 Amen. So Judges chapter 15, we're continuing the story of Samson here for the next couple of chapters in Judges, and we've already gone through the the prophecy of Samson's life how he was to be a Nazarite from the womb. Last week we looked at Judges chapter 14, which talked about Samson's marriage that, you know, never really was. His wedding feast, it kind of turned into a disaster for everyone involved. And this week we're looking at Judges chapter 15, and the story of Samson continues. So we're going to look at you know, kind of this pattern that we're seeing from Samson, and let's continue in Judges 15, look at verse number one. The Bible says, but it came to pass. So here's Samson last week in Judges chapter 14. Remember that he went to the wedding and he got involved in this in this wager with these 30 Philistine men that were kind of hired to be his companions, his friends at the wedding. Of course his would-be wife or his new wife kind of manipulates him and then sells him out or just not sells him out, but she just kind of gives up his riddle, and then he basically goes and kills all these people to pay back the bet. So in verse number one we see that the wife is still in the picture, you know, she's still around, and it came to pass within a while after in the time of the wheat harvest that Samson visited his wife with a kid, and he said, I will go into my wife into the chamber, but her father would not suffer him to go in. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 24. So Samson visited his wife with a kid. Now that doesn't mean he took a child with him. That means he had a, you know, he brought a gift. He brought out a kid as a young goat basically. So it's like a lamb is to a sheep, a kid is to a goat. So he brings a present to, you know, hey, sorry about that whole mess. We're ahead to murder everybody. Here's a present to try to make things better, but her father would not suffer him to go in. So the wedding, the marriage at this point, he's in that stage where, you know, they're betrothed. So they weren't, they had not come together physically as man and wife, and Samson comes to his wife and he wants to go in under her and, you know, consummate the marriage physically. And his father would not suffer him to do so. And if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 24, I want to explain to you why that is, because the father had, you know, had given her to be someone else's wife. Okay. And if you look at verse number two, before we get into Deuteronomy 24, we can see what happened here. And her father said, I barely thought that thou hast utterly hated her. Therefore I gave her to thy companion is not her younger sister fairer than she. So basically, the father says, I thought you had hated her. Okay. So basically, not to, not to do a total study on divorce in the Bible, but in Deuteronomy chapter 22, there is a scenario where the Bible says that in that betrothal period, should a man find out that the woman is not a maid, that she is not, you know, a virgin. So, you know, that she's not pure, that he can, you know, call the marriage off, basically. And at that point, it was called divorce because they were betrothed and that was considered marriage. Okay. Now, there's no equivalent to that today, but the wording in Deuteronomy chapter 2 does say that, you know, he hated her. If he find that, if he go in under her and find that she's not a maid, and he hates her, hate of her, then he can bring her to, there's this whole process that they can go to, go through. But Deuteronomy chapter 24 more specifically talks about someone who's been hated in that way, and there's been like that separation, that divorce, as you could, you could call it. She's been then remarried to someone else, and then, you know, the past husband wants to go back to that woman. Okay. So, what I want to show you in Deuteronomy chapter 24 is kind of the concern of this woman's father in, in Judges chapter 15. So, the Bible says in verse number 1 of Deuteronomy 24, when a man had taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he had found some uncleanness in her, just like Deuteronomy chapter 22, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement, that means that the other guy, the next guy does, and give it in her hand and send her out of his house, or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife, her former husband. So, basically, if she's married to this guy, and you know, they're together as husband and wife, and then, you know, he ends up divorcing her or he dies, it's not, it's not permitted for the other husband to take her. Okay. Her former husband may not take her again to be his wife, for that she is defiled. So, what does that mean? That means she has physically been with her second husband. Okay. So, she wasn't physically with the first husband. She's physically with the second husband. So, I'm just trying to get you, I don't want to preach, this is not a sermon about divorce. You know, that's a whole thing in itself. But what I'm trying to get you to understand is that the Bible puts heavy importance on purity here. It's putting a heavy importance on, you know, a woman being with two separate men. That's bad. That's not something that the Bible condones. So, that's what the Bible is protecting in Deuteronomy chapter 24. And that is what this father is concerned about. He's like, no, it would be an abomination. She, I thought you hated her. So, she married somebody else that marriage has been consummated. So, he would not let Samson go into her because of Deuteronomy chapter 22 and Deuteronomy chapter 24. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand. Okay. He's trying to protect, you know, against that abomination that Deuteronomy 24 is talking about. Okay. So, he's not allowing it. And he says, I've given her to another. Okay. So, I mean, Samson obviously is not going to be happy about this. You know, and he says, is not her younger sister fairer than she? He's like, marry, you know, my other daughter. He said, you know, and, you know, marry her. It would be better than committing this abomination. Okay. And Samson said concerning them. And it's interesting also, by the way, that, you know, the morality amongst the heathen is, you know, protecting purity here. Because, I mean, these are Philistines. I mean, these aren't even really, you know, Jews that you could say were, you know, to just follow the Deuteronomy. You know, but just the, I'm just trying to get you to understand the value of purity, even amongst the Philistines. I mean, even amongst the Philistines, these heathen people. Okay. So, her father is protecting his daughter, and this, this situation of purity. She's already with a husband that's, you know, that marriage has been consummated. All right. Verse number three. And Samson said concerning them, now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. So, he's upset. You know, he's upset that his wife has been given away and Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took fire brands and turned tail to tail and put a fire brand in the mitts between two tails. So, what did he do here? So, Samson obviously is a man of stature. He's a judge. He's a ruler in Israel. He's got some resources in his, in his, you know, disposal. You know, so, he goes and he catches or has help catching or whatever, 300 foxes and they tie two foxes together by the tail. I've never done this, you know, but I can't imagine that the foxes, the two foxes would be very happy that this is happening. And then they tie a fire brand or, you know, a stick that's smoldering or something that's smoldering on the tails of these two foxes and they let them go in all the crops and he let them go in all the crops of the Philistines. So, I mean, this must have been quite a scene. I can about imagine, but they basically went running like crazy in every single direction, I'm sure, and they burned the place to the ground. They burned all these crops down and, you know, the Philistines, you know, were not happy. Look at verse number five. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines and burnt up both the shocks and also the standing corn with the vineyards and olives. Now, I don't know if you know about corn, but this was, first of all, let's get detailed about farming here, okay? So, corn, you don't harvest corn until it's all dried up, okay? So, you wait for it to all dry up and then it's time to harvest it because then the kernels come off very easily and it's easier to harvest it. So, it was in shocks, they said, some of it, meaning it was cut and bundled up, super dry. Same thing with wheat. It was the time of the wheat harvest, right? So, wheat, when wheat gets ripe and wheat gets ready to harvest, it's completely dried up. It's no longer green. In North Dakota, we would always know that harvest time was coming because the wheat fields would be green and then they would go to yellow. They would just turn completely yellow because they would all just dry up. And, you know, straw, that's where you get straw, is from, you know, wheat stalks. We all know how dry straw burns. You can about imagine the kind of fire that they had going on here. Then the Philistines said, who had done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Tim Knight, because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with fire. So, here's how it ends for Samson's wife, you know, that we talked about in Judges chapter 14. She was, I mean, this woman ever since she met Samson has been trying to avoid death, basically. And finally, it finds her here and her, you know, father and her, probably your whole family, was killed here. So, that's kind of a sad end for her. Look at verse number seven. And Samson said unto them, though you have done this, so basically, here's, here's, you have this pattern. Are we seeing a pattern here? So, basically, Samson's wife gets given away and, you know, I mean, basically it starts with the bet, right? It starts with the bet and he loses the bet and he gets mad. So, he goes and he murders 30 Philistines, takes their stuff and gives it to the people that he lost the bet to. And then his wife gets given away. So, he burns down all their crops. And then they get mad at him and they kill his wife and her family and her father. And then he gets mad at them and this is just how it goes, okay? So, here we go with this cycle. More revenge. And Samson said unto them, though you have done this, yet I will be avenged of you and after that I will cease. He's like, you know, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. He's like, look, I just want to get the last punch in here and then I'll be good, is what Samson says. Look at Deuteronomy 32 and verse 35. This is the Lord saying this. The Lord says, and this is why, can we start to see why the Lord says this? When we see this situation going on with the Philistines and Samson, to me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide and do time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste. And then in Romans 12, 19, you know, of course the Bible says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, say, at the Lord. So, God tells us in the Bible that look, do not avenge yourself. Do not be this guy. Do not be going out just trying to get the last punch in or the thing will never end. If men, if men in general, even without religion operated that way, there would just be constant violence throughout the world. I mean, look, we see that with across the world with certain ethnic groups that are just constantly after each other. It's just, it just never ends. It never ends at all. Okay, so look, he's got to get them back. You know, and it's just more evidence by the way of his immaturity that he just has, he can't stop himself from taking revenge. Look at verse number eight. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock at Eton. And the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi. So basically he goes and he kills a bunch more Philistines and he goes up to this mountain or this rock of Eton and the Philistines come after him and they come after him with an army and they spread themselves in Lehi. I mean, look, Samson literally started here, he started a war all by himself. I mean, he's a one man war basically is what's going on here. And the men of Judah, verse 10, and the men of Judah said, why are you come up against us? And they answered. So the men of Judah are like, why are the Philistines, look, they're under the rule of Philistines. But now comes this big army to, you know, come into their territory. And they said, you know, why are you coming up against us? And they answered to bind Samson, we are come up to do to him as he had done to us. So they want to get him back now. So they're, they're looking to get him back. Look at verse 11. Then 3000 men of Judah. So this isn't 3000 men of the Philistines. Okay, this is super important to recognize, you know, the story of Samson. And this really shows us, we're going to look at this, you know, in depth this evening, but this really shows us, you know, the story of Samson and where Samson could have been so much greater than he was. And it starts right here in verse number 11, when it says, then 3000 men of Judah went up to the top of the rock, eat them. This is where Samson is. Samson killed all the Philistines, and then he went up to the top of this mountain or this rock. And these 3000 men of Judah, they went up there and they're like, we're going to fight with you. We're with you, buddy. They're like, let's go and free ourselves from the Philistines. Let's go. They've been under oppression for what, 40 years? A long time. These 3000 men, they, they pick up arms and they go up to Samson and they say, let's take back our country. Let's go and free ourselves. Let's turn back to the Lord. No, they went up there to get him. Look at what the verse says. And they said to, and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us. What is this that thou has done unto us? And he said unto them, as they did unto me, so have I done unto them. Man, go to Judges chapter 13. So he's like, they did, they, they hit me first, dad. Judges chapter 13. Now let's look at the difference here between Judges chapter 13 and what's going on here. And the children of Israel. So these people, look, go back to, I'm sorry. Okay, I just want to read this for you that they've been under the Philistines for 40 years. Okay, look at verse 1 of Judges 13. I got ahead of myself there. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into hand of the Philistines for 40 years. These people have now been under Philistine rule for at least 60 years. I mean you have to, you know, Samson's got to be at least 20. This is before Samson was born. They've been under Philistine rule for 60, 60 years at this point. Look at verse 12 of Judges 15. And the men of Judah go up to not fight with Samson but to capture Samson and bring him to the Philistines. Okay, look at verse 12 of Judges 15. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me that you will not fall upon me yourselves. And he says, he says, Okay, he's like, I'm going to let you bind me. Just promise that you won't kill me. Promise that you won't kill me. Just, you'll just bring me to the Philistines. Look at verse 13. And the Bible says, And they spake unto him saying, No, but we will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand, but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound it with two new cords and brought him up from the rock. And when they came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the spirit of the Lord mightily came upon him. And the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire. And his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new job on of an ass and put forth his hand and took it and slew a thousand men therewith. And Samson said, With the job on of an ass heaps upon heaps with the job an ass have I slain a thousand men. So look, this is another example of the strength of Samson here. I mean, look, this is definitely a supernatural event. This is definitely not something that a normal man could do. Okay, this would have not been possible other than, you know, the spirit of God working through Samson. Okay, look, I mean, just the sheer physical effort required here. He didn't even have a weapon. He basically had a blunt object about that big. He basically beat people with a rock is what it boils down to. Okay, he had, you know, a jawbone of an ass, just the sheer physical effort. You can see this is a definite supernatural thing. Okay, so Samson wasn't just some tough guy. He was a guy that God definitely gave extra strength and extra power to. Okay, look at verse number 17. And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand and called that place Ramath Lehi. And he was sore thirst and called on the Lord. I bet, you know, I mean, that's a lot of work what he just did. And it said, Thou has given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant. And now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised. But God clave and hollowed a place that was in the jaw. And there came water there out. And when he had drunk his spirit came again and revived, wherefore he called the name Ekenhor, Eken and Hekor, which is in Lehi until this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years. So what can we learn from this story with Samson? We see, we see Samson here. It's more of the same, but it's more destruction towards the Philistines in this story. Look, Samson is definitely a destructive force, you know, towards the Philistines. He's killing them. He's burning their fields. He's destroying their property. He's definitely a thorn in their sides. I mean, you can't, you can't argue that. But here's the thing. You know, as you, as you think about, you know, I was thinking about reading this story, and as you think about the foxes, you know, tied together, running through the fields with the firebrands in their tails. Really, you know what Samson was? He was, he was one of the foxes. Samson was just this wild man just running through the Philistines, just causing chaos to these people. I mean, go back to Judges chapter 6. He was kind of, you know, just this, just this weapon of mass destruction that's just wreaking havoc with the Philistines. But let's look at the difference between another judge and Samson. And that's what I, what I want to really get at here. Look at Judges chapter 6 and look at verse 33. This is the story that we went through about Gideon, another judge. The Bible says this. It says, and they came up to meet them. You see the difference here? Go back to Judges 15 and verse number 11. You see the difference here between Samson and Gideon? What am I getting at? Look at verse number 11 again of verse, or of chapter 15. Then three, so here we see Gideon and just all these tribes of, of, of Israel just coming to just fight with him, to free themselves from the Midianites, from these people that have been oppressing them, and from all the armies of the East that they brought with them. But look at verse 11 of Judges 15. Then 3,000 men of Judah went up to the top of Rock Eton and said to Samson, Know us thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that thou had done unto us? And he said unto them, as they did unto me, hath I done unto them. Look, these people, the people, were not with Samson. They were not with Samson. What, what Samson did by wreaking havoc in the Philistines by God? Look, God still used him to do all these things by killing a thousand men, by killing the men before that, when he went up to the Rock, eat him. What he did against the Philistines, he did alone. He did by himself. He was not with, there's no, and by the way, even in the end of his life, which we will get to next week, and I don't want to give it away, but even in the end of his life with Gideon, he freed the people. There is no indication that, that Samson ever freed the people from the Philistines. He wreaked all kinds of havoc. He killed several thousand Philistines, the Bible says. But there's no indication that he ever totally frees the people from the Philistines. He was just used as this, this chaotic force to disrupt them. So that, I mean, the first point I want to make, turn to Luke chapter 22. The first point I want to make here, when we look at Samson in Judges 15, is that if you are selfish, you will most likely be selfish alone in your life. True leadership, turn to Luke chapter 22. True leadership is thinking of others in your decisions. There's a reason that the people, look, it wasn't just an accident. There's a reason that the people were not with Samson. There's a reason that he didn't have a bunch of people just wanting to fight with him. Look, he was a great warrior. He was very strong. He had superhuman strength. You know, he had the spirit of the Lord upon him. I mean, there's a reason that he didn't have all these people just wanting to follow him. Look at Luke chapter 22. The Bible says this in verse 25. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them. And they exercise authority upon them that are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. Jesus is telling them, telling the disciples how they should lead. But ye shall not be so. But he is the greatest among you. Let him be as the younger. And he that is chief as he that doth serve. It says the person that's in charge should be the one that serves. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth. Is he not that sitteth at meat? But I am amongst you as he that's servant. Jesus here is saying is that amongst you, amongst you, the leader should serve. The leader should be the servant. Jesus said that many times throughout his ministry. He's like, I came to serve. I came to serve you. And he's trying to teach the disciples this methodology which is against what they thought. It's against, you know, man's flesh. You know, even people today, people think I want to be in charge so I can tell people what to do. But the Bible says that if you want to be in charge, if you want to be a good leader, you know, to get people to follow you, you need to be a servant. You need to be their servant. You say, but I'm in charge. You know, you're sitting there, you're thinking, but I'm in charge of my family. I'm the husband. I'm in charge. People have to follow me. People have to follow me because of the position that I'm in. Well, I mean, that may be true. But think of it this way. Who wants a bunch of people that are following them just because they have to? You know, your wife, I mean, if she's following the Bible, she has to follow you. Your children, if they're going to be obedient children, they have to obey you. I mean, that's the way it works. But look, in many cases, people don't actually have to obey you. You know, men at work, you know, men at work, you know, people don't actually have to follow you at work. They can actually quit their job. You know, at least in this country anyway, we're not like the Egyptians that are slave drivers over the, you know, the children of Israel here. People can quit their jobs. People can stop working for you voluntarily. Isn't that true? And then pretty soon, I'm guessing that your boss or the owner of whatever company that you work for is going to realize that no one wants to work for you. And pretty soon, you're not going to be the boss anymore is how that's going to go. See that many times. But look, in certain situations, husbands, fathers, yeah, you're in charge just by the position. But look, I mean, when you show people that your concern is them, that your concern is their well-being, when you serve those people, your concern is their safety. Your concern is their growth. Your concern is their success. Then you will have people wanting to follow you. You know, people in those cases, they may ask you to lead them. Those are the people that will put you in the high seats that will ask you to be, you know, a leader in your life. But look, all of that, all this service, it all takes effort. It all takes effort to go and be a servant to somebody else. Samson was serving his own desires. That's what he was doing. And that's why nobody wanted to follow him. And we can see that here. As soon as he got in trouble, look, he killed the enemy. These men of Judah, they didn't like the Philistines. They despised the Philistines. But they just didn't, they didn't want to follow Samson because he never proved to them that he ever had their interests in mind. He was only chasing his own selfish motivations, whether that be revenge, whether that be, you know, a woman that he wanted, whether that be a bet that he wanted to win, whatever. He was chasing his own selfish desires, which brings me to my second point. So we see that if you're selfish, you're going to be alone. If you're selfish, you're going to be alone in what you do. If you're alone, you will profit little, is the second thing I want to bring up. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. You know, the Bible says that there's greater spiritual power in numbers. There's greater spiritual power in numbers. Look at Matthew chapter 18. Look at verse 19. The Bible says this. It says, again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven. He's talking about two disciples getting together and praying for a cause or, you know, getting together and asking God for a certain result or a certain cause. He's like, if you're gathered together, he's like, you know, I'm going to be listening. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. I mean, look, that's, I mean, that's, that's a pretty powerful statement. That's a pretty powerful statement that if, more than two or three or two or three disciples, how many disciples do we have here? If we have dozens of disciples together, I mean, the Bible says here, God is telling us right here. Look, we believe the Bible literally, folks. That means that when it, when Samson killed a thousand people, and we don't think that that just meant like, oh, a bunch of people. No, we meant he killed a thousand people with a jawbone of an ass. That's what happened when the Bible says that when two or three gather or dozens of people gather in my name, I'm in the midst of them. God is here. God is here. God is in the midst of us. I mean, that's amazing. But there's power in numbers. There's spiritual power in numbers is what the Bible is saying. So, I mean, I mean, turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. I mean, that's profound that the more, you know, the people, when we gather together as disciples, that the Lord is in the midst of us, and he will do what we ask of him. That's profound. 1 Thessalonians 5. The Bible says this, look at verse number 11, talking about spiritual power in numbers here. Why we don't want to be alone? Why don't I just want to be a Samson? I can just go out and I'll just like wreak havoc and whatever, and God can use me where he sees fit. But I'll just wreak havoc with my life. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their worksake and be at peace amongst yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, and be patient towards all men, especially verse number 14. The Bible is saying there's a lot more benefits here talking about, you know, strengthened numbers. It's talking about how, you know, that we'll have spiritual leaders that are over us, that are, you know, here to admonish us. We'll have people here to comfort us. We'll have people here to support us. You say, well, I'm weak in certain areas. Well, that's why, you know, there's spiritual power in numbers because we're here to support the weak. Maybe, you know, one person is weak in this area, another person is strong in that area, another person's weak in this area, another person's strong in that area. You get together, there's a lot of strength to cover gaps there. We're here to support each other and comfort the feeble-minded. Look at Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. Look at verse number one. More of this. More of this. Same thing. There's spiritual power in numbers. We don't want to go this thing alone. Verse number one. When we then that are strong, once again, talking about just filling those gaps of the weak, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. So that means when, you know, you please your neighbor when you are strong for your neighbor's weakness that that edifies him. For even Christ, please not himself. Once again, who is the servant? Who is the one that was teaching us that, you know, whose chief among you will serve? Jesus was the model for that. For even Christ, please not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. So look, Samson was strong. We get that. We see that already. But he didn't, you know, Romans 15 is talking about your neighbor. He didn't think of his neighbor much. Samson. He wasn't much good to anyone but himself in his efforts that he was making. Did you know, did you know that even soul-winning? Did you even know that, that, you know, talking about leadership and servant leadership, do you know even soul-winning, you're leading people? Do you know that? Did you know that when you're out and you're giving the gospel to people? You know that you're leading people in that moment. You know that you're actually, you know, leading people at the door. If you have somebody that's listening to the gospel and they're listening to you preach the gospel, they're following you, you're leading them. And we go through all these soul-winning tips and we go through all these, you know, different things to do that will make you a better soul-winner, which is all great. We go through, you know, a lot of its logistics, how we do things, how you can be better at interacting with people, you know, different things to explain on doctrine in the Bible. But you know what? You know what you can't really fake? You can't really fake that servitude that you have towards people. You know, if you're there and you're just kind of going through the motions, you know that people will be able to tell. You know that people will be able to tell if you don't really care, if you're not really there to serve them, if you don't really have that servant's heart towards the person that you're talking to, you know they'll be able to tell. People can tell, they can tell in your mannerisms, in your face. I've been told this by my wife many times that people can tell when I'm angry, when I'm not in a good mood, you know, I'm bad at that. But people can tell with most people. If you're not in a good mood, you know, you wear that on your face. If you don't, I mean, so what? But if you do care, so I can't give you a soul-winning tip to make you like this. But if you do care and you have that servant's heart, people will be able to notice that. And they will respond to that. And they will guess what? What will they want to do? What have we learned? What will people want to do if they know that you're concerned about them? If they know that you're truly there because you're concerned for their safety, you're concerned for their well-being, you're concerned for their success, people will want to follow you. Now, I mean, do you go soul-winning and like halfway through your gospel presentation, people just drift off on you all the time? Well, maybe you should just show more concern or have concern for that individual person. They'll see that and they will want to follow you. They'll want to continue listening to them, because you're listening to you. I mean, all these things, I mean, look, it's a heart thing. For soul-winning, it's a heart thing. For servitude in general, it's a heart thing. You know, do you want to serve people? You can't really, you can't really fake it. That's the thing. Back to Samson. Back to Samson. All this being said, God still used him. God still used him. I'm being kind of hard on Samson. Like, man, you're hard on this guy. God still used him. Samson was a great physical weapon. This is my third point. He was a great physical weapon. But let me ask you this. Was that all he was supposed to be? Was just this great physical weapon used to wreck property, to destroy people's lives, to just destroy these heathen people? Was that all he was supposed to be? Let me ask you this. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. If all he was supposed to be was this great physical weapon that would just be this guy with superhuman strength that could just go and beat up 1,000 people and kill 1,000 people and knock down buildings, I just gave away next week. But I mean, if all he was to be was just this guy that was super strong, I can still remember, this is another bad thing about Sunday school, right? I mean, the Sunday school cartoons of Samson. You know, he's like, I'm Samson. You know, the guy with the big muscles and everything. And by the way, he probably wasn't even a big guy. He was supernatural. I mean, you ever gotten a physical altercation with a really big guy? They get tired really fast. He probably wasn't a big guy. I remember there was a time where like, the biggest football player and the smallest wrestler, the best wrestler of our school, would always have a match. The football player was like 240 pounds like the Samson cartoons, they're like, hi, can't even put his arms down. And then some 112 pound wrestler would come up and just, you know, put him on the ground in like 28 seconds. I think maybe, yeah, it was about 28 seconds. But look, big guys get tired really fast. And look, if he was big and strong, that would have been his physical power anyway. It was God's power that did this. Where was I even headed with this? The point was that he was a great physical strength. But do you think that that was all that it was meant to be? What was the point of the Nazarite vow? He was a Nazarite from the womb. What was the point of that? If he was just to be this big, tough guy, that was, you just go kill all these people. There would be no point in it. Look at Matthew chapter 11. Let's look at another Nazarite from the womb here and see how that turned out for him. Look at Matthew chapter 11, verse number nine. Talking about John the Baptist here. The other, you know, another Nazarite from the womb. Look at verse number nine. But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yay, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. So here the Bible is telling us that John the Baptist was more than a prophet. I mean, this man, he said, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send a messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So here in verse number 12, and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and violence takeeth by forth for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. So here we see all these prophets prophesying Christ and then John comes, he's the messenger, you know, right before Christ to clear the way for Christ. And the Bible says that he was so good that he was greater than all men that had ever been born of women before that point. How many people did John the Baptist kill and beat up? John the Baptist was a great spiritual force. He was a great messenger comparable to angels. That's what angels are as messengers of God. He was a messenger and the Bible says he's greater than all the prophets. I mean, he was a great success as a man. But look, here's the thing, just because God still used Samson to be this physical force against the Philistines, did not mean that it was his full potential at all. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. John the Baptist didn't kill anybody and the Bible says he's the greatest that was ever born of women. He was the greatest man that had ever lived. Look at all the prophets. I mean, that's quite a statement at that point. Think of all the prophets in the Bible. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. But notice as we read this, the point of these gifts. I want to point out the point of these gifts. We're talking about spiritual gifts now in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Now there are diversities of gifts. That means not everybody's going to have the same gift, but the same spirit. So that means if you look at amongst us, that means we all have the same spirit. We all have the same Holy Spirit. We're all sealed by the Holy Spirit. We're all saved. But we have different gifts, the Bible says. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. We're not going to all have the same position. We're not going to have all the same position in life, in the church, wherever. And there are diversities of operations. But it is the same God which worketh all and all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, why? To profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit of the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. So I mean I like verse number nine because some of us maybe have weak faith, but then there's this guy in number nine. He's got great faith. And guess what? He's there to strengthen his neighbor. So if we're in situations and we have someone in this church with great faith, I hope there's someone in this church with great faith. I know there's people in this church with great faith and there's somebody with weak faith. If they're together with us they're going to be covered and they're going to be comforted and they're going to be edified by that person with great faith. Faith in verse number nine. To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, and to another diverse kinds of tongues. To another the interpretation of tongues. This is like Francisco where we're out soul winning. And I say this all the time, like someone's like no no English or whatever they say in Spanish. I don't even know how they say it in Spanish. But I'm like oh yeah what do you think of this guy? It's my secret weapon. Bam. So look I mean that's a gift. That's a spiritual gift the Bible says. But all these that work one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severely, severally as he will. So look the point of the different spiritual gifts is what? In verse number seven it's to profit other people. And look Samson is a story of spiritual gifts never realized. There were spiritual gifts that were never realized. I mean he was a great physical destructor. But those spiritual gifts were never realized. So I mean think about that. Think about gifts never realized. You say yeah man that's bad of Samson to not you know have realized those gifts. You know what? I don't think we're much different. You know this is why you know when we're raising our kids we need to be helping our kids realize what their gifts are. We need to be helping our kids you know recognize and develop their strengths. Because you'll wreck I mean if you have more than one kid you're going to realize as they grow up that they each have different gifts and different strengths. It's our job look it's our job to discover and help them discover and hone those gifts. Those skills. I mean think you think about it just like music, education, physical skills, real world skills, people skills. I mean you think about all these character traits that you know we need to help these kids develop as they grow up in our homes. And then once we develop and we realize we help these kids realize we help our children realize those strengths then the second part is this and if you haven't listened to Pastor Human as a sermon by the way I'm going to plug Pastor Human as a sermon from Sunday night. It's the the She Bears sermon. If you haven't listened to that and you have children just just go listen to that. Don't leave right now but listen to that sermon. Okay it's just he gives like 50 points on just you know on things on raising children it's just great but one of the points is I'm going to kind of repeat it here but it's very relevant to the sermon. We need to realize our kids strengths and then we need to we need to realize our kids strengths and then we need to help our kids develop those strengths to in a godly direction. Think about it. Think about music. Think about how many kids have musical talent and musical abilities and and they use it in a worldly fashion. Think about all these people I mean think about all these people with these incredibly gifted children these incredibly well trained children as far as music and they put them off in the entertainment industry or I mean these people must be insane but I mean we can make the same mistakes. I mean that's a that's a bad one right. I mean that's obvious none of us would ever do that but you think about just these these these ideas in that we're developing in our children. I mean you know think about sports. Sports is a great thing learning how to exercise and learning how to take care of yourself but you know don't go in and this pastor mentioned this in his sermon. Don't go and put your kids in some sport that's going to end up you know taking them down a sinful path when they get to be a teenager or into their young adult years or it's going to have them involved with a bunch of worldly people or it's going to have you know whether it be organized sports or whether it be you know them thinking I mean I can't remember how many kids that I've known from my hometown that thought that they were going to be a professional athlete one day. Who would ever want that for their kids? I mean are you crazy? I mean you know the lives of these people live? You know the type of people that they're around so be careful. Look all these things are good to develop these skills but then we need to develop those skills in a godly direction for the kids. You need to show them how they can use those skills in a godly direction. It's super important. You don't want these kids using their skills to yoke up with worldly people and worldly organizations. And look I believe that the most I also don't believe that I understand that there's some savants out there that are just like totally gifted in certain areas and all this type of thing and we've seen those people in in our world and in history but look I believe I believe most skillful people are created. And I mean of course created by God but I'm talking about they're created by their parents by the environment that they're raised in. Look you have I mean look if you have you know you have to have certain building blocks that are there of course like education you know great builders need to have you know a level of coordination they need to have some thinking skills they need to have some physical characteristics you know these types of things but look 90% of it is because someone taught them the character that they would need to pursue these things to persevere be diligent and master something. That's 90% of it probably 95% of it so we need to do that with our kids we need to recognize their strengths and we need to develop those strengths in a godly direction in a godly service for their life that's that's where Samson's parents miss the bus that's where Samson's parents you know they didn't develop that in Samson so he just was this you know physically strong wild man that the Spirit of the Lord came upon just wreaked havoc which you know God still used him God still used him but look the vast when I think about this story I think you know I believe that the vast majority because I see this I believe the vast majority of Christians will never even reach even close to their full potential and that's that's depressing because you see you have these you have these Christians you have these adults you know there maybe you didn't grow up in in a church that preached the Bible maybe you didn't grow up maybe got saved later in life whatever but you have these adults these Christians and and they're wrapped and they have all this potential here but it's just it's wrapped in garbage it's wrapped it's wrapped in trash you know it's wrapped in in in character flaws it's wrapped in in laziness it's wrapped in sin it's wrapped in in connections and in wrong directions that they're heading because of of worldliness you know it's wrapped in it's wrapped in thorns as the Bible would say you know the cares of this world and look it's blocking that potential from ever coming out but look I mean it's never the beauty of God's plan and you see it in so many different places in the Bible you even see it at the end of Samson's life you even see it at the end of Samson's life is it's never too late to use that potential it's never too late to go to plan B plan C plan D plan E whatever you know plan S plan T plan Y it's never too late God always has that opportunity there it's whether or not you choose to take that opportunity Samson look it's a it's a true shame it's a true shame when when you can see it happening it's a shame that that potential is not going to be there if we could all you know get rid of that that outside garbage around us and you know maybe that garbage is even blocking you from even seeing your potential but I think if you're older I think if you're older than 30 you probably know what your potential is that's what I think I think you probably know enough about yourself in your relationship with the Lord especially if you've been saved for a few years especially if you've been reading the Bible I think you know what your potential is and at that point you're just choosing to not let it out if you if you're older and you're reading the Bible and you're in it especially if you're in church like this that's why you're not going to see a lot of people who just want to be constantly wrapped in garbage just sitting in church three times a week like this because who wants to be reminded of that who wants to be reminded that I've got all this potential inside me and I just I got it packed with manure and trash and I'm not going to let it out can't wait to come back to church three days that's that's why you don't see that that's why you don't see that so look Samson is just a great reminder of that type of wasted potential but God can still use anybody even to the last second of their life so let's not let's think about that let's think about that with our kids let's think about developing that potential watch that sermon talk about developing that potential number one and then number two making sure that we develop it in a godly direction and look that I mean look you you define look you define the road for your kids I mean this this here's another worldly thing the sermon's over but I'm going to continue for another minute here's another worldly here's another worldly philosophy that you need to stay away from this idea that oh it's up to the kids to find their own way you know this idea that kids that you can be whatever you want to be you know and the kids are just supposed to wander around and try to I mean how many how many adults have I ever have I met in the last 20 years that have kids that are 20 25 30 years old oh he's just trying to find himself he's just trying to find yourself he's just oh you know he tried you know whatever whatever whatever no look we need to define the direction for our children well you know hey let's look at what their strengths are let's look at what we it's a beauty of the homeschool parent by the way because you're going to spend so much time with your kids you're going to know what their strengths and their weaknesses are and like you can help point them in the right direction but we you define the direction of your kids look if you have a 25 year old kid who's just he's he's like this it's your fault you made that you created that but they just they these people they just write them off they write them off like yeah I don't know what the deal is with him the deals with him is you stink his appearance I mean look these most of these people I'm talking about aren't even safe they don't even have a chance they have no chance because guess what you don't go around like this these kids these teenagers these preteens these young kids these teenagers and these these young adults they don't go around like this very long somebody grabs them and throws them in a dumpster and they drag them into the trash they wrap them in trash and pretty soon it's it's it's too late that's what happens you define the road or somebody else is going to define it for you there's a lot of wicked people out there that would love to define the direction for they're defining the direction for all kinds of kids you ever heard of the university system that's what they're doing there Samson wasted potential we have to define the path for our children a biblical path a path that identifies their skill sets identifies their strengths and points them in the right direction on how to use those things for the lord for their life and once they get on that road and they pick up some speed it's great it's great it could be a great success story and that's why we're here let's borrow our heads and have a word of