September 4, 2016 "What Makes You Weak?" Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

now those who want to live in sin would argue with me and tell me God's mercy is everlasting His grace and mercy follows me all the days of my life the Lord said he would never leave me nor forsake know let me give you some Bible shubao and be in prayer with me Oh - grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts above in Jesus name Amen if you were journey with me in the old testament to the book of Judges Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy Joshua judges and that seventh book of the Bible if we can collectively navigate our way to the sixteenth chapter there's a word from the Lord that sets the tone not only for the message today but for the next few weeks as I read about a man who's well known to many of us who spend any appreciable amount of time in church brother by the name of Samson if you were journey with me to the sixteenth chapter the book of Judges and when you have found the fifteenth verse if you're physically able we ask you to stand with us as we reverence the reading of God's Word from judges chapter 16 beginning in verse number 15 if you found it once you say men the word Lord from the New King James version of the Bible reads then she meaning Delilah said to him meaning Samson how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me you have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words impressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that he told her all his heart he said to her no razor has ever come upon my head for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb if I am shaving then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent him call for the Lords of the Philistines saying come up once more for he has told me all his heart so the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand and then she loved him to sleep on her knees and called for man and he had and he excused me call for man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head then she began to torment him and his strength left him and she said the Philistines are upon you Samson so he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza there they bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison however the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shave him hang out in verse number 20 he did not know that the Lord had to parted from him for today in the next few weeks I want to talk and teach from the subject and the thought what makes you weak you may be seated in the presence of the Lord what makes you weak as I've shared openly with many of you know about six weeks ago after suffering a tear and the patellar tendon of my knee I had to have reconstructive knee surgery kept me out for a few weeks but I'm proud to tell you today that I'm well on the road to recovery that I am grateful I stand before you today with no pain and on no pain medication although I've got some oxycodone that I recognize watching documentaries on TV I can make a lot of money with I'm on no pain medication don't need any crutches no wheelchair no cane not even wearing the brace on my leg this morning and I come to tell you that because I want to give thanks for a few things only give thanks first of all that God is a healer G Patterson who now rests with the Lord once said that if you can have it God can heal it and there's some folk all around the sanctuary and even online who know that God is a healer I'm thankful to God that he's not only healer but I'm thankful to God for the prayers of this church family but those who lifted me up I have found the Word of God is true that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much that when praying Saints get down on their knees God does things in your life and some of us know that God has moved in ways and we didn't pray for but somebody prayed for us and I'm grateful to God for the righteous who prayed for me and even the unrighteous who tried god bless you too I'm thankful to God that he's a healer I'm thankful to God for the prayer of the righteous and I'm thankful to God for physical therapists anybody who's ever had a major injury knows that God's healing hands are the hands of some physical therapist now if you've never been and I pray you never have to go I'll do or let you know the physical therapy marks will tell you is hard were going in two sometimes three days a week and the problem I have is that the tendon they reconnected to my knee is tight and it needs to be stretched so every time I go to physical therapy it begins with some intense stretching and I want to testify that that stretching does not tickle I thought my therapist was trying to kill me on Thursday she said to me she said Reverend your knee is tight and in order to get your full range of motion we need to stretch it to get your flexibility back and while I've been going through therapy I found out that my greatest problem with my knee is not my flexibility the greatest problem is the atrophy in my quadricep for those that are not medically minded let me explain it to you before the injury I had been running and lifting weights trying to prepare myself to enter a half marathon in the fall because of that my legs were getting stronger but with six weeks of inactivity in my quadricep my quadricep has begun to atrophy it's the clay ly cliche if you don't use it you lose it and right now I'm looking funny underneath them clothes because my right leg is still strong but my left leg my injured leg has atrophied so much that it's half the size of my right leg and the therapist said pastor we've got to get that muscle strong again because no matter how strong your good leg is you'll never rise above the weakness in your injured leg she said to me no matter how strong part of you is you will always be limited by your weakness beloved I'm not trying to give you some knowledge about a knee I'm trying to teach you a lesson about life no matter how strong you are in one area of your life you will never rise above the weakness you suffer with in other areas of your life I come by to declare to you that God can gift you with great strength God can favor you with unprecedented opportunity God can birth you with skills and talents and abilities like none other God can open door after door after door in your life but all of us know examples of life of people who had great strengths but we're limited by their great weaknesses for you will never rise above the weakness in your life beloved I come out to tell you that if you don't know anybody whose strength was gained sayed by their weakness look that word up when you get home if you don't know anybody whose strength was limited by their weakness allow me to introduce one to you his name is Samson we read about Samson and Judges chapter 13 through chapter 16 we go home and you reread judges 13 through 16 you'll find out that Samson is the last judge in Israel he is from the tribe of Dan his father's name is Manoa and manoah's wife who's unknown by name is a barren woman God and do time decides to bless her with a child and like many barren women in the Bible the prophecy of her pregnancy is given by an angelic visitation an angel shows up to Manoa's barren wife and declares that she shall become pregnant and when the angel shows up he gives her some restrictions about what she can and cannot do what she can and cannot eat what she can and cannot drink and the reason the angel restricts her movement because God has declared that the child she will have will be a Nazarite the church say Nazarite Nazarite literally by hebrew means something that is consecrated something that is set apart something that gods had says has a special purpose for him and the Lord declares that this child will be a Nazarite if you go home and you want to read more about Nazarites you need to go to numbers chapter 6 and you'll find that any man God deemed to be a Nazarite had some restrictions on his life 3 in particular number 1 he could not touch a dead body number 2 he couldn't drink anything that contained alcohol not somebody tell him oh you ain't an Ezra are you here here and number 3 he could never have his hair cut and so when manoah's son is born his name is Samson Samson is deemed to be a Nazarite he can not touch a dead body he can not drink alcoholic beverages and he cannot have his hair cut and the reason God has consecrated Samson this God has a purpose and a plan for Samson Samson is to be the military leader to lead the army of Israel in victory against the dreaded foes called the Philistines and in preparation for that divine assignment God has gifted Samson with unprecedented physical strength anybody has been to Sunday School you learned that Samson is the strongest man in the Bible Samson so strong that he kills a lion with his bare hand he's so strong that he takes the jawbone of a donkey and kills one thousand Philistines no man has ever defeated Samson Samson is the strongest man in the Bible but in spite of all his great physical strength Samson surprisingly never lives up to the full call of God on his life because in spite of his great physical strength he is hindered by some real weaknesses those weaknesses are fully exposed in Samson's relationship with a bad sister named Delilah the Delilah is one of those biblical names you don't give a child anyone who reads scripture will never name their daughter Delilah Jezebel or their son Judas to understand Delilah you understand that the Philistines are sick of Samson they are tired of losing battles to him they are tired of him destroying their armies but they realize that they cannot get to Samson through another man because no man can defeat Sam's no Saxons weakness is not men Samson's weakness is women and they know that they can get to Samson through a sister named Delilah they go to Delilah and they say look Dee we will give you we will give you 1,100 pieces of silver if you can just find out where his strength lies Delilah takes the money and agrees to set up Samson and she goes to Samson in three times she asks Samson what is the source of his strength and three times he lies to her she says Samson where does your strength come from he says well baby if if you tie me up with seven bow strings I'll lose my strength he goes to bed when he wakes up he's tied with seven bow strings and Philistines all around him he breaks the bro strings kills the Philistines the next night Delilah says baby where does your strength come from since as well if you tied me up with new rope I'll lose my strength he goes to bed when he wakes up he's tied up in new rope Philistines all around he breaks the rope kills the Philistines the next night does is Bay where does hoe stream come from SAMHSA's the baby my strength comes from my hair if you braid my hair I will lose my strength he goes to sleep he wakes up with his hair braided Philistines all around takes the braids out kills the Philistines and now Delilah flips the script she says you don't love me because if you love me brothers let me just tell you that when your woman says if you loved me you bout to have to give up something I'm just letting you know she she says Jack said if if you loved me you wouldn't lie to me like that Samson in love with her says all right baby let me be honest with you if you shaved my head I'll lose my strength now let me let me tell you how I triflin Delilah is so-so when she finds out that his hair has to be shaved the Bible says she puts him to sleep on her knees she puts him to sleep on her knees and she calls another man into the house to shave his head while he sleep on her knees and whatever she did to put him to sleep was so good that he didn't even recognize another man was shaving his hand he slept through a haircut and when he wakes up the Philistines are surrounding him he wakes up this what he says I ain't worried about that I've killed Philistines by the Dozen I beat them time after time after time his for Samson says I'm just gonna go out and I'm a beat'em like I always had and the Bible says that he did not know that the Lord was not with him I want you to hear the depth of that he did not know that the Lord wasn't with him but loved it that that phrase right there gives to me a frightening reality and a horrible tragedy the frightening reality is this that you can live your life in such a way that you wake up one day to discover the Lord is not with you I know that frightens you you you want me to tell you that you can do whatever you want in God will always have your back but what this first reminds us of is that you cannot take grace for granted and you cannot abuse the mercy of God you cannot decide to live willfully in sin disobeying the commandment of God and just telling yourself that I can do what I want to do coz God will always have my back there can come a time when you find out that God in with you and hear me it's not because God left you it's because you have chosen to walk away from God now those who want to live in sin would argue with me and tell me God's mercy is everlasting His grace and mercy follows me all the days of my life the Lord said he would never leave me none for saying no let me give you some Bible soul was so disobedient that God says he regretted him and took your spirit when David committed adultery with Bathsheba he prayed unto the Lord and say Lord do whatever you want but the one thing I don't want you to do is take your spirit from me and Paul said to the church in Rome that you can be so disobedient that God gives you over to a reprobate mind you know what that means that means that you can reach a place where you're so disobedient that God said listen listen since you are dead set on living in sin I'm going to stay right here and imma let you go out there and do whatever you want to do and when you get yourself together and you want to repent you can come back to me but I will not go with you while you decide to live in sin that then you can wake up and find out the Lord ain't with you that that's the frightening reality but here's the horrible tragedy ready he didn't know it it's sad for the Lord not to be with you it's tragic for you not to know it it's a sad thing to wind up reprobate but it's a tragedy to think you're righteous when you are reprobate it's a sad thing to wind up in a place where God's hand in on you but it's a tragedy to think that God is still with you when he ain't it's a horrible thing to live in a life of sin but it's a tragedy to think that God is with you in your life of sin and blessing you because you are not reaping any immediate consequences because of your sinning you deceive yourself into believing that God must be blessing you because you're still living he did not know that God wouldn't with him and how appropriate it is that the Pharisees take his eyes out because he's already blind the question you ought to be asking right about here how could Samson not know the Lord wasn't with him how could this man of great strength be so weak well I want to share with you a couple weaknesses of Samson that that tipped you and I I'll give you two today and ask you to come back next week for a couple more a week after that for a few more in heck if the Holy Spirit speak maybe the week after that how is Samson made weak well let me give you two answers today and we'll get on out of here in time for brunch number one Samson is fixated on his feelings but not focused on the facts come on say with me he's fixated on his feelings but he's not focused on fact if that's too much a tweet just really like this he's in his feelings and when you are in your feelings without some fact you will always make bad decisions well watch how this goes down Delilah asks him three times what is the source of your strength and he lies to her and every time he lies to her she does to him what he lied about and when he wakes up he knows she did it and she caught the Philistines to come get him she says where's the strength lied he says if you tied me up he wakes up he's tired up he knows who did it and on top of that the Philistines are around him he goes to bed she says what's your strength he says if you braid my hair he wakes up his hair is braided he knows who did it and the Philistines are around I'm trying to tell you that Samson knows this chick ain't no good she set me up and she's trying to take my strength and he knows he can't trust her that's why he lies to her because he knows Delilah ain't no good now if he knows that this sister ain't no good why would he tell her the source of history come come if he knows what she gonna do cuz every time he told her something that's what she did if he knows that's what she does why does he tell her what the real source of his strength is because she flipped the script and she said if you love me she made Samson get in touch with his feelings and in his feeling of love he ignores the fact that he knows she's no good but because he's in his feelings he allows his feelings to cause him to ignore the fact and that makes him weak listen let me give you this one for free the greatest damage done to you in life will never be lies other people tell you the greatest damage done to you are lies you tell yourself a fact you ignored of truth you closed your eyes to a stuff God has shown you but you refuse to accept and receive because of what your heart feels can hear me hear me having feelings doesn't make you weak it makes you human but when you allow your field to override fact and truth that's when you become weak now somebody you're upset with me because you just fell in love with someone and your heart is all warm and bubbly listen listen your feelings can be real they can be deep they can be powerful but feelings are not always true feelings are not always accurate feelings are not always aligned with fact feelings can be misleading and feelings change you've changed your feeling about person you sit next to at least two or three times since you've been here you didn't like them when you sat down you liked them now and now they touching their neighbour too much and you wish they leave you alone you you've changed your feelings over people all the time and I have said repeatedly that you will drown in a sea of feelings if there's no fact to hold on to go and tweet that right you will drown in a sea of feelings if there's no fact for you to hold on to feelings will mislead you as a matter of fact let me tell you how I found that out I read my Bible before I got here and I found out that there is nowhere in scripture where God spoke to somebody through their feelings God never revealed his will through emotions God speaks to his word God speaks to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit God speaks through wise counsel God speaks through angelic visitation God speaks and dreams God speaks through the prophetic word God speaks through the song God speaks through evidence in your eyes God speaks through signs and wonders but nowhere does God speak through your emotions you won't know why because your emotions can't be trusted now now you're arguing but I got some scripture you know this one trust in the Lord with all your heart come on Lee not to your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct you back watching Simon Says Lee not to your own understanding don't trust your emotions don't trust your feelings in the heat of the moment don't trust your passions because they won't lead you correctly but acknowledge God and allow God to direct your path and not your feelings every now and then your feelings need a good dose of some fact you feel like you can't handle this but the fact is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me you feel like it'll never end but the fact is weeping only indoors for a night and joy comes in the morning you feel like this is too much but the fact is all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord you need some fact and and you know what Samson needed Samson needed what all of us need when we're in our feelings he needed a special kind of prayer he needs the prayer that goes like this now Lord you know how I feel but I'm actually do me a favor right here open my eyes don't let me be hoodwinked bamboozled or run them up share with me the truth of what I'm dealing with and give me the ability to accept that it is what it is if it ain't no good it ain't no good if she's lowdown she's just lowdown if he's a liar he's just a liar if this thing is over then it's just over if it's not for me then it ain't for me if I gotta walk away then I gotta walk away if you don't want me in it I won't be in it God give me some fat that I I don't want to live life following my feelings I want to live life following fact he knows she ain't no good but he ignores it because he thinks he's in love and beloved one of the ways the devil keeps us out of the will of God is through false feelings especially being in love love and the feeling of being in love can easily pull you outside of the will of God the limp roof dealing prove to you I'm property um I need to see the hand of grown folk grown grown folk grown grown grown grown you pay your own bills you go to work every day grown folk grown folk and grow grown folk grown folk won't confess this but they know it's true everybody who's grown has done something stupid cuz you thought you in love here right in here has done something stupid feeling you in love you gave yourself to somebody who are no good because you felt you in love you spent thousands of dollars on somebody that could never pay you back cuz you're in love you were so in love you and your girlfriend got in the car drove by his house and stayed out there till 3:00 in the morning just to see who came out the door cuz you were in love the feeling of being in love will cause you to ignore fat Samson's week because he's fixated on his feelings and I focus on the fact can I give you number two did this one ought to hit somebody the reason Samson is weak is because his desire for Delilah was deeper than his devotion to God oh I could open the door to church right there his desire for Delilah was deeper than his devotion to God Samson's real problem y'all is idolatry and for somebody in this place you don't see it because you think idolatry is when you worship another god no that's not idolatry idolatry is when you give anything or anyone more priority attention devotion and resources of your life then you give to God come on get this right idolatry it's not you bowing down at some graven image idolatry is when you give anyone or anything greater priority attention resources and devotion of your life then you give to God you know what that means your job can be an item if you prioritize work over worship you've got an idol problem you're working out every day can be an idol because some people are more committed to getting up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the gym but can never get up early to go pray you know what that means your children can be an idol you always got money to buy them the latest clothes but you can't tithe when you come into the house of the Lord social media can be an idol the first thing you do in the morning is check who retweeted you who liked your picture on Instagram and what new posts you got on Facebook you have an idol problem and relationships can become an idol when you put the person you think you love above your relationship with the Lord you've got an idol problem and the problem with Samson he never worships he never gives God Thanksgiving for his victories he never kneels down before the Lord Samson only prayed once at the end of chapter 15 when he was thirsty and demanded that God give him water he does not have a relationship with us Samson puts more energy into chasing women than pursuing God Sam Samson was the original Member of Parliament why must I Jeff you ain't say be like that why must I help me holy goes hit and I finally figured out why Samson could not discern that God wasn't with him here's why Samson couldn't discern God because he didn't desire God he wanted Delilah and your desire can distort your discernment when your deepest desire is not for God say that beginner passin your desire can distort your discernment when your deepest desire is not for God hear me you want to know who God shows himself to those who desire to see him you want to know who God reveals his will to those who pray for God to show his will you want to know those whom God speaks to clearly the ones who hunger to hear God speak in their life you've got to have a desire for God the Bible says you will find God when you search for God with all your heart that God wants those who love him with all their heart and all their mind and all their soul you got to hunger for God the problem with some of us is that we are so full of Delilah that we have no desire for God here's what the Lord says and I'm done that how much of God you have in your life is only set by how deeply you desire him God is not playing a game with you where God is trying to hide himself or hide his will God says you can have as much as you desire okay let me help you um anyone who knows me knows that I'm a foodie and I like I like fine dining amen I like good dining 9 talk about where they bring all your food one I want courses Dean John I like the restaurants that that after I'm done with one course they come and wipe the crumbs off the table and then take a fork iron even used and pick it up and put down another clean when I I y'all need to get out more I like I like fine dining I like good food but you may be surprised to know that I also have a uh I have a liking for buffets and you know it's partially my parents fault so some some some of you were too young to know about this but I was raised at sizzler we didn't go to Ruth's Chris we went to the Ponderosa got to all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and steak special on Fridays I like I like my face so much so when I got down to College in North Carolina every Sunday after church we would go to it with her you know I really gotta be honest the Sundays we went to church we would go over to South Square Mall to a buffet called Piccadilly now if you ain't never been to Piccadilly my deepest condolences to you but there's some of us who know God lives in Piccadilly we love sitting down at Piccadilly butBut now that I've been upgraded I am I really don't like buffets too much because they they really don't match my palate for fine food so so I'm not a big fan of Old Country Buffet you probably never find me at Golden Corral unless I'm going to church folk I'm taking them how to shoot husband can't take the Saints to Ruth's Chris they are like buffets cuz they really don't meet my my desire for good food so a little while ago didn't Robinson I was I was I was traveling and I got stuck in a city between Arizona and California it was I went I went out west and and I got I got stuck for four days and three nights had a long layover in a inner city out west somewhere between Arizona and California and while I was stuck there for four days and three nights I am I checked in to the hotel that I was staying at and and when I checked into the hotel the city summer between Arizona California the concierge said to me he's a duck Wesley you need to try to buy fate now you know I ain't checking his Reverend I just left that here I you don't take a reverend with you everywhere you understand it so God you know I'm I'm I'm out west somewhere between Arizona and California I checked in the hotel and kosair said Reverend doctor you got you got you got to eat at the buffet cuz the buffet is the best on the strip I'll invest in the city and you you you don't judge me so so he's illicit you got either by fasting listen man I'm not a big buffet fan anymore cuz you know buffets don't match my fine dining he said no no this is the best buffet in the city you got to try it so I got up that next morning I really wasn't amore and he was kind of late afternoon and went down to the buffet sat down to buffet and I looked y'all this is the biggest buffet I've ever seen in my life they've got some of everything they've got pancakes and waffles they've got eggs and omelets they've got prime rib they've got sliced turkey they've got Asian food they've got Italian food they've got tex-mex they've got everything you want down there so I bared my plate and I went around and I grabbed what I want to try i sat down and ate it and it was some of the best food that I've ever had in my life so you know what I did I got up and I got some more I brought it back sat down and ate it and it was so good you know what I did I got up and I wouldn't got some more and by that time I'm feeling kind of full but it was so good that I didn't leave i sat there and waited for my food to digest cuz it was so good that I'm not leaving right away I'm gonna get as much of this as my body can handle and the good thing about a buffet is that you can have as much as you can digest you can eat until you can't eat no more and that's what God says about your relationship with him you can have as much joy as you want to have you can have as much God in you as you want to have you can have as much power as you're gonna have you can have all you want would you just know somebody say you just gotta want it and here's what I found out about that buffet when you get up and you want some more you can't take your plate that has food left on it no no not at a good buffet at a good buffet they won't put new food on an old plate they make you get a clean plate that has nothing on it because they said we can't put new food on the plate with some old scraps then if you come and there's too much stuff on your plate you can't get what they have for you if you want it you gotta come with an empty plate you gotta come with an empty cup you gotta come with an empty heart and say God I come empty not full of the world not full of relationship not full of career but empty and my prayer to God is that he would fill my cup Lord then I I lifted up Lord come in quit this thirsting of my soul bread of heaven feed me till I want no more here's my cup fill it up and make me whole do you know that here's my cup low I lift it up Lord come and quench this thirst of my soul oh heavens feed me till I want no more here's my car fill it up and make me can you stand it let's just sing that together here's mine come in quick this thing I saw No here's my filly you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 133,480

Keywords: What Makes You Weak?, Rev., Dr., Howard-John, Wesley, 2016, Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Length: 46min 45sec (2805 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 15 2016