(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, this will be another easy one for the kids, should they come home to the kids? In what city do the walls fall down? Okay, this is for all moms, alright moms? This is for you. What two things did God send to feed the Israelites in the desert? That's your hat to go on up, good job. Alright, we're going to do a few more. This lawsuit act, this lawsuit now is getting kind of to the floor, so it's going to overflow at the level. So if you think you've lost something, you have to come check it out. Come check it out, right now. We're going to do a couple more, and then we'll get service started, okay? All the younger boys, right? I have all the kids, moms, dads, and younger boys. This one's for you, okay? Alright, forward from here. You're going to want to see a single giant girl. It's going to be root for 10, root for 10, not yet, not yet. Root for 10, ready, go. You've got to stand up, you've got to stand up. Okay, all the kids, fall in love here. What was the final play? Thank you. Oh, go ahead, please. Okay, we'll do one more for the service party, alright? This will be just for another one for the little kids, okay? Alright. What body of water did the Israelites cross this game today? Take care of yourself. Please remember, if you come without the service you have already, just check out the locks and founds and see what's in there. You can make sure the locks are out and you can change the stuff. So, are there any other meetings about this? Yes, sir. Alright, church, you can open up your handles. We'll do song number 448. Song 448. Alright, church, let's sing this out with all our hearts on the verse. We are meant to worship and adore the Lord our God. We'll do great with all your power while we try to preach the Word. All is made unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. Red and gray and holy, man of guilty, shower all around. Red and sea for sinners round, he's coming on the ring of gold. Death is coming, man is moving, can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down. Red and gray and holy, man of guilty, shower all around. Sister, will you join in? Tell them those his sister hated him. Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling, harvested? Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that he will be found. Silver and gray and holy, man of guilty, shower all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new. Let him call us home to heaven, at his table we'll sit down. Christ will burn himself and serve us with sweet and love all around. The Spirit is here, Lord. I would still open our hearts in the air, Lord, and hear and receive thy word, Lord. Psalm 145, it is well with my soul. You know, this Psalm right here is sung at many conferences. This one's a little bit different here for Stonewall Baptist. It would be after me, when it comes at the chorus, the men will follow me. It is well, it is well with the women. I would say it is well, the men will say it is well. You've got to follow me. Look at the way Stonewall Baptist sees it, all right? Psalm 125. When peace by the river attended my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my law thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. The Satan should love him, no trial should come Let his best assurance control That Christ has regarded my helpless estate And hath shed his own blood for my soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul I sin, O the bliss of his glorious love I sin not in part, but the whole His nails to the cross And I bear it no more Praise the Lord, praise the Lord O my soul It is well, it is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul And Lord, haste the day When thy name shall be spied The clouds be rolled back as the scroll The trump shall resound And the Lord shall descend In his soul It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Amen, all right. Welcome to the third night of preaching at Stronghold Baptist Church. You guys all having a good time? Amen. All right, good. As Brother Logan mentioned earlier, we have quite a few things collected here in Lost and Found. Every time we go and comb the beach, we bring things back. So don't worry if you ever go back and you remember something, but you're missing it. We probably have it here. And normally we bring it back here pretty quickly. I don't know. Usually it's out the day. Logan's been at the beach pretty much all day, every day. So leaving it linger there for a while. But please try not to forget after service to come up and check this stuff. Number two, let's see, we had a few activities recently where we had some prizes. So I know there was the men's competition. Brother Devin, who won that competition? We all won. We all won, yeah. Brother Devin made the competition and then wins his own competition. He's trying to be humble now, but I think there's a lot of participation. There's a lot of guys there. I think it was a lot of fun. And then there was also the sidewalk chalk contest. So that has been awarded as well with prizes, except we don't have the prizes just yet. So if you won a prize, Mrs. Johnson will get in touch with you. But starting in reverse, we had an honorable mention for Lena, of Angelina Johnson, did a really good job. She had a couple of drawings out there that I saw. They looked really, really nice. And then in third place, we had Miss Sarah Berzins. In second place, we had Rebecca Anderson. And then in first place, Artie Anderson. So good job to everyone who participated in that event. A lot of fun. Now, for this evening, children especially. Children, if you haven't gotten a prize yet, we've been doing a lot of sword drills and some other activities. If you want to get a prize, it's really easy to get a prize tonight. All you have to do is pay attention to the sermon. You have to listen up. You have to be paying attention. Pastor Pizarnsky is going to preach a sermon tonight, and you're going to have to tell him what you learned tonight in his sermon. So as soon as the service is over, Pastor Pizarnsky is going to be up here by the prize table. And you can't just say something like, you know, Jesus is Lord or something. Unless that's literally what he's teaching from, you actually have to be paying attention. He'll know if you've been paying attention. Tell him something that you learned from the sermon tonight, and you'll be able to get one of the prizes that we have available here. And let's see, tomorrow there's only one activity scheduled, and that is the jewelry-making activity at 9.30 a.m. right here. So anyone that's interested in attending that event, show up here at 9.30. The rest of the afternoon is free to do whatever you please. And then Saturday, there's nothing scheduled for Saturday either. A lot of people will pack up and maybe start heading home on Saturday, but we have everything reserved through Sunday. So you do not have to leave early to get checked out in the morning. You're welcome to stay till Sunday morning. I think the checkout is 11. Don't quote me on that. You should have some information on that. If you don't, let me know. If you need to know exactly when it is, I'll tell you. But I think it's 11 a.m. for checking out of the campsites or the cottages. So we've given you plenty of time to be able to relax and get out of here as you please. So I think that's about it for the announcements. We've been having a good time here, and I'm going to pass the service back over to Brother Peter, who's going to lead us in our next song. All right, church, you can open up your hymnals to song number 159. Song 159. Bless you be the name. Song 159. All right, church, let's get ready for this preaching. Reaching on the first. All praise to him, praise above, his majesty supreme, who gave his son for man to die, and he by faith be king. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. His name above all names shall stand, exalted more and more, and not the father so bright in, for angels most adore. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Redeemer, savior, friend of man, a friend who will find the fall. Thou hast been my salvation's plan, for thou hast died for all. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. His name shall be the counselor, the mighty praise of peace, of all earth's kingdoms from her earth, whose rage shall never cease. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Bless you be the name, bless you be the name, bless you be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, church, we're singing. It's time for you to open up your Bibles to the book of Judges, chapter 16. It's the book of Judges, chapter 16. And as we do customarily hear a song about this church, we're going to read the entire passage, and that's what Michael Ricardo, he can do that. Amen. Amen, church. Once again, that's the book of Judges, Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16, the Bible reads, Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there in Harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told, the Gaziites, saying, Samson is come hither, and they compass him in, and laid wait for him at night, all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying in the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and rose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, far and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Surik, whose name was Delilah, and the Lord of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and we will give thee every one of us hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green wits, that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then the Lord of the Philistines brought up to her seven green wits, which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber, and she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, and he break the wits as a thread of toad is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liars in wait, abiding in the chamber, and he break them from off his arms like a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hereto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies. Tell me, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web, and she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he waked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she repressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There have not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go for me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, he sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for you have showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out, as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together, for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice. For they said, Our God have delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, Our God have delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were married, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport. And they sent him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me, that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and thereupon the roof about three thousand men and women could be held while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshel, in the barren place of Manoah, his father, and he judged Israel twenty years. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this powerhouse of us being gathered here with the many like-minded Christians, and those who believe the right doctrine, and the right Bible. And God, we just thank you for the time we've had this week. And God, fill Pastor Brzezinski with your spirit. Allow for him to preach for boldness. Allow for his to be attentive to the words that will be spoken today. Allow for us to take notes that we can meditate on. We praise you, and we thank you. Say this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So first, as I get set up here, let me just say thank you for having us. My family and I are having a great time. Thank you Pastor Berzins for inviting us. It's great to be here. The place is amazing. We're having a great time. It's actually relaxing, even though it's probably not relaxing for a lot of the folks that put this church on, or this event on. So thank you to the Stronghold Baptist Church family as well. We are a small church ourselves, but we can imagine the work that goes into something like this. So thank you for having us here. It should be called See How Strong You Are Baptist Church, actually, but Stronghold works. But anyway, I can barely raise my arms, but I do have energy here. And then, you know, after yesterday, then I lost a game of tug of war to a bunch of little girls today. So I was telling Pastor Berzins and Pastor Jimenez, like, I don't know how I'm going to have the wherewithal to get up and like boldly preach tonight. Pastor Berzins explained it to me. He said, you know, but there was just so many of them, he said. So I guess it makes sense. All right, let's get into the story. And by the way, I chose this sermon. I wrote this sermon before, like, a week ago, before I got here. So the story of Samson is something that's very fitting from what we've been doing over the last few days. And also, you know, just it's a good sermon. I've never really preached on the life of Samson before, so I figured this would be a good one. Kids, pay attention, obviously not just for the prizes, but this is geared towards you. Obviously, it's going to be for everyone, but this is geared towards you. So let's look at the story before I even give you the title and the subject of the sermon. Let me just read you the end of the story here. I'm going to tell you the story of Samson tonight and apply it to your lives, but I'm going to begin with the end. I'm going to begin with the end of Samson's life that we see here in Judges chapter 16. Then I'll tell you what we're going to be talking about. Look at Judges 16 and verse number 21. The Bible says, But the Philistines took him. So Samson is not in the best place he's ever been in his life right now. He's in prison. His eyes are put out. They're captured by his enemy. They put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters and brass, and he did grind in the prison house. Albeit the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice and to dig on their God, to rejoice, for they said, Our God hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands. So they're going to have fun with him now. He's been wreaking havoc on them for a long time, and they've finally got him. When the people saw him, they praised their God, Dagon, their false god, for they said, Our God hath delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. It came to pass when their hearts were merry that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport. They're going to make fun of him. They're going to mock him. They called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport. He was their sport. They set him between the pillars. And Samson, under the lad that led him by the hand, suffered me that I may feel the pillars, where on the house standeth that I may lead upon them. Now the house was full of men and women, and the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. Now this is a key verse right here, verse number 28. I want you to pay attention to it. The Bible says, And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me. I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee. Only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars of the house that the house stood on, which was born up in one of his right hand and one in the left. By the way, this is an actual architectural building here held up by these two pillars. Some historians even say that. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines, and he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords and upon the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life, which was a lot. He slew a lot of Philistines in his life, but this was his greatest moment, is what the Bible is telling us here. This moment of his death, when he's in this tight spot, he's in this bind, and he calls to the Lord to strengthen him one last time, and God answers his prayer and strengthens him, and he has his greatest moment right before he died. So look, I don't want to beat up on Samson tonight, but a good thing is he ended well. He ended well, and the Bible does say in Ecclesiastes 7, Better is the end of a thing than the beginning. This is just a little, you know, side nugget sermon, you know, if you say, Well, you know, I really messed up last week or yesterday or the year before or ten years ago. Look, all that matters in the Christian life is today going forward. Better is the end of a thing. That's a great thing about the Christian life. Whether you got saved later in life or whether you just messed up a week ago or whatever it is, all that matters in the Christian life, what a blessing is today going forward. But this was his greatest moment. So the title of the sermon tonight is The 911 Christian. Don't be that Christian that just dials 911 when you've gotten yourself into a terrible mess like Samson. So I want to give you three stages of Samson's life and show you how that applies directly to our Christian lives so we don't repeat the same things that Samson does. So the question is, turn to Judges 13. The question is, Samson had a great moment at the end of his life here. But the question is, what was God's original plan for Samson? Was it originally God's plan that Samson would get captured by the enemy and be in this house and God would have to do this great miracle to strengthen him to kill these 3,000 Philistines? Look, I mean, 3,000 Philistines is a lot, but it's not all the Philistines. Look at Judges 13. Judges 13 and look at verse number 1. This is a verse by the way that I don't care what country you are in the world, if you have a constitution, what kind of government you are, this verse should be the first verse of whatever government document you found your country on right here. I love this verse in the Bible. It says, The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. When any country turns from the Lord, they're going to be delivered into the hands of the Philistines. By who? By the Lord! Every country, I don't care who you are, who your relatives were, what your last name is, it doesn't matter. Every country should know this. Yet every country and every nation makes the same mistakes again and again. Look at verse number 2. So here are the children of Israel. They're under the yoke of the Philistines at this time. And there was a certain man of Zorah, a family of the Danites whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Beren and Berenath. They had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold, thou are Beren and Berenath 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. Not just any son though. And no razor shall come upon 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. This is God's goal for the judge Samson that we are seeing here. He's a Nazarite from the womb. There's others in the Bible I'll talk about later, meaning just to sum it up, his life is dedicated to the Lord. His life is dedicated to the Lord. So look, God had a great purpose for Samson. He had a great plan for Samson, and he had it before Samson was even born. But the question is, I mean God, he made him a Nazarite from the womb, he had this great plan for him to deliver the people from the Philistines, and then on top of that, and don't miss this because this is going to be a big part of the message tonight, he gave him this great gift of this great strength. He had great physical strength. That was the plan. Now the question is, what actually happened? What actually, you know, every plan's great until, you know, you start putting it into practice, right? What actually happened though? So let's look at what God's plan was. You see that, and we see the end of it. What God got was the leftovers from Samson. Turn to Judges chapter 14. I'm not going to go through every detail of Samson's life, but God had this great plan for the nation through Samson. He gave Samson this great gift of strength to accomplish this great goal, and what God got was the leftovers. Look at verse number one just for an idea here of Judges chapter 14. The Bible says, And Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman of Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. It's like, what's going on here? Aren't these the bad guys? And he came up and told his father and mother and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, now therefore get her for me to wife. He goes and he wants to marry into the people that he is supposed to be delivering his own people from. And look at the next verse. This is a really key verse right here, and I want the teenagers and young people to listen to this, because if there was a prize up here that was better than all the other prizes, like a new car. Whoever learns this lesson in this sermon is going to get the best. I don't think there's a new car. And if you're not over the age of 40, you probably didn't get that joke. Is that show still on? I don't even know. But look at verse number three. The Bible says, Then his father and mother said unto him, Is there never a woman amongst the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take the wife of an uncircumcised Philistine? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me, she pleaseth me. Well, here's a lesson for you. Young people, please listen to me. Even though you don't want to hear this, when it comes to who you are going to marry, listen to your parents! Amen. Say, why? Because, I don't know, because they love you, number one, and they have your best interests in mind. They know stuff. And I know you know stuff, too, because you're 15. Listen to your parents. Listen to your parents. Just let your head knowledge kick in on this one. Your heart's going to tell you something, your emotions are going to tell you something. Listen to your father and your mother, because they know what's best for you. That's not what the sermon's about. But that's a valuable lesson right there from the life of Samson. Samson gives God the leftovers. He fights the Philistines here and there. He gets in all these fights with the Philistines. He gets married to this Philistine woman. If you Google train wreck in the Bible, the Google AI assistant will come up with this story. No, it won't. It's always wrong on doctrine. But it's a disaster in the Bible. He marries this woman. He tears up some Philistines after he gets into a bunch of gambling debt. Gets into a bunch of gambling debt, and then he's like, I lost the bet, so I'm just going to murder everybody, which they're Philistines. But he wasn't even righteous in the eyes of the Philistines in these situations. He essentially just wreaks havoc upon them whenever it suits whatever situation he's in. He's always in fits of rage over forbidden fruit, basically. Is what is happening in the life of Samson. He's just taking whatever fruit he wants, and when the consequences come, he uses this great strength from God to fight and battle his way out. His wife is given to another, and then he burns down a bunch of the country. I mean, just a complete disaster of a marriage. He goes and he kills a thousand more with the jawbone of an ass. Some child got right the other day. But look, here's my point I'm trying to make. God got the leftovers. Samson judged the Philistines and battled the Philistines and fought them only when it intersected with his own interests. You're like, uh-oh. I see where he's going with this. But that is the life of Samson. God gave him this great operation, this great power, and this great task in front of him, and he only did what God wanted him to do when it served himself. When those two things lined up, then he did what God wanted. And it was just coincidence, really. But now in Judges 16, we see something fairly amazing here. It's what I call it's the third step here. So basically, you know, God had a great plan. God gave Samson a great gift, and he had a great plan for him. Samson gave God the leftovers, but then we see in Judges 16, God's salvage operation of the situation. He goes into a harlot, more just selfish, forbidden fruit in Samson's life, goes and meets this wonderful young lady named Delilah. I wonder if his parents approved of that one. More forbidden fruit. Now they catch him. Now they catch him, and he's in prison. And now he calls. Now he calls. Now he picks up the phone and he says, God, I need some support. He's chained up. His eyes are gone. His hair is starting to grow back, but he's in a mess. But look, God still answers the phone. That's a great example of God's mercy right there. God still picks up the phone, and he still uses what he can use. He still does what he can with what's left for him, for God. This is the 911 Christian right here. Turn your Bibles. Turn your Bibles. Now let's apply this to you. Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. You say, well, you know, this is Samson. This is Samson. He's like fighting the Philistine army, and this is a really big deal. And Samson was given this great gift of this massive strength by God. I mean, like, what does that have to do with me? Well, guess what? Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. This applies perfectly to us in this Christian life. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. Look at verse number 4. The Bible says, now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but this is the same God that worketh all in all. It's talking about Christians here. It's talking about people having different gifts. People are different, you know, better at managing things, administering things. Operations, look, that's the people that are doing stuff. That's the people that are running stuff. There's a lot of operations going on at this camp. People that are running things. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. So you got these things. We'll just call them gifts for simplicity. Everybody's got these gifts. What are they for? To profit. What, to profit me? No, to profit, I'll just give you the answer. To profit the kingdom of heaven is what the gifts are given to everyone for. Look at verse, let's skip down to verse number 10. To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy speaking, to another discerning of spirits, and other diverse kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. We have, I'm sure you have this here, but we have a lot of people that speak different languages. It's a great gift. It's a great gift to a church. People can understand, speak different languages. Look at verse 14. The body is not one member but many. Talking about a church being full of different people with different gifts is what the Bible is saying here. If the fool shall say, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the ear shall say, because I'm not the eye, am I not of the body? Is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were the hearing, where were the smelling? Everyone, there's only needs to be one pastor but there needs to be all these different body parts. All these different administrations and that's why God gives everybody different gifts. Let me tell you something kids. Every single one of you, I don't care what kid in here is, I don't know, maybe I'm not good at this, I'm not good at that. Every single one of you has a unique set of gifts that God has given you. Everyone. And I want the kids to listen very carefully. Parents as well. But look folks, people have gifts. Everyone in the world has gifts. Because guess what? You're born with them. God gives them to you when you're born. Everyone has gifts. But guess what? The vast majority of people I don't know, Pastor Stuckey and I used to argue the percentage, but it's like 99% of people waste their gifts. I'm not talking about people who are saved, I'm talking about people who have gifts and waste them. Don't use them for the Lord. You could be saved and waste your gifts. It is a high percentage of people that waste their gifts out in the world. I mean, just think of things. Just think of people with great musical talent in the world today. What are they doing? They're worshipping Satan with it. They're driving people into fornication and drugs and alcohol with it. That's what they're doing. That's what they're using. I'm going to tip this fireplace over. That's what they're doing with their gifts is they're literally driving people to hell with the gift that God gave them. You wonder why the wrath of God is upon people. He gave them the gift in the first place. You think about creativity. Think about all the trash and the filth. There was a book that I read called The Martyr's Mirror talking about just how Christians throughout history had just been brutally murdered and just documents all these Christians that just would not stop holding to the gospel. They wouldn't add one ounce of works to it. There was a spot in the book that said the creativity of man was exhausted through their cruelties. Meaning that just the things that men invented to hurt people and to kill people and to do evil to people. That creativity was a gift. It was a gift that God gave somebody to have creativity to build things. They used it to murder God's own people. Just think about creativity of like artists. You couldn't take me and train me for a year to paint that cat. People have abilities. I saw some of the pictures of the chalk paintings and your artist here that was teaching the class showed me some of the things that she's painted. There's nothing in me that could do something like that at all. That's a gift. That is a gift from God. But what do people use that kind of creativity for today to tattoo demons on people? You ever drive by these? There's a lot of them in Fresno. I don't know if there are here, but you drive by these tattoo places and there's just like these devils and these serpents and all these different things. It's amazing. I could never draw a Satan like that. But what are they using their gifts for? To drive people to hell. To pull people away from God. God gave them the gift. Define irony. Most people in this world completely waste the gifts that God gives them. God forbid that be us. God forbid that be you kids. Let me tell you something. From birth kids, you have gifts. Let me tell you a little secret. I didn't know what a lot of my gifts were until I was well into my 20s. You're like, how could that be possible? How would I know what my gifts are? Let me tell you something kids. Let me just talk to you about something. There's something. There's someone that knows what your gifts are. And that someone is your parents. And especially, let me tell you a little secret. Especially your mom. My wife will tell me all the time things about my kids that I had no idea. So and so is good at this. Or so and so struggles with this. Your mother knows your gifts. Maybe you should ask your mom, what are my gifts? If you don't know what they are. I bet you she knows. Have a conversation with your mom after church or sometime at the campsite and ask your mom. Say, mom I don't know that I'm good at anything. What are my gifts? She will tell you. Because she knows you like no one else knows you. And she sees those gifts in you. I guarantee it. Especially these moms. These moms are paying attention. Well look, every kid and now here's through the parents. Every kid has gifts. A lot of parents squash their kids gifts. I used to coach way back when in like, I don't know, it was like a hundred years ago. I used to coach baseball. And one of the first teams that my son was on was a t-ball team. It was a t-ball team of four and five year olds. Just think about it. And I even thought when I was coaching this team, like this is too young for these kids to start playing baseball. I'm not into organized baseball, don't worry about that. I'm just giving you an example. We're playing t-ball and we have this team of kids and you go and you field ten kids on the field for a t-ball game. And look most kids, they don't know what's going on. They don't care what's going on. But I had one kid. I had one kid who could feel the ball at shortstop, run, tag second base, and make a flying throw to first base. I mean the kid at first base was building sand castles so he never actually turned a double play. But the point was this kid was unbelievable. And he was four years old. He had unbelievable ability. I mean I was shocked. We were at like an after pizza thing for the kids or whatever and I heard somebody ask this young boy, what are you going to be when you grow up? And he's like I'm going to be a professional baseball player. Let me tell you something about the games that this kid would play. This kid would play amazing every single game and his parents would scream at him. Because he wasn't fast enough. He wasn't doing it good enough. They were just barking at him the entire time. I had to calm his mother down several times as the coach. Just like lay off. Most kids don't even know we're keeping score here. But somebody asked him that question at that pizza party and he said I'm going to be a professional baseball player. You know what I thought in my head? You're going to hate baseball by the time you're seven. I guarantee you that kid wasn't playing baseball when he was ten. Because I guarantee you those parents they crushed that gift. Our children's gifts are not here for our vain glory. Our children's gifts are the same. God gave them the gifts for the same reason he gave you the gifts. For the prophet of the kingdom of God. For the kingdom of heaven. That is the whole point. There was a story of some kid that was about my age that I remember hearing this when I was in my twenties. He was this child prodigy. He's still around. I mean he's not that old. But he was this child prodigy and his parents were just, his dad especially was driving him, driving him, driving him. You know like this plan. This kid's going to be a senator by the time he's twenty. He's going to be president of the United States. He's going to have a doctorate. The kid graduated from like UC Santa Cruz or something at eleven. With a masters degree. Clearly a gifted child. He's a painting contractor today. Because he just got to the point where he's like I'm done with all of it. Just forget it. His parents for their own vain glory crushed his gift. There's nothing wrong with being a painting contractor. But I'm just saying, I'm just pointing out that we need to make sure that as parents we recognize our children's gifts and what should we do? What should we do? I've got a child who's gifted in this or gifted in math or gifted in you know just his personality is good. You know making other children feel you know welcome and things like this. Hospitality. There's all kinds of different gifts. When I recognize that gift what should I do? Raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's what you do. And you nurture. Nurture the gift. You nurture the gift. You protect it. Make them aware of it. Don't puff him up or puff yourself up over it. It's there not for you, not for him, for the kingdom of God. For the kingdom of heaven. And you know what? They're there. Look they're there. These gifts are there. You say well can't I learn to be a painter? Can't I? Yes you can learn things. But you know what the people who are gifted, they're the ones who should teach and admonish others. You know that's called edification. When gifted people. You know when some we were at the feats of strength or whatever we called it yesterday. And you have people that have an ability. But you know what I listen to? I listen to a bunch of guys. You say oh well one guy won and you know all that. But you know what I listen to? I listen to a bunch of guys who are like you know what I should start doing more of this in my life and I should get my son involved in this and that's a good exercise there. And you know what? That's edification. That's somebody who's using their gift of ability to edify Christians. I mean just gifts of administration. I mean I don't know how many kids are out there today. It was a lot. Who's organizing all that? That's somebody who has a gift of administration and they are giving that gift to a bunch of children. To get them together to fellowship with their brothers and sisters in Christ to strengthen their faith in the Lord. To make them realize that hey I'm not alone in this Christian life. To give them memories at a camp like this that they will never ever forget. I'll never forget the bouncing flowery dresses as I flew across the line at the tug of war. I'll never forget that. I'm like how is this happening? Turn to your Bibles of Matthew chapter number 25. The real point of your gifts and once they realize their gifts is to give those gifts to others. Think about somebody who has the gift of energy. You know where I'm going with this one? Who can stand up here and you can walk into church tired at 9.30 or 10 o'clock in the morning and you're kind of like and they can stand up here and they can give their energy to you. That's what's happening. They are giving their gift to you and you feel it. You can feel what's happening here. Somebody who is gifted is giving their gifts to others. That is what your gift is to be used for. Look at Matthew chapter 25. Empathy. The gift of empathy. Out-soul winning. Look do you think that everybody is the same type of soul winner? Do you know that when you're out soul winning if you actually care about the person at the door do you know that they can tell? Do you know that somebody that goes out soul winning and actually cares in their heart, the person at the door can tell? And they're a better soul winner than somebody that's out there phoning it in. You can learn that from other people. You can decide like hey why don't I care? What's going on in my life where I don't have that empathy? Some people have the gift of empathy. You should learn from those people and look some people are just very in tune to how other people feel. And that is a serious gift especially for a soul winner. But take these gifts from those around us that want to give them. They're using these gifts for the kingdom of heaven like they're supposed to. Look at Matthew chapter 25. Let's look at this parable real quick. And we'll give you kind of an alternate application. I know there's a lot of applications for this, rewards in heaven, all that. But let me just give you another idea to think about. Look at verse number 14. The Bible says for the kingdom of heaven is as a man that travels into a far country who God called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents to another two and to another one. To every man according to what? Look at that. Every man according to his several ability. You know what that means? Every man according to how well he's using his gifts that he's been given is basically what that means. And look at verse number 16. He that received five talents went out and traded with the same and made another five. He that received two he also gained another two. And he that received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. So let's just keep track of the numbers here. The guy that had one still has one. The guy that had two made two more so he has four. And the guy that had five he made another five so he has ten. So we got one, four, and ten. And then the master comes back. The master comes back. Look down and let's go down to verse number 19. For after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoned with them. He's coming to check to see how they did. So he that received the five talents brought the other five talents and said, Lord, thou have delivered unto me five talents. Behold I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said to him, Well done thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, and I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. He also that received the two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold I have gained two other talents beside them. And his Lord said, Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Now the guy that buried it in the ground. Now he that received one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and I went and hid my talent in the earth, and lo, there thou hast, that is thine. His Lord answered and said to him, Thou wicked and slothful. I like the word slothful there. Wicked and slothful, same thing basically. Thou knowest that I have reaped where I sowed not, and gathered where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, you should have received my own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the tenth talent. Now that's a key verse right there. God's not a socialist. But what I mean, seriously what I mean here is that what actually happened is the guy, it didn't end up one, four, and ten. It ended up zero, four, and eleven. I mean that's just a smart business move right there. What are you going to do? You're going to give it to the guy, turn to Luke chapter 12. You're going to give it to the guy that's going to make the most of it. That's what the Bible is showing us here. Go to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, look at verse number 47. Talking about servants again. Look at Luke chapter 12 verse number 47. It's super key to understand that the guy that had one and kept one and did nothing ended up with zero. Look, rewards in heaven, I get that applies perfectly, but I want you to understand that this applies to gifts as well. Look at Luke chapter 12 verse number 47. The Bible says, and that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes, but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. Now look at the end part of this verse right here. It says, for unto whosoever much is given, like gifts, of him shall much be required. And look at the last part. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. I had a boss put this to me this way. Let me just sum this up with this phrase. The Bible here is teaching this philosophy that if you use your gifts, if you use your several abilities, God will open up more to you. And I'm gonna give you an example that that's true. I had a boss put it this way to me. We had a small group and we ended up having some success. We had some success on some projects, and so we were rewarded with a bunch more work from like a bunch of other groups that weren't doing anything. And I'm just like, man, I don't know if we can handle all this. I mean, we'll do our best. And I'm just like, you're putting way more work on us, you know, after we did this good job. You know what he said? He's like, you know what you get for winning a pie eating contest? More pie. God, that's what God's telling us right here. He's got somebody that's using his gifts, that's using his several abilities. He's like, you know, he's gonna open up more for that person. Why? For profit, for the kingdom of heaven. You ever met somebody who's introverted? How many of you know somebody that's naturally introverted? Like, they're not an outward person. They're the kind of person that will be in a circle of people talking, and they'll be the one that doesn't say much. Do you know people like that in this church? Are they soul winners, any of them? Are they good soul winners? Some of the best soul winners that I know are introverted people. That's an application of this right here. That is somebody who got one talent. They didn't get the ten talents. It's not easy for them, but what did they do? They went through the work, and they learned from somebody who went out, took them out soul winning, who maybe was the ten talent person. They learned from that person, they pushed through that, and they became this five, ten, fifteen talent soul winner. I've known some really introverted people, and I've gone out soul winning with them after I've known them for a while, and I'm just like, what in the world? You know what I'm talking about? That is God opening up several abilities to people who are using their gifts for the kingdom of heaven, for the prophet of the kingdom of heaven. It's awesome. So look, teach. Teach your gifts. That's what you're seeing at this camp. You're seeing all these people with these abilities teach their gifts. The problem is though, what do we do? We serve God when it's convenient to us. We serve God when it lines up with our interests. You can use your gifts of being an empathetic person, of being a people person, of having intellectual skill. You can use those gifts to go out and probably make you a lot of money. Oh, and then I'll serve God when it's convenient for me. We do the exact same thing that Samson did with our lives. But Samson did this, he lived a life for selfish desires, and look, many times if we do that, and I've seen people do this, very talented people, they go and they take their gifts that God gave them, and they don't you know, they serve God here, they serve God there, but they really just take their gifts and then they go and they get themselves all tangled up with their gifts into a horrible mess, like Samson did. You know, if you go out and just serve your own selfish desires, see Pastor Robinson's sermon, you're going to end up in shambles. All that forbidden fruit will ruin your life. And then you know what we do? We dial 911. We take God's talents, we use them to get ourselves into a terrible mess, and then we want God to help us out. And you know what? He will. He will. Just like he did with Samson. Don't be a 911 Christian, is the whole point of this sermon. Don't be this person that just phones up God, you just waste your talents, then you phone up God when you've taken those talents to literally destroy yourself and ruin your life. Here's a, let me just give you a pastor's methodology to this whole thing. I think this is what God is trying to tell us here. But you basically have some people out there, you know, as a pastor the people that come to me or other pastors I'm sure will say the same thing, people will come to you with small problems and they'll come to you with a small problem and I'll just I'll show them the path forward through that problem. A second level of that is people will come with, you know, maybe they got themselves in some trouble. Small problems, easy. Path forward, here you go. Now they maybe got themselves into trouble, they didn't ask when they should have, but what do I do? Here's the path out of trouble. Maybe it's a little bit more difficult than the path forward through a small issue, but once you've gotten yourself into a little bit of trouble, the path out, there's a path out of trouble. You gotta start walking down the path. You gotta start moving down that path, but you know what people will do? And this is what Sampson did. He never really asked at all. He never really asked any question at all and this is what Christians will do too. They'll take their gifts that God has given them they'll live a selfish life, they'll get themselves so twisted up into a mess maybe they even get, you know, I mean, just in legal trouble or, you know, their life is in danger, whatever, and then, you know, it's just disaster. And then they come and say what do I do with this big ball of mess? But you know what? There's still a path back. There's always a path back. And that's what the pastor will show them, the path back. But you know what? The path forward is easier than the path back from disaster. So that's the point of learning from Sampson's life. I mean, the path forward is always easier than the path out of trouble. The path out of trouble is easier than the path back from complete disaster. So keep that in mind when you're just this Christian that just calls God or dials up your pastor or wants to listen to the Bible finally when you've trainwrecked the whole thing. And that's exactly what we see from Sampson. Look, minor corrections are easier than U-turns. That's what it boils down to. The story of Sampson is so relatable to us. It is so relatable to us. Great gift, great plan, completely wasted, but even salvaged a little bit at the end. Even though God still, you know, He still stays in. He still steps in when we make that phone call finally. It's a beautiful picture of God's mercy here. Sampson killed many Philistines in his death, but it was the last thing he ever did on this earth. So we ought not to make that mistake. Identify your gifts, kids. Talk to your parents about your gifts. Parents, nurture your children's gifts. Teach them that they are for the Lord and protect those gifts. And then use your gifts for the Lord. This is the goal for our children. This is the goal for the entire next generation in this Christian life. And then look, it's like a video game, I guess, if you want to look at it that way. Then get more gifts. It's like bling, bling, bling. Use your gifts for the Lord and then get more. You say, I don't know, Pastor Pizarnsky. Sampson was like this Nazarite from the womb. You know, then there's Samuel and then John the Baptist, these Nazarites from the womb who God had this great plan for in their life. You know, they were just like vowed to God right away. You're like, you're putting too much on me. Well, you know what? Romans 12, Romans 12 says your life, your life should be a sacrifice. But I didn't even quote it right. Your life should be a temporary sacrifice. Your life should be a sacrifice when you can make time for it. Your life should be a sacrifice when it lines up with whatever you got going on, you know, with your buddies or whatever. No, it says your life should be a living sacrifice. So I got you. Your entire life should be a living sacrifice. And you know what? It makes sense. And you know what? It doesn't even say that's great. It says that's reasonable. It's reasonable if your entire life is a sacrifice for the Lord. Why? Because he gave you the gifts. He gave you your life. He gave you the gifts. He gave you your salvation. It wasn't one ounce because of you. A living sacrifice though, it makes perfect sense because Jesus Christ was a living sacrifice for you. Jesus Christ was a living sacrifice. You know, he could have showed up here when he was 30 years old. You know that? He showed up as a man in the Old Testament. He could have showed up here, preached for a few years and then went to the cross. But no, he lived it. He lived it. He was born of a virgin and he lived this sinless life. Yet without sin, the Bible says, he was a living sacrifice. So it's just reasonable that you would be a living sacrifice for him. It's reasonable. It's the least you can do. Look, your bodies, our lives, the things that we do with these hands are to be a sacrifice for the Lord. And every single person is better at certain things than other people. You can get good at stuff. You can get good at somebody that's gifted at things. But the whole key is to edify one another with your gifts and profit the kingdom of God. Period. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the living sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I thank you that you came here and you lived an entire life. And you gave yourself for us. Lord, I thank you for all the children in this room. I thank you for the gifts that you've bestowed upon them and their parents. I pray that you would help these children, Lord, recognize the gifts that they have through their parents, help them to be nurtured and admonished in their lives, Lord. I pray that they would recognize these gifts, recognize the purpose for these gifts, and use them to profit your kingdom, not our personal needs, desires, and wants. Lord, we love you and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. All right. If you don't come here, those are Psalm 315. Psalm 315. Take my life and let it be. Any final.) Song 315. My Church, then sing us out on the verse. Take my life and let it be. Concentrated Lord to me. Take my life and let them know At the impulse of thy love, at the impulse of thy love, take thy feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing, always only for thy King. Always only for thy King. Take my silver and my gold, not of mine would I withhold. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart and live thine own, it shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal throne. To serve at night and you learn something about the dark souls, you can sit right up here, go tell what you learned tonight, and you give yourself a prize.