David gives us a compelling example on how we can move towards praise and proclamation in times of trouble. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Sermons in the Psalms, Vol 2
TEXT: Psalm 9
TITLE: Moving Towards Praise and Proclamation in Trouble
PREACHER: Tim Lambros
BIG IDEA: Gospel power moves us to praise and proclamation in times of trouble.

POINTS:
1. God As My Refuge
2. God As My Deliverer

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Four times in the first two verses the Psalmist says “I will.”  The Psalmist is attempting to will himself into a certain action. ‘I will give thanks’… do we only give thanks when things go our way?”

“‘I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.’ Think about how powerful this is – when trouble visits your space – your mind can only hold one thought at a time – the Psalmist fights the temptation to grumble, complain, and put on self-pity but fights it by recounting all God’s wonderful deeds. Praise and proclamation can only happen when God is remembered.”

“IMPORTANT In times of trouble remembering WHO God is and WHAT God has done shapes/influences HOW you will respond.  Otherwise, circumstances will dictate how you respond. So we see the Psalmist has a certain resolve in the midst of his circumstances.  We can all relate to this difficulty. When we face trouble every thought matters.”

“Is the Psalmist talking about his resolve following the challenge or in the midst of the trouble? Has the Psalmist been delivered from his troubles or is he in the midst of his troubles? I think we can make a case that the Psalmist is in the midst of trouble.  I think there are hints in our text that would indicate David is in the midst of trouble while he pens this Psalm. Look ahead to V. 9 & V. 13 – God is a stronghold for the oppressed.  He is the stronghold in times of trouble.  ‘See my affliction’. David is in the midst of trouble.  Yet he praises.  He proclaims truths about God.”

“3 things we see in the text that fill his resolve to fill His mind with praise to God AND proclaim truth about God in the midst of trouble:
1. Praise for God’s prior deliverance (v. 3-6)
2. Proclaiming truth about God’s righteousness (v. 7-8)
3. Proclaiming God as a refuge (v.9-10)”

“Notice what V. 9 says – a stronghold for the oppressed and those in times of trouble. I would imagine just about every one of you today is faced with some aspect of oppression or trouble. Sometimes it’s direct and obvious but other times oppression and trouble simply comes because we live in a fallen world. The Psalmist holds out that the LORD is your stronghold.  He is your protection in times of trouble.”

“He says THE LORD IS A STRONGHOLD… LISTEN CLOSELY – God brings trouble into our lives so we can learn to trust Him in the midst of our trouble.  Why? It’s one thing to know God IS A STRONGHOLD, it’s another thing to know God AS YOUR STRONGHOLD. Same as refuge and same as deliverer.”

“It’s easy to just hear “do you know the Lord” as Christianese yet this is the climax of this Psalm. V.10 “Those who know His name put their trust in Him”.  Those who know Him know He will not forsake you.  David is saying with credibility that I know the LORD – He has delivered me many times in the past and He can be trusted. I DON’T JUST FACTUALLY KNOW GOD IS A STRONGHOLD I KNOW HIM AS A STRONGHOLD.”

“CHURCH … to trust God in the midst of your trouble – to move towards praising and proclaiming in the midst of trouble – you must have times of trouble where you can trust God AS your stronghold.  Knowing and trusting God can’t be a set of facts – it’s so much more – praisers and proclaimers know God will not forsake them.”

“In the midst of [Jesus’] trouble – being unjustly crucified – He did not forsake us.  We have God sending His Son to be forsaken so we could know and trust God that He will not forsake you.  NT believers have the full revelation of God Himself in His Son.  God has chosen to reveal Himself to us and He does this by forsaking His Son that we could KNOW HIM AND TRUST HIM in the midst of our trouble and afflictions.”

“What about when God doesn’t answer our prayer?  What about when it feels like you have been forsaken? David knew what it was like for God TO NOT DELIVER HIS SON. Believers don’t just have a here and now understanding of God as deliverer.  We have a LONG view of God’s deliverance.  It’s one level of trust to move towards praise and proclamation while we are in the midst of trouble and affliction but sometimes God will call you to trust Him for eternal deliverance.  That place where there is no more tears, pain, trouble or affliction.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
2 Samuel 22:1-3
Colossians 3:1–4
Acts 16:25
James 1:3
Hebrews 4:14–16

APPLICATION:
- Have you noticed it’s easier to praise God’s goodness and proclaim truths about God after you have been delivered?  What about in the midst of trouble?  How do you do when you are facing trouble, tempted to doubt God maybe even believe untruths about God like he has left you.  

- Do you know the Lord?  Do you know Him in the middle of your trouble and afflictions?  Does that move you to be a praising and proclaiming, believer?

So how do we move towards praise and proclamation when we are afflicted this week or in the midst of trouble?
1. Recount His deeds! Start by preaching the gospel to yourself daily!  Then add to this all His wonderful deeds He’s done in your life.
2. Pursue grace as a practice  – Study Heb 5:11-14 Here’s a taste from V. 14 “powers of discernment trained by constant practice” You might ask “how do I do that? Pursue grace through God’s means of grace.  Don’t overlook the beauty and blessing of gathering with your Church every Sunday morning.

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Glorious Christ
Behold Our God
It's Your Grace
Rejoice
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Psalm 20

Jesus is the light of God’s face! Come all who put their faith in Him, and you will find that you, too, now live in the goodness of God! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Sermons in the Psalms, Vol 2
TEXT: Psalm 4
TITLE: Joy That Comes in the Night
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: An unmatched joy is given by God that leads us to trust Him in our time of need.

POINTS:
1. A Joy that comes from God in the darkness of night
2. A Joy that is beyond compare
3. A Joy that leads to a peace-filled trust in God

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Not simply ‘a’ joy, but a joy that is beyond compare and unrivaled, can only come from our all-satisfying God who has shone the light of His face on us!”

“In the darkness of night, we find King David is in distress. His trouble is real, described in vs 1 - His distress is significant enough for him to cry to God for relief! Then in verse 2, we find that the trial that he is facing is suffering under shameful assaults on his honor and lies about his character - likely sowing seeds of dissension in the kingdom. This assault on his honor is coming from ‘men of rank,’ not some lightweight opposition - (not some troll with an internet connection). This is a legit enemy wreaking real havoc! Danger is imminent. War could break out! This distress is not only real and consistent, but non-stop, and lengthy, ‘how long.’”

“THIS is important - this distress/trouble does not go away. It appears to remain! But, amid David’s distress, David is granted the relief he has prayed for in Verse 1, and that relief comes from a JOY that God graciously puts in David’s heart (vs 7). In the midst of this distressing situation that will not relent, a surprising joy from God floods the heart of David, enabling him to peacefully go to bed and fall asleep and be assured that his life is safe!”

“Oh, how we need this! LET THIS SINK INTO YOUR SOUL! ON A VERY BAD DAY - GOD GIVES DAVID JOY! And David leads the Choirmaster, and with the stringed instruments, David sings for us… instructing us as it were… in his prayer!”

“We might be hoping and expecting that as soon as we get to the end Vs. 6, the very thing we should have next is ‘You have vanquished my enemy and removed the trial! The lies and dishonor are gone’ The LORD does the unexpected. Instead of the situation being taken away, the LORD does what we will see is better. In vs 7, The LORD gives Joy!”

“In vs 1-8 there are 7 specific REASONS, found in God’s goodness and favor, for our Joy:

• Vs. 1a Reason #1 for our Joy is found in God giving His righteousness to us.

• Vs. 1b Reason #2 for our Joy is found in God’s past faithness. 

• Vs. 1c Reason #3 for our Joy is found in God being gracious to us. 

• Vs. 3a Reason #4 for our Joy is found in God setting us apart for himself. 

• Vs. 3b Reason #5 for our Joy is found in God's hearing when we call to him.

• Vs. 8a Reason #6 for our Joy is found in God granting us peace. 

• Vs. 8b Reason #7 for our Joy is found in God granting us safety (He will not let you go nor be destroyed).”

“Reason after reason after reason for Joy, and every one of them pointed to the One who makes each possible. The believer in Christ cannot help but see that all of this is ultimately possible in the Cross of Jesus Christ.”

“Jesus, the light of the world, is the expression of the light of God’s face shining forth in salvation! Joy to the world! Jesus is the reason for that JOY!”

“Jesus is the light of God’s face! Come all who put their faith in Him, and you will find that you, too, now live in the goodness of God!”

“…in our time of need, we are tempted to look to this world for relief! Where do you go in the midst of suffering and trial? Where are we going to go to get the answers and relief? Where does David go in the midst of his distress? He goes to His God. There, David finds great relief in his trouble: God’s inexplicable favor in the light of God’s face!”

“Our Choirmaster has gone before us! He has graciously heard our prayer! He has graciously saved us and will keep us safe through the night!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Numbers 6:24-26
Romans 3 and 4
Romans 5:8
Hebrews 1:3

QUOTES:
Ligoneer - “To have the light of God’s face shine upon a person, then, is to have the glory of the Lord shine in a special way… indicating His approval of the person on whom He shines as one who is righteous in His sight. Scripture describes the experience of God’s light as the greatest blessing that any human being can ever enjoy.”

Charles Spurgeon -“He will not forsake you: He will bear you through. There is a promise prepared for your present emergencies; and if you will believe and plead it at the mercy-seat through Jesus Christ, you shall see the hand of the Lord stretched out to help you. Everything else will fail, but His word never will.”

APPLICATION:
CHURCH! Behold reason and after reason to rejoice in your Savior, Jesus!

• Jesus is the righteousness of God given to us (Rom. 3 and 4)

• Jesus’ past faithfulness at the cross is the very means of our salvation!

• Jesus receives the wrath we deserve, and we receive the undeserved grace of God! (Rom. 5:8)

• We are set apart IN Jesus!

• We have direct access in prayer to the throne of grace IN Jesus!

• Jesus speaks, “My peace I give you” 

Who will show us some good? Answer: The light of God’s face shines upon us!
Q. What was on your mind/heart when the sun went down yesterday?
Q. What was on your mind the night before?

The light of the world, Jesus, has come into the darkness of this world. HIS LIGHT WAS   NOT   SNUFFED OUT YESTERDAY AND NEVER WILL! In fact… JESUS WILL SHINE BRIGHTER AS THE DAYS GROW DARKER!

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Praise to the Lord
Only A Holy God
Before The Throne Of God Above
I Have A Shelter
Thy Mercy

Psalm 29 is a poetic retelling of a storm by David. It has one goal—Move us to worship. As one commentator said—Psalm 29 is Pure Praise. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Sermons in the Psalms, Vol 2
TEXT: Psalm 29
TITLE: Christmas in July
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. We Were Created for Glory
2. God is Worthy of All Glory

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”These verses call God’s people to give God the glory He is due. Three times, we are commanded to ascribe to God praise and worship due to His matchless name, infinite worth, and glorious character. And not just God’s people, but the angels as well—(1) Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings.”

“Of course, the angels ascribe glory to God naturally. So the thrice command to give praise to God is really for us. And we need it. But why? Why must we be repeatedly commanded to give God the glory due to His name? We are like the angels in that we are hardwired for glory. God created us for glory. But we have a problem the angels don’t—Sin. Sin has caused a glory war in our hearts. Heb 3 says sin is deceitful. One way sin deceives us is by blinding us to the glory of God.”

“But it’s not just that we are blinded to God’s glory; sin creates a craving in our hearts for personal glory. Instead of God’s glory, we pursue our glory. We live for our reputation. We praise our accomplishments. We worship our wisdom. We glory in our personal morals. We glory in our health. We glory in our respectability. We glory in our bank accounts. Our hearts are a theater of glory wars.”

“This is why we get discouraged and depressed. This is the source of our confusion and contentions. This is why some are anxious and angry. Self-glory can never satisfy a person hardwired to feast on God’s glory.”

“In the second stanza, 3-9, David shows us WHY we are to ascribe the LORD glory.”

“After repeatedly exhorting us to ascribe glory to God, in 3-9, David shows us WHY God is worthy of our continuous praise by describing a storm. Whether the storm was real or not, David's imagery and connections provide a powerful and unforgettable object lesson of God’s greatness.”

“LORD appears ten times in the description of the storm. Seven of those occurrences happen in the phrase the voice of the LORD.”

“All this is poetic imagery for the unmatched power and strength of God. His voice stands over all creation. Nothing is too strong for Him. Nothing is as majestic and awe-inspiring as the LORD. The power of the voice of God is found in other places in Scripture.”

“The imagery of a throne and king communicates sovereign power and complete control. The world may be shaken. Our country may be shaken. You may be shaken. But God is never shaken. He sits enthroned as king above it all. That applies to everything we see in the news and whatever trial you are going through today. We all try to make sense of life. We all seek comfort in difficulty. Psalm 29 is meant to help you do both by holding a God whose sovereign power is unmatched.”

“Did you notice David’s trials are nowhere to be found in Psalm 29? It doesn’t matter what he’s going through. It doesn’t matter what we are going through. God is God!”

“In these final verses, the storm has passed. The earth has been shaken, and the forests are destroyed. But God sits calmly above it all. He is in total control. As for His people, they are blessed with spiritual strength and peace.  This is where the voice of the LORD in Psalm 29 points us forward. It reminds us there is a storm of divine judgment coming one day.”

“Infinitely more terrifying is the eternal storm of Judgment Day. Every human being is a sinner under God’s judgment. Humanly speaking, we are powerless to escape God’s righteous and holy judgment that will be void of any peace and continue eternally. But God made a way in His Son Jesus. Psalm 29 is a bit of Christmas in July. It’s bookends of God’s glory, and our peace was sung by the angels in Luke 2—Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased.”

“With that song, the angels announced the birth of the one who would bring us face-to-face with the merciful voice of the Lord, enduring the storm of all storms, the storm of God’s eternal justice and wrath for our wrongdoing. Jesus bowed his head into that storm for us, paying the price for all our sin, making a way for our forgiveness, and giving us true peace with God, knowing He will never hold our sins against us but only give us grace, mercy, and joy forever.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 46:10
Romans 1:16

QUOTES:
James Montgomery Boice - “Why does David call on the angels? It is because he thinks that his praise and that of other mere human beings is not adequate. David is overwhelmed with the majesty of God revealed in the storm that he has witnessed and is now going to describe. He feels that he needs help to praise God properly. To praise God adequately the entire created order must join in, and even then sufficient praise will be lacking.”

Mark Johnston - “Baal was regarded as the storm god in Canaanite religion, and his worshipers looked to him to bring them through life’s upheavals. But like every false deity, Baal had neither the ability to hear nor the ability to answer this cry for help, and his devotees were left to the mercy of life’s crises. Not so the God of Israel.”

APPLICATION:
- What glory is commanding your heart?

- What’s your modern-day Baal? Self-sufficiency? Protectionism? Psychological therapy? A twelve-step program? Where do you run? Where do you pursue hope? Smash your Baals and trust the voice of the LORD revealed in your Bible. Nothing can happen to you apart from the voice of the LORD. He is always in control of your life. His plans for you are sure.

In the kindness of God, it’s almost monsoon season. We will watch powerful storms roll through our city in the coming weeks. As they do, allow Psalm 29 to fill your mind and move you to praise God for who He is and what He has done for you in Jesus.  

Don’t wait for the monsoons. I began by sharing how we can never exhaust our understanding of the Psalms. Even more, we can never exhaust ascribing glory to our Lord and Savior, not today, tomorrow, not even in eternity. Right now, start with one area of your life where you need to be more intentional

• Conversations

• Priorities

• Thought life

• Perspective

• Eyes

• Accomplishments

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
This is Amazing Grace - Phil Wickam
Sing! (Live) - Sovereign Grace Music
Jesus Your Mercy - Sovereign Grace Music
Christ is Mine Forever More - CityAlight
How Great (Psalm 145) - Sovereign Grace Music

Judges concludes on a chilling and deeply sobering note. But even now, as we look closely, we see Christ in the Chaos. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 19-21
TITLE: We Have the King of All Kings
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”As dark and raunchy as this story is, the true horror of this story  is found in the opening words. …these words exhort us to look beyond the horrors we are about to encounter to see our true enemy. If we don’t, this story shows us how bad things can get, even for God’s people. ”

“Our story begins with a Levite who has marriage problems. His concubine (wife) is unfaithful to him, and she leaves him to live with her father. After four months of separation from his wife, 3-10 tells us he travels to Bethlehem to work it out. He hits it off with Dad, and after staying with them for almost a week, the Levite and his concubine head home.”

“In 12-21, they spend the night in the Israelite town of Gibeah. With no one willing to provide hospitality, the Levite and his wife set up camp in the town square. An older man sees this, invites them to stay the night at his house, and puts on a clinic in hospitality. But the unthinkable happens—read 22-26.”

“I’m not sure there is a passage in all Scripture containing as much wickedness as this. Everything is twisted here! A mob of perverts want to engage in homosexual rape. The wickedness and vileness of homosexuality were too much for the old man, so he refused—good for him. But then he does the unthinkable: he offers his virgin daughter and the Levite's wife to, notice the language in 24—Violate and do with them what seems good to you.”

“The perverted mob refuses his offer, and the Levite, to save himself, hastily hands over his wife to them. And the perverted monsters take turns brutally raping her all night long. Undoubtedly, the host and Levite could hear all that was happening outside their door—and did nothing. Only when the sun comes up do they stop. By then, this woman is emotionally dead and physically destroyed. Emptied of all dignity, it takes everything this young lady has to crawl to the doorstep of the very home she should have felt safe in and die. This is Sodom all over again, only worse!”

“This is hard to hear. For some, it's unbearable because it brings back memories of their own sexual abuse. If that’s you, I’m sorry you have experienced the fallenness of our world in such a horrific way. Even more, the Lord wants you to know—that He knows. He sees the pain you carry. He is aware of the emotional scars. The suffering that lingers is not unknown to Him. He bids you today to come to Him with your burden. Find your value and worth in His Son Jesus, your peace and comfort in His Spirit. Your confidence in the limitless transforming power of the gospel. Trust in his justice, if not executed today, on Judgement Day. Know, see, and taste that God is good. If you are in danger today, go to a safe place. Tell someone. Call the authorities. Call your pastors. If you are safe but still hurting, reach out to your pastors. We want to help you. Our hearts break for you. We will gladly help you carry your burden to the cross of Calvary and throne above.”

“The unthinkable nature of this story continues. The Levite knows what happened to his wife. Yet, he gets up in the morning, opens the front door, finds his wife lying there, and says—Get up, time to hit the road. When she doesn’t respond, he loads her lifeless body onto the donkey and goes home. Once home, he chops her body up and sends a bloody token to each tribe of Israel to arouse the nation to punish the perverts. His appalling tactics work, stirring up the indignation of Israel.”

“The horror continues in Ch 20. 1-17 recounts how the ten tribes of Israel meet to review what happened in Gibeah. As they listen to the Levite recount the horrific events of that night, there is immediate unity to attack Gibeah and execute the perverted monsters. But the Benjaminites will have none of it, and a bloodbath ensues.”

“To make matters worse, when they convened in Mizpah (20:1), they made an oath not to give their daughters in marriage to any Benjaminite, seemingly sealing the extinction of their brother's existence. Their solution: More bloodshed. They send 12,000 men to the unsuspecting town of Jabesh-gilead, where they slaughter men, women, and children. The only ones spared are 400 virgins who are seized and delivered to the Benjaminites. All that extreme violence and the math didn’t work. They were 200 virgins short.”

“Call it kidnapping. Call it human trafficking. Call it what you want. Anarchy has engulfed Israel. They have abandoned God’s standard for marriage, morals, and anything else you can think of. This is not the story of the Canaanites. This is Israel—God’s chosen people.”

“And after all the stories, all the judges, all the geography, and 400 years of history, it is all owed to this one great problem—read 25. Israel’s problem is our problem. So what do we do now?”

“In Judges, God’s people were broken. Rape, genocide, and kidnapping. Heinous sins. I’m pretty sure those heinous sins aren’t on your spiritual resume. But do you know what is on all our resumes? Idolatry. Specifically, an idolatrous desire for independence from God.”

“The good news and the ultimate point of Judges is that WE HAVE A KING! In Christ, we have the King of Kings who loves us, teaches, guides, and intercedes for us.”

“Believe that God is faithful and will be faithful to you and His church. Don’t presume on that, but live in the good of that. How? Live a life of repentance. Embrace divine forgiveness. Rejoice in who you are in Christ. Live like you believe God controls your life and this world. Persevere in holiness, come what may, with your eyes fixed on the return of your King. God’s grace was powerful enough to save you, and it will be powerful enough to keep you to the end, where we will see our king and worship him alone in all righteousness, joy, and peace.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Revelation 21:1-4

QUOTES:
Dale Ralph Davis- “The problem is not so much with what each man was doing but with the standard that governed him. Hence, 21:25b expresses the ultimate perversity of every man, demanding the right to be his own lord, insisting on following the dictates of his own glands. The problem is not sins but sin, that declaration of independence—whether stated viciously or politely—which says, Yes I do want to be like God calling my own shots.”

Barry Webb - “Idolatry and immorality are bedfellows; where you have one, you also, sooner or later, have the other.”

APPLICATION:
There are three takeaways from this story and Judges I pray will be unforgettable for us:
1. Guard against underestimating the power of idolatry
You may not be able to identify with the horrors of Israel in Judges, but we can all identify with the root of their problem—We want to do what is right in our own eyes.

This is precisely what happened at the beginning when the Serpent tells Eve in Gen 3—You can be like God and Eve said Yes! Let me eat. As wicked as Israel was, we can’t separate ourselves from their problem. Our idolatry may seem respectable—personal morality, respect, achievement, acceptance—good things in themselves, but sinful idols when we want them more than we want God. That’s what idolatry is. The end of it is no different than Israel.

I believe one of the best ways, to guard against underestimating the power of idolatry—Community Group.

2. Remember who your King is
The effective refrain in Judges is found in its final verse—read 25. The idea of no king is that a king would have set things right. But there was no king to rule, lead, and exercise authority over the people. Instead, every man did what was right in their own eyes. This is important: Every man is a reference to the Israelite. Judges isn’t about Canaanites living like Canaanites. It’s about Israel living like Canaanites. The church's problem isn’t out there; it’s in here. You and I turning our backs on our King is the church’s greatest problem.

Have you forgotten who your King is? Turn back to him today in repentance and faith.

3. Celebrate the undeserved and unending grace of God toward you
The story ends with everyone returning home to their inheritance. To have an inheritance was to have a future. Israel, despite her sin, has a future. The time of the Judges was not the end of their story. And for only one reason—God’s faithfulness to pour out mercy and grace.

God will discipline you—but He will never abandon you! Our sin and idolatry are great, but God’s grace is greater.

DIY—Do It Yourself—has become very popular today. It has even crept into the church - DIY God, DIY religion. A DIY approach to God has been Israel’s problem throughout Judges, which is what our text is about today. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 17-18
TITLE: The Dangers of DIY Religion
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Our story begins with a man named Micah. In the opening verses of Ch. 17, we learn that Micah steals money from his mother. After hearing his mother pronounce a curse on the thief, Micah gets nervous and confesses, then returns the 1100 pieces of silver to her. …Mom consecrates the money to the LORD by telling her son to make an idol. Her son has quite a collection of idols. He has a shrine called the House of Micah filled with idols.”

“This is crazy. These are Israelites. Mom refers to God by the holy name Yahweh (all caps LORD in 2&3). She dedicates her blessing to the LORD. The name Micah means who is like Yahweh. Micah and his mom aren’t ignorant of God. Yet, they are carrying on—blessing the LORD by making an idol and self-appointing a priest over the shrine of idols—as if they are doing nothing wrong.”

“It gets crazier. In 7-8, we meet a real-life priest, a Levite looking for a job. …There is a lot wrong with this Levite. First, Levites don’t sojourn. As priests, they lived and served where and how they were appointed (Joshua 21:2). But this Levite is doing his own thing with no clear goal. He is a DIY priest. He allows Micah to do what Micah has no authority to do—ordain him. Now, the Levite is serving not in the house of God but in the house of Micah, a pagan shrine filled with idols.”

“This is DIY religion to the core. Make your own gods. Build your own shrine. Hire your own priest. Be the kind of priest you want to be. Worship how, when, and where you want according to your preferences and advantages. All in the name of Yahweh.”

“How does this happen? We don’t have to guess. The opening words of Ch. 18—In those days there was no king in Israel— remind us that DIY religion wasn’t an isolated situation in the hill country of Ephraim. Remember the tribe of Dan? The tribe that gave us Samson? They enter the story as nomads.”

“After not doing things God’s way—driving out Canaanites—Ch 18:1-11 shows us how Dan took a DIY approach to securing land. Wouldn’t you know it? They ended up at Micah’s place and recognized the accent of his freelancing Levite. Knowing he is a man of the cloth, they ask him to ask God if their mission will be successful.”

“In 7-13, the men went north with the blessing of the Levite, where they found Laish, a prosperous town that is unsuspecting and isolated, making it easy to conquer. They report back to home base. They get the go-ahead to attack. They grab 600 soldiers and head back to Laish. On the way, they stop off at Micah’s again.”

“Micah recognizes they have taken his idols and priest. He chases the Danite army down to get his idols and priest back. When Micah catches up to them, he complains that they took everything from him.”

“The identity of the rogue priest is finally revealed: Jonathan, Son of Gershom, grandson of Moses. Even the house of Moses, the man through whom God said—You will serve and worship me this way, has been corrupted with DIY religion.”

“There is the beginning of Judges, then the cycle of Judges in 3-16, the last being Samson. The third section, 17-21, serves as snapshots of Israel’s spiritual demise. Dan serves as the poster child of the DIY religion of Israel. They went out and got their own land, worshiped their own idols, established a rival worship center to Shiloh, and appointed their own fake priests. This went on for centuries until, as 29 says, Assyria captured them in 720 BC.”

“The DIY revolution began long before our time. Micah and his mother, Jonathan the rogue priest and the tribe of Dan, all God’s people, serving themselves by serving Yahweh their own way.”

“God is not a buffet offering Himself up for our preferences and ambitions. That’s the Do It Yourself religion. That’s what Micah, his mother, Jonathan, the tribe of Dan, and all of Israel were are guilty of. They aren’t atheists. They use the name Yahweh. They have a priest. They have a place to worship. But all that is just a veneer. In reality, they are living for themselves. They worship God according to their circumstances and their preferences.”

“Here are the questions we must ask ourselves: Who determines my beliefs? Who shapes my decisions? Who establishes my priorities? Who fuels my passions? Who decides when and how you participate in corporate worship? We just did a seven-week series from the Bible on The Sunday Gathering. Has anything changed in your worship, or are you still worshipping God in your own way?”

“God doesn’t give us that freedom in His kingdom. It’s His kingdom, not ours. In Matthew 6, Jesus taught his disciples to pray this way—Father, your kingdom come, MY will be done. He didn’t say that, did he? He said—Your kingdom come, YOUR will be done. [emphasis added].”

“Micah’s idols are gone, and his response is—Now I have nothing. Let that be a sober warning against idolatry in our own lives. Idolatry always leaves us empty-handed. Like Jeremiah 2:13 says—They are like broken cisterns that cannot hold water. In all their shininess and promise, the things of this world can’t give us what we need. They always fail us. They always leave us saying—I have nothing!”

“Jesus says there are only two ways to build your life: On the sinking sand of self or the solid rock of Christ. You either believe in Jesus, or you reject Jesus. You are either in the light or you are in the dark. You are either with God, or you are against God. You are either justified in a crucified and risen Christ, or you are condemned in your sin. If you build your way, verse 24 is what you get. Here is where Micah’s response in 24 is exceedingly hopeful. If you build God’s way, no matter what happens in this life, you could lose all you have but still have everything because Jesus is everything.”

“This is where the Book of Judges points us. We do have a king. He is sufficient. He is superior. He is all-satisfying. Of all the things we can do ourselves, Jesus did what we could never do ourselves. He did exactly what his Father asked him to do for our sake, even giving up his own life.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Philippians 2:5-8

QUOTES:
Barry Webb - “Judges 17 is full of religious words, objects, activities, and persons, but none of it is governed by respect for God’s Law or to honor him as an end in itself. Rather this has all been about people using religion to serve their own interests—a mother to indulge her son, a Levite to secure a better life for himself, and Micah to achieve prosperity by adding a veneer of orthodoxy to his idolatrous shrine.”

APPLICATION:
- Who do you serve? Who is running your life? Who determines how you live? 

The Christian confession can be reduced to three words—Jesus is Lord. He has brought his kingdom, of which he is the king. If you profess to be part of his kingdom, is he your King? Is Jesus your Lord? Or are you your own Lord cherry-picking the things Jesus taught and commanded? 

Where have you become a DIY Christian? Where is your life being led by your personal preferences, circumstances, convenience, and ambitions instead of Jesus? How are you writing your own script? That’s the challenge for us—we want to write our own script instead of submitting our lives to God’s script (Bible).

Let today be the day we all come to our King on bended knee, repenting of our idols, embracing our blood-bought forgiveness, and holding fast to the grace and promises of our great Lord and King Jesus until he returns for us.

Samson’s story is the story of God’s people, which means his story is our story. As foreign and different as Samson’s world seems from ours, his life is a mirror for our own lives. In so many ways, we are Samson. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 16:1-31
TITLE: We Are Samson, But God Is God
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: We have nothing without God, but with God, we have everything.

POINTS:
1. The Faithfulness of God In Our Unfaithfulness
2. The Power of God in Our Weakness

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Samson’s story is the story of God’s people, which means his story is our story. As foreign and different as Samson’s world seems from ours, his life is a mirror for our own lives. In so many ways, we are Samson. But god is God. As tragic as Samson’s story ends today, we are provided one more opportunity to see our absolute need for God and His absolute sufficiency for us.”

“We know who Delilah is. We are familiar with the most famous haircut in the world. We have the children’s ministry images of a muscle-bound Samson bringing the house down etched into our minds. But all that has a greater purpose, and that is to help us see: We have nothing without God, but with God, we have everything.”

“The first three verses seem out of place with the chapter. But they do serve a purpose. They are a snapshot of what Samson gave his life to. Between the end of Ch 15, where God revived and refreshed Samson, and 16:4, nothing has changed with Samson. Samson keeps living for himself instead of serving the Lord and His people.”

“In 1, we learn that Samson is deep in enemy territory. Gaza is one of five capital cities in the Philistine empire. He has no business being there, and now he is trapped. But in 3, Samson outsmarts the Philistines by escaping town in the dark of night. On his way out, he rips the city gate off its hinges and carries it off, leaving Gaza unprotected. The point: Even in Samson’s foolishness, the Philistines are no match for him.”

“This is Samson, a man who possesses such incredible strength in the Lord (tearing out the gates) but who is incredibly weak in himself (fornicating with prostitutes). It is the same old story with Samson.”

“‘O mirror of our fickle state.’ Like Samson, we all struggle with besetting sin and weakness. 

• We willingly wander into that sin—AGAIN. 

• We choose our understanding over His wisdom—AGAIN. 

• We pursue our passions instead of His purposes—AGAIN.  

• We turn the gifts He gives us for His glory into instruments for our glory—AGAIN.”

“We are Samson, but God is God. Despite our unfaithfulness, in Christ, God convicts us instead of condemning us. He continues to discipline us instead of destroying us. God continues to use us instead of tossing us aside. We are unfaithful, but God is faithful in pouring out grace upon grace in Christ Jesus, even though we don’t deserve it. This is the ultimate blessing of the gospel that is anyone’s who believes in Jesus.”

“Of course, Samson is with another woman. Delilah proves to be a worthy opponent for Samson’s follies. She can get rich at Samson’s expense and runs with it. In turn, Samson teases and toys with Delilah. They were meant for each other.”

“Despite Samson’s pride and unfaithfulness to God, God continued to move Samson toward his destiny as an instrument of His faithfulness to His people. But now, for the first time, we read that the Lord had left Samson.”

“The visible symbol of Samson’s calling and relationship with God was his hair. His hair was not his strength; God was. What made him different than any other man was not his hair but his relationship with God.”

“In his pride, Samson ran his mouth. He thought his strength was his own. But when his hair was gone, God left him. And when God left him, he was powerless. The man who was not like any other man is now just like every other man. Now, shackled, bound, and blind, a prisoner of the enemy, the mighty Samson has been reduced to one of the tasks reserved for the lowest members of society: grinding grain into flour. The thud of Samson’s life couldn’t be louder. ‘O mirror of our fickle state’—Pride is always the source of the spiritual thuds in our lives.”  

“The man of faithlessness desperately cries out to God in faith one more time and God is faithful to provide His servant what he needs to accomplish His purposes. With the strength that only Yahweh could provide, Samson brings down the house of Dagon, bringing judgment on thousands of Philistines by taking them to the grave with him. ’O mirror of our fickle state.’ In his weakness and desperation, God was God making Samson strong. So it is with us.”

“God will leave us weak so we can remember He is strong. For this reason, we can boast in our weakness because, in our weakness, God manifests his power in ways our strengths could never do. We are Samson, but God is God.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 103:10
Proverbs 16:18
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

QUOTES:
Jon Bloom - “In sin, we turn from God to idols, which profanes God, destroys faith, and obscures God in the eyes of others. But weakness has the tendency to increase our conscious dependence on God, which glorifies him, strengthens our faith, and manifests his power in ways our strengths never do.”

APPLICATION:
Where are you weak today? 

• Faith in God for your future

• Contentment in Christ amid chronic pain and a persisting trial

• Courage in the Spirit to make a decision or confront someone

Wherever you feel your weakness today, don’t bury it. Don’t hide it from others. Don’t shield it from your fellowship with others. Ultimately, it is from God meant to drive you to the One who fulfilled his calling by becoming a freakshow for you on a cross. 

Samson’s death brought the walls of a pagan temple crumbling down. It wasn’t enough for Israel or us. A thousand years later, our Father in heaven, the eternal and perfect Father, sent the better Samson, His only Son Jesus, whose life and death brought the power of Satan, sin, and death crumbling down for good.

The good news of the gospel is this: As much as you identify with Samson, you identify with your perfect Savior, Jesus more. That means, Everyone who has faith in Jesus, no matter how weak you’ve been or how weak you are, you can never be defeated by the enemy—You always win in Christ Jesus! He is your unfailing hope in life and death.

The Lord mocks anyone who attempts to defeat Him, hinder His purposes, or squelch His people. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 15:1-20
TITLE:  Walking With God
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
Lesson 1: Living in opposition to God never goes well
Lesson 2: Holy Hatred guards our walk with God
Lesson 3: God is faithful to hear our prayers and provide what we need

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Three I Spy moments in our text are critical to walking with God individually and corporately.”

“This story is an odd mix of humor and tragedy. Tragically, Samson’s wife and father-in-law are murdered. At the same time, the relationship between Samson and the Philistines is humorous. Every time the Philistines think they have Samson, he blisters them. You can’t help but laugh a little at all this back-and-forth foolishness.”

“God uses humor in the Bible to make a sobering point. Here, the sobering point is about the Philistines. Samson repeatedly makes them look like bungling idiots. In a few verses, he will kill 1,000 Philistines with nothing but the jawbone of a donkey. From foxes to jawbones, the Philistines are on the wrong side of God, and that is not a good place to be.”

“The Philistines are enemies of God’s people. They are cruelly oppressing Israel. They do not fear God; they mock God. But they are no match for God.”

“Derision is mockery. The Lord mocks anyone who attempts to defeat Him, hinder His purposes, or squelch His people. Psalm 2 and Judges 15 warn that opposing God and His people is perilous. It’s always been this way. From Egypt to Canaan to Babylon to Rome, it never goes well for those who oppose God and persecute His people.”

“It isn’t going well for our nation today or any other nation that denies and defies God. God’s kingdom will come. His Church will be built. The gospel will go forth. Whether from sheer terror of the pits of hell or the absolute bliss from the heights of heaven, Phi 2:10-11 is clear—every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the praise and glory of God!”

“No matter how well life is going for you if you oppose God, it will not go well, if not in this life, in the eternal life quickly approaching.”

“Israel is in self-preservation mode. Their desire for peace has moved them to be content in bondage. They can’t imagine being free. They will forsake Yahweh to serve pagan gods. They will serve Yahweh’s enemies as their lord. They will turn on the Lord’s chosen deliverer. They won’t kill Samson, but they will turn him over to be killed by God’s enemies.”

“The irony is rich: Israel delivers their God-given deliverer FROM the Philistines TO the Philistines. This is a dark day in the history of God’s people.”

“This story is a mirror for us. This will sound weird, but enmity is a gift from God. As Christians, we should experience holy hatred for the right things.”

“We should hate ungodliness. We should hate unrighteousness. We should hate injustice. We should hate opposition to God. We should hate any philosophy or ideology that denies God or prefers and exalts man over God. We should hate sin.”

“Jesus’ point couldn’t be more straightforward: Hate sin more than you love your life. It’s better to be physically crippled than comfortable with sin. Why? Because sin is opposition to God.”

“One man with one bloody jawbone exacts God’s holy and just judgment on 1,000 Philistine soldiers. The Book of Judges repeatedly reminds us we can never predict what God will do or who He will use.”

“You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. For the first time, we see why Samson is listed among the people of great faith in Hebrews 11. Samson was thirsty, and he cried out to God in his need. Samson recognized that even though his hand destroyed Israel’s enemy, it was God’s doing—salvation belongs to the Lord alone.”

“He gave Samson what Samson could not give himself and what he desperately needed most; notice in 19—he brought forth water from a rock (wilderness—Exodus 17), and Samson drank it, and his spirit was refreshed and revived in the grace of the Lord.”

“This moment is a giant flashing neon arrow pointing us to the gospel. The true and better Samson, the one every judge in Judges and the entire book of Judges points to, Jesus, came a thousand years later to bring great salvation to sinners like us. We once opposed God and loved sin and evil. At one time, we were at enmity with God. But God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ. He did not negotiate with Satan. He did not entertain temptation. Jesus did not fool around with sin. Jesus guarded the divine enmity and destroyed the enemy at the cross so that we would not die but be refreshed and revived, walking with Him today and forever.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 2:1-2, 4
Philippians 2:10-11
Psalm 97:10
Matthew 18:7-9

QUOTES:
Dale Ralph Davis - “The Philistines are the enemies of Yahweh’s people. Here their stupidity is held up for ridicule; here, they are made the laughing stock. Why? To show us the peril of being an enemy of Yahweh’s people (even his sinful people), for Yahweh makes fools of those who seek to ruin and crush his people. His enemies—and theirs—are kid’s stuff for him; he toys with them and makes his people able to laugh at them. It is a ghastly thing to make oneself the object of divine laughter.”

Dale Ralph Davis - “Whether it is the evil or sin within us or some form of it outside us God does not call us to negotiate with sin and evil but to wage war on them, to nurse a holy hatred toward them in all their multicolored forms.”

APPLICATION:
- Are there certain sins you have become comfortable with? Are there sinful thoughts you are at peace entertaining? Where has the pursuit of personal comfort trumped the pursuit of personal holiness? Do you hate what God hates and love what God loves? These questions are critical because, to the degree we answer yes, we live as opposed to God. Not walking with God never goes well. 

- This story ends with God hearing Samson’s cry and providing for his needs. Today, God remains accessible and available to all who cry out to Him, regardless of their background or situation. 

• Do you need fresh gratitude for your salvation

• Do you need a humble and holy hatred for evil restored in your soul

• Do you need to repent of your friendship with a specific sin

Whatever you need to walk with God, God stands ready to provide. He wants to grow you. He wants to encourage you. He wants to use you. Cry out to God. He will hear your prayer because in Jesus, you are his precious child, and His ear is yours.

God’s purposes are bigger than us. God can use whatever and whomever he wants to bring about His purpose. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 14
TITLE:  The God Who Is There
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. God Always Has A Purpose In Our Chaos
2. God’s Strength Is Sufficient In Our Weakness

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”From his conception, Samson was being prepared to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Yet, Samson was a disaster. Our text is the first window into his life, and we see an arrogant and insolent hot-headed young man who does life big, bold, and exactly how he pleases. Yet, God is there, working behind the scenes using Samson in all his imperfections.”

“This is a terrible sign for Israel. Instead of following the word of the Lord, Samson follows his heart. He is his own god. The hope of Israel is acting just like Israel—Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

“In many ways, Samson’s life is an illustration of Israel’s own spiritual demise. Like Samson, Israel was supposed to be set apart as holy for God and His purposes. Like Israel pursuing foreign gods, Samson pursues foreign women. Both turned their back on their calling and their God and did what was right in their own eyes.”

“In the chaos, we are reminded—God is in control. There is nothing righteous that Samson is doing. Samson’s lust for a good time with a good-looking girl controls him. But God is in control of it all, working His unstoppable will. The Lord’s intentions for Samson revealed in chapter 13 still stand in chapter 14.” 

“God is bigger than any one person. God’s purposes are bigger than us. That’s hard for us to swallow, but it’s true. God can use whatever and whomever he wants to bring about His purpose. He’s the potter, we are the clay (Romans 9). Samson’s life illustrates this truth. Hebrews 11:32 says that Samson was a man of faith. He was, but he certainly wasn’t a faithful man. He wasn’t faithful to his parents’ teaching, his Nazirite vow, or the laws of the Lord. We will learn that it didn’t take long for Samson to lose almost everything the Lord had given him, except his great strength, and he finally lost that as well.” 

“God was using Samson’s lust for this Philistine girl to set the stage for the Israelite's liberation from the Philistines. He is in control, even of Samson’s chaos. This doesn’t mean God approves of Samson’s sinfulness.  Samson is exchanging God’s will for Him for what is right in his own eyes. That is idolatry and God hates idolatry. The point of verse 4 is this: Keep your eyes on God not on Samson.”

“Samson is on his way to marry a Philistine, something God has explicitly forbidden. Yet, God is with Samson, showing him—You can trust me. In my strength you can do what you could never do in your own strength. One would think this would get Samson’s attention. You would think he would have built a stone altar to Yahweh on the side of the road. He doesn’t.”

“Samson is weak in so many ways. He can’t say no to a drink. He can’t say no to a hustle. He can’t say no to a seductive girl. He can’t control his anger. He even loses the girl. He is self-absorbed, self-centered, and void of self-control. Samson is weak. But again, in his weakness (19) The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, empowering him to do what he could never do in his own strength. This savage act by Samson was more than a personal revenge tour—It was the power of God.”

“We are just like Samson. Through the gospel, not through a Nazarite vow, but through the Nazarene, Jesus, God has called us, saved us, and set us apart for His eternal and glorious purposes. But, like Samson, we get distracted and misdirected. The grass always seems greener on the other side. We don’t want to miss out on the world’s pleasures. We become enamored with the ways of our culture. Like Samson, we start heading in the wrong direction, away from God doing what is right in our own eyes.”

“This riddle draws us to the gospel. That’s you and me. We think we are strong in ourselves, but we are not. The truth is we are weak, hopeless, and spiritually dead. But in God’s love and mercy, His Spirit rushed upon us, bringing us salvation and making us the object of God’s divine attention.”

“Now, every day, He is forming us into something sweet and desirable in His eyes (sanctification). One day in heaven that work will be complete (glorification). But until that day, you have the promise that you can rise to any occasion God puts you in. You can resist the temptation that presents itself. You can accomplish what God calls you to. You can fight the sin that wars in your heart. Your life can bear spiritual fruit in keeping with your calling as my beloved. Not in your own strength but in the unmatchable and all-sufficient strength and power of the Spirit God provides.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Ephesians 1:11
Hebrews 11:32
John 15
Ephesians 3:20
1 Corinthians 10:13

QUOTES:
Dale Ralph Davis - “Yahweh can and will use the sinfulness or stupidity of his servants as the camouflage for bringing his secret will to pass.”

George Schwab - “The riddle of the world is this: What is life about? What is the meaning of life? Samson gives the cosmic answer: it is about God forming something sweet and desirable from something that seemed strong, but is spiritually dead.”

APPLICATION:
- We must never view God’s providence as permission for our disobedience. We must never assume that just because God uses me, I am right with Him.

- Parents of spiritually wayward Children: When your child’s sin and chaos and your disappointment and heartache dominate the scene—don’t lose hope. Keep your eye on God, who has a purpose, even if you don’t know what it is. Your child is still breathing, and that means God isn’t done with them yet.

- Do you need a spiritual redirecting today? What part of your life is at odds with your calling as a Christian? You’re a Christian called to live for Jesus, but you look more like a Philistine living for yourself. Where have you exchanged God’s will for you for what is right in your own eyes?

Following our Easter Service and 7-week Series on the Sunday Gathering (check out Tim’s recent blog post regarding the Gathering series), today we have returned to the book of Judges. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Judges: Christ in the Chaos
TEXT: Judges 12:8-13:1-25
TITLE:  The Faithfulness of God on Display
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Gospel opens our eyes to behold the faithfulness of God.

POINTS:
1. God’s faithfulness on display
2. Our sin that blinds

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”The people did what was right in their own eyes as we witness the cycle of them returning to grievous sin. This is the way of the world. YET, through this book of Judges, we can marvel at the shocking Grace of God as we witness His mercy that meets His people’s sinfulness, immorality, rebellion, idolatry, and loss of innocence.”

“In the face of all of the CHAOS, the LORD mercifully raises up judge after judge… deliverer after deliverer… savior after savior… each chosen and sent by God. We witness the repeat cycle: the people turn away from their God and run after idols and sin. Yet, all of this has been pointing to their (our) need for THE Deliverer… THE Savior… the book of Judges has been revealing CHRIST in the Chaos!”

“Chapter 12:8-15 reveals three Judges that ruled over a combined 25-year period - Ibzan of Bethlehem, Elon the Zebulunite, and Abdon of Pirathon. This stretch of 25 years can be summarized as one of peace. Following the death of Abdon in Verse 15, we find in Chapter 13:1 that the people of Israel return to their sin. The peace that they were enjoying had come to end. They were at it again! This time they are lower than ever before. They were suffering dearly for their sin and this time the oppression lasted longer than ever before (40 years)… under the hand of the Philistines (13:1). Forty years and no one cried out to the LORD!”

“Manoah’s wife was barren (vs 2). This would have been of double concern for them, being both Hebrew and intertwined with the Canaanite culture and gods. For the Israelites, to be barren was to be in a sense bearing under God’s curse. She and Manoah would have believed themselves to be suffering under God’s reproach. Others would have believed the same. AND to make matters worse, they had become one with their pagan Canaanite worldview. Being barren would carry with it the stigma and self-judgment that somehow you had offended one of the gods that ruled over reproduction and were now bearing under their punishment. In both worldviews, their hope of their family continuing on would die with them. This was judgment on judgment!”

“How the husband and wife must have felt regarding this personal matter is not recorded here. But we can imagine how difficult this must have been. They likely ached privately and likely over time their hearts could have given up. BUT what we do know from the text is that like the people of Israel who were so lost, they had not cried out to the LORD for help.”

“Their child was to “be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death”: A Nazirite vow (literally - “oneself in dedication/consecration”) was voluntarily made by the individual to God for a season of time. During this time, the individual would “separate” themself apart to God (consecrate themselves to God). During this brief period of time, they were to abstain from three things: no wine/alcoholic beverages, no cutting of the hair, and no contact with a corpse. (Numbers 6:1-21) If you failed at this… if you became defiled during this vow (read Numbers - if some guy “dies very suddenly beside” you) - your vow time clock starts all over again - your previous time is voided!”

“The point of the Nazirite vow was to call God’s people to wholehearted dedication to God!”

“There is a beautiful truth in God’s calling of Samson’s whole life to this “wholehearted dedication to God!” Yes, Samson was to exemplify this for the people as God called them back to himself (Samson will fail miserably at this), But God's faithfulness to his people, even in the face of their terrible sin, is on display because of God’s own “wholehearted covenantal dedication” to his people!”

“Enter the woman’s husband…We find in the unfolding verses Manoah clamoring for center stage, seeking to manipulate the messenger of God - struggling for control.”

“Manoah requests to have the ‘man of God’ return. He is blinded by unbelief that this man is divine (certainly refusing to acknowledge it). This is the first step in trying to gain control of the situation - I want to hear this for myself and understand what is happening. (vs 8) This is way outside his wheelhouse of understanding so he is now going to get to the bottom of this and get on top of what is happening. Hold this man to account…”

“The husband declares what is truth for us all - In the presence of the holiness of God, we see clearly that we deserve the fires of hell! …YET… God who is faithful to His promise gives them GRACE and MERCY.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 12:1
Ephesians 4:1
2 Peter 1:3-11

QUOTES:
”Christ Our Wisdom” by Sovereign Grace Music -
Christ our wisdom, we will follow
Though the way ahead is veiled
As we journey through the shadows
Grant us faith where sight has failed
Help us cling to Your commandments
Strengthened by Your faithful Word
We will never be abandoned
You are God and we are Yours

APPLICATION:
- Marvel at the grace of God. God comes to us when we have not come to him, for He is Faithful!! While our eyes were on ourselves, His looked upon us, because He is faithful! Christian - are you at a new low? God will meet you there! He has not and will abandon you! He is faithful to you. 

- Marvel at the Cross of Christ 
The LORD has wholeheartedly dedicated Himself to His people - to the point that His son, Jesus, would die in our place to save us!

- God’s faithfulness toward us now calls for our faithfulness to Him
In a sense, we have been called by God into a “Nazirite Vow.” He has called us out / “separated” us from death into life and calls us to respond by “separating” / consecrating ourselves unto Him… to wholehearted dedication to Him!

We both play an active part because preaching is a partnership. The Bible has more to say about the hearers' part of the partnership than about the preachers'. Hearing and heeding the preached Word is essential for our relationship with God. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  The Gathering: Why Sunday Matters
TEXT: James 1:21-25
TITLE:  Partnering with the Preacher
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Prepare Your Heart
2. Listen with Humility
3. Apply with Confidence

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”What is James doing here? He wants us to prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word. Preparation isn’t a foreign concept to us. Think about how many things you prepare for every day. James knows preparation is paramount when receiving God’s Word, privately or publicly. He understands this because he understands the heart.”

“James knows that in our pride, we can be slow to hear, figuratively speaking, living with our Bibles closed—because we know what we know what we know—instead of living with our Bibles open, eager to hear and apply God’s Word.”

“James knows we can be quick to speak the truth of God’s Word to others, criticize the preacher, or preach excuses and justifications to ourselves when the preaching hits home.”

“James knows how quickly idolatry can choke out our appetite for the truth of God’s word. He understands how self-righteousness and doctrinal pride cloud our understanding of God’s word. James is aware of how unchecked sin stunts us spiritually.”

“So, James's words are a gift from God! Repentance and faith in Christ’s forgiveness and the Spirit’s power to prepare our hearts to receive the preached Word on Sunday morning.”

“James says believers are to put away pride and receive the word with meekness. The word for receive means to welcome or accept. That’s what authentic listening is—Accepting God’s word, not only in my head but in my heart.”

“James says the key to listening is putting off our sin and putting on meekness, which is humility. Meekness is expressed in a submissive spirit. It’s the opposite of a defensive posture, a self-righteousness attitude, or an apathetic spirit, all of which slam the door of our hearts shut to the preached word.“

 “That’s the opposite of receiving the word with humility. Christians should be E.A.T., eager and teachable, so we EAT up the Word of God. Why? Because there’s so much for us to learn about our Lord and Savior!”

“What hinders humble listening on Sunday? Give it to the Lord. He is merciful. He is full of grace. He is mighty to change your heart. He loves and delights in you. He wants you to gain and grow all you can from the preaching of His Word.”

“Listening continues long after the message concludes, not with your ears, with your feet. James has just instructed the believers to receive the word with humility. Now, he puts the proverbial bow on the package with a powerful and unforgettable picture—read verses 22-25.”

“Now, the phrase looks intently means to observe carefully and contemplate what you see. This is not a glance. This man is studying his face in the mirror, and the more he looks into the mirror, the more the mirror reveals, blackheads and all. But then, in verse 24, he goes away, forgetting what he saw. Forgetting is not forgetfulness (growing old). Forgetting is disregarding. This man sees his face but ignores what he sees. He fails to make the needed adjustments before he gets on with his day. It’s an absurd metaphor. But that’s the point.” 

“We come every Sunday and get a good look at ourselves. James says if we sit here for 45-50 minutes but do nothing with what the mirror of God’s Word has shown us, we are a HEARER of the Word but not a DOER of the Word—spiritually, we are this guy. We can enthusiastically nod in agreement and shout out a hearty amen to the preacher, but we are this guy if we fail to make the required adjustments in our lives. I can preach my heart out, but if I’m not practicing what I preach—I’m this guy. If you are here every Sunday, listening intently to the sermon, but leave everything you hear in these four walls—You’re this person.”

“Assuming the mirror imagery, the second man looks intently at the Word and perseveres in it. The word for perseveres means it stays with him.”

“Persevering is the opposite of forgetting, and instead of being under deception, this person experiences God’s blessing. Not because he earned it but because the fruit of hearing and doing God’s Word is experiencing the freedom to be who God created you to be.”

“James's view of God’s Word went far beyond the law of Moses and the prophets. It was the whole of God’s redeeming revelation interpreted and fulfilled by Jesus—for us, that’s the Bible. James believed it could do what the law couldn’t and was never intended to do—liberate us.”

“As a mirror, Scripture liberates us by revealing our Great Liberator Jesus Christ. That’s what preaching is about: the gospel of Jesus and the glory of God connected to and weighing in on every aspect for our lives according to the Bible.”

“This is the blessing James speaks of at the end of verse 25, a life that began with the implanted word bringing new life, that new life being expressed through freeing obedience to God that will be consummated at His return! Sunday morning preaching is a God-ordained means of grace to this end.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Mark 4
Psalm 1
2 Timothy 3

QUOTES:
Charles Spurgeon - “We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But we add, men ought not to hear without preparation. Which, do you think, needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well plowed and harrowed, well turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.”

Jay Adams - “Christian, do you listen to preaching with a heart wide open to truth, a heart unprotected from thrusts of the Spirit’s sword? Or is your heart hard, resistant to certain teaching? Have you so rationalized your sin that your conscience rarely, if ever, accuses you of certain sins anymore?...It is time to crack open those compartments of the heart that you have so successfully barred. Instead, bare them to the preaching of the Word. Listen with a willingness to hear, apply, and obey. Until you do, preaching will be virtually valueless.”

J.I. Packer - “Congregations never honor God more than by reverently listening to His Word with full purpose of praising and obeying Him once they see what He has done…and what they are called to do.”

Charles Spurgeon - “Oh, with what ears ought men to listen to a word which can save their souls! With what open mouths ought they to drink in this living water! How wisely might we wish to be like sponges, to suck it all up....How we ought to wish to be like the ploughed ground which is broken up and pulverized, so that every drop that falls may soak into it! This is how to behave at sermon.”

APPLICATION:
- Join me, praying for your own heart as the preacher steps into this pulpit every Sunday.

- For the unbeliever, believe the gospel word by faith TODAY. For the believer, true freedom is the ability to give expression to who we truly are—not according to our fickle and fleeting feelings—but as people created in the image of God, rescued by and redeemed to Christ so that we can experience the highest call of our humanity—glorify and enjoy God in this life and forever. We walk in our blood-bought liberty when we live by God’s purposes, which are revealed in Scripture.

• Spend time in the Word during the week—The more you are in it the more you hunger for it

• Book Reccommendation:

Expository Listening: A Practical Handbook for Hearing and Doing God's Word

By Ramey, Ken

Buy on Amazon

• Don’t miss the obvious: Pre-service prayer, the Call to Worship, Singing, the Pastoral Prayer, each one is a unique expression of worship that, if we allow them, is used by God to soften and prepare our hearts to receive the preached Word. Get to your seat just a little early to prepare your heart for the preaching with a prayer.