 All right, Judges chapter 13. So we're starting a new story in the Bible here. I mean, obviously every chapter in Judges is a new story. But we're kind of entering into the introduction into one of the main Judges or one of the Judges that has talked about the most in the book of Judges in Judges chapter 13. And the Bible starts out in Judges 13 1 where the Bible says, and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. So it sounds like the same story. It's like, here we go again, right? The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. But this one's a little bit different if you notice the last part of the sentence where it says, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines 40 years. So 40 years is a pretty long enslavement, even from the history of the book of Judges that we've been looking at so far. We've seen 18 years and a little bit more and a little bit less than that. But they've been enslaved to the Philistines because they did evil in the sight of the Lord for 40 years at this point. So look at verse number two where the Bible says, and there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoa. And his wife was barren and bare not. I mean, she didn't have any children. She apparently couldn't have any children. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now thou art barren and barris not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink and eat not any unclean thing. For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So let's look at what this means to be a Nazarite unto God before we get into the sermon this evening because this comes up again and again that this child is going to be a Nazarite unto God which means he has certain characteristics, things that he will do and things he can't do. Turn to Numbers chapter six. Now the Nazarite of God or the Nazarite from God is a vow in the Bible. But however, you know, it was a vow that a man could take towards God and then he would do certain things to show that vow. But three people in the Bible received this vow from birth. Okay, now don't go to Numbers six or put your finger in Numbers chapter six and turn to first Samuel chapter one. So in the Old Testament, the two people that were Nazarites from birth or had the Nazarite vow from birth were Samuel and Samson. So Samson is the one we're talking about in Judges 13. And Samuel is also who we're going to look at in first Samuel chapter one, look at verse 11. And this talking about Samuel's mother where it says, and she vowed a vow and said, oh Lord of hosts, if thou will indeed look on this affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but we'll give unto thine handmaid a child. Again Hannah was, she was barren as well and she just was praying to God to have a child. She says, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head. So there's the clue right there. We'll look at that in Numbers chapter six, but we see a similar characteristic of Samuel to what we're looking at in Judges chapter 13. Now turn to Luke chapter one. There's somebody else in the Bible that received the Nazarite vow from birth and that is John the Baptist. In Luke chapter one, look at verse 15. Look at verse 15 of Luke chapter one in the New Testament. So we see Samuel, we see Samson in Judges 13 and now we're going to see John the Baptist in Luke chapter one in verse 15 where the Bible says, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Now go back to Numbers chapter six and we'll look at some of the details of the Nazarite vow. But the first thing that I want to point out with these three men that received this vow before, I mean they didn't take the vow, they received it, you know the Bible says and the first point I want to make is that they received it from the womb. Okay, they received it from his mother's womb it says in Luke chapter one in verse number 15. Now it says in Luke chapter one in verse 15 and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Okay, so first you know notice how Luke chapter one and Judges 13.5 talk about that it doesn't say from birth he will be a Nazarite. It says from the womb look to be filled with the Holy Ghost you know what you have to be? You have to be a person. You have to be a person to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now look there are so many proofs in the Bible about you know how an unborn child is an actual person you know that we could spend a sermon series looking at them all but this is just one more that the Nazarite vow was from the womb. Okay, this was something that you know if you're filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb that was John the Baptist and then you know he was a Nazarite and Judges 13 from the womb the Bible says. Okay, it's just more proof that the personhood of the child is proved in the Bible again and again and again not at birth. Okay, it's also proof if you go back to Judges chapter 13 Judges chapter 13 and look you know at the first few verses here the Bible says you know in verse 4 I pray thee and drink not wine or strong drink and eat not any unclean thing. He's talking to you know Manoa's wife here he's talking to the mother of Samson it's also proof that you know what you eat your child eats you know when you're pregnant okay you know what you drink your child drinks you know this is why you know they teach against you know even secular medicine teaches you shouldn't drink alcohol when you're pregnant but look it's it's more look more people should be taking Nazarite vows today let me let me tell you that okay I mean there would be no fetal alcohol syndrome all right if people were taking Nazarite vows but look at Numbers chapter 6 and let's go look at you know what the Nazarite vow was and the details of it because Numbers chapter 6 and and the first few verses here talk about you know the details of the vow all right so we see that there's three people that receive the vow in the womb and that you know this proves that you know you're a person in the womb okay a child is a person in the womb look at Numbers 6 and verse number one and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when either a man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow to a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord so it could be a man or a woman first of all if they choose to take this vow he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dried all the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from kernels even to the husk all the days of the vow of his separation shall no razor come upon his head sounds familiar until the days be fulfilled in which he separated himself unto the Lord he shall be holy he shall let the locks of his the head of the hair of his head grow so i mean this is turn to first Corinthians chapter 11 so we see and we're going to see this with samson that one of the outstanding the most noticeable traits of the Nazarite vow is that a man would not cut his hair then and and samson was a Nazarite from birth from the um birth from the womb so he was never to have his hair cut okay so that's the first thing but look this is the exception the bible says for men having long hair turn to first Corinthians chapter 11 you say man the bible even talks about how long your hair should be yes the bible talks about everything the bible talks about all details of your life including your hair cut look at first Corinthians chapter 11 and there's good reason for it if we look at first Corinthians chapter 11 look at first Corinthians chapter 11 and verse number three talking about men and women and the length of their hair so we see that the Nazarite a person that takes a Nazarite vow someone who's a Nazarite from the womb is to just never cut their hair however look at what the bible says for everyone else first Corinthians 11 chat and verse number three but i would have you know that the head of every man is christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of christ is god verse number four every man so we first see this model laid out on who you know as a man who is my head as a man my head is christ as a woman you know the the head of the woman is the man so my wife's head is me i am the head of my wife and christ is my head we see this model i mean this is a model for the family laid out elsewhere in the bible nothing new here but the bible is relating this now to actually what's your what is the hair on your head look at verse number four every man praying or prophesying having his head cover having his head covered dishonoreth his head so the bible says that every man if a man prays or prophesies you know if the man is basically praying or preaching or you know preaching the gospel whatever and it is his head covered he dishonoreth his head so who is his head who's the man's head we'll look at verse number three his head is christ so it says you dishonor if you are you know praying or prophesying the bible says you know with your head covered you know you dishonor christ i mean this is why i mean you wonder where it came from where men shouldn't wear you know hats in buildings this is where it came from it's biblical okay i mean you shouldn't walk into church men with a hat when you walk into the building and you know i mean that's where that came from that's where that etiquette came from now look at verse number five we talk about the women but every woman that prayeth or prophesied with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head for that is even for that is even all one as if she were shaven so the bible says if a woman's head is not covered then she dishonoreth her head i mean so who is her head well look back at verse number three the head of the woman is the man so the bible here is saying that if a woman would pray or prophesy with her head uncovered that she dishonoreth her husband is what the bible says okay so i mean you can start to see where there's some churches that believe in head coverings at this point can't you i mean where you know you see these you know i don't know what kind of uh churches they are like pentecostal like you know these really strict sects of the you know the uh the amish same thing they must wear head coverings all the time because they're you know that's this is where they're getting it right here okay however we need to keep reading and we can see some more detail on this look at verse number six the bible goes into more about the woman where it says for if the woman be not covered let her also be shorn but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven let her be covered so here the bible is saying that for a woman to be shaven for for a woman to have her head shaved is a shame we'll get into that in a little bit uh a little bit more in in just a few minutes but look at now skip down to verse number 14 for sake of time and the bible says something very interesting here in verse 14 where it says doth not even don't forget this underline these words in your bible especially if you go to this church doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame onto him so what do we learn in verse six that's a shame onto a woman if a woman has her head shaved that's a shame onto her and the bible says that if a man has long hair that's a shame onto him but you say well you're just making that up no i'm not because nature itself tells you this nature itself now it's very important whenever you see you know this these words nature natural unnatural in the bible it's referring to something very specific look at verse 15 but if a woman have long hair it is a glory unto her so it's kind of like the opposite of shame right so you have a shaved woman is a shame onto her and it's a dishonor to her husband and then if she has long hair it's a glory onto her the opposite of shame for her hair uh-oh here we go is given to her for a covering so that's why we don't you know teach and preach that women should wear head coverings in church we do teach and preach that women should have long hair you know women should not have short hair you say what oh that's legalistic no that's just what the bible says it doesn't have anything to do with going to heaven it doesn't have anything to do you know with your salvation but this is what the bible says i mean you won't hear this preached anywhere i don't know why it's not hard to understand but look here's the thing look at verse 14 again does not even nature itself it says that this is so interesting because the bible here says that nature itself teaches us this that men should have short hair and women should have long hair i mean the bible says look this is roman's 214 stuff right here this is roman's 214 says the gentiles that have which have not the law do by nature the things that are contained in the law so look roman's 214 is talking about the Gentiles and they did the things by nature they didn't have the law they did not have the law what advantage hath the jew they had the oracles of god the Gentiles who were getting the gospel preached to them they didn't have the oracles of god but what they were finding what and Paul's explaining is that they did by nature the things that were in the law because god wrote the law in their hearts paul is explaining that so when the bible says that things are natural or by nature it means that is written in your heart in your conscience that god gave you remember our study in roman's everybody starts with a conscience whether you end up saved or unsaved or whatever you end up in your life you started with a conscience whatever you did with it you started with this natural law inside you so look that's why you're gonna see that's why you're gonna see you know these these these liberal women these feminists that you know with the short hair and in an extreme case the completely unnatural the homosexual woman with shaved hair it's unnatural it's it fits perfectly with what the bible says look i mean you don't have to you know if i always try to think about how to explain this to people that maybe don't read the bible and don't come to church but it's just it's all about natural natural equaling that conscience that god gave you in your heart and unnatural meaning going against that conscience going against that nature that god gave you in your heart now look i interviewed my wife for this sermon okay and i interviewed my wife because look i mean this happened this has happened many times throughout history just an example recently in the 40s uh nazi the nazi germany overtook they overran france and they occupied france for for i don't know several years and there were some women that collaborated with the enemy i'll just leave it at that but they collaborated with the enemy they helped the enemy they befriended the enemy and they were after germany was expelled from france you know how they punished these women they shaved their head they shaved their heads thousands tens of thousands of french women had their heads shorn because they collaborated with the enemy and it was because it was a shame to them i interviewed my wife and i said to my wife i said look if somebody were to tell you that you know we're just going to shave your head right now she's like what would your feeling be she's like terror she's like my feelings would be terror because her hair is a glory unto her and you know what she didn't have to be taught that that's just that's written in her heart i'm sure if you women in this room today could just think about somebody coming and just shaving your head completely that's got to be that's a terrifying thought for you right because it's natural it's written in your heart and you got that natural that natural law from the lord you didn't have to be taught that the Gentiles didn't have to be taught that so i mean just showing historically that you know it's it's it's a shame for a woman you have to shut that off now you're saying oh what about a woman that you know someone will say what about a woman that has cancer and goes through treatment or something you know i've known several women i mean first of all the except this exception it proves the rule because i've known several women that have gone through cancer treatment and have lost all their hair now first of all that's not their fault but look it's it's one of the hardest things that they went through as far as as far as that that cancer treatment and fighting that because their hair was a it was it was it was terrifying for them to lose their hair so they they wore hats or they they got some of them got wigs things like this but until their hair grew back but it was a terrifying thing it was a sad thing for them to lose their hair in that case that was of no fault of their own but i just want to point out that just the the natural and unnatural aspects of this don't miss this look around you today folks i mean look around it explains everything that we're seeing happen today you have to shut that off right and that's not the point of the sermon but you have to in order to you know you have to you have to sear that conscience in order to not have that natural feeling anymore so look i just back to the nazarite vow all that to say this this man is going to stand out okay people are going to know that this guy is taking a nazarite vow because all the men have short hair okay all the men have short hair except this guy who's a razor shall never come to his head all right i mean that's terrifying to me to even think about so on the other side so on the other side of it i can't even imagine something like that but i mean it's it's it's horrifying to even think about that i mean i remember i mean we're all having a hard time getting well most of us well no you guys are simpler on your haircuts but i'm having a hard time getting a hair i mean it's terrible having your hair you know grow out long i mean for a man right because it's a natural thing it's not natural for a man to have long hair okay look numbers chapter six look at verse number six just to finish this off all the days that he separated himself unto the lord so just remember he's separated unto the lord as well he's got these specific rules but he's separated unto the lord he shall come at no dead body he shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother for his brother or for his sister when they die meaning if somebody in his family dies this guy can't carry the body all right because the consecration of god is upon his head okay because like who's his head again his head is christ okay look um it's a voluntary separation from the lord as a sacrifice to god that's what the nazarite vow taken by a normal man was and that's what numbers chapter six is explaining now of course samson is going to be a nazarite from the womb a very special case there was only three of them in the bible judges chapter 13 let's go back there look at verse number six gotta hurry up here now judges chapter 13 look at verse number six the bible says that when the woman came and told her husband saying a man of god came unto me and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of god very terrible but i asked him not from yeah i asked him not whence he was neither told me his name she asked she said i didn't ask him whence means where you came from she said i didn't ask him where he came from but he said unto me behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son and now drink no wine or strong drink neither any eat any any clean thing for the child shall be a nazarite to god from the womb there it is again to the day of his death i mean look i mean i'm sorry but i mean i mean just why can't we just listen to the bible the bible so simple i mean there's few things that are proven so many times in the bible that a child is a person from the womb you know i mean why can't we just follow the bible in this country i mean don't you think things would be simpler and better that way but no let's just go ahead and let's just murder 50 million people let's murder 50 million people and let's see how that works out for us it's probably 60 million now i mean who knows i mean look it's it's so simple i mean you know what's it's so simple that a child would be a person from the womb that makes perfect sense it goes straight with the bible what it says here and in many other places but look it's so simple that that what is you know that that miss christal and miss viviana they are pregnant with a person you know what's complicated you know what's complicated is proving how that's not a person that's complicated i mean science itself shows you that went you know at fertilization that you have a whole new genetic code code you have a whole you know third genetic situation there dna that's all unique everything you know what's complicated is trying to find another point in the growth of a child where he becomes or he she becomes a person other than at conception that's what's complicated you know it's just like how compromise in general is complicated you know sticking to the bible is just simple stick into the bible is simple you just i mean it's just that's just the bible it's not hard to explain it's not hard to understand it's just the bible i mean these are people i mean we're literally murdering tens of millions of people in this country 55 60 million people i mean look that's what's going to bring this country down right there that one thing i mean innocent blood like that it i mean read the bible it never goes unanswered by god judgments coming for that we should have just listened we should just listen to the bible all right back to the sermon verse number eight then minoa entreated the lord and said oh my lord let the man of god which thou did send come again into us and teach us what we shall do to the child that be born and the god heart and god harkened under the voice of minoa and the angel of god came again under the woman as she sat in the field but minoa minoa her husband was not with her and the woman made haste and ran and showed her husband and said under her him behold the man had appeared unto me that came unto me the other day and minoa arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him out art thou the man that speaketh unto the woman and he said i am and minoa said now let thy words come to pass how shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him he's like tell me what we're supposed to do with this child you know she must not have told him you know the whole story because he wants to hear it himself look at verse number 13 and the angel repeats himself and the angel of the lord said unto minoa there's a patient angel of all that i said out of the woman let her beware she may not eat of anything that come of cometh of the vine either drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing all that i commanded her let her observe and minoa said unto the angel of the lord i pray thee let us detain thee and tell we shall have made ready a kid for thee and the angel of the lord said unto minoa though thou detain me i will not eat of thy bread and if thy will offer a burnt offering thou must offer it unto the lord for minoa knew that he wasn't knew not that he was an angel of the lord so i mean first of all this is another proof in the bible that angels angels are messengers of god and many times especially this case here they look like people they look like i mean the bible says that you know we may entertain angels unawares well how's that possible because they look like us because angels are sent to earth and they can look just like a person just like this person i mean minoa didn't know that this was an angel the bible says the angel of the lord said on minoa but the bible just said at the end of verse 16 minoa knew not that he was an angel of the lord and the angel just also understand that he didn't want the sacrifice for himself he did not want them worshiping him he wanted the sacrifice to go to god look at verse 17 and minoa said unto the angel of the lord what is thy name that when thy sayings come to pass we may do the honor and the angel of the lord said unto him why ask it thou thus after my name seeing it is secret well why in the world is his name secret well i mean look at the verse previously i mean his name is secret because if he would have given him his name they would have worshiped him i mean it's like people just will just worship anything i mean especially these people but he's like you know my name's secret you know it's probably gabriel that's my thought you know from luke 1 26 you know gabriel talked to mary you know i have nothing to back that up but my opinion is that this is quite possibly gabriel but look he didn't want to give his name he said my name is secret and you know i don't want you to do me honor i'm here to deliver a message these angels are there to do a job that's it and look at verse 19 so minoa took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto who the angel no unto the lord and the angel did wondrously what's that mean turned to judges chapter six and the angel did wondrously minoa and his wife looked on for it came to pass when the flame went up towards heaven from off the altar that the angel the lord ascended in the flame of the altar and minoa and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground now they know something's up look at judges six and verse number 20 this is similar to what happened to gideon with the angel and the angel of god said unto him in verse 20 of judge of six take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth and he did so then the angel of the lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cake and there arose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes the angel did the same thing in judges chapter 13 he did miraculously that means he burnt the offering himself he started the fire himself and then in judges 13 he not only started the fire but he went up to heaven in the flame of the fire and now minoa knows this just isn't a guy okay in judges chapter you know it's the same fire same type of situation look at verse 21 and the angel the lord did no more appear to minoa and to his wife then minoa knew that he was an angel of the lord and minoa turned to exodus 33 and minoa said unto his wife we shall surely die because we have seen god turned to exodus chapter 33 so where is he getting that well remember there's a common thing in israel to know that you know if you looked upon god you were not going to live through that and here's why look at exodus chapter 33 and verse number 20 god is talking to moses and god says that he's going to show himself to moses but god says to moses he says hey when i show myself i'm going to reveal myself to you but when god walks by him god puts his hand covers his face so only moses can only see his back so god you know doesn't kill moses okay because look at exodus chapter 33 and verse 20 and he said thou can't not see my face for there shall no man see me and live so you cannot look upon god the father his face and live through that the bible says okay that's what he says to moses and that's what minoa that's that information that knowledge that minoa just thinks he just saw god okay and he's like you know we're going to die but his wife said unto him verse 23 if the lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received the burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands neither would he have showed us these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these so i mean this is a logical woman right here okay this is a logical woman so first of all i want you to remember that you know god received this offering from them and god doesn't just receive any old offering god doesn't receive any offering that you could think of at any time you know whatever you want to give him okay but she says to him she's like look if he was going to kill us he wouldn't have received our offering okay and then the bible ends this chapter where it says in the women and the woman bear a son and called his name samson and the child grew and the lord blessed him and the spirit of the lord began to move him at times in the camp of dam between zora and ash tail so here we see the beginning of the story of samson in the bible so we're going to get into the story of samson um next week but for now i want to just apply this nazarite vow and what this can mean for us in our lives today turn to romans chapter 12 what can we learn from the nazarite vow of the old testament look at romans chapter 12 and look at verse number one romans chapter 12 and verse number one the nazarite vow and you is what we're going to talk about now look at romans chapter 12 and verse number one the bible says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service so the bible here is saying you know that we should you know present our bodies themselves as a sacrifice unto god meaning that they should be holy you know if they're holy they're going to be acceptable unto god implying that there's an unacceptable sacrifice by the way again implying that okay now look look at verse number two and be not conformed to this world there's that separation that we always talk about but the opposite of the opposite of being conformed to this world is be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god so here the the bible is saying that our bodies themselves are to be presented as a sacrifice to god that we are to be separate look there's some interesting details of the nazarite vow if we look back at numbers chapter six and verse number two i'll just read it for you but the bible says this in numbers chapter six three he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink being a nazarite having that nazarite vow is much about separation from things okay and you know whether a man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow to vow a vow of a nazarite to separate themselves unto the lord the nazarite vow was all about separation it was all about separation the same thing that we're seeing in romance chapter 12 verse four of number six says all the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from the kernels even unto the husk look he's to be separate and very specifically he's to separate from wine and strong drink but then notice the extremes of the nazarite vow you know he's not only to not have strong drink but he's to have no vinegar he's to have no liquid at all that comes from grapes like no grape juice no grape juice for samson you're like oh man look he's not even supposed to eat grapes or or dried grapes you're like what you can't even have raisins who would want to eat a raisin anyway what i mean it should be against the law to make cookies with raisins in them yeah what were we talking about i mean the worst thing in the world is when you think you get a chocolate chip cookie and it's a raisin cookie it's like a nazarite vow look i'm trying to point out the extremes here okay no raisin cookies and it all goes back to that you know anything of the vine nothing to eat of the vine nothing to drink no grape juice no capri sun nothing no fruit juice nothing that comes from the vine or the husk you know you can also make alcohol from corn we had an ethanol plant attached to the power plant that i used to work at millions and millions and millions of gallons of straight alcohol from corn that's what it's talking about from the husk alcohol is made also from that look this shows us this shows us two things that we can take from the nazarite vow first of all our body is to be a sacrifice number one in our body we are to be separate number two so we see those two things so what can we learn from that turn to first Thessalonians chapter five in verse number 22 i'm going to show you two things that you can personally learn from the nazarite vow i mean your body is supposed to be a sacrifice unto god and you are supposed to be separate from the world unto god very similar to the nazarite vow you're pretty much living the nazarite vow if you're following the bible folks now look at first Thessalonians 522 this is the first lesson right here abstained from all appearance of evil look he's not even supposed to be in a vineyard he's not supposed to touch a grape i mean that i mean that's pretty good i mean look if you're not so but if you took this vow and you're not supposed to have strong drink but you're constantly walking around in vineyards all the time you know i mean that you know that could have an appearance of evil the bible says abstain from even the appearance of evil listen to that advice look you say but i i don't drink well then don't go don't go to bars don't go to bars stay away from places that may even give you the appearance that you that may give the appearance that you're involved in sin any place like that look i mean this goes back to you know secrets are always bad look if you wouldn't want anyone seeing that you're there or knowing that you're there you shouldn't be there that's a good rule of thumb the second thing is this keep yourself protected from sin keep yourself protected from sin identify it look identify the weak points in your life you know the weak points in your life your weak points may not be my weak points and my weak points may not be your weak points but you personally know your weak points if you struggle with alcohol just an example don't go to places that sell alcohol don't even put that in front of you stay as far away from it as possible look this is why if you quit drinking and you have a problem with alcohol and you quit drinking you need new friends you can't be around a bunch of friends that drink it's it's not going to work you have to get far away from that just like the nazarite was far separated from alcohol you need to put protections in place for your weak points to protect yourself against him do a self-assessment you know find out what you struggle with you struggle with if you struggle with covetousness you know uh you struggle with gambling you know don't go to casinos don't go anywhere near them if you struggle with that type of thing i mean look i mean a lot of people don't struggle with any of this stuff and that's great but if you do you have to put protections in place if you struggle with pornography which apparently a lot of people in this country do you know put protections in place we talked about how you can protect yourself from you know the devices in your home and you can monitor things and you can watch out you know from your with your kids look get it get extreme get rid of your internet access if you have to whatever it takes you say what look these things these these sins they will destroy your future they'll destroy your future romans 12 is telling us that our bodies are to be a living sacrifice to god acceptable to god tain and able we know that not every sacrifice is acceptable you know god just doesn't accept anything turn to hebrew's chapter 12 you see keeping yourself from sin is is more about you know it's more than just avoiding chastisement of god it's much more than just that turn to hebrew's chapter 12 i mean it's it's much more than just avoiding punishment from god it's about providing an acceptable sacrifice to the lord look at hebrew's 12 six for whom the lord loved it he'd chasten it and score just every son whom he received it if you endure chastening god deal with with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chasten it's not so god loves you you're saved you know it's it's it's really not a question of whether or not god loves you it's a question of you know do you love him is what it's a question of but look you're saved you're going to get chastised by god if you don't do any of the things that i'm telling you to do that's just what's going to happen but some people will just be beaten their whole life so it's much more than just avoiding chastisement from god look our bodies are you are you hearing me our bodies are sacrificed to god i mean are you a pile of trash are you a pile of garbage to god i mean is your life just this burning dumpster fire here's my sacrifice god a big dumpster that's on fire right now and it smells so bad you can't even get within fifty feet of it i mean is that is that your sacrifice here you go god thanks for eternal life i mean god's not going to take away your eternal life and that's the sacrifice that you offer him you know i offer you in return just this junky life just this junk filled life because i won't listen to a thing that you say is basically what that's your sacrifice you say you know but you know all the answers are in the bible you're like nah i don't like to read that's nine chapters a day ah i mean are you kidding me i have to spend half an hour a day reading the bible you know what people like this and i don't know how to convince you but people like this just have no character that's the answer they just have no character you have somebody that's done everything for you giving you eternal life you're going to go to heaven and you're just going to offer just this garbage to the lord and not only and not only are you going to offer the garbage to the lord when he gives you he gives you all the answers to unwind all that garbage he gives you a church to go to he gives you brothers and sisters in christ to be around and you're just like nope i'll be in the dumpster lighting myself on fire i mean you've got it it's a character problem it's a character problem if you know somebody like this it's a character problem they have no character that's that's the issue you know think about it they get saved they get in church for five seconds and they fizzle out i mean it's pitiful it's pitiful it's hard to watch and you can truly say look you can truly say that people like this will succeed at nothing in their life why how could i possibly say that how could i possibly say because look if you won't make the effort if you won't make the effort to be a proper sacrifice with your life and your body and think about this if you won't make the effort to be the proper sacrifice with your life and your body to the one god that has given you everything you will do it for no one so i mean you can see you can see the disaster that this will lead people to and i mean they'll you'll never make a serious effort at anything else the one thing i mean you should see you would think you would see people and you do see people like this where they do make a serious effort to be a proper sacrifice and then they have a lot of other problems in other places but at least they got the one thing the main thing the most important thing squared away they're having a hard time getting everything else squared away they're working on those things and hey those things will fall together the main thing's got to come first because look if you won't do if you won't do if you won't open the directions and follow i mean if you love me keep my commandments look i mean he loves us so he gave us the commandments but yet he says in a humble way if you love me keep my commandments but think he gave us the commandments because he loves us so it can be that proper sacrifice i mean if you won't start there you're gonna you have no chance anywhere else it's it's terrible it's it's terrible that people don't understand this i mean is this complicated is this hard to understand this is not hard to understand folks this is not christianity you know 420 you know this is this is getting your life together and loving the lord 101 is what we're talking about here so that's how you know the nazarite vow is is the same as us it's the same as us we're to be separate the nazarite vow in numbers chapter 6 is just separate separate separate separate we're to be separate and it's about offering a sacrifice and guess what we're the sacrifice we're the offering to god it's never going to be enough it's never going to be enough and it's never about our salvation or working to heaven or anything look our salvation was a gift it's about loving the lord and it's about having that acceptable sacrifice to god it's a character issue through and through that's all it is that's all it is because honestly the chastisement you'll watch people you'll watch people just get beaten into the ground by god their whole life and they'll just be like you know they'll just be on the ground just getting kicked and kicked and kicked and they're just like whatever but i mean you think you love the lord i don't know you think you love your family i don't know i don't get it so next week we begin the story of samson in the bible one of the most interesting judges in the bible i mean the most interesting i'm just gonna say it okay the most interesting judge in the bible a ton to learn from samson you know it's a true look it's a true biblical story it's a true biblical story of potential energy you know what potential energy is you know actual kinetic energy is your car driving down the road potential energy is a is a massive five ton rock sitting on a cliff that that could have a lot of energy if someone pushed it off the cliff could have a lot of energy if somebody put it into motion rolling down the hill or whatever but samson is a true story in the bible of potential energy and we're going to look at it in the coming weeks let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer