Burning is Part of the Process

Introduction

Praise the Lord, Church! Let’s give God some praise in this house! If he’s worthy, why don’t you cry hallelujah

Speak of Store - identify that it was life changing! You do a disservice to yourself if you don’t go back and listen to the services.

Please remain standing for the reading of the Word

Biblical Text:

King James Version Chapter 14

14 *And Samson went down ato Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore bget her for me to wife. 3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of cthy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the duncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for †she pleaseth me well. 4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was eof the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time fthe Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Judges 14:1-4

You may be seated

Samson’s life begins with direction, much similar to that of Samuel’s, this direction was to be consecrated. Samson was to:

Not to drink wine or anything of the vine

Not to cut his hair

Not to eat of anything unclean

Not to touch a dead body

Samuel was consecrated by his mother and father out of a barren womb.

In the days of Eli, Israel underwent a time of spiritual infertility due to the evil within Israel. Manoah and his wife bore a son in the days of wickedness for Israel.

In both cases the children were consecrated before their births

In both cases consecration was utilized to break the yoke of the enemy

The failure to honor the Lord led to the death of Eli’s sons and the capturing of the Ark by the Philistines

The failure to worship God and God alone led to the captivity of Israel by the Philistines

Prophets and judges are raised up for a people who have fallen into sin, where we all have fallen short of the will of God. Sin abounds today, where we still have a need for spiritual judgement within our lives. This is why we have Pastors, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Teachers.

I said this out of order to emphasize that your pastor is the first authority you answer to. However, the church is perfected by the full operation of the five-fold! There job is to bring the teachings of Jesus to the church!

Jesus died on calvary so that all could be freed from the bondage of sin and death. It is Jesus’ power that sets people free from addiction, perversion, and spiritual bondage.

Samson Touches the Unclean Thing

Samson would journey to a place called Timnah where he saw a beautiful Philistine woman that he desired to marry. It would be there that he tried to woo her and was successful in doing so. He would then go back to his home land in Dan, but encounter a lion in the vineyards of Timnah prior to doing so.

He one the battle against the attack…the enemy doesn’t stop at trying to destroy you

Samson would return to Timnah in order to celebrate the marriage he was about to partake in. But, let us return to the text that said he was there to stir up trouble against the Philistines -

“But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel” - Judges 14:4

Before arriving to the village, Samson encountered the same lion he had slain and failed to tell his spiritual authority about. That lion had a hive of bees that had produced honey within the carcass of the lion. He took of the honey and then proceeded to give it to his parents without telling them where it came from.

He lost the battle of consecration…God still honored his covenant because of his desire for a pure bride (If all humanity is born with a sinful nature, how can she be pure unless she be born again?)

Samson then proceeds to through a 7 day feast. The feast was meant to bring about a wager for him to gain from. He made up a riddle from his encounter with the lion, but how could the Philistines guess it unless they gain inside knowledge somehow. The Bible tells us that the Philistine men blackmailed his wife by saying that they would burn her and her father’s house with fire.

The woman revealed Samson’s answer to the riddle on the seventh day after pulling it from Samson

Samson temporarily lost out on his bride on the seventh day

Num 6:9 “And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.”

Samson should have been in a state of repentance on the seventh day; instead, he was to busy being angry at the fact that he had lost out in a game. Samson was distracted from his consecration to God.

When we become distracted from consecration, we often lose focus of our purpose. Samson knew his purpose and that was to judge the Philistines, but his anger caused him to falter in his original mission. God was in the midst of his mistakes anyhow, as his leaving the land was a way in which Samson remained protected.

God was trying to keep his spiritual DNA pure

Samson’s Purpose Led to Persecution

The reality is that the Philistines would end up burning Samson’s bride-to-be alive because Samson stifled their harvest. He cut off the Philistine’s food source.

Satan gets mad when we take away his food source…the harvest isn’t for him and it’s for God! We’re to set the field ablaze with the fire of God.

The Philistines would approach Israel for Samson - 3K men went to retrieve Samson

Samson would be at the cleft of the rock when his friends betrayed him. Yet God was Faithful.

Explain how the cleft is a place of seeing God - Our suffering may be a cleft in disguise

Samson agreed to go with them offering up his hands to be bound by his friends if they agreed not to kill him.

Samson’s Deliverance

Judges 15:13-14 “And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.”

Samson’s friends took him to the enemy.

They were scared (influenced by fear)

They needed a deliverer, but didn’t know who to turn to - 20 years of judgement would be a deliverance for Israel

My Testimony

God’s hand of provision over my eating disorder.

Altar Call

Other Scriptures:

Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, As the Lord hath said, And in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”

Acts 2:2-4 “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Ps 3:7-8 “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.”

- Selah in the Hebrew invites us to rest in the Lord’s refuge and strength.

The word for Salvation is Yeshuah, while spelled differently than Joshua in the Hebrew is nearly identical in pronunciation