The Drift

And, and, and I'll share this actually, I remember my pastor.

Pastor. Tom, he said, he said one time

that his his spiritual father, his pastor, Ken Sumrall, he, he

visited here one time and he said all it took was for him to

show up one time and say, Tom, I wouldn't do that again.

And he said, and I never did it again.

It took me years before I finally said what?

What was it? Well, they were doing something.

Thank you, Sarah, where maybe you've been in a church and

you've seen it. The baskets are up at the front

instead of passing baskets. That's what it was.

And I said, I said why didn't he like that?

And he went. I don't know.

I just know he didn't like it, so I never did it again.

And you know, well, I don't think you always have to do that

when it comes to a human. Is that not the way?

That we're supposed to live when the Lord tells us something.

I think too many times we wait until everything reconciles in

our mind. The Lord tells us something, but

we want it to make sense. But if you're waiting for

everything in your faith life to make sense, good luck.

It's not really faith if it makes sense, is it?

Well, you can turn to Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

This will be my my last Wednesday for a little bit.

I mean, I'll be here, but I'm really excited for the reason

why we've got some Bible college interns that are going to be

sharing some words. So we're going to be hearing

some words from, you know, Autumn Nichols, Brendan Newton,

Miriam Hernandez next week. Not a Bible college intern, but

we do have a sucker sharing a word with you next week.

And that's my wife. Because the reason I say this,

she said, she said, listen, she said, I need to talk to you and

I and I really don't want to. And I said thank you.

That's what you want to hear from your spouse.

She said. She said.

I feel like the Lord gave me something to share.

And I said. Well, don't let me get in

between you and the Lord's will. So I'll be excited to hear

Cassie share. A word next week and some other

people who have gone through the internship program are going to

help us. They're going to share in the

months to come to Michael Fletcher, Joya Barnett.

So I'm really excited to hear what the Lord is going to speak

through these people. I'll be here.

I just won't be here, if that makes sense.

So before we get to Hebrews 2, hopefully I'll pronounce this

right. But it's fascinating story I

came across. And it's it happened.

In March of 2011, Japan experienced one of the most

powerful earthquakes. In recorded history and within

minutes there was a massive tsunami that crashed into the

northeastern coast and there were nearly 20,000 people who

lost their lives in the storm. I mean, it was absolutely tragic

and horrendous. The force of water just swept

through homes, vehicles and all sorts of stuff, but it also

washed a lot of boats out away from the shore and one of.

Those was a 164 foot fishing vessel pronounced the Ryun Maru.

I'll call it the R boat from now on, but I wanted.

To say it, this boat wasn't out there fishing.

It had been tied securely to a harbour and it had actually been

just on a list. It was waiting to be dismantled

for scrap, so it was just sitting there.

But when the tsunami hit, it snapped the mooring lines and it

just disappeared into the ocean. So everybody assumed that this

boat had just sunk. It was just gone.

But it wasn't gone. It drifted.

So how long did it drift? I'm glad you asked.

More than a year it drifted and people thought it was gone.

Nobody had any idea where this boat was.

Remember how big this boat is and nobody had a clue?

That'll tell you how big the ocean is.

It drifted from Japan across the Pacific Ocean with no captain

and no crew. Nobody.

At the helm, ocean currents carried it thousands of miles

until it finally settled off the coast of Alaska.

Alaska by then. It had become such a hazard to

other ships because it couldn't safely be recovered.

And so the Coast Guard made the difficult decision.

They had to sink it right where it was.

So that's how they handled that. But as I read that story a while

ago, I couldn't get. It out of my mind because that

ship was not designed to cross an ocean, but there it went.

It wasn't trying to be dangerous, it it was just simply

drifting because there was nothing there holding it into

place. There was nobody to guide it.

And so it just floated and went where it went.

And sadly, I think that is also one of the clearest pictures of

the Christian life that I've ever seen.

If you don't have it anchored, if you don't have it tethered to

something, it'll drift. And I don't know of any story.

I can't say it's never happened, but I don't know of any story

where somebody. Woke up 1 morning and just said

you know what, I think I'll walk away from God.

Nobody plans to become spiritually cold or to lose

their passion for Jesus or. Neglect their family or

compromise their integrity. Nobody wakes up 1 morning and

says I think today's the day that I'll stop listening to God.

There is normally something that happens where there is a slow.

And gradual decline, something that was once passionate and a

starts to fade. And before you know it, we've

drifted. And before you know it, you've

got one missed opportunity to obey.

And it becomes a habit. And once it becomes a habit, it

becomes your routine. And once it becomes your

routine, it becomes your life. So the book of Hebrews, we're

going to start in the very first verse.

And I want you to know it's not warning you about rebellion.

Listen to what it says, just the first 4 verses.

We must listen very carefully to the truth we've heard, or we may

drift away from it. I could just stop it right

there. But the author of Hebrews says

For the message God delivered through angels has always stood

firm, and every violation of the law and every act of

disobedience was punished. So what makes us think?

That we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was

first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered

to us by those who heard him speak and God.

Confirmed the message. By giving signs and wonders and

various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He

chose, so God has provided. For us there have been

consequences, but God has also provided guidance.

He always does this. He is so good to us.

Even the consequences are blessings.

They are not pleasant blessings, but they are still blessings.

We need corrections sometimes. And isn't it something some

translations? Would would say pay much closer

attention lest you drift away. We have to pay attention because

otherwise we drift. And when you drift you just

don't know. I remember being in high school

and going on a on a trip to I think.

It was like the water park, I forget the name of it, but the

water park down there near Busch Gardens over there.

Was it water country USA? Thank you dude.

You sound like you have been there many times.

So we went there and I remember we were just floating and, and I

remember looking and I remember looking and seeing the girl that

I kind of wanted to float close to.

And I remember the teachers were over there and that was great

because they were the chaperone. So I'm like, without people.

Looking I'm like trying to like move the water right?

So I just casually float and I'm trying to look laid back and I I

wasn't planning to share the. Story just popped into my head

so God must want me to share it. I wouldn't share it.

I'm trying to get close to this girl and I'm trying to look laid

back so my eyes are closed. And before you know it, I, I

feel skin here and I'm like, there.

So now I get to have the moment where I'm like, oh, I'm so

sorry. And I turn around and it is our

math teacher's foot. The teachers were not near me.

But it was the math teacher's foot.

And I just, I just gave up on that method after that.

My eyes were not closed that long.

It was a drift. It was a drift.

Have you ever noticed that if you are beach dwellers, as I am

not that when you go there, sometimes you're just playing

out there in the ocean and before you know what, you look

back and you're like, why are our.

Towels over there. We started here.

You can't tell because it's gradual unless you're focused on

what is your anchor. Sometimes that's a physical

anchor with a boat. Sometimes it's a visual anchor,

but you have got to pay attention.

When you don't pay attention, you're in trouble.

Like I said, nobody accidentally.

Rebels against God, it's always something that they've thought

about. That warning that we just read

in Hebrews is important. Let me just say this, it's not a

season of Bible study, but when we return to the season of Bible

study later on in October, we're going to be going into the book

of Hebrews and breaking this down.

It is not written to atheists. It's not written to wishy washy

believers. It's not trying to convince the

Jewish population to believe in Jesus.

It's written to people who love Jesus, serve Jesus, and he says.

Listen very carefully to the truth you've heard, or you may

drift away from it. We've got to We lose our joy,

our initial joy of salvation, when we don't tend to it.

And if we don't recognize how drift works, then we'll just

assume we're standing still. But the current is actually

carrying us away. I want to talk about spiritual

drift. This is one of the best things I

can hand to you guys on a Wednesday night because it is a

little more challenging than an average Sunday where you've got

a wider variety. But I also want to set you up.

For coming out and supporting as we have Bible college interns

and other people that the God is speaking to in this church, I'm

going to be here. I want to hear what God is

saying through them. I hope you will be too.

Drifting is subtle. It's the first thing I want to

share with you. Drifting is subtle.

It is quiet. It is so.

Gradual that you often don't recognize it happening, and I

cannot think of a better picture of that in the Bible than the

life of Samson. So when you look at these

normally, I've got little facts, I've actually got little chunks

of scripture, and I've done this as a men's lesson before in

different ways. I want to show how he.

Drifted and didn't just make a decision to walk away from the

Lord. What do you think of when you

think of Samson? The.

Obvious stuff, right? Hair, right?

Probably a really bad haircut. Delilah, right?

Not the not the smooth one that talks to you on evening radio

and not the plain white T song, but we.

Think about his hair and we think about Delilah betraying

him, cutting his hair. There have been songs written

about it, but by the time his hair hit the ground, he had

already been drifting for years. And a lot of people really do

miss that. So we'll start at the very

beginning of Judges chapter 13 and we'll.

Judges 13 · chapter mention

Just go from there. It says again, the Israelites

did evil in the Lord's sight. Isn't it sad that starts with

again? OK, so the.

Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them

for 40 years, and in those days a man named Manoa from the tribe

of Dan lived in the town of Zarah.

His wife was unable to become pregnant and they had no

children. The Angel of the Lord appeared

to Manoah's wife and said, Even though you have been unable to

have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth

to a son. So be careful you.

Must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, nor eat any

forbidden food. You will become pregnant and

give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut, for he

will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth.

He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.

Just begin. Samson's story actually begins

with a promise. Before he's ever born, God had

already set him apart for a purpose.

And, and, and we've got the Angel of the Lord here appearing

to his. Parents and telling them he's

going to be a Nazarite. That was not just a title.

You could go further back into Leviticus and you could read

about the Nazarites. They were set apart in a

different way to the Lord and. This is not something that had

to be explained to them. The second is that second that

they would have heard Nazarite. They would have known.

So there were specific. Boundaries that God gave him.

And it's not because God likes making your life difficult.

Although there are times I have been like Lord and I get it,

this was not something that was an attempt to make things

harder. For Samson, these were beautiful

reminders to Samson that he was set apart for something great

anytime. The Lord lays a restriction on

you anytime he tells you when you're watching something and he

says that's not for you when you're having a conversation and

he says don't speak like that. When he says go and do this.

When he calls you to something and you look around and you say,

but God, I don't see other people doing this.

That does not mean God's not speaking to you.

Actually, a lot of times it means he is speaking to you and

he is calling you to something specific and it is up to you to

either obey or rebel. Samson starts with a promise.

He is. Set apart before he's even born

because he is called to begin the salvation of his people,

even as long hair was a daily symbol that he had been set

apart. That's why I think that drift

almost always begins with identity before it ever becomes

your behavior. Long.

Before we start making compromises on our actions,

we've stopped remembering who we are.

At some point, he wasn't acting like a Nazarite anymore, and

you'll see that. And we've been bought by the

blood, and we know that we're redeemed.

And you know what we do? We're really good at this.

As humans, we take it for granted.

We take it for granted. Especially the more that you

know him, it's easy to drift into that.

And I'll tell you why it's easy to drift into it.

Because we know how forgiving he is.

And we. Know how loving He is, and we

know how merciful He is. Growing.

Up. Did y'all have a parent that you

knew you could get away with more with?

And did you act different when it was just them?

Uh huh, right? We've got a perfect father who

could toss one of those lightning bolts down on us.

He doesn't. We know how merciful He is, and

we know how forgiving He is, and we know how loving He is.

And our little rebellious heart takes advantage of that

sometimes, doesn't it? You'll.

Understand if I don't meet with you this morning, my life has

been crazy. God, what Good thing he's got

nothing going on. Listen to this in chapter 14.

He's now grown up and it says one day when Samson was in

Timna, one of. The Philistine women caught his

eye. Uh oh.

Isn't he supposed to save his people from the Philistines?

But one of the Philistine women catches his eye.

And when he returned home, he told his father and mother.

A young Philistine woman in Timna caught my eye.

I want to marry her. Get.

Her for me, he, if you can't tell us, a romantic hallmark in

ancient days. His father and mother objected.

They said, isn't there even one woman in our tribe or among all

the Israelites that you could marry?

Why must you go to the? Pagan Philistines to find a wife

and Samson told his father. Get her for me.

She looks good to me. Here's what I'm pointing out

where. Is his Nazarite identity in

this? Where?

Is his identity of being a man who is called by God for

something in this. It's the appetite there.

She looks good to me. Get her for me.

What if? She doesn't want to be gotten

for you. It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter what mother and father say there.

He's got something that he desires and he's going to get

it. And.

I would venture to say there's probably not a lot of bad things

that happened to him. You know, it would be wild.

I wonder what his teen years were like.

I bet he was a strong kid. I bet you nobody tangled with

Samson. I bet you he got his way.

I'm just hypothesizing there, but the first warning doesn't

look that dramatic, does it? He looks at somebody who

worships a different God. This has nothing to do with

race. Somebody who worships a

different God and says. That'll do.

His parents immediately pushed back because they recognize the

direction he's headed, as parents are supposed to, and

they remind him that he's called to something different.

But he. Said she looks good to me.

So. Instead of asking what does God

want, he began asking, what do I want?

That's one. Of the first places we fall into

adrift. But the story?

Keeps moving on. We're going to go to verse 5.

Then once we're given what feels like a random detail there, it

actually tells us everything we need to to know here.

Listen this Samson and his parents were going.

Down to Timna, 'cause I guess he got his way.

A. Young lion suddenly attacked

Samson near the vineyards of Timna, and at that moment the.

Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he

ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands.

He did it as. Easily, as if it were a young

goat, which still sounds difficult to me.

I'm. Just.

I've never ripped somebody's skull apart, but this sounds

difficult, OK? And it says he didn't tell his

father or mother about it. When?

Samson arrived in Timna. He talked with a woman and was

very pleased with her. Later, when he returned to Timna

for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass

of the lion. Now I'm going to pause here.

We'll do a little Q&A here. 3 requirements of a Nazarite who

can give me one of them? One of them don't touch

anything. What?

Don't touch anything dead, correct?

I don't care how much you love them.

I don't care if they're your relative.

I don't care if it's your child, if it's your parent, if it is a

dead body, you must regard it as off limits.

For the nazarite #2 Peter, no alcohol really.

Nothing from the vine, even. Before it gets fermented, Welch

is out of business. Nothing from the vine, nothing

dead. The third one can't cut.

Your hair can't cut your hair right, you know?

What that means, ladies, I'm going to talk to you in a

minute. You don't even get a trim, you

know what I'm saying? There's no styling here.

It is literally. Meant to be a mark that you're

set apart. It's the visual, visual visible

mark that you are set apart for something different.

In those days you would have seen an Israelite like that and

you would have been like, that's a Nazarite.

You would have known. And keep in mind, this is the

book of judges. No kings over Israel.

The judges are the ones keeping order.

OK, it says later in verse 8, he returned to Timna for the

wedding. He turned off the path to look

at the carcass of the lion, and he found that a swarm of bees

had made some honey in the carcass.

So he scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate.

It along the way. He.

Also gave some to his father and mother and they ate it, but he

didn't tell them where you'd taken the honey from.

From the Garcas of the lion. I bet he didn't.

It's interesting. Have you ever noticed that

sometimes what you intend to be your own discretion, your own

sin, never stays with you? But you know, if you go back

here to verse 5 as. Samson and his parents are going

down near to Timna. A young lion suddenly attacked

Samson near Near what? It's near the vineyards.

How about that? And we know he's not even with

his mother and father here because it says he didn't tell

them about it. And I feel like that's something

you would notice if you're walking with him.

At some point. He detached from his mother and

father on the way to get that woman for him.

And. Wandered near these vineyards,

which to me is such a good visual of how close can I get to

the edge? I'm not going to drink anything

from it. I'm not going to eat a grape.

I'm not touching you. You ever do that as a kid?

You were a brat if you did that. Weren't we all?

He's seeing how close he can get to it.

He's touching a dead body here. Samson kills a lion on the

journey, returns to it, pulls out honey and shares it later

on. He must have brought a giant

honeycomb back, something like that to share with his parents.

He knew he wasn't supposed to touch a dead body.

This was not an accident or a misunderstanding.

You don't accidentally realize it's a dead body for a lion.

He specifically went out of his way to go see his handiwork

again. He was impressed with himself

deliberate decision to reach into something God told him to

avoid because he wanted something that looked good to

his eyes. Once again, isn't that how

temptation works? It tells us that there is

something sweet waiting inside of something that's actually

going to lead you down a path that eventually leads to death.

Nothing dramatic happens, though I'm sure everybody's happy.

I bet it was great, honey, the heavens didn't open.

There's. No sky finger that came down and

thumped him. No.

Lightning bolt life just keeps moving on.

And by the way, that's what makes compromise so easy for us.

Have you ever done something and expected to find God's judgement

and when it didn't come, you thought maybe it wasn't that big

of a deal? Drift doesn't feel dangerous

when it's happening because every step feels so small.

By the time we meet Delilah Samson.

Has already trained himself to live near the edge.

He's become comfortable seeing how close he could get to

temptation without getting hurt. And.

That brings us to one of the most frustrating parts of the

story. This is a lengthy section of

Scripture. I'm going to read it.

Judges 16. We're going to be in verse 4,

and we're going to read up through 17.

Listen to this sometime later. This is his next wife.

What happened with his last one? Look, it wasn't a good marriage.

Didn't work out. Lots.

Of stuff involved. Lots.

Of sets of clothing, some foxes getting their tails tied

together, some fire. Some people lose their land.

It's wild. But here Samson fell in love

with a woman named Delilah who lived in the valley of Sorek.

The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, entice

Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be

overpowered and tied up securely.

Then each of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver.

It's probably a lot of silver. So, Delilah said to Samson,

Please tell me what makes. You so strong and what it would

take to tie you up securely. Is this not suspicious to

anybody else? Could you imagine coming home

one day? Hey, I'm just.

Curious, what is it that would make you completely incapable to

fight back if somebody were to take everything from you?

Why do you want to know? There's no record that he asks

this at all, as a matter of fact.

Look, Samson replied. If I were tied up with 7 new

bowstrings that have not yet been dried, I'd become as weak

as anyone else. I kind of understand the first

one. It's like he's messing with her.

It's like he's returning a Riddle for her.

Her question but. Listen to this verse 8 So the

Philistine rulers brought Delilah 7 new bowstrings and she

tied Samson up with them. She had hidden some men in one

of the inner. Rooms of her house and she cried

out. Samson, the Philistines have

come to capture you. But Samson snapped the

bowstrings as a piece of string snaps when it's burned by a

fire. So the secret of his strength

was not discovered. Do you not feel like there's a

conversation to be had after this?

And maybe there was. Maybe it's just not included?

This. Doesn't seem like a coincidence

then, Delilah said. You've been making fun of me and

telling me lies. Now tell me how you can be tied

up securely, he said. Well, if you weave the seven

braids of my hair into the fabric of the loom and you

tighten it with the loom shuttle, I would become as weak

as anyone else. So while he slept, Delilah wove

the seven braids of his hair into the fabric and then

tightened it with the loom shuttle.

And again, she cried. Out, Samson, the Philistines

have come to capture you. But Samson woke up and pulled

back the loom shuttle yanked his hair away from the loom in the

fabric. You understand what's happening

here. Nothing significantly bad has

been happening to him, and because of that he's.

Not even thrown off. When she asks, he's willing to

play the game, How close to it can I get?

He feels like the strong man amongst his enemies.

He feels like he's still got the upper hand when it comes to her.

And verse 15 is funny to me. Then Delilah pouted.

How? Can you tell?

Me. I love you when you don't share

your secrets with me. You've made fun of me three

Times Now and you still haven't told me.

What makes you so strong? Like he had wronged her.

So. She tormented him.

This is the Bible. She tormented him with her

nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it.

Finally, Samson shared his secret with her.

My hair has never been cut, he confessed.

I was dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth.

If. My.

Head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would

become as weak as anyone else. I don't think he really thought

he'd become as weak as anyone else.

He did. Share it with her.

He got to the point that he was willing to say it, but.

Why would he think it? He touched something dead.

Nothing happened out there near the vineyard, nothing happened.

Shared that honey from something dead.

Nothing happened. He's playing stupid games,

winning stupid prizes and really there's no consequences.

And for many people, this. Is what we do.

We play with it too long. And God, in his grace, even Old

Testament, you see the grace present here, His patience, his

loving kindness, waiting for him to learn something from it and

to turn, and he just doesn't. So we get in verse 18, Delilah

realized he had finally told her the truth.

I'm sure they'd heard about the Nazarites.

So she sent for the Philistine rulers.

Come back one more time, she said, for he has finally told me

his secret. So the Philistine rulers

returned with the money in their hands, and Delilah lulled Samson

to sleep with his head in her lap.

And then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his

hair. In this way she began to bring

him down, and his strength left him when she.

Cried out Samson, the Philistines have come to capture

you. He.

Woke up and he thought, I'll do as before and shake myself free.

But he didn't realize that the Lord had left him.

Do you understand that? That is one of the saddest

statements in all of scripture. He did not know that the Lord

had left him. How can you not tell?

How can you be used to being in His presence?

And then he leaves and you don't know.

It's only said one other time about one other person in the

Old Testament Bible trivia. Anybody know who it is?

King Saul, first king of Israel. Doesn't matter how important you

are in the eyes of the world. That's the tragedy.

Samson thought he was still the same man.

He assumed that this strength was with him and that he could

keep living the way that he wanted to live and still

experience God's power like he always had.

This is why Hebrew says pay close attention, because at the

wrong moment it was over for him.

And his story ends up where he does take out a lot of

Philistines, but they take him. They put him in chains, they

blind him. They don't just blind him.

They gouge his eyes out, put him in chains, and they have him

perform in their equivalent of a Coliseum for their own

entertainment. But his hair begins to grow back

and nobody thinks anything of it.

But I think it's not the only thing that started to return.

I think also his realization and his humility started to come

back. And he says, Lord, if you just

grant me one last time with your strength, I'll do what you had

called me to do. And he has somebody position him

between two of the key columns that are there, and he shoves

them and it collapses on top of them.

And yeah, he takes out the enemy.

But don't for you think for a second that it's a heroic end

for him. It's a bad ending.

God's will will always be accomplished.

Our will, not so much. I I wasn't around when this

happened, but maybe some would remember that back in 1980,

there was something unusual that happened with Mount Saint Helens

and there was a tragic eruption in Washington.

This volcano wasn't erupting yet.

There weren't rivers of lava that were happening first.

But a lot of people don't know this.

They just know about the tragedy when this volcano erupted.

But for people who studied the mountain and they studied the

side of it, they could tell that something was coming.

And here's why. 1. Side of the mountain had begun

to bulge outward. Now, it wasn't all at once.

It was gradually. It was day after day, and

eventually the bulge had grown several feet larger.

If you had been hiking there, you wouldn't have known any

difference. You wouldn't have been able to

tell. If you're hiking, you can't

really tell the difference between 5 feet as an incline or

10 feet. Once you're already up there,

you can't tell. And so for anybody, it was just

a mountain. But to the experts, every inch

said, oh, something weird is happening.

And then on the morning of May 18th, 1980.

The mountain erupted with such incredible force that 57 people

lost their their lives and hundreds of homes were

destroyed. But what I want to get across to

you before we move on is this. That moment was the eruption.

But there were signs that this was happening all along, all

along, and nobody did anything about it.

The difficult thing about Adrift is that it is subtle but.

If it's subtle, then what do we do with it?

Well, I would just submit to you that there's a couple questions

that you can ask yourself because I don't want you leaving

here saying, Oh my goodness, I've been drifting for years and

I didn't realize it until tonight.

This is me. If Samson, though, didn't

realize it, what keeps you and I from making the same mistake?

So I don't think the answer is looking for a dramatic sign.

I think the answer is paying attention, just like Hebrews

taught us to. So let's.

Pay attention and ask some real questions.

First thing I would tell you to ask yourself is what am I

becoming excited about? I want you to really think about

this. You don't have to say it out

loud. In fact, you probably shouldn't,

but there. Was a time when opening God's

word stirred something in US and there was a time where prayer

was not just another item on the schedule where we needed to do

it or we were going to feel guilty there was a time where

spending. Time getting to know God.

'S people was not an obligation, and if we find ourselves far

more excited about a Netflix series then carrying out the

sovereign will that the creator of the universe has laid out

specifically for you, there's a problem.

I watched the Netflix this morning.

I'm not anti Netflix. But I am anti Netflix replacing

God. Spiritual passion is always

going to rise and fall throughout life, but when your

affection for Jesus has been replaced by something else,

you're in trouble. Ask yourself what you're getting

excited about. You can also ask yourself what

am I becoming comfortable with? Samson.

Didn't wake up comfortable with Delilah.

He became comfortable with Delilah.

How do you become comfortable with somebody in your house who

is seeking your demise? Many of us, we've had a

spiritual attack. There's things all around us

that would seek your demise. Good thing that Jesus gets the

final word, but he became comfortable and I get it, it

said. He fell asleep with his head in

her lap. The.

Fastest way to make a man pass out as those head scratches.

I understand it. That being said, isn't it sad

that he became so comfortable that God's Spirit could leave

him and he didn't notice it? Sin has a way of recalibrating

our conscience. If you don't deal with it,

things that once grieve us actually will start to entertain

us. What part of that?

Scenario with Delilah, do you think that God would have been

amused with? What?

Part of it if he had. Actually thought, is God pleased

with what I'm? Doing He's taunting her, teasing

her. He's exhibiting arrogance and

pride. What part of it would have been

pleasing to God? Didn't even cross his mind.

You know. We should ask God whether our

hearts have been going to drift. I'm going to share a couple

scriptures with you here. For the first one is Ephesians

430. It says, do not bring sorrow to

God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.

You can bring sorrow to God's Spirit by the way you live.

And remember, it says He has identified you as his own,

guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

You may not be a Nazarite, but you might as well be, because

he's identified you as his own. And in First Thessalonians 519,

it also says do not stifle the Holy Spirit or do not quench the

Holy Spirit. That used to confuse me how I'm

not that. Powerful.

How can I stop what the Holy Spirit wants?

Because God has given you a great deal of authority on this

earth. You're the only thing that has

the ability to tell God no. You don't have the ability to

choose your consequences, but you do have the ability to tell

Him no. And the Bible warns us not to.

Grieve the Holy Spirit, or quench the Holy Spirit, or

stifle the Holy Spirit. These commands wouldn't be here

if it wasn't possible. It's possible to become less

responsive to God's voice if you repeatedly ignore Him.

So the third question is what have I stopped doing?

Right. What have?

I stopped doing drift. Is normally revealed more by

neglect and rebellion. If we don't suddenly stop

following Jesus, we just gradually stop doing the things

that kept us close to him, keeping up with the people who

hold us accountable or the things that would anchor us

spending the time in the word or the prayer, things like that.

And we'll speak more about that in a bit.

That next bullet point. You can you can ignore that.

That's actually from Sunday. I left it in there just to see

if you noticed. But joke's on you.

I noticed. All right.

The last thing though that I would say is we all need someone

in our lives that can ask us those hard questions.

Let me give you the illustration of this.

If you want to ask the hard questions, find somebody that

will ask these questions of you who was.

Around Samson. The only push back you saw was

initially with his first marriage when his parents were

like, oh, isn't there anybody? Isn't there a nicer girl you

could find? It's not even that forceful.

He surrounded himself with people that were impressed by

him and that we're going to tell him what he wanted to hear.

But I would tell you the Proverbs 27 six says that wounds

from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

Find people that want the very best for you, OK?

The other thing I just want you to know before we end up.

Leaving tonight is this drifting is preventable.

It is preventable. So it's not just something that

you have to be alert for because it's subtle, but you can also

take preventative measures to make sure that you don't drift.

And I want you to be aware of that.

The the good news is that Hebrews.

Is not just diagnosing the problem God never points out a

danger without giving you a path forward and.

So the writer. Doesn't say try harder not to

drift if he did. Then at some point you would

say, well I keep trying but I'm drifting.

He just says pay close attention to what you have heard.

So if you're. Wondering what to do?

If you're wondering what the anchor is, you go back to what

you first heard. Faith comes by hearing and

hearing. From the word of God, OK?

Now. Think about it this way.

If you were to ask a sailor how to keep a boat from drifting, he

wouldn't tell you to yell at the wind.

He. Might yell at the wind, but he

wouldn't tell you that that's the answer.

He wouldn't. Tell you to fight the tide.

He would. Tell you to drop an anchor.

The. Current may still be there, but

the anchor keeps the boat from going where the current goes,

right? So the same thing is true

spiritually. You can't stop the currents of

life. And too.

Many of us, that's our answer. Well, if I do this, then I'll

never drift from Jesus. If I do this then I'll never

drift. But.

Disappointments are going to come.

Busyness is going to come. Temptations are going to come.

Even success itself can become a current.

Pain can become a current. Even good things are currency if

you're not careful. And so the goal isn't to

eliminate the current. That would be ridiculous with a

boat. The goal is to remain anchored

to Christ. So that.

When the current begins to pull, it can only take you so far.

I wonder sometimes if we have made the Christian life more

complicated than it needs to be. Because a lot of times we hear

messages like this and we immediately think we need some

dramatic spiritual experience to get back on track.

More often than not, the way back to God is the same way that

you first. Learned to walk with him, go

back to what worked. I loved being a youth pastor.

I worked with teenagers for 12 years, but every time we went to

acquire the fire or winter fester.

There was some dynamic speaker who challenged them, and there

was always at least one teenager who's going to get up with tears

in their eyes and look at me and say something like Pastor Blake

this. Moment has changed everything

because of this moment I'll never be the same.

Well, it may leave a lasting impression on you, but. 1.

Moment is not going to dictate your life.

You're going to have to continue to choose Jesus every single

day. You know where it's easy to

choose God? When you're surrounded by 60

5000 Christians all saying we love Jesus, singing worships,

you know, songs, it's very easy to choose God.

What? Happens when you show up to work

the next Thursday and you're late and your boss yells at you

and then you get home and your parents are mad at you and it's

a totally different world. You have to learn to choose to

return. What is it that drew you to the

gospel to begin with? But one of the reasons I

appreciate the story of Samson is his life reminds me that

nobody drifts in a single day. And the opposite is true too.

Took time for the hair to grow back and for his his perspective

to change. I would just also encourage you

and tell you this. Nobody remains close to Jesus in

a single day either. If it took you time to drift

away and you're saying, well I need one dramatic moment, God,

from now on I promise that I'll never fill in the blank again.

You have just set yourself up for failure.

You can't do it on your own strength.

You come to Him for the change. So if it took you a while to

drift, it's probably going to take you a little.

While to get back on the course, but don't you stop don't let

that discourage you don't let that dissuade you from pursuing

him. You pursued him before pursue

him again. I think that's why the Bible

repeatedly calls us to abide John 15 verses four and five say

this remain in me. This is Jesus and I will remain

in you for a. Branch cannot produce fruit if

it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless

you remain in me and then he. Goes on to the famous part.

I am the vine, You're the branches.

Those who remain in me and I in them, They'll produce much

fruit, For apart from me you can do nothing.

It's a good time of year where you see a lot of people doing

yard work and you see these big piles of branches and foliage

and shrubbery or whatever. I can't.

I can't believe I just said it like that.

I just totally thought of Monty Python in the search for the

Holy Grail. A shrubbery.

OK, those of you who haven't seen the movie, you're like, I

have no idea. What you're doing?

Go home and watch it, all right? You have to remain in him when

you see those piles on the side of the road.

Are they normally the greenest, most beautiful things you've

ever seen? No.

And if they are, they're fresh. Come back the next day, the

longer that they are now detached.

They're wilting, they're dying, the life is leaving them and it

doesn't happen immediately, does it?

Colossians 2 verses 6 and seven says this.

Colossians 2:6

Paul says, and now just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your

Lord, you must continue to follow him, continue to follow

him. It's going to get hard.

Temptations are going to come. He says let your roots grow down

into Him and let your lives be built on Him.

Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and

you will overflow with thankfulness.

Roots have to grow down. So if.

We're talking about shrubberies. The deeper the roots, the more

that they'll survive. I love that picture.

Roots don't grow overnight. They take time.

And I don't know, I've been on many a nature trail and nature

hike. I've never heard somebody admire

the roots. I'm sure somebody has.

But I've. Never seen people go look at the

size of that tree. I bet those roots are amazing.

But they are. They are.

If they weren't, then it would just take a couple blows of the

wind and that tree would fall over.

It's when the roots start to become shallow that a tree's

really in trouble. The same truth is here for us in

our lives, which is this. The prayers that nobody else

hears but are between you and the Lord matter.

Your Bible reading that nobody applauds, nobody gives you a

daily handclap because you're staying in the Scripture

matters. Those quiet moments where God

tells you to do something and you say yes, Sir, and nobody

else heard that word, but you said yes to God, they matter.

When you make a. Decision to forgive somebody and

they don't deserve it, which is almost every time you forgive

somebody. It matters.

When you choose to trust God, when you choose to remain

faithful. These things are your roots

going down deeper and you have got to choose them on a regular

basis or that soil is going to erode and your root system will

not be able to hold you. Can I tell?

You one thing that I have learned in all of my years of

following Jesus. I've.

Never drifted near Jesus on accident.

It's funny, every time I've been drifting, it's always been a

negative. Every single season when I felt

close to the Lord, it's because I intentionally made time for

Him. Every season that I felt distant

from him, it wasn't because God had moved, it was because my

attention was divided. So I think that's why it's

important to note that Hebrews uses the word attention.

Just remember this, whatever captures your attention also

captures your direction and you'll keep moving towards it.

I've had a lot of water. Issues throughout the years.

I'll just share one other one with you.

One time I was at the Mullet Festival.

It's about the fish, not the haircut.

The. Mullet Festival is how they

celebrate in Swansboro, NC. And.

And I won this big inflatable hammer.

I mean, probably about this long.

It's the kind that every parent hates because when you hit

something, it squeaks, right? Oh, I love this thing.

I took it on the boat with my stepdad and my mom and.

They're. Trying to like, cast their net

and catch some shrimp for dinner.

And I'm just like, what can I hit with this hammer?

And I hit the wrong thing and it kind of bounces back and it goes

out into the water and I jump out into the water.

And I'm out there over my head and the hammer's not really

close enough to to grab a hold of and I try to and my stepdad,

who I did not get along with well.

He reaches over, grabs me by my trunks, I get the worst wedgie

of my life, hauls me back into the boat.

And gives me the whole don't you ever do that again?

And he starts teaching me about the undertow and he teaches me

about currents and he teaches me all this other stuff.

He probably should have taught me how to swim.

But but what? My point is this, I was not

equipped for where I was going. And I'm so glad that there was a

hand to reach me out. What happens on the day that the

presence of that hand leaves me and I don't even know it?

We had. Some questions before, but I

would just also tell you this. If drifting is preventable, how

do you prevent it? I'm going to get you out of here

in about 10 minutes. The first way you can prevent

drift is by making Jesus your priority instead of your

leftovers. And I don't need to be the one

to tell you if that's the. Case or not, there's a lot of us

that we love God. We've got the Christian bumper

sticker, we've got the nice Bible case.

We are here every Sunday, every Wednesday.

There's a lot of people that will do this.

That doesn't mean he's your first priority.

It might mean church is a top priority, which I'm grateful

for. But please don't put us above

Jesus either. Your time with your Saviour and

your God matters more than anything else.

In case your spouse is not brave enough to tell you, let me tell

you your. Time with your Lord and Saviour

is more important than your time with your spouse.

Your time with your Lord and Saviour is more important than

your time with your kids. Now listen to me.

Your Lord and Savior loves you enough.

He wants you to have a good marriage.

He wants you to have a good relationship with your kids.

If you prioritize your relationship with the Lord, He

will. Lead you to be a good.

Father, a good mother, a good husband, a Good Wife, a good

servant of the Lord in the House of God, a good community member.

He will lead you into all of this stuff.

I'm not saying that you have to spend more physical time in

prayer every time. What I'm saying is He needs to

be the priority. When I wake up, He's my first

priority. I've had some people tell me

very nice and they're like, man, I remember when you were youth

pastor and you preached on occasion for Pastor Tom, but

you're so different now, you know?

And I'm like, thanks. The number one thing that

changed is the time that I spend with them.

I didn't get different preaching classes.

I didn't get different methods. I didn't study other preachers.

I spent time in his presence and now I'm terrified to leave his

presence. That's why I love it.

I mean I just I told them what I was preaching like 2 days ago

for this Wednesday so I don't know if it was Cassie.

Or Sarah, who set up the the songs for tonight?

Heather. Heather, you set it up.

Sorry neither of you forget my almost compliments you guys

great job. Because they're at the end.

We're singing in the blessing. May His presence go before you

and behind you and beside you and all around you and we're

singing. He's with you over and over

again. He's with you, he's with you,

he's with you. Do you want to get to the place

that he's not? Make him your priority.

He'll save you when you're drifting.

He's. Got to be #1 OK, don't.

Use him as an excuse for other relationships, by the way, but

make him #1. The number two thing I would say

is this you? Have got to respond quickly

whenever the Holy Spirit convicts you.

One of the. Worst habits a Christian can

have is saying I'll deal with that later.

If somebody can ask you how are you doing with your forgiveness

and it's a year later and you say I'm working on it, I'm also

going to tell you another hard truth.

No, you're not. No, you're not.

I don't have a timeline for you. You.

Know it's important, it's in your mind, but if you are

working on something that the Holy Spirit is leading you and

convicting you into, you'll do it.

And you may. Not want to you may have some

words to gripe with him it's OK, he's a big boy he can handle it

if. He.

Convicts you of something. It is.

Yes, Sir. If you want him to give you more

words, if you want him to guide you more, start being obedient.

And what he's already? Told you and when the Holy

Spirit convicts you and you say yes immediately, it changes

things. Try it out.

The next time that you even feel the remotest thing of saying

forgive them or go be kind to them or pay for that or go pray

for them and you say. Yes to it.

Tell me that it doesn't feel like the the doorway to heaven

opens just a little bit more because it does.

Last thing I would just tell you if you want to prevent it is

this. You have to practice regular

repentance. You know, it's interesting.

I know that there's a lot of parts in the very Old Testament.

A lot of people don't like to study, myself included.

Sometimes I do not love hearing all those Levitical laws.

And all of that. There are some good stuff in

there, but it's just not as exciting.

There were all sorts of offerings in the Old Testament,

all sorts of them. What's?

Interesting is there was also more than one kind of sin

offering. There was an offering for

intentional sin. And.

For unintentional sin, they literally had a system built in

in the Old Testament thousands of years before Jesus that was

centered around. I'm sure you've done some other

things that are wrong that you're not thinking of.

And so for your unintentional sin, for your accidental

discrepancies, this is what this sacrifices for.

Now we live in an era where Jesus has made atonement for all

of our sin, intentional, unintentional, and otherwise,

right? But the cool thing is this.

Your power and your authority on this earth all hinges on 2 acts.

We'll talk. About it a little bit in the

fall as we get into a little bit of.

Spiritual warfare, right? That I feel like the Lord is

leading me to, to touch on this year.

But all of your power, if you belong to Jesus, is wrapped up

in two things. And one of them is to rebuke the

enemy. We like doing that.

One, we feel powerful when we're doing that.

We're kind of like Samson, aren't we?

Well, rebuking the enemy is kicking them out.

Repenting is changing the locks. Your repentance matters.

A great deal I. Cannot tell you how many times I

have said Lord. I'm sure.

I mean, today was an emotional day.

I'm sure I was all over the gamut.

If I misunderstood something, if I judge somebody, if I did

something that is displeasing you in any way, I repent of it.

And this. Is not me walking around saying

like I'm a lowly worm and I'm not worth?

No, we're not worthy, we already know this.

I'm not. Trying to be less than.

I'm just telling him, God, I am sure I don't have it all

together. There's a reason why when I meet

somebody who served the Lord for many decades, a lot of times

I'll ask him, what's one thing that used to matter a lot to

you, but then now that you know God the way that you do, it's

changed? What has changed?

What have you learned as time goes on?

And I take notes when they tell me repent often.

Repent often. Don't wait until it's something

obvious. Well, Lord, I blew up with my

wife this morning. I probably shouldn't have called

her that. I mean, repent for that, yes.

I'm just saying don't wait for it.

Do you remember when Jesus was was teaching and he said, you

know that you're not supposed to murder and you know you're not

supposed to commit adultery? But I'm telling you, if you

don't hold on to anger or lust in your heart, these things

don't happen. What is it that's?

Lurking in your heart that is just a seed waiting to burst

through. Repent for it.

Kill. The seed, don't wait for it to

come up and try to yank it up by its roots.

Don't let it grow roots. You're growing roots in Christ

right every. Single time.

That I get upset at somebody, especially the moments that I

feel justified that I was right. I turn around and I start

walking back to Jesus. Because if I become very certain

that I'm right about something. Even if I'm correct, you know

what else comes in? Pride.

Pride. Always return to Him.

I just want to share one last scripture with you.

One of the things I love about God is that He never exposes

something in your life to make you feel guilty.

I know a lot of us have a family member who has done that before,

master of the guilt trip or something like that, but.

If God exposes something in your life, it's a kindness.

He wants to restore something. Every single warning in

Scripture is an act of grace. It is your loving Father saying,

I'm showing you this now because I don't want you farther away

from me tomorrow. And so the reality is that all

of us are being pulled by something.

And maybe it's just. Our schedules, our careers, our

fears or our hurts and wounds. Whatever it is, good things pull

us too. But.

Remember these words from Jesus in Matthew 633.

Seek the Kingdom of God. Above all else.

And. This one doesn't get quoted as

often. And live righteously and he will

give you everything you need. That middle part is where we get

tripped up. You know why?

Because we seek the Kingdom of God.

We again go to church or we know how to speak Christian or

whatever's happening, and we're waiting for God to provide the

stuff. Once you seek the Kingdom of

God, guess what's going to happen.

You're going to hear from the King, and when you hear from the

King, his edicts, his laws, his words, that's your law now.

And as soon as you do that, guess what you're doing?

You're living righteously. The Spirit of the living God

will convict you and He will guide you, and you can walk in

that and when. You do that, he'll give you

everything you need. You'll find that the

relationships you long for, they're either provided or you

don't long for them. What you'll do is you'll find

the things that you thought you needed in your life.

He's either provided them or you don't need them.

He'll take care of it if you seek him above all else, and you

live righteously so. This.

Week, I would just encourage you, this is not a a

condemnation message. This is not how far have I

drifted? Don't even ask God, it doesn't

matter. Ask him.

What can I do tomorrow to seek you?

What can I do tonight to seek you First let.

Me, go ahead and pray with you. Hey God, we just thank you so

much for never giving up on us, for those of us who have given

up on ourselves. We just publicly repent to you.

God, we should have never given up on ourselves.

We should have gone to you. For the help that we need for

ourselves. We should have not been so proud

as to not ask for help. So we come to you tonight, God,

wherever we have drifted, would you just anchor us and give us

the courage and the strength to come back where we're supposed

to? Father, we rebuke the currents.

We rebuke the enemy that would pull us away.

But at. The same time, God, we repent

for allowing them to. We invite you into our life and

we ask you to give us clear vision so that we won't drift

again. In the name of Jesus, Amen.