain, which is opposite Hebron.

So as the crow flies from where that city gate

was to the mountain in question is 40 miles.

OK, so just the fact that he lifted them, that's

thousands of pounds. That's a miraculous event.

Obviously, he's a miraculous man. And then he

carried them 40 miles as the crow flies, which

is up and down over broken terrain and then up

the mountain. and deposits them on the mountain.

So here's what you know for sure, right? So they're

not going to go get them back. So this is done.

He could have pulverized them probably equally

easily, but the feat of strength in carrying

them away makes a huge statement we'll get to

in a second. There's no way that they're going

to go there and retrieve those pillars, the gates,

and the bars, and bring them back and reinstall

them. In fact, something like them probably doesn't

exist. It was created a long time ago by the

craftsmen who built the city of Gaza. And so

for them to make it, raw from raw materials will

probably take him five, ten years, right? So

he is literally taking away the gates of the

city and making them unavailable to the Gazites

going forward. Forty miles as the crow flies,

up and down over broken terrain, and then up

on the mountain, he deposits the gates. Verse

four then says, after this, it came about that

he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose

name was Delilah. And so now you know where this

story is going to go. If you know the Bible at

all, you know where this is going to go from

here. Okay. So there are a few things in the

text that you need to see. The first one we're

going to talk a little bit about is tactics of

the enemy, all right? So notice that sometimes

when you serve God, you will offend people. So

Samson was just leading the Israelites. He's

called out by God. He's leading the Israelites.

He's been their judge. He has not wiped out the

Philistines. They are not actively attacking

the cities of the Philistines, the five major

cities of the Philistines, to wipe them out.

But he is creating a peace and a salvation, if

you will, for the Israelites. So he's doing what

it is that God would want him to do. But remember

that before all this started with Samson, the

Philistines were pretty much in charge. It was

the day of the Philistines, right? And he's done

enough to make them vengeful, but on top of that,

he's also done enough to make them worried. Sometimes

when you serve God, you will offend people. Notice

that the if -then statements of scripture sound

like threats. So when we hear things like, Matthew

28, where it says, Go ye therefore, and I will

be with you unto the end of the age. If you do

not go, God is not promising to be with you to

the end of the age. It's an if -then statement.

If you go and do the things that I have commanded

you to do, teaching them what I have commanded

you to teach them, baptizing them in the name

of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

If you do that, then I will be low. I will be

with you even unto the end of the age. Well,

that sounds like a threat. Like God is saying,

you better do what I told you to do. And some

people don't like that. Promises sound like threats.

The power of God or his restraint both sound

like danger. Ephesians 2 says we were once objects

of wrath. Well, wrath is the opposition of God.

And so when you quote Ephesians 2 to a lost person,

you're explaining to them that they are encountering

the wrath of God, the opposition. God is against

you. That sounds like a threat. Romans 8, where

it says that he works all things together for

the good. of those who love him and are called

according to his purpose, right? So it sounds

like you're saying, well, if I don't love God

and I'm not called according to his purpose,

that he's not going to work everything out for

my good. Well, you don't have the promise. That's

not an if -then statement when you reverse it

like that. But it is a lack of the promise, right?

So you don't have the promise. It sounds like

a threat. But all the more clearly in Scripture,

For example, in Galatians 6, 7, it says, you

shall reap what you sow. And in 2 Corinthians

9, 6, it says, he who reaps, I'm sorry, he who

sows sparingly will reap sparingly, right? And

so there are actual statements in scripture that

says, if you do not honor God for who he is,

you will pay a dear price. Think for a second

about... Deuteronomy 28. You may not know this

off the top of your head. This is when they went

up on the mountain, you know, and half the people

were on one mountain, half the people on the

other mountain. And on one side, they cried out

the blessings of God that they would experience

in the promised land if they submitted to God.

And the other side, they cried out the curses

of God. Let me give you just a brief summary.

In the city, they would be cursed if they did

not follow the Lord, if they did not do what

God wanted them to do. In the field, cursed.

The breadbasket, empty. The kneading bowl, barren.

The womb, frustrated. The livestock, miscarrying.

Coming in, they would experience disaster. Going

out, experience confusion. The input would be

rebellion. The output would be immediate compounding

interest. God would make them pay. You plant

a vineyard, someone else drinks your wine. You

build a house, a stranger locks the front door.

You buy an ox, it's slaughtered before your eyes

and you get no meat. You sow much seed, the locusts

eat the harvest. You have sons and daughters,

they go into captivity. The psychological toll

of all of this in the morning? I wish it were

evening. In the evening, I wish it were morning.

Constant anxiety, fleeing when no one pursues,

madness, blindness. The final balance, everything

you put into the ground comes back as thorns.

You sowed the wind and you are now reaping the

whirlwind. That again is quoted then in Hosea

8. Everything you put in the ground coming back

as thorns. You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.

Itemized, documented, mendable. understand that

what God is really saying, because who's that

written to? Who's Ephesians written to? Who's

Romans written to? Who's Matthew? Jesus is speaking

to who, right? The church, the people of God.

This Deuteronomy 28 was written to God's people

and talking about if you are coming into the

promised land, if you're God's people and you

are refusing to do what God has called you to

do, then these will be the expressions of your

relationship with the Lord. It's not meant to

illustrate that God hates his people or he's

angry with you, right? Psalm 126 says that God's

anger smokes against his people, right? It's

not meant to be that he's angry with you because

you're not doing what God would have you to do,

but it shows that when we walk away from the

source of life, the universe itself ceases to

cooperate. God set this world up, even in its

fallen state, so that it works the way it works

because it's the way he works. And all creation

testifies to the glory of the Lord, Romans says.

And therefore, ultimately, we are without excuse.

And so people feel that daily. They experience

that. daily when they are not walking in the

Lord. And they are not going to be comfortable

with you walking in the Lord in front of them.

You experience the Lord. Like I had this happen

to me. I was going through a difficult time and

somebody asked me how I was doing. And I said,

well, I'm doing okay. I said, I'm blessed. I

said, I'm James chapter one blessed, where it

says, consider it pure joy when you face all

manner of trials and tribulations, but I'm blessed.

And they said, well, I'm not. We went on to talk

about the struggles that they were having. And

I'm like, that's terrible. I prayed with them,

and they said, well, tell them what's going on

with you. And I went on to explain the struggles

that I was having. Remind you, I had said that

I was blessed knowing that I was having these

struggles. And so the whole time I'm explaining,

I had joy in my heart. I was blessed. And the

more I talked about the stuff that I was going

through, the more angry with me the person that

I was talking to got. And I'm asking myself,

why is this conversation going this way? I'm

not saying, so I stopped. And then they probed

me some more, like, no, tell me more why it's

like that. And the conversation got worse and

worse. And I'm like, wait, we're going to stop

now. We're done. But let me explain something

to you about what the Bible says in James chapter

James 1 · chapter mention

1 that I quoted to you, right? You will have

trouble. You will have tribulation. There's going

to be difficulty. But the joy of the Lord persists.

Now, does that mean you always got to be smiling,

making happy comments or complimenting people,

encouraging others? No, it doesn't mean that.

But the bottom line is if you're walking in the

joy of the Lord when you're facing trials and

tribulations, you run into somebody who's facing

trials and tribulations and they're not walking

in the joy of the Lord, your joy of the Lord

is going to be offensive. And the people were

upset with Samson. They decided to gather around

him and kill him. when he came out in the morning.

And sometimes when you serve God, you will offend

people. And God forbid that somebody might hear

just serving God might so offend somebody that

they might take your life or try to hurt you

or hurt your family. Very real persecutions have

broken out. And all people do is just live for

the Lord and do what God had commanded them to

do. And sometimes when you serve God. you will

offend people. Now notice then in this story,

we see a few tactics of the enemy. Okay, so here's

the first one. And this was a glaring truth.

And I had a brother who's with us today share

a real life modern illustration of this very

thing. Notice that the enemy does a lot to look

like they are not the enemy the rest of the time.

The bottom line is they gathered around the gate

waiting to kill Samson. While they were gathering

around the gate, They didn't look like they were

waiting to kill Samson. There were no picket

signs saying, hey, join us. We're going to kill

Samson, right? There was no bullhorns like, we're

going to kill Samson when he comes up. Come over

here on this side. We need more people. None

of that was going on. They're just gathering

around the gate, right? And they were going to

try to kill Samson. Sometimes the enemy likes

to look like they're not the enemy. Brother Adam

is the person that I pointed out and I talked

about. And he had an experience while he was

in the Middle East where they were throughout

the day supposed to be friendly with the people

that they saw. He had a very specific experience

where he had a man who was involved in an attack

on the base that they were in and then later

saw that same individual in the street and was

commanded to be nice to that person, to buy stuff

from that person. Like if that guy was shooting

at us just yesterday, I recognize him. And it

happened on more than one occasion. The enemy

knows how. Listen, they have old war, right?

America shows up in the Middle East to do things.

They're 3 ,000 years behind the times. They may

have better weaponry, but that is a really old

war. The war between Isaac and Ishmael is so

old that you and I cannot even fathom that war,

right? And when we're plugging in in that kind

of war over there, they are used to doing what

they do, right? And so they look like they are

not the enemy the rest of the time. And so while

they were sitting around the gate, if Samson

had walked out there in the morning at dawn and

saw them sitting there, he would have went, oh!

There's a bunch of enemies that are surrounding

here to kill me. Unless God told them or figured

out by some, they didn't even look like enemies.

They're just sitting there, right? This is going

on today. You have them in your life and in the

lives of your children and in your workplace,

right? And in our schools. Watch the elections,

right? You're like, well, I'm not politically

active and I'm not preaching anything. But the

nation is divided. There is a place in which

certain moral standards stand. And there is a

place in which the opposite stands. And it's

pretty localized, you can tell. And there's a

certain education, political movement, etc. that's

popular in a certain place. And they will vote

a certain line every time. And it's going to

be like that until Jesus comes again. It's probably

not going to change. Because you would have to

infiltrate their society. You would have to become

them, become like them, and then make the right

choices within them. And what's going to happen?

They're going to be offended. They're not going

to listen to you. You don't look like them. You

don't fit in. It's not going to work. So the

bottom line is, all day long, they are looking

like they're not the enemy. We have popular culture

things. It's on social media. It's on streaming

services. It's on video. It's on TV. Your favorite

movie. I went around the room and asked everybody

their favorite movie. Your favorite movie has

doctrine in it that's ungodly. I guarantee it.

I don't even care if it's a Christian movie.

So my favorite movie is The Face and the Giants.

If you look at it with a... If you look at it

closely, you can find doctrine that's not biblical.

There was a series of books that came out called

Left Behind. Took the world by storm. Hit the

top ten bestsellers list in New York. Number

one place for years on end. And the doctrine

behind those books, completely ungodly. Telling

how the world will come to an end and the order

in which things will happen. Did not follow scripture

at all. In fact, they were based on... the interpretations

of a witch who read Scripture and interpreted

it. She supposedly got saved and read Scripture,

interpreted it that way in the 1600s, and from

behind bars told people how the end times would

occur. And then the LaHaye brothers took that

story that she told in the 1600s from behind

bars, a formerly practicing witch, and turned

it into the Left Behind series and became billionaires

by now. And Christians all over the world went,

oh, this is such a cool thing. Listen. They're

right in your face. It's time you open your eyes

and realize that the enemy is good at not looking

like the enemy the rest of the time. Worse than

that, the enemy is good at lying in wait for

the perfect time. Call it biding. They're biding

their time. So you have in your house things

that are not godly. And they're not doing anything

except collecting dust right now. But next week,

next month, a few months down the road, or whenever,

someday, they're going to rear up. They're going

to bite you on the rear end. They're going to

distract your mind. They're going to pull you

away from God. The enemy is good at biding their

time. The teachings are the same. The nation's

standards are the same. For 200 years, 230 some

years in our nation, the government ordained

that marriage was between a man and a woman.

And the government had the power to decide that

marriage was between a man and a woman. And the

Bible teaches that marriage is between a man

and a woman, and God said so. But it wasn't God

or the Bible that was saying so in the United

States of America for 230 plus years. It was

the government. And if the government can say

that marriage is between a man and a woman, the

government can later say that marriage is between

anybody that wants to be married. And someday

it'll be dogs or whatever. The bottom line is,

if the government has that kind of power and

they're taking that power away from God, really

what they are is an enemy lying in wait, not

an ally, not a servant of the Lord. And so realize

that lying in wait for the perfect time is a

normal tactic of the enemy. So how do you solve

that? We got some military guys in here. If there's

a guy out there halfway, say half mile in the

bush, and you know there's a guy out there, it's

an enemy and he's in the bush. How do you solve

that? There's a man with an automatic rifle in

the bush a half mile away. We got him on, you

know, heat sensor. We picked him up on satellites.

He was over there. We saw him. We moved this.

We know he's there. How do you solve that? You

go get him. You send somebody out there, maybe

armor or armored or a sniper or something. You

use some tool at your disposal to go get him.

That's how you deal with enemies that are waiting,

biding their time to infest your life and mess

with you. You go get them. Or you retreat. Stop

acting like a Christian. Stop being godly. Stop

talking about the gospel, right? Lie yourself

and wait for hopefully the time. Except that

realize that when we act like that, we're going

directly opposite the scripture where Jesus commanded

us what we're supposed to be on a daily basis.

So this is what we cannot do as Christians. We

cannot bide our time. We cannot look like we

are the enemy part of the time, which cuts out

the conflict that we will experience. You can't

do that. Because when you do that, you will not

be following what it is that the Lord has laid

out for you. But kid yourself not, the enemy

is also quite good at outright opposition. The

enemy will happily attack you directly, given

the opportunity to do so without harm to themselves.

The enemy would like to convince you to jeopardize

your ministry, to do something ungodly and let

people know about it so no one will listen to

your witness for a nice long time. They would

love to do that. The enemy would like to come

against you directly, given the opportunity.

The enemy would like to... paralyze you or make

you mute if he could, right? Because that was

not, but he didn't want to kill you because he

don't want to send you to heaven. And if he could,

when he persecutes you, if you give glory to

the Lord in that moment, then pretty soon he'll

stop persecuting you because he doesn't want

God to get more glory. That's not the goal. But

the problem is when they're coming against us

without right opposition, we forget in that moment

to give glory to the God, to the God of heaven.

And instead we act like a man, like we blend

on in or act like a woman. or act like a child,

act like a villain, because that will stop the

opposition, right? If I'm throwing a fit, I'm

raising my voice, I'm breaking things, right?

Well, I'm quiet, I'm stomping off. That'll stop

the opposition, right? Well, yeah, sort of, because

sometimes when you serve God, you will offend

people. If you choose to serve the enemy, those

who are also serving the enemy are less likely

to be offended by you. Now, they will devour

you nonetheless, eventually, or you will devour

them, because that's the way evil works. It always

devours itself. By logical sense, we can see

that if this is what they do, then this is what

they will get good at. For thousands of years,

the Middle Eastern soldiers have also been citizens

when they're not on the clock. And they will

sell you a videotape or a bagel, right? And then

the next day, pick up their gun and come after

you and kill you. The zealots in Jesus's day

were wearing daggers on their head because they

had a rule amongst them that if someone declared,

that the Messiah had come to lead Israel to freedom,

that they were supposed to take that dagger and

kill the closest Roman citizen. Not Roman soldier,

Roman citizen. And then to keep killing until

someone told them the battle was over. That's

why they carried a dagger every day. And yet

they would sell bagels, yet they would walk around

cutting meat, they would do all the things that

merchants did, and so the Romans couldn't just

kill them. Even though they had a dagger on their

belt, they wouldn't just kill him because they

could be normal citizens, right? And at least

for the moment, there was no volatile action.

But they were ready, and so is the enemy. He

will consume a moment, if he can get a moment,

an hour, if he can get an hour, and an entire

life, if he can get an entire life. He has come

to kill, steal, and destroy. But when he stands

in front of you, he may well look like an angel

of light, as he can. And he's been getting good

at it since the Garden of Eden. We understand

that if they've been doing that for a really

long time, that they probably got pretty good

at it. That just makes sense. Now, notice that

Samson in this story is theoretically exposed

to all of this because of his own weakness. He

goes to Gaza. Doesn't say he had another agenda.

He goes into a harlot. He winds up here in place

to commit another act of great strength. Not

because he has dedicated his life to freeing

God's people, because he's visiting a harlot.

So sometimes God will take the stuff that you're

doing that you shouldn't be doing and put you

in place to do something amazing for God. And

before we're done, we'll see exactly how that

happens. But notice that he doesn't do something

amazing in the life of the harlot and a whole

bunch of other people that are living in Gaza

and a whole bunch of people that are living in

Israel. Notice that in the story, four verses

of Samson. First of all, carrying the gate, the

pillars of the gate, and the metal bars, he unseats

the whole thing, probably weighing 4 ,000, yes,

4 ,000 to 8 ,000 pounds, puts it on his shoulders,

carries it 40 miles, and I ask you, where does

it say that the Holy Spirit came on him? Doesn't

happen. Now, when he killed people with the goat,

right, with the donkey's jawbone, it says the

Holy Spirit came on him, right? As he's leading

Israel after En -Kohor. The Holy Spirit came

on him. But here, this great feat of strength,

where's the Holy Spirit? Not mentioned. God?

Not mentioned. The kingdom of God? Not mentioned.

Notice that they're surrounding the gate waiting

to kill him. They're already there. It says they

were there all night waiting for dawn. So this

small army has surrounded the gate to kill Samson.

He takes up the gate, carries it off. He walks

off with it. He's marching. They probably followed

him for a while. Maybe get him some point. I

don't know. And they don't touch him. There's

no battle. There's no fight. And yet, where is

God? Where is the glory to God in the story as

all of that is happening? And the answer is,

it's not there. But how can that be? This is

clearly a miracle. There's no way this happens

without a miracle, right? Or maybe is there?

Samson's example that we can follow in this circumstance,

first of all. is that you get started earlier

than expected. See, they gathered up around the

gate. They're going to attack him at dawn, but

he doesn't go out at dawn. He goes at midnight,

middle of the night, right? Who sleeps with a

harlot the first half of the night, for example.

So he's in there sleeping with a harlot the first

half of the night. He gets up at midnight. He

goes out, starts tearing up the gate. They're

gathered around already, many of them. They might

have thought they would have more by dawn. At

some point, they might have just been saying,

well, what is he doing? We got to see this. This

is incredible. And then when they saw him carrying

him, like, ah, that's really incredible. He gets

started earlier than expected. So let me tell

you this. If you're worried, and you shouldn't

be, but if you're concerned about this, you're

concerned that the enemy might already be in

your life not looking like the enemy, that the

enemy might be lying in wait for the perfect

time to undermine you or take you out, you're

concerned about outright opposition, step one,

get started earlier than you have to. Do some

work. Build yourself. Read your Bible. Pray.

Serve. Give. Become the kind of person. that

shines your light, vocal, living testimony for

the Lord when it appears like no one is listening.

Someone's always listening. The angels themselves

are witnesses to what we do in our spare time.

A man will answer for every, every careless word,

not just the ones that somebody hears, but every

careless word that comes out of his mouth. So

get started earlier than expected and discipline

yourself and get moving and doing what it is

that God would have you. Notice that he uses

the gift that God gave him. God gave him. Incredible

strength. It's really the only gift that God

has really given him. And so he uses it. He tears

up the gates. You can do the same. Your gift

might be preaching. It might be teaching. It

might be serving. It might be giving. It might

be administration. There's a whole bunch of them.

The Bible lays out whatever it is that God has

made you good at that you otherwise wouldn't

be good at. Do that. That's what Samson did.

Notice then he unseats the place of opposition.

They gathered around the gate to kill him. And

that gate is probably a big part of what made

it an undefeatable city by the Israelites. This

huge, powerful gate that the Israelites could

not batter their way past. And he unseats the

place of opposition. He removes its use. Indeed,

he gives them something else to worry about.

If you're concerned that there might be lying

in wait in your life an enemy that might take

you out, if you're concerned that the enemy is

not looking like an enemy right now, or even

that you're facing outright opposition right

now, or that you might later face... outright

opposition, then do this. Go against the gates

of hell and win. The Bible says the gates of

hell shall not prevail against the church. Lead

people to Christ and then God will be with you,

Matthew 28 says. And if you are busy doing the

things that God would have you to do, guess what

can take you out? Nothing. He is our protection.

He is our provision. He is our power. He is our

purpose. All out of the parable of the prodigal

son. And if you get started early, Use the gift

that God has given you. Unseek the place of opposition.

That is to say, overcome the gates of hell, as

we are given to do. You will give them something

else to worry about. They will say, well, why

did so -and -so, right? There was a woman who

owned one of the premier LGBTQ, and I think that

time they had maybe gotten to IA. I don't know

for sure. This is about 15 years ago. Magazines

in the United States of America. Two million

in readership. She gave her life to Jesus Christ.

The very next episode of the magazine that she

put out that went out to 2 million households

in support of that lifestyle was all about Jesus.

Before the next month, they lost almost a million

readers. But they kept 1 .1 million readers for

a while. I don't know the end of that story.

But what I submit to you is that there were a

lot of people that all of a sudden were going,

no, wait a minute. This is a leader in this lifestyle.

This is a leader of our community. This is a

leader of who they are. I know an evangelist.

I wouldn't call him a friend, but he's a deep

associate. I've had a number of contacts with

him who had the opportunity to share while China

was not a Christian allowing nation. He had the

opportunity to share with the son of the emperor

of China, the gospel. And that young man listened

regularly and eventually brought that evangelist

into the house of the emperor. And the emperor

listened regularly. And then that son of that

emperor came to the United States of America

on scholarships and was becoming an engineer

or something. And while he was here, accepted

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You think the

kingdom had something to worry about that day?

The kingdom of Satan? They were worried about

why are the people that we are counting on to

do the evil that we need to propagate in the

world are coming to Christ? Let's win them to

Jesus. That's our business. That's what we do.

And if we will do that, we will unseat the place

of opposition, use the gifts that God has given

us, and get started earlier than they are ready

for, and they will lose. Maybe they'll just sit

by aisle and watch as the gates of hell fail

to prevail against us. That's what they did in

Samson's case. You will certainly leave them

exposed because every Christian brings that gospel

then into the next conversation. This is what

Jesus said about us concerning the gates of hell.

They shall not prevail against us. In so prevailing

then, we gain strength. Every time I have ever

shared the gospel with somebody and they got

saved, it came to me like... like a cold drink

of water, like a meal, like the best tasting

meal, like dessert, right? It strengthened my

spirit. That person began to live for the Lord.

And some of you are here today. And then you

know what it's like when you've shared the gospel

and some of this, and it's not the gospel. If

you don't ask, it's not the gospel. If you don't

ask them to be saved, if you don't give them

the opportunity to pray, to be saved or to commit

their lives to the Lord verbally, it's not the

gospel. It's just you talking fancifully about

what's in this book or what it is that you know.

but not actually asking them to be saved. But

then if you ask them to be saved and they got

saved, you know what that was like. And if we

will do what it is that we are called to do,

when you serve, when you have the gift of serving

and you serve, you feel that little attaboy,

that pat on the back. You're like, yeah, God

is boosting me today, right? I'm feeling the

energy. And I hate to use those words, those

are enlightenment words, but the energy of being

connected to the God of the universe and his

power working through me. And you will get good

at winning. You will get good at prevailing.

You will get good at overcoming. You will get

good at facing trials and tribulations and maintaining

your joy as you do those very things. It'll come

that you can do it in your sleep, that you can

do it on your worst day. Wait for it. It'll come

that you can even do it in your sin. So you get

out of bed, sin against the Lord at 9 a .m.,

willfully sin against the Lord at noon, decline

to do what it is the Lord has called you to do

at 2, and then at 3, wind up in a witnessing

conversation and share the gospel and the person

professes to be getting saved. And you're like,

yeah! And then the 9 and the noon and the 2,

at least for a moment, they all sort of go away,

become not an issue anymore. Your strength was

shown. You shared the gospel. You prayed with

that person. You led them to know the Lord. I

submit to you. When you do that, you become like

Samson pulling up the gates. You have great victory,

but it's not God's victory. Even if that person

should get saved, it didn't happen the way the

Lord wanted it to happen. It happened as you

embrace the things in your life that are not

about God. And it just happened to along the

way still function the way God said that you

can. This brings us to our conclusion then. I

mentioned to you at the beginning, highly proficient

fakers. People who start out so excited about

Jesus and they're going to tell everybody, they're

going to live like they said they would within

after months or years. They back right down.

Paul said, some of you, some have quit. Some

have gave up the course. But we expect better

for you, he wrote to the church. Some folks are

the genuine article, being the best that they

can be, doing better than others even, even exhibiting

feats of superhuman whatever. As incredible as

those things are, they're still not what they

were called to be. In the Bible, in Matthew 5,

during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus in 5 .16

says, So let your light shine before men. And

we quote that verse quite a bit. It goes on to

say, so that they will glorify your Father in

heaven upon the day of his appearing. We usually

tag that on because it's pretty cool, right?

It's us expecting Jesus to come again. It's pretty

good. But the second half of that verse, so that

they will glorify your Father in the day of his

appearing, it's not just about what we're doing.

God has shined your light. They will glorify

your Father. It's how we're doing it. If I said,

for example, Jason, if I said to you, Go put

your tennis shoes on so that we can run a mile.

When Jason puts his tennis shoes on, he's going

to make sure they're on right. He's going to

make sure they're tied. He's going to choose

the right tennis shoes, the one that got the

padding in the bottom, right? So his feet don't

hurt afterwards. He's going to put his shoes

on in a way that when we run that mile, he's

going to face the least negative consequences.

So when I say to you, go shine your light, right?

Does a man light a lamp and put it under a bushel?

No, he doesn't do that. And in the same manner,

you shine your light. so that all men may see

it and glorify your Father in the day of his

appearing. It's about how you shine your light

as much as it is about the result of your shining

your light. In fact, I'll submit to you that

you may shine your light for the Lord in such

a way that they will not glorify your Father

in the day of Christ's appearing. And I submit

to you that this episode in Samson's life was

like that. He left the house of the harlot. He

went to the gate. He lifted what no one else

could lift, took a journey that no one else could

take. He robbed them of their safety, of their

defense. He dealt with them at the place of their

opposition. And yet God, God, no glory. And we

could do the same. Philippians 2 is not just

an example of God's great nature in Jesus Christ,

where it says, have this mind in you, which was

in Jesus Christ, that being God. in the flesh

he did not consider equality with god a thing

to be grasped but rather he submitted himself

to death even death on a cross that's not just

an example of his great nature but it's a call

to a lifestyle that we're supposed to live that's

why it says have this mind in you you see it's

a call to a lifestyle that we would humbly serve

the Lord, recognizing who he is, and submit ourselves

to whatever aspect of service God has called

us to, just as Jesus submitted himself even to

death. And not just death, but death on a cross.

James 1, which I used as my lesson at the VBS,

it's not just an early caution to fakers saying,

look, you got to get this right. Don't just listen

to the word of God, but actually live the word

of God. to somebody who's becoming a Christian.

It was being written to the church. So you could

be a Christian for a year or 50 and have the

command of the Lord, not just to be a hearer

of the word, but a doer of the word. Why do we

need that? Why would we need as Christians at

20 years or 30 years or 50 years? Why would we

need to be reminded that it is our job to do?

what we read, not just read what we read. Or

do what we hear, not just hear what we hear.

Because it is the tendency of the Christian to

allow the enemy, looking like they are not the

enemy, lying in wait for the perfect moment,

and even coming in outright opposition to come

against us to find a way to navigate this life.

not truly living what it is that God has called

us to in his word. Because if you live what God

has called us to in his word, sometimes you will

offend. So here's a simple action plan then.

Start early. Cultivate God's presence in your

life. Grow strong by God's presence in your life.

face and overcome even greater challenges, knowing

all the while that this is going to strengthen

you. It's going to make you more capable, more

powerful, more able. And that as that happens,

that new capability, that new power, when you

act in it, you will give all glory to God for

it. And probably the truth is God will send or

allow greater opposition to come against you.

When I was a kid, I used to play a game called

Stratego. I don't know if you know what that

game is or not, but basically you have an army

and they're on plastic pieces and people of different

ranks. And basically, if you have a piece that

has a certain rank, it can take another piece.

But if you expose a piece not knowing what their

rank is and their rank happens to be higher than

yours, then they take out your piece, right?

Sort of like a version of chess, but it's got

a general and then it has an assassin or a spy,

right? And he's low. He's got just one rank.

He's got a very low rank. And then he's the only

one that can take out the general. He's the highest

rank. So you have to protect your spy to the

last moment in time. To when you know where the

general is. And he's using the general, wiping

out your guys. Boom, boom, boom. Taking out another,

another. And you get your spy over there without

him knowing. And then your spy takes out his

general. Now you still have your general. And

if somewhere along the process you take out his

spy and take out his general, basically you win

because you have a general and he doesn't. There's

nothing he can do about it. You just keep taking

his pieces as long as you don't hit a bomb, right?

And then for bombs, you need miners. You see

the analogy? The bottom line is this. You're

living in the world. And if you want to kind

of think of the world as a great big house, one

great big house. And in this house are living

people who are the enemy and their tactics of

the enemy. They're going to be right in your

face. They might even be talking about Jesus.

And you have to draw close to the real Jesus

Christ, to the real one who saved your soul.

And you have to let him make you strong. And

sometime down the road, he might send you against

a general, a demon that would rip your head off

if you weren't walking in Christ. That's scriptural,

right? Seven sons of Sceva casting out demons.

And then they come into a room and they say,

we cast you out by the name of Paul, by the name

of Jesus. And he says, I know Paul and I know

Jesus, but I don't know you. And then he sends

all seven of them beaten in their underwear and

throws them out of the room, right? You see,

you're fakers. Don't be a faker because someday

God may send you up against something that he

expects you to be able to take. And you're going

to get stronger and stronger and stronger by

God's presence in your life and face overcome

even greater challenges. Witness not only to

the new victories that you will have because

of your new and growing and sustained strength,

but then witness to the sustained strength itself.

that has been built in you to run the daily race

and glorify God for that. Ricky, how many sit

-ups can you do in 60 seconds? Give me an estimate.

Just give me an estimate. 25 in a minute. Okay.

How many sit -ups have you done in your life?

Thousands. Let's see. I'll pick on somebody.

Let's see. Brother Tim, how many sit -ups do

you think you can do in 60 seconds? Be honest

with me. Three. Okay, three. How many sit -ups

would you say you've done in your life? Would

it be thousands, hundreds, and the hundreds?

You understand the analogy? I understand. Ricky

is younger than Brother Tim. No harm meant here,

right? Different people have different strokes

for different folks. We're not judging anybody.

Ricky is younger than Brother Tim, done thousands

of sit -ups. You could say he can do 25 sit -ups

in a minute because he's younger. I'm telling

you, even though he's taking time off from doing

sit -ups, he can do 25 right now because he's

done thousands. Understand? If you share the

gospel, if you read your Bible, if you serve

the Lord, if you give, if you exercise your spiritual

gifts, when the time comes that you need to be

able to do something, you're called by the Lord

to be able to do something, you will have the

ability. The more time you take off, the less

ability you will have. Don't take a minute off.

Walk with him daily. Samson was taking time off.

And he could still do mighty and incredible things

because for 20 years, he'd been serving the Lord.

But then when he did that mighty and incredible

thing, God got no glory out of it. Don't do it.

If you're living for Jesus, daily build yourself

in the Lord. And then whatever God decides for

you to do with your day, do it and do it in victory.

And if you want to do 100 sit -ups in a minute,

which is like unheard of, right? That's top marine

physics or whatever, physique, that kind of thing.

You're going to have to do sit -ups every day.

You want to beat the big demons? You want to

overcome the world's great plots and plans to

undermine you or addiction or sex temptation

or video temptation, watching stuff or your anger?

Walk with Jesus every day. Got one that you've

been trying for decades to beat? How much effort

are you putting into beating it? How much effort

have you? You say, well, I've been trying for

decades and I really haven't tried that much

each day. Well, maybe that's why you haven't

beat it. Maybe that's why you're not pulling

ahead in that area in your life. It's time. It's

time we realize that the enemy is at the gates

and the strength to prevail over them is in us,

in the Lord. I ask you to commit your life to

Jesus Christ as Lord. That means he tells you

what to do and you do it. As Savior, that means

he paid the price for your sins. And I ask you

to walk with him daily in everything that you

know how to do. And that as he makes you stronger,

give him glory for the strength, for the journey.