all right we are in judges chapter number 13 and we are entering into a new
phase of a new character in the book of Judges which is probably the most
popular character within this book by the name of Samson now chapter 13
doesn't deal a whole lot with Samson as far as him being an adult and the
exploits that he did and the spirit of the Lord coming upon him but it lays a
foundation for how this came about how is it that he was raised up what kind
of parents he had and it's a very interesting story there's a lot of
principles that we can learn from this but let me just give you an
overview of what we've seen so far in the book of Judges now the vast
majority of the book of Judges deals primarily with detailing the lives of the
actual judges themselves and if you remember in the very beginning I gave
you a concise outline of these judges and what chapters they're found in from
chapters 3 all the way to chapter 16 you have nothing but judges being
spoken about and really the most popular ones you had Othniel you have
Echad, Deborah, Gideon then you have Gideon's descendant who wanted to usurp
authority become a judge become a ruler by the name of Abimelech after
him you have Tola and Jair but then you have Jephthah who's not necessarily part
of the twelve tribes of Israel but rather is part of the offshoot of the
tribe of Manasseh who's half tribe with Ephraim so we see that in the
previous chapter and then last week it was kind of like a break of all the
the biographical details that it gives of these judges and we just get into
this random story of the Gileadites really just massacring these
Ephraimites for not being able to pronounce shibboleth correctly all right
so reference that from last week but now and then there's three other judges
that come up after that Elam, Abdon and Ibsen but not a whole lot of
details is given about them and then we enter into chapter number 13 which is
the beginning of the story of Samson now look at verse number one it says
here and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord
big surprise I mean this is something that we commonly see throughout the book
of Judges right and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines
40 years so what we see in chapter 13 is not much has really changed
throughout these time periods you still have Israel acting foolish
serving other idols in the absence of their authority and you know what God
doesn't change so therefore the consequences do not change either you
know he dealt with Israel in a certain way you know in the beginning
of the judges in the middle of the judges and at the end of judges as well
because God does not change in his judgment right we see there that they
begin to do evil in the sight of the Lord and that is commonly associated
with idolatry they're serving Baal they're serving these false gods the
gods of the surrounding people that they're with and then the Lord
delivers them into the hand of the Philistines for that reason for 40
years now notice this look at verse number two it says in there was a
certain man of Zorab of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah and
his wife was barren and bare not now I hope he caught this because verse
number one has nothing to do with verse number two he just like talks
about the state of the condition the spiritual condition of Israel and just
segues into this individual story of a man who has a wife who cannot bear
children and he's part of the tribe of the day of the Danites and it's
just like if you think about it like where did that come from you know but
let me just say this is that I want to make a point regarding what we just saw
here in verses one and two is that you know obviously the Bible is
inspired by God right and the Bible tells us that all scripture is given by
inspiration of God it's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction
instruction in righteousness it's perfect it's without error but you
know also the Bible is a great storybook you know obviously there's
great stories in the Bible but just the way this the story is told is
great obviously it's because it's written by the greatest storyteller of
all of all time which is God right and the reason I say that is because a good
story has a good plot right a good story has interesting characters and
guess what a good story has an element of surprise so you said what
does that have to do with this well they God basically leaves us with a
cliffhanger in verse number one look Israel's doing evil inside of the Lord
and look if we've read through judges we know what's coming up next right then
God's gonna raise up a delivery but does he get right into that no he just
talks about this man named Manoah whose wife can't bear and you're just
like what's coming obviously this has something to do with the deliverance of
Israel but we just don't know what and in fact if you're first reading off
the Bible you really don't know what's going on but obviously if you've read
it you know what's gonna take place here you know what this is leading up
to but think about the people who are in Israel during this time they have
no idea what's going on they're just being oppressed by the Philistines they
are you know health captive they're being chastised of the Lord but
what's going on God is working in the background he's working behind the
scenes in a time of trial and a time of chastisement in a time of you
know this persecution and all these bad things going on for 40 years you know
there's probably people thinking what's gonna happen but you know what God is
already working he's doing something behind the scenes that maybe Israel does
not know of as of yet and in fact Manoah doesn't even know it Manoah is
just like I'm trying to deal with my own problems my wife can't even have
kids let alone look for the deliverer of Israel right so verse 1 segues
into the story of Manoah and I just thought about that I'm thinking
myself you know God has not changed and it's the same thing today and the
principle that we can learn here is this you know if you're going through a tough
time if you're going through a trial you know what the fact is God is
working behind the scenes and you don't need and sometimes we pray we
never get an answer from God right but do we need an answer no because
the fact of the matter is the Bible tells us that all things work together
for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to
his purpose so what do we need to concern ourselves with loving God
sometimes there is no solution right we don't have a solution we can't come up
with the formula but you're not the solution in the formula to your trial
is that you just love God because in order for God to basically put all the
pieces of the puzzle together in order for everything to work together for good
in order for all the ingredients to be put together to make yourself a nice
cheesecake you know you got to have all the elements but you know you have
to have the chef who actually knows what he's doing if you give me all the
ingredients to make cheesecake I will not make cheesecake it'll just turn out
something really bad because I'm not a good cook but you put that
ingredients into the hands of a good cook they can make a masterpiece
out of it right we just need to make sure that we love God and we just
need to make sure that we love God with all our heart soul mind and
strength that we're right with God and we can be completely dependent on the
fact that God will work it out together for good you know even though
we have verse 1 you're like what's verse 2 all about you know why is
this happening in our lives well just don't this God is working in the
background God is doing something behind the scenes that you may not even
understand as of yet but no one didn't understand it he's just
concerned about the fact that his wife can't have children and what I'm
saying is this is that every single person in this room will go through a
trial or you're probably in the trial right now you're going through a
difficult time you're going through a time of discouragement you know you're
experiencing a verse number one and you're also experiencing a verse
number two you just don't know what they have to do with one another
you're like what is verse one God what is verse two have to do with
verse one I need money I need to pay the rent I need this my health is you
know this or whatever and you just don't know what's going on well they're
linked they're linked you know and at the end of the day we as Christians we
need to have this panoramic view of everything as well that's difficult to
do but it can be done if we just think about it from the bigger picture
okay and recognize that you know trials don't catch God off guard you know
trials and difficulties and things that blindside us do not blindside the Lord
and you say well I'm not going through a trial well you better listen you
better listen hey young person you better pay attention because you're
gonna need this because you will go through a trial it will happen
guaranteed it's gonna happen to you and you know what and if you're not
prepared for it you're gonna be like the person who you know believes they
receive the Word of God with gladness but in it's a time in a time of
temptation they fall away we don't want to fall away during the time of
temptation and trial you know what we want to do in a time of temptation
recognize God is still on the throne he's still working things behind the
scenes I just need to make sure I focus on loving him making sure that I'm
taking care of my responsibilities because he's doing something behind the
scenes and this entire chapter this entire chapter is about the man who God
is going to raise up to take care of verse number one right I mean these next
couple chapters up until chapter 16 is about Samson now given Samson is
not a good example okay he screwed up he messed up he did wrong but you
know what God had a purpose for him he just didn't fulfill that purpose
later on okay but I want to show you that now go go to second Corinthians
chapter number one second Corinthians chapter number one and the reason I'm
spending time on this is because you know we got to talk about doctrine we
got to talk about practical Christian living we also got to talk about how
to maintain emotional fortitude in the midst of difficulties because the fact
is is that this generation that's rising up are a bunch of weenies a bunch of
snowflake weenies who when they stub their toe they can't do anything they
think they think God's chest eyes in them because their toenail got torn off
or something you know by the way if you got your toenail turn off you know
today yeah I'm talking to you okay but and we you know the closer we get to
the end times we are in the end times but the closer we get to the end
times to the end of the world you know the worst people are gonna get the
more trials there's gonna be and you can't be a weak Christian we need to be
fortified we need to be strong emotionally we need to make sure that
we have mental fortitude to withstand the pressures and the stresses yay even
the trials of our day the sufferings and the persecutions of our day when
they come to us because it's gonna come look at the promise that we see in
second Corinthians chapter one and verse number four all right let's start
verse number three says blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforted us in all
our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God that's
a lot of comfort he's a comfort comfort comfort I mean the Holy
Spirit is called the comforter think he's trying to tell us something
right oh hold on a second for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so
consolation also abounded by Christ so you know this tells me in order for us
to get this proper comfort we need to have the proper suffering so if you
want the comfort of God God only dishes out the type of comfort that
comes with the type of persecution that requires that comfort you know and
wherewith look what it says at verse 6 it says and whether we be
afflicted is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the
enduring of the same suffering which we also suffer or whether we be
comforted it is for your consolation and salvation so another thing that we
see there is that God allows us to go through trials so we can be comforted
but not just so we can live in comfort what is it for so we can be
an example to someone else who will go through that same suffering six months
from now so you know do you understand now why it's so vital that
you go through this trial with flying colors do you pass that you'd make the
right decisions do you have the right attitude do you have the right
perspective you know why cuz it's not just you who's on the line it's the
person who's gonna be watching you six months from now you know God is
not all about just giving us comfort so we can be happy I just heard some so
stupid today about this guy who used to go to this church that I know and
he's like a rapper now a Christian rapper he's a Christian rapper and he
said he read something in the Bible in the book of Psalms and the conclusion
he came to was this well I know that God just wants me to be happy now I
know God just wants me to be happy you better study the prophets because
the Bible says that they are of like passions and you know what that's
referring to sufferings when it talks about passion it's not referring to
your zeal it's actually referring to their sufferings like when Jesus said
that he showed himself into the disciples after his passions is
referring after his suffering you know and I'm not saying God doesn't want us
to be happy but you know what the Bible says he that keep it the law
happy is he you want some happiness in your life keep the law but God is not
here as this genie that we just rub the lamp of which we call the Bible and he
just makes us happy he's just here to wait on his hand and foot no we're made
for the glory of God we're made we're here to make him happy amen and you
know what makes this hell makes him happy is that when we suffer and
we're still able to sing in the midst of suffering you know when we are
suffering we're going through trials and afflictions and you know what we
still depend on God no matter what that makes them happy this these are the
things that we need to keep in mind go back to Judges chapter 13 that all
things work together for good that God is working behind the scenes and
this is what we see here with it with the children of Israel let me
give you another example is go to Exodus chapter 2 hold your place there
go to Exodus chapter 2 Exodus chapter number 2 Exodus chapter 2 look at verse
23 of Exodus 2 it says and it came to pass in the process of time that the
king of Egypt died and the children of Israel signed by reason of the
bondage and they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the
bondage and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with
Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the children of Israel
and God had respect unto them end of chapter 2 that's all it says right
and then it jumps into chapter 3 now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his
father-in-law the priest of Midian and he led the flock of the back to
the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God even to Horeb
what do we see here we see an element of suspense he leaves us
wondering man what's gonna happen to Israel but then he focuses on one man
in chapter 3 right just as we see in Judges chapter number 13 so how do we
apply this to even ourselves well often we have a tendency to look at the
entire problem right the entire problem whereas sometimes we just need to
focus on the one person now what do I mean by that well the one person
could be yourself as far as how are you walking with the Lord have you been
reading the Bible are you keeping sin out of your life are you making sure
that you stay right with God you know sometimes we focus on oh man you know
America we need to pray for America no you why don't you just stay right
with God why don't you just win souls why don't you just read the Bible why
don't you just live a life that's holy unto the Lord and let God send
America to hell in a handbasket why don't you just make sure you stay
right with God but another way we can apply this is that the one man could
be hey how about that one soul we need to see safe on a weekly basis on a
daily basis whatever may be take the focus off of the big problem and
refocus yourself on now which is most important okay now go back to judges
chapter 13 so we see that there Israel does evil in the sight of the
Lord verse 2 says and there was a man a certain man of Zorro of the family
of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and bare not
and the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her behold
now thou art barren and barest not but thou shalt conceive and bear a son now
one thing you're gonna notice with Samson is the similarities in the
parallels that we see with Jesus Christ because remember all these
judges in the book of Judges they have some symbolic meaning to Jesus
Christ some of them are more weaker than others some of them you don't see
much it's like well I don't see any parallel with this judge well just
know this the judge was at what deliver just as Jesus Christ is right but here
we see in verse 3 right off the bat he shares this strong similarity that
he's basically like a miracle child because of the fact that his mom could
not bear a child but yet the angel of the Lord came to his wife and said
you're gonna conceive a child something that was impossible in times past right
now this is also said in Luke chapter 1 verse 26 go to Luke chapter 1 hold your
place there Luke chapter number 1 go to Luke chapter 1 verse 26 it says here in
Luke chapter 21 verse 26 it says thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the
days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men and in the
sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into the city of Galilee
named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David and the Virgin's name was Mary and the angel came in
unto her and said hail thou that are highly favored the Lord is with thee
blessed are thou among women and when she saw him she was troubled and
sane and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be and the
angel said unto her fear not Mary for thou has found favor with God and behold
thou shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his
name Jesus so that's kind of a stretch you know it was a miracle
because that lady was barren well you know it was just as a miracle for
Mary because Mary was a virgin who was bearing a child it's a miracle
right and we see that similarity there obviously we see that with John the
Baptist as well but more so as we related to Jesus Christ go back to
Judges chapter 13 now here in verse 4 it says now therefore beware I pray
thee and I pray thee and drink not wine nor strong drink nor eat and 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 now this is this is interesting because what we see here
is God basically telling Manoah's wife hey you're gonna be a Nazarite but your
child the reason you're gonna be a Nazarite is because your child's gonna
be a Nazarite now the Nazarite vow or the concept of the Nazarite vow is
found in Numbers chapter number six and what this was was just a seasonal
vow that a person could make in the Old Testament they would make unto God
and they were to abstain from certain things they couldn't drink juice they
couldn't eat raisins they couldn't come near any dead animals they were supposed
to be consecrated or separated from those things unto the Lord and one
unique thing that they had to do is let their the hair of their head
grow okay until the vow was accomplished now people ironically will
say yeah Jesus Christ have long hair because he was a Nazarite no he
was a Nazarene it was like you just there's a different I know they both
start with an N they have a Z somewhere in there okay but a Nazarite and a
Nazarene are two different things and no I did not just try to rhyme that but
it worked out all right a Nazarite anybody could do it in fact man or
woman could be a part of this vow okay and there's the spiritual
application there is that this you're separated for a specific purpose okay
to fulfill a specific purpose that's why you're not drinking juice you're
not eating raises you're not even touching an unclean animal dead animal or
even a dead person so if a person a family member dies for example you
would not be able to go near that dead body if you're you know if you
had the Nazarite vow because that's how strict it was okay and then you
had to allow that the hair on your head to grow okay and the time you
can basically cut it off is when your vow was accomplished now the Bible tells
us what does the Bible tell us about long hair on the man it says that it's a
shame exactly right the Bible says that for a man to have long hair
doth not nature even teach it that if a man have long hair it is a shame
unto him okay so you know let me just park it here for a little bit no man
should have long hair and you say well what's the rule well if you look
like a stinking lady and chop it off if we start confusing you with the lady
chop it off if you start looking like some queer chop it off oh yeah I just
you know I just have this you know this thing with barbers or whatever
then take a buzzer to it and just handle it you know but it's very clear
oh well Jesus had long hair no he didn't but you're thinking of Caesar
Borgia Caesar Borgia of the Renaissance that wicked person in
history who the the Catholic Jesus looks like that's not Jesus and the
reason he had long hair is because he was a shameful person filled with STDs he
was a fornicator he was a wicked person and that's what people like to
talk about oh you know they put the picture of Jesus this white dude with
blue eyes even though Jesus was part of Israel he's a Jew right he's he's
in the Middle Eastern desert he probably has a tan because he's walking
around for days on end he does not have this Pantene Pro V hair just
hanging that is a false Jesus that's not the right that's not the real
Jesus Caesar Borgia but but here's the thing there is an exception to that rule
though that's right here okay and people balk at that they have a hard
time with that I remember people used to tell me no you know Samson
didn't have long hair it was just logs they're like you little dreadlocks no
it was long you know why it was long because he was supposed to be a
Nazarite from the time of his birth to the time of his death that's a
lifetime of growing hair well how do you explain that if it's a shame
because it's the exception to the rule that's why because it's a Nazarite vow
that's why you know we're allowed to eat raisins we're allowed to drink
juice we're allowed to do all the exceptions to that would be if you're
doing a Nazarite vow hey we're allowed to be around a dead animal if
we're gonna eat it the exception would be if you are doing the Nazarite vow
so guess what the exception to grow your hair the seven locks like Samson
did would be the fact that he was a Nazarite taking that vow okay so this
is what that's referring to here is that he is his mom is to abstain from
drinking wine or strong drink they're not to eat anything any unclean thing
she says that he says thou shalt conceive bearer son no razor shall
come on his head for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb
and look what it says in verse seven it says but he said unto me behold thou
shall conceive and bear a son and now drink no wine or strong drink neither
eat any unclean thing for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the
womb to the day of his death you said why is that unique because
Nazarite vows were only supposed to be temporal okay and this is a very
strong picture of Jesus Christ why is that I'll explain it to you so in
during the Nazarite vow what took place at the end of that Nazarite vow
when they accomplished that vow does anybody know when the vow was
concluded it was specifically given the instruction was that they had to
make a sacrifice of an animal to signify that it was the conclusion of
of that vow okay now isn't that interesting that his vow was supposed
to be from his birth all the way to what his death so what does that tell
us well that shows us that it's like a picture of Jesus Christ because
of the fact that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who should take away
the sins of the world he sacrificed himself just as Samson was supposed to
do maybe in a different manner but he still did it even when he was
backslidden what did he do he sacrificed himself and actually
committed suicide killing himself and all the Philistines at the end of his
life which means that he fulfilled that Nazarite vow to a certain extent
because he sacrificed himself and he fulfilled the picture of Jesus Christ
as well by giving himself a sacrifice for his people okay he delivered his
people through that sacrifice because he killed all the Philistines which were
the oppressors of Israel during that time and because he killed them in
doing so he liberated all of his people from that oppression okay does that make
sense to everyone so we see there that they're supposed to be a Nazarite and
be consecrated so this consecration is pretty deep is it not because
they're consecrating Samson from the womb up until death you know that
tells me first of all it tells me that if he's gonna grow up get married
and everything that means they need to make sure that they train him in the
way he should go for when he is old he will not depart from it train up a
child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart
from it so in order for them to make sure that this vow that God had
told them to carry out was to be carried out they need to make sure
they trained that boy right in the ways of the Lord because once he's out
of the house he's out of the house right but not only that we see here
that they consecrate him from the womb now here's the practical application of
this of this teaching here okay of this story is that Samson is supposed to
be a Nazarite but who's the Nazarite first his mom so in order for Samson
to be a Nazarite mom needs to make sure that she's the example of it even
before he's born bam what does that mean how do we apply that well if you're
gonna consecrate your children unto the Lord in other words you want your
children to serve the Lord to make sure that they're thriving they love the
Lord their God with all their hearts will mind and strength they're doing
that which is right on the side of the Lord that means that you got to do
too not do as I say more like do as I do because we see here that his mother was
to abstain from wine and for all the things that the the the valve the
Nazarite was imposed upon but also for us for her children for her son
Samson and look this is important today is it not because we as parents
can expect our children to live for the Lord if we're not we can't expect them
to read the Bible if we're not we can't expect them to take church you
know serious if we're not we cannot expect our children to exceed that which
we're gonna do if we're not willing to do it ourselves you know and the mom
here seems like she did a pretty good job right and so the principle that we
see here is that we as parents need to be an example you know not just
command our children to do things that we're not willing to do no we need
it exemplify that type of life to them okay and make sure that we are
godly examples not perfect because no parent is perfect and look teenagers
don't expect your parents to be perfect either don't expect your parents to
never make a mistake to never fail to never do wrong their sin is just like
everyone else and you know what you're to use them as an example you're to
treat them as your parents and recognize that God gave you those
parents for a reason use them as an example don't don't mock them don't
disobey them don't rebel against them no if they're trying to be a
Nazarite they're trying to be consecrated unto the Lord you do
likewise you know there's a generation that's being raised up today of just
rebellious teenagers rebellious young people who just hate their parents
this passive-aggressive rebellion towards their parents now obviously the
parents it's the parents fall for not spanking the kids first and
foremost they need a shellacking is what they need and look most problems
can just go back right to that I look at a kid I'm like that person hasn't
been spanked ever rolling their eyes giving an attitude the only time I
rolled my eyes with my mom smacked me across the face and just like hit me
so hard my eyes rolled back never roll your eyes at me but you know I
hear today that's common isn't it it's common in our culture today for the
young people to just completely disrespect their parents roll their eyes
have this passive rebellion towards their parents as if their parents owe
them something shame on you and look it may not be said of the teenagers at
our church to ever have that type of attitude towards their parents you
ought to respect them love them and obey them you know I'm 33 years old and I
still obey my mom can you believe that now obviously outside of the bounds of
if it's something that I have to they're asking me to do where it kind
of just contradicts my family contradicts the Bible I'm not gonna do
it but for the most part I'm gonna do it if my dad asked me to do
something I'm gonna do it and you know what I'm gonna show some respect
when I do it and that's something that's lacking today in the teenagers of
this culture is a lack of respect but you know what it's a lack of a whooping
that's the result of a lack of a whooping because they don't fear their
parents had to chase that rabbit but it's a good rabbit and it's needed
okay you know we need to make sure that we train up a child in the way
should go and look that includes chastisement as well you know no
timeouts none of this timeout go to the corner I'm not gonna let you use the
iPad I'm not gonna let you play xbox that's my kind of chastisement that's
garbage that doesn't work you learn that from you know Freud or what's
that guy's name stick freedom in Freud or whatever fraud you know you're
learning the way of the heathen is what you're doing and look man we need to
make sure that we try to salvage our generation how do we salvage the
generation we need to be the dads that we need to be and chastise our
children love our children not neglect our children but we have to
have all those elements binded into that one part in order for us to be
right type of leaders don't tell me you know all the Bible look if you say
you know all the Bible but you're not chastising your children you're
lying to me because the Bible you're claiming to know tells you to chastise
your children you know and look there is a right and a wrong way of
chastising your children we understand that you know I was joking about the
smacking across the face that is the way the previous generation used to
do it the unchristian unreligious you know way was you know the
chancla you know or they just grab anything that's in sight they just they
see you running they're like damn catch you from right across the room
that's a wrong way of chastising okay pulling the hair smack in the mouth or
whatever there is a proper way to chastise where you don't damage the
brain okay you know there is a proper way and look God God chastises us and
look don't we understand when God chastises one of his children's oh yeah
that guy that guy's getting chastised of the Lord but then we don't
chastise our children that's not that's weird so we're not following the
example of even the father okay we need to make sure that we fulfill this
and this is a great example of Manoah's wife who was willing to abstain from
certain things in order for her son to be consecrated to a great work okay
and I don't we don't even know if they knew that he was gonna be a judge
right there's no judge nothing of being the judge is mentioned here
only that he's supposed to be a Nazarite so for all she knows is
like well maybe he's just supposed to be consecrated unto the Lord and you
know what you don't know what your kids are gonna be when they grew up
either you don't know if they're gonna be the next missionary the next pastor
the next preacher or you know what just the next great soul winner but who
cares as long as you train them in the ways of the Lord to love God and when
they are in that position when they're 21 25 35 whatever may be they know
what they're doing with their lives you know they're gonna do serving God
and look don't get this mixed up there when we talk about serving God you
have to be a pastor or you have to be a missionary oh you have to work full
time for the church you know or else you're not right you got to go to Bible
College to get your four-year degree so you can learn how to print and type
on the keyboard and that's not what we mean by serving God you know what I
mean by serving God we mean soul winning being a faithful member of a
church reading your Bible discipling people you don't need a pastoral
theology major toilet paper certificate to do those things you just need to be
consecrated amen so parents we would do rights look and the reason I'm saying
this is because I know parents they just hammer you got to be a pastor you
got to be a pastor you're gonna be a pastor you're gonna be a missionary
missionary pastor pastor pastor and the kids get so overwhelmed that's like the
last thing they want to do I'm not doing that with my kids they're not
gonna be right with God why why is that the only capacity that they can
serve God in you know they've elevated this position of a pastor so
loftily that you know they expect every single one of their kids to be
serving a ministry as a pastor as a missionary as a pastor's wife no it
doesn't matter as long as they're just serving God in church as long as they
know the Bible as long as they know how to preach the gospel and let me
just say this some Bible callers they have some of the most rotten
people who are going through their pastoral theology major class some of
the most run wicked worldly some of the most lukewarm some of the most weenie
Christians I've ever met are in pastoral theology majoring in classes or
missionary classes it's true because their mama sent Papa Sam I'm Papa called
mama sent we need to change this culture and the independent
fundamental Baptist where we train our children hey to serve God means that
you are a godly man of God not as a pastor not as a missionary and if
that's what you want to do amen but you know what you're not gonna get any
pressure for me to do that what you're gonna get pressure for me to do
is to make sure you love God and you know what not this just vague
definition of loving God either it's to love God is to keep his
commandments to love God is to hate sin ye that love the Lord hate evil teach
them how to hate evil teach them how to love God teach them how to love the
Bible although they're not gonna be a pastor this is for every Christian
don't have this standard it's just like well if they're gonna be godly
Christians you know that's that's that's for like a pastor no that's for
every Christian this whole cream of the crop false paradigm where they say well
the cream of the crop or in the Bible College the ones who wants to be
pastors and missionaries no the cream of the crops right here cream of the
crops right here baby they're the people who just work regular jobs they
make time out of the schedule the ghost soul winning they read their Bibles
they love their wives they love their husbands they love their children they
love the Lord they hate homos and they just love the things of the Lord that's
the cream of the crop right there not this fake superficial you know status
that we make I'll be a pastor garbage you know and look I'm thankful to be a
pastor but you know what what two years ago when I felt like I was never
gonna be a pastor ever again did you think I was just gonna get out of
church no I was still gonna serve my children or serve my children serve my
God by teaching my children in the ways of the Lord loving my wife as Christ
loved the church teaching my kids my family but the King James Bible I
just figured I was just gonna be a regular soul winner I literally
thought I will never preach another sermon ever again but hey I can still
serve God and this is the attitude that we all need to have no
matter where we're at look if you want to be a missionary if you want to be a
missionary I got good news for you you don't even have to be a full-time
missionary in our church you can take a trip with us we'll go for four days to
some tropical area we'll go win that one guy in the jungle they always talk
about you could be a missionary for four days but we're going to Belize in
November and if all goes well we're going back in 2020 as a church and if
you've dreamed about being a missionary well great come try it out for like
four or five days and you can work you can serve you can win people to Christ
with a clear conscience you don't even need to come down to the altar to
surrender to be a missionary you just got to sign up and say I'll be there
and then when you come back you can go work a regular job go do it and
say hey I was a missionary for four days and you know what you will get
more done in four days than most modern missionaries get done in four yay
forty years you actually have more bragging rights than some lame
missionaries and I know about to have the type of missionary and here am I you
know the little video you didn't have to have that and you'll still get
more done okay be consecrated for the sake of your children you know
Elizabeth did this with John the Baptist and man did he not do a great work the
Bible says that he was filled with the spear from the womb pretty amazing
right you said why does it say that why does it say that he's filled with
the spear from the womb if he wasn't even saved yet and you guys ever
thought about that he's not even saved how can he be filled with the
spear from the womb well the reason he was filled with the spear from the
womb is because you got to understand is that the spirit he wasn't indwelled by
the spear he was just filled with the spear and anybody in the Old Testament
would always have the Holy Spirit of God could always have the Holy Spirit of
God come upon him for whatever reason by the way whether saved or
unsaved because you have Balaam in the Old Testament having the Spirit of
God come upon him and he prophesied of something that God wanted him to
say and he was a false prophet it's just something that God wanted him to
say so that was the same thing with John the Baptist where the where he
was filled with the spirit he wasn't indwelled he was just filled with
the spirit this is still during the Old Testament time and he was greatly used
of God how about Jeremiah who God knew him before he was even born he
consecrated he sanctified him to be a prophet unto the nations and what does
this teach us that God has a purpose for us in Christ of course okay all
right let's move on because I just spent most of my time on that but the
principles there is this hey parents let's be what we need to be for the
kids amen let's exemplify what we would want our children to be not a pastor not
a missionary look it's not gonna break my heart if Bruce goes up and says I
never want to be a pastor dad I'm not gonna be like you're gonna
embarrass me don't say that you guys seen the videos where he's preaching
and he's singing and stuff like that it's cute it's great but you know if
he never does it I'll be fine with that as long as he loves the Lord long as
he serves God because that's what's most important you know that takes a
lot of pressure off the kids too a lot of pks preachers kids they have a lot
of pressure from everyone to make sure that their pastors I have a PK
friend of mine who literally one of the administrators took him into his
office and said are you gonna be swinging a hammer for the rest of your
life are you gonna be a pastor and look this guy that I'm talking about he
can swing a hammer he could build a house if he wants to this guy's very
talented with his hands you know very talented very successful he don't need
to be a preacher he can just succeed as being a Christian working with his
hands he could be more right with God swinging a hammer than swinging a Bible
I'm serious from the pulpit all right verse six then the woman came and
told her husband saying a man of God came unto me in his countenance was
like the countenance of an angel of God very terrible but I asked him not
whence he was neither told he me his name so what this tells me in verse
number six is that she does not know that this is a vision that she's seen
I believe when she says the man of God she's actually referring to like a
person that she saw now there's a little bit of a debate whether this is
actually Jesus Christ or if it's just like another angel okay and the reason
why is because of the wording that we see in the chapter how it seems as
though the angel will not receive an offering just you know serve it unto
the Lord offer it unto the Lord etc and I understand where people are
coming from because you can definitely look at this and say well maybe it's
the angel Gabriel because Gabriel was also commissioned to tell Mary of
Jesus's birth right and we see the same thing here but I do personally
believe that this is Jesus Christ and I think there's a lot of evidence for that
let's keep reading says verse seven but he said unto me behold thou shall
conceive embarrass son and now drink no wine or strong drink neither eat any
unclean thing for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the woman from
the womb to the day of his death then Manoah and treated the Lord and
said oh my Lord let the man of God which thou did send come again unto us
and teaches what we shall do into the child that shall be born and God
hearken to the voice of Noah and the angel of God came again into the
woman as she sat at the field but Manoah her husband was not with her and the
woman made haste and ran and showed her husband and said unto him behold the
man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day and Manoah
arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him
art thou the man that speaketh unto the woman and he said I am and Manoah
said now let thy word come to pass I like what he says here how shall we
order the child and how shall we do unto him that's a good prayer right
there Lord how shall we order the child you know don't have this attitude by
the way the one the attitude I just I just like completely went off on just a
bit ago there's a there's an opposite to that where it's extreme as well
where it's like well I want my children to just make a lot of money I want
to be rich and this is typical with children who have parents who are
immigrants to the United States you know because they left their their you
know their farm and all the hard hardships and labor and all the things
that they have to go through and then they want their kids to have what they
never had and so they want them to make a whole lot of money and be rich
but then they just end up raising these poor little brats right that's not
what we want either we should not want to be like we would want our
children to just live modest lives humble lives right and not allow them
to be covetous you know have that temptation that's a temptation for a
lot of parents who were immigrants who came to this country they want
their kids to just be rich okay but they actually end up destroying their
lives what was she what should we desire how do we order the child how
shall we order the child verse 13 an angel the Lord said it to Manoah of
all that I said unto the woman let her beware he goes into all the commandments
that he gave her look at verse 15 and Manoah said unto the angel the Lord I
pray thee let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee
so what I see here is not necessarily them offering something to him they're
actually offering him food it's not like an offering but they're just
offering him to eat something verse 16 says in the angel the Lord sent it to
though thou detain me I will not eat of thy bread and if thou will offer a burnt
offering thou must offer it unto the Lord for Manoah knew not that he was an
angel of the Lord so it's basically kind of insinuating hey I'm the Lord
okay this is like when Jesus said there's none good but God right and
he's like talking about himself okay Manoah said unto the angel of the
Lord what is thy name and what when thy Saints come to pass we may do the
honor and the angel of the Lord sent unto him why ask his ask his style thus
after my name seeing it is secret so I think that's another implication to
show that it's Jesus Christ why because his name Jesus was not known
during this time he's known as the Lord you know the God he's known
throughout different names in the Old Testament but Jesus was not yet
revealed up until the New Testament what we see in Luke chapter 1 his name
shall be Jesus okay so during this time it's a secret okay now you know I
do believe that there are times in the Bible when the angel the Lord is not
referring to Christ and I think we just kind of look at the context you
know I looked it up different sources online and people are like no every
single time it's always the angel of the Lord and then they use that as an
attack on the King James you know say well you know in Matthew chapter 27
verse 2 it says the angel of the Lord remove the stone from where Jesus was
laying and that's that's not correct because in the Greek there's no definite
article there so it should have been an angel of the Lord not the angel of
the Lord but it's foolish because if you study Matthew chapter 2 or you
study different portions of Matthew where it talks about the angel of the
Lord there's parts where it has the definite article the and parts where
it doesn't and guess what both of them are talking about not the angel of the
Lord which is Jesus Christ so you know you just got to look at the context and
see what it's talking about this is obvious Jesus Christ so Manoah verse 19
took a kid with the meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the
Lord and the angel did wondrously and Manoah and his wife looked on for it
came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar that
the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar and Manoah and his
wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground and the angel of
the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife that Manoah knew that he
was an angel of the Lord so at this point he knows this is God this was
the angel of the Lord and look what it says here and Manoah said unto his
wife we shall surely die because we have seen God but his wife said unto
him if thou if the Lord were pleased to kill us he would have not received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands neither would he have
showed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things
as these so this is another proof that it's Jesus Christ because no man had
seen God the Father and lived and these people were able to see the
angel of the Lord and he understood we saw God but obviously it was Jesus
Christ because they lived okay verse 24 and the woman bare his 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 so we see there
that now we see the beginning of Samson he has a bright future ahead of him but
unfortunately know how it ends and this goes to show us that with the Spirit
anything is possible we can do great exploits with with the Spirit of God
upon our lives but here's the thing it's our choice if we're gonna walk in
the Spirit or fulfill the lust of the flesh by the way the story of Samson
destroys the sovereignty of God Calvinism false doctrine because he's in the
flesh but then he has the Spirit of God come upon him right and if he were just
you know if God is just moving him to do all these things he wouldn't be
doing all the crazy things he was doing you know fighting against the
Philistines and just going on this murderous rampage fornicating with
harlots with prostitutes yet the Spirit of God kept coming upon him so
on and so forth so we'll get into that in chapters 14 15 and 16 in the
coming week but the main principle that we learn here is make sure that we're
parents who exemplify parenthood to our children so when they grow up and they
leave our house they get married you leave our house hey we know that
they're gonna make the right decisions because we trained them right we
consecrated them from the womb even unto death amen let's bow our heads in our
word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word I pray God that
you'd help us give us wisdom as parents to raise children and the
nurturing the admonition of the Lord and help us to put the necessary pressure
on them to serve you but not unnecessary pressure that it has to be
through being a pastor or missionary or any of these positions Lord or even a
deacon they can just serve God and be right with God as long as they're
taking care of their biblical responsibilities yay there are church
members who are not pastors they're not missionaries but but I believe that
many of them will have more rewards than a lot of pastors many of them will
exceed in rewards than many missionaries especially and because it's
not about a position it's about the work we do and I pray God that you
give us wisdom to teach them thus and in Jesus name we pray amen
you