Rick Warren - How the Story of Samson Teaches Us to Stay Strong When Life Breaks Us

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Then last year, do you want to be stronger physically, spiritually, mentally,

socially, relationally, and everywhere?

Do you really want to be stronger?

Because it doesn't happen by accident.

You can go on being weak.

You can go on being average, or you can be stronger.

You see, you don't grow stronger by accident.

You grow stronger by intention.

Now, this weekend, I want us to look at the life of Samson,

who was known as the strongest man in the Bible,

but he had glaring, glaring weaknesses.

And in his life, we see both the sources of strength

and the sources of weakness in the life of Samson.

There are four chapters in the Bible about this guy named Samson.

And we're going to look today at three attitudes that weaken your spirit

and three habits that strengthen your spirit,

that make you strong in spirit.

You know, the Bible tells us that John the Baptist was called

strong in spirit.

He was strong in spirit.

And that's what I want you to be.

Now, what about the three attitudes that weaken my spirit?

Well, we have these found in the life of Samson.

You know, physically, Samson was a Rambo,

but spiritually, he was a Peewee Herman.

He was a weakling. He was a wimp.

He had everything going for him.

He had talent.

He had good looks.

He had ability.

God blessed him in every kind of way.

And he started off great.

He had a lot of early successes.

But one day, he lost it all.

And he was a broken man.

He became a failure.

And one day, he woke up and all his strength was gone.

I don't want that to happen to you.

I don't want some day for you to wake up and go,

all my spiritual strength is gone.

I'm just not the man.

I'm not the woman that I used to be.

What happened?

Well, what happened with Samson is that he chose a

lifestyle that sapped his spiritual strength.

This is a very practical message.

And he fell into three traps.

And I want you to avoid these three traps.

Number one, the first trap that will weaken your spirit

is self-indulgence.

Self-indulgence weakens my spirit.

We find an example of this in chapter 14 of the book of Judges

versus 1 to 20.

Samson lived a very self-indulgent life.

He was very undisciplined.

He lived only for his feelings.

And his big weakness, of course, was women.

Some people have wine, women, and so on.

For Samson, it was women, women, and women.

In fact, in three chapters, he falls for three different women.

And he keeps running into relationships.

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After 14, the first three verses, he sees the lila,

and it says, she looked good.

He said, she pleases me.

He says, get her.

Now, she wasn't Jewish.

She wasn't even the right woman that God had chosen for him.

But he says, she looks good for me.

She lights my fire.

Now, let's just be honest here.

Sex is God's idea.

There's nothing wrong with sex.

But the point is, anything good, even good things become harmful.

If they are out of control, food, money, sex, sleep.

Anything out of control will weaken you.

So the first trap that will weaken your spirit

is when you make a decision based on pleasure

rather than in principle.

When you make a decision based on convenience

rather than conviction, Samson sees a woman.

He doesn't check her out.

He doesn't find out.

Is this a woman going to strengthen my spirit?

Or is she going to tear me down?

Is she going to build me up spiritually?

Or is she going to pull me down spiritually?

He just says, she looks good.

She's a looker.

She pleases me.

And so he ignores his plans and he says, I've got to have her.

Now, let me just stop right here.

Does this sound vaguely familiar in our culture?

Does our culture, do we live in a culture

that values if it feels good, do it?

Yes.

Do we live in a culture that says, whatever you feel like doing,

you ought to do, that I owe it to myself,

that I should just give in to whatever feels good.

The Samson excuse that we still hear today is this one.

I owe it to myself.

Now, my question is this, what do you know in your life is wrong?

But you just keep saying, I owe it to myself just this once.

It's okay.

You're actually opening the door to this self-indulgence and say,

I'm just going to indulge myself in this.

You know, if you went out of cruise and the captain came

in loudspeaker said, high folks, we're on this two-week cruise.

We've developed a small leak, but I just want to tell you,

it's a small leak.

Well, that wouldn't be any comfort to you because whether it's a small leak

or a big leak, a leak is a leak is a leak.

And a small leak will sink a ship just like a large leak will.

It just takes a little bit more time.

The point is this, any area that you're undisciplined in

is going to weaken your spirit.

Any area that you're undisciplined in will eventually catch up with you.

To be strong in spirit, I must discipline my desires.

To be strong in spirit, I must discipline my desires.

Desires are good, but they must be disciplined.

The Bible says it like this, 1st Peter 4, 1 and 2.

Strengthen yourselves with Christ's way of thinking.

Live your lives controlled by God's will, not by human desire.

What is He saying there?

Just because I want something doesn't mean I should have it.

Just because I can afford it doesn't mean I should buy it.

Just because it's pleasurable doesn't mean it's good.

And just because everybody's doing it doesn't mean that I have to do it.

I need to avoid the trap of self-indulgence.

And we live in a very self-indulgent culture.

The second trap that Samson fell into,

and it will cause him to lose his strength, was resentment.

Resentment will weaken you spiritually.

It weakens your spirit.

We find this in the next chapter,

Judges chapter 15.

Samson lived his entire life in a continual state of disappointment,

an anger and resentment and bitterness.

He was a very, very angry man.

He felt misunderstood.

He felt disappointed.

He reacts violently to everything.

His primary motivation in life was to get even.

He had a victim mentality.

Do you have that?

The attitude that everybody's against you and you're a victim in the world's law.

That's going to cause you to not grow in spirit at a weakened your spirit.

One time, Samson actually killed 30 men just to get even on a bet.

He was a very resentful, very angry, very bitter person.

And in Judges chapter 15,

you always find his excuses this.

They hurt me first.

Now, let me ask you,

who has hurt you that you're holding onto that hurt?

You need to let it go,

because that will sink your ship.

That will sap your strength.

That will shrivel your spirit.

And if you're going to be spiritually strong,

you not only have to avoid self-indulgence by disciplining your desires,

you have to avoid resentment.

Now, every one of us are hurt in life.

We all get hurt by what people say,

of what people do, by what people think.

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Good world and not be hurt.

But Samson's second mistake is he reacts instead of acts.

Resentment is always self-defeating.

It always hurts you more than it hurts the other person.

Job chapter 5 verse 2 says,

To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish,

senseless thing to do.

The Bible says,

Anytime I get resentful,

Anytime I hold a grudge,

I'm a fool.

It's just real clear.

I'm a fool.

I am foolish.

Job 18 forces.

You're only hurting yourself

with your anger.

When you hold on to anger, it's like taking fire in your heart.

You're the one who's going to get burned.

Resentment always hurts you more than it hurts somebody else.

And Samson lost his spiritual and physical strength.

Not just because of self-indulgent,

but because he never manages anger.

He never learned to let it go.

He never learned to forgive,

to be strong in spirit.

I must control my reactions.

I not only have to discipline my desires,

I have to learn to control my reactions.

The Bible says the person who learns a control is his reaction

is stronger than a walled city.

And the person who doesn't know how to control their reactions

is as defenseless as a city without walls.

Look at this verse, Proverbs 29-11.

A fool gives full vent to his anger,

but a wise man keeps himself under control.

That was Samson's second mistake.

And I don't want you to make this one.

Self-indulgence, resentment to somebody who's

hurt you in the past.

And the third one, this is a big one because it catches

this off-guard carelessness.

Carelessness will sap your spiritual strength.

It will shrivel your spirit.

It will weaken your spirit.

And we see this in the next chapter,

in Judges chapter 16 verses 1 to 20.

Anytime you get careless with your time,

anytime you get careless with your health,

anytime you get careless with your money,

anytime you get careless with your words,

your head in the wrong direction.

Anytime you get careless with your commitments,

you make a commitment and then you don't keep it.

Samson had amazing strength.

And this strength was actually a gift from God.

God had given it to him.

And it was a result of a commitment that he had made.

Samson made what was called in the Bible,

a Nazarite vow.

And a Nazarite vow was a vow to live wholly before God.

And as a symbol of that vow,

there were a number of things that you were not to do.

If you took the Nazarite vow,

you were to be dedicated to God 100%.

You were to have no alcohol.

You were to never drink any alcohol in your life.

You were to eat a special diet.

And the fourth thing that was most notable is

you were to never cut your hair.

That was the part of a Nazarite vow.

You never cut your hair as a symbol of your commitment to God.

And why didn't people make this Nazarite vow?

Well, it was a simply a way of saying

that God's servant is to live differently.

We're to be above reproach.

We're to be different than the culture.

Samson, however, was careless with his vow.

He made a vow, but he didn't keep it.

He continually compromised his commitment out of convenience.

And he toyed with temptation.

And his attitude was not how close to God can I get?

His attitude was how close to the fire can I get and not get burned?

A lot of people live their lives that way.

They go, I'm a Christian, and I know this is wrong,

but I wonder how much can I do and not get burned?

Now, in chapter 16, we have the story of Delilah.

And Delilah is hired by Samson's enemies.

Samson is an enemy because he represents the strength of God.

And the people who hated God wanted to destroy Samson.

So they hire this woman, Delilah, to find his secret strength.

And Samson knows exactly what's going on.

He's aware of the game.

And he knows that she's trying to find his secret strength.

And he actually toys with her.

He teases her.

And the first time when she can...

Please tell me, what's the secret of your strength?

He says, well, if you will tie seven bowstrings around me,

then I can't...

I won't be able to break from him.

So he goes to bed with this girl.

He wakes up the next morning and he's tied up with seven bowstrings.

Duh!

And there are men standing in the room waiting to kill him.

He immediately breaks the bowstrings and kills the guys.

The next night, she does it again.

She says, oh, honey, please tell me what your secret of strength.

And he says, well, you know really the secret of strength is if you'll just tie

seven new ropes around me, then I won't be able to break him.

He knows what's going on.

He goes to sleep the next morning.

He wakes up, duh!

He's tied up in seven ropes.

And there are men standing in the room waiting to kill him.

He is toying with temptation.

He's playing with the fire.

He's flirting with sin.

He breaks the ropes and kills all the guys.

The next night, Delilah says, honey, you're really embarrassing me.

You're making me look bad.

It's pretty blatant.

She's actually caring more about the money she's going to be paid than she cares about Samson.

But he doesn't care.

He's toying with her.

He's teasing her.

And this time, he says, if you will braid my hair, I'll lose my strength.

Now, notice he's actually getting close to the real secret.

The secret of it was in his hair, not that his hair made him strong.

It was his commitment to God that made him strong.

And the hair was the symbol of his commitment to God.

He says, if you braid my hair, he's flirting with temptation.

How close can I get?

And let me just stop here.

What are you flirting with?

What do you know in your life is flat out wrong?

pornography and you're flirting with it.

Cheating on your income tax and you're flirting with it.

Flirting with a man or woman at work and you know it's wrong.

And you say, I can handle it.

I can handle this.

I can get away with it.

And you're getting closer and closer.

You have already been set up for the fail.

Satan has already seduced you.

He's already lied to you and you've bought that lie.

Every morning, there are men standing in his room.

He knows what's going on here.

He knows exactly what he's doing.

And in judges chapter 16, verse 15, 16,

he's careless once too often.

And he finally tells her, he says,

if you cut my hair, then I'll lose my strength.

He finally gives in.

And his lifestyle had become so weakened from compromise,

after compromise, after compromise.

He had said, it'll be different for me.

I can handle it.

When you say those words, you're being set up by Satan.

Nobody ever plans to fail spiritually.

Nobody ever plans to have their marriage fail,

their life fail, their business fail,

their health fail, their finances fail.

Nobody ever plans a bankruptcy.

But it's one little decision after another.

People don't fall off a cliff overnight.

It begins with small slippages.

I start to let things slide and then they wake up one day and they go,

what happened?

What happened?

And all of a sudden, they've lost their credibility.

Or they've lost their reputation.

Or they've lost their ministry.

Or they've lost their finances.

The fact is, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

What's the weak link in your life?

You see, you are only as strong as what you're committed to.

And if you're chipping away at that commitment,

you're getting weaker and weaker every day.

The Bible is very blunt.

Look at this verse, Proverbs 18, 20.

You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say.

Now, not only will you have to live with the consequences of everything you say,

you will have to live with the consequences of everything you do.

You will have to live with the consequences of everything you think.

And when you say, I can get away with this.

It's just a small thing.

You are setting yourself up for failure.

So let me, before we go to the solution, ask you,

what's the weak link in your life?

What is the area that you're most like?

Is it self-indulgence in some area?

Is it carelessness in some area?

Is it resentment against someone that you just won't let it go?

You're being set up.

You're allowing that.

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Slipage and you can say, I can handle it.

Here's the second question I want to ask you.

What are you going to do something about it?

This is the day to do something about that slippage in your life.

And the solution is to be strong spiritually.

I must develop good habits.

I must develop good habits.

You are the sum total of your habits.

Your character is your habits.

What you do habitually is what you is your character.

If you are habitually friendly, if you're habitually kind,

if you're habitually honest, if you are habitually courageous,

then that's your character.

If it's not a habit, it's not your character.

So I want to close now very quickly with three habits that will change your life.

I've been following these habits almost on my life.

And they are the secret of my own spiritual strength.

And every man or woman of God that has been used in history

has developed these habits.

And if you will develop these habits,

you will start building a strong spirit.

By the way, the Bible says this in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10.

Build up your strength.

Notice that's something you do.

Build up your strength.

In union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power.

You have a part in building your strength and God has a part.

God says you build up your strength by being in union with Christ

and then he puts his power in you.

How does that happen?

Three ways.

Number one, first habit for spiritual strength.

Get time with God every day.

Get time with God every single day of your life.

If you're not doing that, you're not growing spiritually.

If you're not doing that, you're getting weaker every day.

We call this a daily quiet time.

And each of these three habits, I want to give you the reason,

the routine and the result.

First, the reason.

Why should I have a daily quiet time?

Psalm 25 verse 4.

Show me the path where I should go, O Lord.

Point out the right road for me to walk.

You need a daily quiet time for guidance.

If you're not having a daily quiet time,

you're not getting guidance from God.

You're after on your own.

You're going your own way, your own path,

at your own pace, in your own direction,

because you're not getting daily guidance from God.

That's the reason to get guidance from God.

What's the routine?

Well, it is to get alone by yourself.

The Bible says in Luke 5, 16,

Jesus often withdrew to a lonely place and prayed.

That means it was habitual.

It was his habit.

In some of the verses in the Bible, it says,

and Jesus withdrew to a lonely place as was his custom.

It was his habit.

You get a place where you could be alone with God

and be quiet where you could pray and read the Bible.

And then what's the results?

Jesus says this in John 15, 7.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

that's quiet time,

then you will ask for anything you wish and you shall have it.

Did you know that one of the keys for answered prayer

is to spend time alone with God?

That's the number one habit you need to develop.

And I pray that right now, as you're listening to this,

you go, okay, I'm going to do it.

Even if it's just five minutes, then you go to 10,

then you go to 15,

and you get time to listen to God through His Word

and talk to Him in prayer.

That's the number one habit for spiritual strength.

You know it, but you're not doing it.

So let's make a change.

Let's be stronger in spirit this year.

Get time with God every day.

Here's habit number two.

Get together with believers every week.

These aren't rocket science, folks.

We know what they are,

but we just don't do them.

Get together with believers every single week.

Now, we call this a weekly, small group.

Here's the reason, Hebrews 10, 25.

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together.

Instead, let us encourage each other.

Notice the habit of meeting the other.

It's like this fire.

These coals are all hot.

If I were to take one of the coals out of the fire

and set it off here by itself,

it would grow cold and it would lose its heat.

But if I take that cold and put it that cold back in the fire,

it gets hot again.

This is what fellowship does.

You, by yourself, you're going to grow cold.

You're going to grow weak.

You're going to grow wimpy.

You're not going to have the spiritual strength you need.

You must be in a small group

where iron sharpens, iron,

and the fire helps each other stay warm.

What is the routine?

Well, we find the routine for small groups in Acts chapter 542.

It says they met day after day in the temple courts

and from house to house.

We've covered this verse many times.

Temple courts is large group worship

and house to house is small group fellowship.

You need both of these to be spiritually strong.

You're right now in the temple courts.

You're in a large group celebration of worship.

And that's a good thing,

but you also need the small group fellowship.

And what's the result of getting together with believers every week?

The Bible says,

in Achilles, he asks these four, nine, and ten,

two are better off than one,

because together they're more effective.

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One falls down.

The other can help him up.

There are going to be times when you need somebody else to be there for you.

Do you have that safety net in place?

The crisis, the road winds, the terrible storm,

those are going to come into your life.

And you need some people in your life there

who you've already made the contact with when that happens.

Who in your life would show up right now if you had a disaster?

Question number two.

Who would you show up for if they had a disaster?

Does anybody know they can count on you?

You need a daily time with God

and you need a weekly team for God.

You need to get together with believers every week

and you need to get together with God every day.

There's one other thing and this one touches a real source spot

because it involves your money.

The third habit of every great saint

of every spiritually deep person.

Every spiritual strong person is not just get time with God every day

and not just get together with believers every week.

Number three, give a tie to God every weekend.

Give a tie to God every weekend.

Now, tithing is the habit of returning the first 10% of my income back to God.

I give the first part of my money on the first day of the week

to say, Jesus, you are first in my life.

It's a symbol to say that he's really first.

First part of my tithe goes to the on the first day of the week

as an act of worship.

The reason, the routine and the result.

The Bible says you need to tie because wherever your treasure is,

your heart will be there also.

And if I can't give God the first part of my money

then I'm not really putting in first in my life.

I'm just pretending that he is.

Wherever your treasure is, your heart will be.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14, 23, the purpose of tithing

is to teach you to always put God first in your life.

Question, is God first in your life?

Does your money show it?

Does your wallet show it?

Does your giving show it?

How do I do it?

How do I develop this habit of a weekend tithe to God?

Well, the Bible tells us, 1 Corinthians 16.

On the first day of every week, that's Sunday.

Now, I realize some of you worship on Saturday.

So Saturday is your Sabbath.

On the first day of every week, set aside some of what you have earned

and give it as an offering.

The amount depends on how much to Lord has helped you to earn.

It's proportional giving.

I give the first 10% back to God based on, if I made a lot,

I give a lot.

If I made a little, I give a little.

What's the result?

Here's the promise of God in tithing.

Malachi 310, bring your whole tithe

into my storehouse, the whole tithe, not 5%, not 2%,

the whole tithe, 10% to my storehouse.

Test me in this, says the Lord,

and see if I won't open the floodgates of heaven

and pour out so much blessing

that you won't have enough room for it.

God says, I dare you.

You've heard me say this.

I call it the Pepsi Challenge, verse of the Bible.

God says, try it.

You like it.

I dare you.

Let's play a game.

You give to me and I'll give to you and we'll see who wins.

I've been playing this game for many years

and I've lost it my entire life.

Bring the whole tithe in the storehouse.

Now here's the question.

Which of the three weaknesses are your most likely to fall into?

The three traps.

And which of the three habits do you need to start?

Are you being tempted by self-indulgence

and there's an era of your life?

You know, you're giving in in self-indulgence in that area

and it's it's weakening your life.

Is there an area of resentment that's weakening your life?

Is there an area of carelessness

and you've just gotten a little too careless about it in your life?

I don't know what it is but you do

and the Holy Spirit does and God's telling you,

you need to work on this.

You need to strengthen it right now.

How do you strengthen it by developing these three habits?

So here's my challenge to everybody who's listening and watching.

Let's all commit to do all three of these habits all year long

and see how much stronger we are spiritually at the end of the year.

Are you ready to do this?

Are you ready to get daily time with God?

To give a weekend tithe to God?

And to give a weekly team for God?

These three have...

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Habits will change your life.

I said it at the beginning.

Spiritual strength is not accidental.

It's a result of choices we make and habits we develop.

I have developed these habits and they brought spiritual strength to me

and I challenge you to do them too.

Now let me read this verse again.

Ephesians 6 and 10 will close.

Build up your strength

in union with the Lord

and by means of his mighty power.

You can't do these habits on your own.

You don't have the power to do them on your own.

You need God's power.

And where do you get it by being in union with Christ?

If you've never opened your life to Christ,

if you've never developed a friendship of Christ,

that's your starting point.

You need to say, Jesus Christ today,

I want to get to know you.

I don't want to go another year without a relationship with you.

Why don't we close with a word of prayer?

Will you bow your heads with me?

Dear God, I don't want to be a spiritual weakling.

I don't want to be a spiritual wimp.

I want to be stronger at the end of this year, not weaker.

I want to be closer to you, not farther away.

Just say, God, I don't want to live a mediocre life.

I want to be spiritually strong.

I want to be a strong woman of God.

I want to be a strong man of God.

And I want to start down that path.

And then say this, Dear God,

help me to discipline my desires

and not give in to self-indulgence.

Just say, help me to discipline my desires

and not give in to self-indulgence.

Say, help me to control my reactions

and to not give in to resentment, bitterness,

to forgive and to let it go.

Father, I let that person go today.

And then say, help me to not give in to carelessness,

but develop good habits.

Father, today, I make a vow to you.

I make a commitment to you.

That is best I know how I want to have a daily time with you every day.

And I want to get together with other believers every week

in a small group.

And I want to give a tie to you every weekend.

So that these three representing my time and my money

and my relationships are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

If you've never invited Christ in your life, say, Jesus Christ,

make yourself real to me, come into my life and save me.

I pray this humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.

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