We got a chance to see kids who put their faith in Christ for the very first time. We got the chance to see kids who have already put their faith in Christ, but they've kind of wandered from the path, so they kind of turned their hearts back to God again and recommitted their lives. I even had a conversation with one kid that said, I really feel like God is calling me into ministry, but I don't know what that even means or what that looks like. So we got to have these really cool conversations that are going to change the trajectory of the lives of the kids within EBC.
[00:01:08]
We want to teach kids that the number one command given in the New Testament or in the Bible in general is to fear not, to not be afraid. And that's really, it's not easy for adults because we struggle with fear as well, but at least we have history with God that we realize I'm going through something hard, and I've gone through something hard before, and he was with me before, he'll be with me now.
[00:02:50]
Even when we go through hard times, and we will go through hard times, we don't go through them alone, that God steps into the fire with us, and he's with us along the way.
[00:03:29]
Judges in the Old Testament were divinely appointed leaders who delivered Israel from oppression, led them in battle, settled disputes, and called the people back to faithfulness in God. So I want you to see first that they're divinely appointed, which means they were not elected. God chose them.
[00:08:11]
There's a cycle in the history of Israel and the nation of Israel, and the top of the cycle, you're going to see that they're close to God, and they're connected to God. They're being faithful to him, and then when they come over here to kind of three o 'clock, they start to deviate from God. They start to worship all idols and false gods... God brings judgment upon them... God raises up a judge from within Israel, and that judge leads them in battle, and they conquer the oppression that they have, and then they turn people's hearts back to God again. Now we're back at 12 o 'clock, and they're happy and faithful to God, and then guess what? It starts to cycle again.
[00:09:05]
You need to understand that God has called you to. God has a plan for our life. In his sovereignty, he has formed you and knit you together and built you exactly as you are. Nothing is a mistake. And his plan for each of us is to put us on this earth so we can bring him glory and to further his kingdom. But we get a choice. Do we want to participate with this in God through our obedience? Or do we want to rebel against God and go our own way?
[00:12:47]
Our eyes are a gateway to our heart. And when I say your heart, when we talk about your heart within scripture, we're not talking about the organ that pumps oxygenated blood through your body. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the center of your will. Like what is it that I want? That's your heart. That's the desire of your heart. The thing that you want that when it gets in your mind, you can't unsee it. And that's all you want. You're driven for that purpose.
[00:19:31]
Our heart is a dangerous thing to be the source of our direction. In Jeremiah 17, 9, it says the heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately sick. Who can understand it? I love how the ESV says it's desperately sick. Because the heart you have is not the heart God intended you to have.
[00:19:58]
If the heart is what's charting your path, you're always going to be led astray. You're never going to find true north. What we need is a compass that points true north and we have that. It's in the sovereign and infallible word of God. And if we read that word, it will point us regardless of your situation, regardless of how much money is in your bank account or what stage of life you're in or what other people have done to you. None of that changes the truth that we find in the word.
[00:22:54]
The first way that I can connect to Samson is because of the call. I was called at an early age as well. And then I also see the fall that Samson struggled not with Philistine women. What he struggled with is whose will do I follow? Do I follow my own or do I follow God's will? And there were moments he followed God's will and there were moments he followed his own.
[00:23:39]
Samson's problem was not women. That was a symptom. The problem was his will and choosing to follow his versus God's. And I would argue that's some of our problem as well.
[00:32:44]
When we start walking in our flesh and following the heart, our heart, not the will of God, it's so easy for us to miss these massive signs that we should recognize I'm on the wrong path right now. But we start making small concessions in our life to follow that heart that's sick. And it's because what we, we know better, right? Just like Eve did. If I follow my heart, I'm going to find happiness.
[00:34:44]
Sin is such a devastating thing in our relationship with God. So he finds himself in prison. I can connect to Samson because I was calling at an early age, just like he was. I can connect to Samson because I fell. I chose to follow my heart and not the will of God. I can connect to Samson because there was a moment when I realized I'm not living the life that God has called me to live, and I turned back to God, and he restored my fellowship with him.
[00:38:11]
If you're a believer in this room, and you've put your faith in Christ, and God has saved you, I need you to understand that your relationship to God, the Father, is secured through the salvific work of the Son on the cross, and the spirit who rose him from the dead, your relationship is secured to the Father through the Son. Please know that. But your fellowship with God can be broken due to sin.
[00:42:16]
Even as a believer, we still have a heart that's corrupted by sin, and a flesh that's driven to do selfish things instead of seeking after the Father. But I can promise you, because we have the Holy Spirit, it is a guarantee that one day this will change. The Bible promises that there will come a day where we are given a glorified body. He is going to reverse the curse and put us back to the way he intended us to be, which is a heart that doesn't seek after ourself and our own selfish, sinful desires, but it seeks after the Father.
[00:43:04]
If you want to find true contentment in this world, it's only in the will of the Father. He's going to lead you in the path that you need to go. And we see that not by our compass, but by His. Because if you are not reading God's Word on a regular basis, I encourage you, you've got to read that. Because it's going to help dictate the direction that your life needs to go.
[00:44:03]
Your relationship to the Father is secured through the salvific work of the Son on the cross. But your fellowship with God is maintained by your obedience to Him. And it is important that we stay faithful to God so that not only He can bestow blessings if He chooses to, but so that we're useful to the kingdom. And those who are around us who are lost can see a clean representation of who Christ is by the way that I act and talk and think.
[00:44:27]
If you're in the room today or online and you're not a believer, you're in a much more dire situation. Because you don't have a fellowship with God because you don't have a relationship with God yet. And not having a relationship with God, you don't know the will of the Father. And all you're seeking after is what your heart tells you to go. And so you have lived your entire life trying to find happiness. You've lived your entire life trying to make this world seem right. And everywhere you turn, you kind of get close to it and then it's ripped away from you. And there's sadness and despair and hardship. And you're saying, there's got to be something more to this world. And there is. His name is Christ.
[00:44:58]
God loves you enough to let you have a choice. But if you choose to follow God, the Bible says that he's faithful and he's just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. There's nothing you can do that can separate you from the Father. Nothing you can do that can separate you from the Father that the sacrifice of the Son can't redeem you back from. God loves you so much.
[00:48:05]
