Speaker 1: Every year, I choose a Bible verse that I want
Speaker 1: to pray over our people for the year, and the
Speaker 1: verse that I've chosen for you is Ephesians three sixteen,
Speaker 1: and it says this in the New Living Translation.
Speaker 2: I pray that.
Speaker 1: From God's glorious unlimited resources, God will give you mighty
Speaker 1: inner strength through His Holy Spirit. Here's the question, do
Speaker 1: you really want to be stronger than last year? Do
Speaker 1: you want to be stronger physically, spiritually, mentally, socially, relationally,
Speaker 1: in every Do you.
Speaker 2: Really want to be stronger? Because it doesn't happen by accident.
Speaker 1: You can go on being weak, you can go on
Speaker 1: being average, or you can be stronger. You see, you
Speaker 1: don't grow stronger by accident. You grow stronger by intention. Now,
Speaker 1: this weekend, I want us to look at the life
Speaker 1: of Samson, who was known as the strongest man in
Speaker 1: the Bible, but he had glaring, glaring weaknesses. And in
Speaker 1: his life we see both the sources of strength and
Speaker 1: the sources of weakness. In the life of Samson, there
Speaker 1: are four chapters in the Bible about this guy named Samson.
Speaker 1: And we're going to look today at three attitudes that
Speaker 1: weaken your spirit and three habits that strengthen your spirit,
Speaker 1: to make you strong in spirit. You know, the Bible
Speaker 1: tells us that John the Baptist was called strong in spirit.
Speaker 1: He was strong in spirit, and that's what I want
Speaker 1: you to be. Now, what about the three attitudes that
Speaker 1: weaken my spirit? Well, we have these found in the
Speaker 1: life of Samson. You know, physically, Samson was a rambo,
Speaker 1: but spiritually he was a pee wee herman. He was
Speaker 1: a weakling. He was a whimp. He had everything going
Speaker 1: for him. He had talent, he had good looks, he
Speaker 1: had ability. God blessed him in every kind of way,
Speaker 1: and he started off grade. He had a lot of
Speaker 1: early successes. But one day he lost it all and
Speaker 1: he was a broken man.
Speaker 2: He became a failure.
Speaker 1: And one day he woke up and all his strength
Speaker 1: was gone. I don't want that to happen to you.
Speaker 1: I don't want someday for you to wake up and
Speaker 1: go all my spiritual strength is gone. I'm just not
Speaker 1: the man. I'm not the woman that I used to be.
Speaker 1: What happened, well, what happened with Samson is that he
Speaker 1: chose a lifestyle that sapped his spiritual strength. This is
Speaker 1: a very practical message. And he fell into three traps,
Speaker 1: and I want you to avoid these three traps. Number one,
Speaker 1: the first trap that will weaken your spirit is self indulgence.
Speaker 1: Self indulgence weakens my spirit. We find an example of
Speaker 1: this in chapter fourteen of the Book of Judges, Verses
Speaker 1: one to twenty. Sampson lived a very self indulgent life.
Speaker 1: He was very undisciplined. He lived only for his feelings.
Speaker 1: And his big weakness, of course, was women. You know,
Speaker 1: some people have wine, women and song. For Samson, it
Speaker 1: was women, women and women.
Speaker 2: In fact, in.
Speaker 1: Three chapters he falls for three different women, and he
Speaker 1: keeps running into relationships, running out of relationships, running front relationships.
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us in chapter fourteen, the first three verses,
Speaker 1: he sees Delilah, and it says she looked good. He said,
Speaker 1: she pleases me. He says, get her.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: She wasn't Jewish, she wasn't even the right woman that
Speaker 1: God had chosen for him. But he says, she looks
Speaker 1: good for me. She lights my fire. Now, let's just
Speaker 1: be honest here. Sex is God's idea. There's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with sex. But the point is anything good, even good things,
Speaker 1: become harmful if they are out of control. Food, money, sex, sleep,
Speaker 1: Anything out of control will weep weaken you. So the
Speaker 1: first trap that will weaken your spirit is when you
Speaker 1: make it this based on pleasure rather than principle, when
Speaker 1: you make a decision based on convenience rather than conviction.
Speaker 1: Samson sees a woman. He doesn't check her out. He
Speaker 1: doesn't find out is this a woman going to strengthen
Speaker 1: my spirit or is she going to tear me down?
Speaker 1: Is she going to build me up spiritually or is
Speaker 1: she going to pull me down spiritually? He just says she.
Speaker 2: Looks good, she's a looker.
Speaker 1: She pleases me, and so he ignores his plans and
Speaker 1: he says, I've got to have her.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Let me just stop right here. Does this sound vaguely
Speaker 1: familiar in our culture? Does our culture? Do we live
Speaker 1: in a culture that values if it feels good, do it?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Do we live in a culture that says, whatever you
Speaker 1: feel like doing, you ought to do that. I owe
Speaker 1: it to myself that, you know, I should just give
Speaker 1: into whatever feels good. The Sampson excuse that we still
Speaker 1: here here today is this one?
Speaker 2: I owe it to myself? Now?
Speaker 1: My question is this what do you know in your
Speaker 1: life is wrong, but you just keep saying, I owe
Speaker 1: it to myself just this once it's okay, you're actually
Speaker 1: opening the door to this self indulgence and say I'm
Speaker 1: just going to indulge myself in this. You know, if
Speaker 1: you went on a cruise and the captain came in
Speaker 1: law a loudspeaker and said, hi, folks, we're on this
Speaker 1: two week cruise. We've we've developed a small leak, but
Speaker 1: I just want to tell you it's a small leak. Well,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't be any comfort to you, because whether it's
Speaker 1: a small leak or a big leak, leak as a
Speaker 1: leak as a leak, and a small equal sinkership just
Speaker 1: like a large leak will it just takes a little
Speaker 1: bit more time. The point is this, Any area that
Speaker 1: you're undisciplined in is going to weaken your spirit. Any
Speaker 1: area that you're undisciplined in will eventually catch up with you.
Speaker 1: To be strong in spirit, I must discipline my desires.
Speaker 1: Desires are good, but they must be disciplined. The Bible
Speaker 1: says it like this. First Peter four wanted two strengthen
Speaker 1: yourselves with Christ's way of thinking, live your lives controlled
Speaker 1: by God's will, not by human desire. What is he
Speaker 1: saying there? Just because I want something doesn't mean I
Speaker 1: should have it. Just because it can afford it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean I should buy it. Just because it's pleasurable doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it's good. And just because everybody's doing it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that I have to do it. I need to
Speaker 1: avoid the trap of self indulgence. And we live in
Speaker 1: a very self indulgent culture. The second trap that Samson
Speaker 1: fell into, and it will cause it to lose his strength,
Speaker 1: was resentment. Resentment will weaken you spiritually. It weakens your spirit.
Speaker 1: We find this in the next chapter, Judges, Chapter fifteen.
Speaker 1: Samson lived his entire life in a continual state of
Speaker 1: disappointment and anger and resentment and bitterness. He was a very, very,
Speaker 1: very angry man. He felt misunderstood, he felt disappointed. He
Speaker 1: reacts violently to everything. His primary motivation in life was
Speaker 1: to get even. He had a victim mentality. Do you
Speaker 1: have that the attitude that everybody's against you and you're
Speaker 1: a victim and the world's law that's going to cause
Speaker 1: you to not grow in spirit.
Speaker 2: It'll weaken your spirit.
Speaker 1: One time, Samson actually killed thirty men just to get
Speaker 1: even on a bet. He was a very resentful, very angry,
Speaker 1: very bitter person. And in Judges chapter fifteen, you always
Speaker 1: find his excuses this They hurt me first. Now let
Speaker 1: me ask you who has hurt you that you're holding
Speaker 1: on to that hurt. You need to let it go
Speaker 1: because that will sink your ship, That will sap your strength,
Speaker 1: that will shrivel your spirit. And if you're going to
Speaker 1: be spiritually strong, you not only have to avoid self
Speaker 1: indulgence by disciplining your desires, to avoid resentment. Now, every
Speaker 1: one of us are hurt in life. We all get
Speaker 1: hurt by what people say, of what people do, by
Speaker 1: what people think. You can't live in a broken world
Speaker 1: and not be hurt. But Sampson's second mistake is he
Speaker 1: reacts instead of acts. Resentment is always self defeating. It
Speaker 1: always hurts you more than it hurts the other person.
Speaker 1: Job chapter five, Verse two says, to worry yourself to
Speaker 1: death with resentment would.
Speaker 2: Be a foolish, senseless thing to do.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, anytime I get resentful, anytime I hold
Speaker 1: a grudge, I'm a fool. It's just real clear. I'm
Speaker 1: a fool. I am foolish. Job eighteen four says, you're
Speaker 1: only hurting yourself with your anger. When you hold onto anger,
Speaker 1: it's like taking fire in your heart. You're the one
Speaker 1: who's gonna get burned. Resentment always hurts you more than
Speaker 1: it hurts somebody else. And Sampson lost his spiritual and
Speaker 1: physical strength not just because of self indulgent but because
Speaker 1: he never managed his anger. He never learned to let
Speaker 1: it go, He never.
Speaker 2: Learned to forgive.
Speaker 1: To be strong in spirit, I must control my reactions.
Speaker 1: I not only have to discipline my desires. I have
Speaker 1: to learn to control my reactions. The Bible says, the
Speaker 1: person who learns to control his reaction is stronger than
Speaker 1: a walled city, and the person who doesn't know how
Speaker 1: to control the reactions is as defenseless as a city
Speaker 1: without walls. Look at this verse Proverbs twenty nine to eleven.
Speaker 1: A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a
Speaker 1: wise man keeps himself under control. That was Samson's second mistake.
Speaker 1: And I don't want you to make this one. Self
Speaker 1: indulgence resentment to somebody who's hurt you in the past.
Speaker 1: And the third one, this is a big one because
Speaker 1: it catches a soft guard carelessness. Carelessness will sap your
Speaker 1: spiritual strength. It will shrivel your spirit, it will weaken
Speaker 1: your spirit. And we see this in the next chapter
Speaker 1: in Judges chapter sixteen, verses one to twenty. Anytime you
Speaker 1: get careless with your time, anytime you get careless with
Speaker 1: your health, anytime you get careless with your money, anytime
Speaker 1: you get careless with your words, you're headed.
Speaker 2: In the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: Anytime you get careless with your commitments. You make a
Speaker 1: commitment and then you don't keep it. Samson had amazing strength,
Speaker 1: and this strength was actually a gift from God. God
Speaker 1: had given it to him, and it was a result
Speaker 1: of a commitment that he had made. Samson made what
Speaker 1: was called in the Bible a Nazarite vow, and a
Speaker 1: Nazarite vow was a vow to live holy before God.
Speaker 1: And as a symbol of that vow, there were a
Speaker 1: number of things that you were not to do if
Speaker 1: you took the Nazarite vow. You were to be dedicated
Speaker 1: to God one hundred percent. You were to have no alcohol,
Speaker 1: you were to never drink any alcohol in your life.
Speaker 1: You were to eat a special diet. And the fourth
Speaker 1: thing that was most notable is you were to never
Speaker 1: cut your hair. That was the part of a nazarie val.
Speaker 1: You never cut your hair as a symbol of your
Speaker 1: commitment to God. And why didn't people make this nazaright
Speaker 1: valel Well, it was simply a way of saying that
Speaker 1: God's servant is to live differently. We're to be above reproach,
Speaker 1: We're to be different than the culture. Samson, however, was
Speaker 1: careless with his vow. He made a vow, but he
Speaker 1: didn't keep it. He continually compromised his commitment out of convenience,
Speaker 1: and he toyed with temptation. And his attitude was not
Speaker 1: how close to God can I get? His attitude was
Speaker 1: how close to the fire can I get and not
Speaker 1: get burned? A lot of people live their lives that way.
Speaker 1: They go, I'm a Christian, and I know this is wrong,
Speaker 1: but I wonder how much can I do and not
Speaker 1: get burned. Now, in chapter sixteen we have the story
Speaker 1: of Delilah, and Delilah is hired by Samson's enemies. Samson
Speaker 1: is an enemy because he represents the strength of God
Speaker 1: and the people who hated God wanted to destroy Samson,
Speaker 1: so they hire this woman, Delilah, to find his secret strength.
Speaker 1: And Samson knows exactly what's going on. He's aware of
Speaker 1: the game, and he knows that she's trying to find
Speaker 1: his secret of strength, and he actually toys with her.
Speaker 1: He teases her, and the first time when she comes says, oh, honey,
Speaker 1: please tell me what's the secret of your strength? He says, well,
Speaker 1: if you will tie seven bow strings around me, then
Speaker 1: I can't. I won't be able to break from him.
Speaker 1: So he goes to bed with this girl. He wakes
Speaker 1: up the next morning and he's tied up with seven
Speaker 1: bow strings. Duh, and there are men standing in the
Speaker 1: room waiting to kill him. He immediately breaks the bow
Speaker 1: strings and kills the guys. The next night, she does
Speaker 1: it again. She says, oh, honey, please tell me what's
Speaker 1: your secret of strength? And he says, well, you know, really,
Speaker 1: the secret of strength is if you'll just tie seven
Speaker 1: new ropes around me, then I won't be able to break.
Speaker 1: He knows what's going on. He goes asleep. The next morning,
Speaker 1: he wakes up, duh, He's tied up in seven ropes.
Speaker 1: And their men standing in the room waiting to kill him.
Speaker 1: He is toying with temptation. He's playing with the fire.
Speaker 1: He's flirting with sin. He breaks the ropes and kills
Speaker 1: all the guys. The next night, Delilah says, honey, you're
Speaker 1: really embarrassing me. You're making me look bad. It's pretty blatant.
Speaker 1: She's actually caring more about the money she's going to
Speaker 1: be paid than she cares about Samson. But he doesn't care.
Speaker 1: He's toying with her. He's teasing her. And this time
Speaker 1: he says, if you will braid my hair, I'll lose
Speaker 1: my strength.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Notice he's actually getting close to the real secret. The
Speaker 1: secret of it was in his hair, not that his
Speaker 1: hair made him strong. It was his commitment to God
Speaker 1: that made him strong, and the hair was the symbol
Speaker 1: of his commitment to God. He says, if you braid
Speaker 1: my hair, he's flirting with temptations. How close can I get?
Speaker 1: And let me just stop here? What are you flirting with?
Speaker 1: What do you know in your life is flat out wrong?
Speaker 1: Pornography and you're flirting with it. Cheating on your income
Speaker 1: tax and you're flirting with it, flirting with a man
Speaker 1: or woman at work, and you know it's wrong, and
Speaker 1: you say, I can handle it. I can handle this,
Speaker 1: I can get away with it. And you're getting closer
Speaker 1: and closer. You have already been set up for the fail.
Speaker 1: Satan has already seduced you. He's already lied to you,
Speaker 1: and you've bought that lie. Every morning there are men
Speaker 1: standing in his room. He knows what's going on here,
Speaker 1: he knows exactly what he's doing. And in Judge's chapter sixteen,
Speaker 1: verse fifteen sixteen, he's careless once too often, and he
Speaker 1: finally tells her.
Speaker 2: He says, if you.
Speaker 1: Cut my hair, then I'll lose my strength. He finally
Speaker 1: gives in, and his lifestyle had become so weakened from
Speaker 1: compromise after compromise after compromise. He had said, it'll be
Speaker 1: different for me. I can handle it. When you say
Speaker 1: those words, you're being set up by Satan. Nobody ever
Speaker 1: plans to fail spiritually. Nobody ever plans to have their
Speaker 1: marriage fail, their life fail, their business fail, their health fail,
Speaker 1: their finances fail. Nobody ever plans a bankruptcy. But it's
Speaker 1: one little decision after another. People don't fall off a
Speaker 1: cliff overnight. It begins with small slippages. I start to
Speaker 1: let things slide, and then they wake up one day
Speaker 1: and they go what happened? What happened, And all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, they've lost their credibility, or they've lost their reputation,
Speaker 1: or they've lost their ministry, or they've lost their finances.
Speaker 1: The fact is a chain is only as strong as
Speaker 1: its weakest link. What's the weak link in your life?
Speaker 1: You see, you are only as strong as what you're
Speaker 1: committed to, and if you're chipping away at that commitment,
Speaker 1: you're getting weaker and weaker every day. The Bible is
Speaker 1: very blunt. Look at this verse Proverbs eighteen twenty. You
Speaker 1: will have to live with the consequences of everything you say.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Not only will you have to live with the consequences
Speaker 1: of everything you say, you will have to live with
Speaker 1: the consequences of everything you do.
Speaker 2: You will have to live with.
Speaker 1: The consequences of everything you think. And when you say
Speaker 1: I can get away with this it's just a small thing,
Speaker 1: you are setting yourself up for failure. So let me,
Speaker 1: before we go to the solution, ask you, what's the
Speaker 1: weak link in your life? What is the area that
Speaker 1: you're most likely is it self indulgence in some area?
Speaker 1: Is it carelessness in some area? Is it resentment against
Speaker 1: someone that you just won't.
Speaker 2: Let it go?
Speaker 1: You're being set up, You're allowing that slippage, and you
Speaker 1: can say I can handle it. Here's the second question
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, when are you going to
Speaker 1: do something about it? This is the day to do
Speaker 1: something about that slippage in your life. And the solution
Speaker 1: is to be strong spiritually. I must develop good habits.
Speaker 1: I must develop good habits. You with a sum total
Speaker 1: of your habits, Your character is your habits. What you
Speaker 1: do habitually is what you is your character. If you
Speaker 1: are habitually friendly, if you're habitually kind, if you're habitually honest,
Speaker 1: if you are habitually courageous, then that's your character. If
Speaker 1: it's not a habit, it's not your character. So I
Speaker 1: want to close now very quickly, with three habits that.
Speaker 2: Will change your life.
Speaker 1: I've been following these habits almost all my life, and
Speaker 1: they are the secret of my own spiritual strength. And
Speaker 1: every man or woman of God that has been used
Speaker 1: in history has developed these habits. And if you will
Speaker 1: develop these habits, you will start building a strong spirit.
Speaker 1: By the way the Bible says this in Ephesians chapter six,
Speaker 1: verse ten, build up your strength. Notice that's something you do,
Speaker 1: build up your strength. How in union with the Lord
Speaker 1: and by means of his mighty power, you have a
Speaker 1: part in building your strength, and God has a part.
Speaker 1: God says you build up your strength by being in
Speaker 1: union with Christ, and then he puts his power in you.
Speaker 1: How does that happen? Three ways? Number one first habit
Speaker 1: for spiritual strength. Get time with God every day. Get
Speaker 1: time with God every single day of your life.
Speaker 2: If you're not.
Speaker 1: Doing that, you're not growing spiritually. If you're not doing that,
Speaker 1: you're getting weaker every day. We call this a daily
Speaker 1: quiet time. And each of these three habits, I want
Speaker 1: to give you the reason, the routine, and the result. First,
Speaker 1: the reason why should I have a daily quiet time?
Speaker 1: Psalm twenty five, verse four. Show me the path where
Speaker 1: I should go? Oh Lord, point out the right road
Speaker 1: for me to walk. You need a daily quiet time
Speaker 1: for guidance. If you're not having a daily quiet time,
Speaker 1: you're not getting guidance from God. You're out there on
Speaker 1: your own. You're going your own way, your own path,
Speaker 1: at your own pace. In your own direction because you're
Speaker 1: not getting daily guidance from God. That's the reason to
Speaker 1: get guidance from God. What's the routine, Well, it is
Speaker 1: to get a loan by yourself. The Bible says to
Speaker 1: Luke five point sixteen, Jesus often withdrew to a lonely
Speaker 1: place and prayed.
Speaker 2: That means it was habitual. It was his habit.
Speaker 1: In some of the verses of the Bible, it says,
Speaker 1: and Jesus withdrew to a lonely place as was his custom.
Speaker 2: It was his habit.
Speaker 1: You get a place where you could be alone with
Speaker 1: God and be quiet, where you can pray and read
Speaker 1: the Bible. And what's the results. Jesus says this in
Speaker 1: John fifteen seven. If you re made in Me and
Speaker 1: my words remain in you, that's quiet time. Then you
Speaker 1: will ask for anything you wish and you shall have it.
Speaker 1: Did you know that one of the keys for answered
Speaker 1: prayer is to spend time alone with God. That's the
Speaker 1: number one habit you need to develop. And I pray
Speaker 1: that right now as you're listening to this, you go, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to do it, even if it's just five minutes.
Speaker 1: Then you go to ten. Then you go to fifteen
Speaker 1: and you get time to listen to God through his
Speaker 1: word and talk to him in prayer. That's the number
Speaker 1: one habit for spiritual strength. You know it, but you're
Speaker 1: not doing it. So let's make a change. Let's be
Speaker 1: stronger in spirit this year. Get time with God every day.
Speaker 1: Here's habit number two. Get together with believers every week.
Speaker 1: These aren't rocket science, folks, we know what they are,
Speaker 1: but we just don't get together with believers every single week.
Speaker 1: Now we call this a weekly small group. Here's the
Speaker 1: reason Hebrews ten twenty five. Let us not give up
Speaker 1: the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us encourage each other.
Speaker 1: Notice the habit of meeting the other. It's like this fire.
Speaker 1: These coals are all hot. If I were to take
Speaker 1: one of the coals out of the fire and set
Speaker 1: it off here by itself, it would grow cold and
Speaker 1: it would lose its heat. But if I take that
Speaker 1: cold and put it in that coal back in the fire,
Speaker 1: it gets hot again. This is what fellowship does. You
Speaker 1: by yourself, you're gonna grow cold, You're gonna grow weak,
Speaker 1: you're gonna grow wimpy. You're not gonna have the spiritual
Speaker 1: strength you need. You must be in a small group
Speaker 1: where iron sharpens iron and the fire helps each other
Speaker 1: stay warm. What is the routine, Well, we find the
Speaker 1: routine for small groups in Acts chapter five forty two.
Speaker 1: It says they met day after day in the temple
Speaker 1: courts and from house to house. We've covered this verse
Speaker 1: many times. Temple courts is large group worship and house
Speaker 1: to house is small group fellowship. You need both of
Speaker 1: these to be spiritually strong. You're right now in the
Speaker 1: temple courts. You're in a large group celebration of worship,
Speaker 1: and that's a good thing. But you also need the
Speaker 1: small group fellowship. And what's the result of getting together
Speaker 1: with believers every week? The Bible says in Aclesiastes four, nine,
Speaker 1: and ten two are better off than one because together
Speaker 1: they're more effective. If one falls down, the other can
Speaker 1: help him up. There are going to be times when
Speaker 1: you need somebody else to be there for you. Do
Speaker 1: you have that safety net in place? The crisis, the
Speaker 1: rogue winds, the terrible storm, those are going to come
Speaker 1: in your life, and you need some people in your
Speaker 1: life there who you've already made the contact with.
Speaker 2: When that happens, in.
Speaker 1: Your life would show up right now if you had
Speaker 1: a disaster? Question number two, who would you show up
Speaker 1: for if they had a disaster? Does anybody know they
Speaker 1: can count on you? You need a daily time with God,
Speaker 1: and you need a weekly team for God. You need
Speaker 1: to get together with believers every week, and you need
Speaker 1: to get together with God every day. There's one other thing,
Speaker 1: and this one touches a real sore spot because it
Speaker 1: involves your money. The third habit of every great saint,
Speaker 1: of every spiritually deep person, every spiritually strong person is
Speaker 1: not just get time with God every day, and not
Speaker 1: just get together with believers every week. Number three, give
Speaker 1: a tithe to God every weekend. Give a tithe to
Speaker 1: God every weekend. Now, Tithing, says, is the habit of
Speaker 1: returning the first ten percent of my income back to God.
Speaker 1: I give the first part of my money on the
Speaker 1: first day of the week to say, Jesus, you are
Speaker 1: first in my life.
Speaker 2: It's a symbol to say that He's really first.
Speaker 1: First part of my tithe goes on the first day
Speaker 1: of the week as an act of worship.
Speaker 2: The reason, the routine, and the result.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, you need to tithe because wherever your
Speaker 1: treasure is, your heart will be there also. And if
Speaker 1: I can't give God the first part of my money,
Speaker 1: then I'm not really putting him first in my life.
Speaker 1: I'm just pretending that He is. Wherever your treasure is,
Speaker 1: your heart will be. The Bible says in Deuteronomy fourteen
Speaker 1: twenty three, the purpose of tithing is to teach you
Speaker 1: to always put God first in your life.
Speaker 2: Question?
Speaker 1: Is God first in your life? Does your money show it?
Speaker 1: Does your wallet show it? Does your giving show it?
Speaker 1: How do I do it? How do I develop this
Speaker 1: habit of a weekend tithe to God? Well, the Bible
Speaker 1: tells us one Grinthians sixteen. On the first day of
Speaker 1: every week, that's Sunday. Now I realize some of you
Speaker 1: worship on Saturday. Saturday's your Sabbath. On the first day
Speaker 1: of every week, set aside some of what you have
Speaker 1: earned and give it as an offering. The amount depends
Speaker 1: on how much the Lord has helped you to earn
Speaker 1: its proportional giving. I give the first ten percent back
Speaker 1: to God based on if I made a lot, I
Speaker 1: give a lot.
Speaker 2: If I made a little, I give a little. What's
Speaker 2: the result.
Speaker 1: Here's the promise of God in tithing Malachi three to ten.
Speaker 1: Bring your whole tithe into my storehouse, the whole time,
Speaker 1: not five percent, not two percent, the whole time, ten
Speaker 1: percent to my storehouse.
Speaker 2: Test me in this, says the Lord.
Speaker 1: And see if I won't open the floodgates of heaven
Speaker 1: and pour out so much blessing that you won't have
Speaker 1: enough room for it. God says, I dare you. You've
Speaker 1: heard me say this. I call it the Pepsi challenge
Speaker 1: versus the Bible. God says, try it, you like it,
Speaker 1: I dare you. Let's play a game. You give to
Speaker 1: me and I'll.
Speaker 2: Give you, and we'll see who wins.
Speaker 1: I've been playing this game for many years and I've
Speaker 1: lost it my entire life.
Speaker 2: Bring the whole tide to the storehouse. Now here's the question.
Speaker 1: Which of the three weaknesses are your most likely to
Speaker 1: fall into the three traps? And which of the three
Speaker 1: habits do you need to start? Are you being tempted
Speaker 1: by self indulgence and there's an air of your life
Speaker 1: you know you're giving in in self indulgence in that
Speaker 1: area and it's weakening your life. Is there an area
Speaker 1: of resentment that's weakening your life.
Speaker 2: Is there an area of.
Speaker 1: Carelessness and you've just gotten a little too careless about
Speaker 1: it in your life. I don't know what it is,
Speaker 1: but you do, and the Holy Spirit does, and God's
Speaker 1: telling it. You need to work on this. You need
Speaker 1: to strengthen it right now. How do you strengthen it
Speaker 1: by developing these three habits. So here's my challenge to
Speaker 1: everybody who's listening and watching. Let's all commit to do
Speaker 1: all three of these habits all year long and see
Speaker 1: how much stronger we are spiritually at the end of
Speaker 1: the year.
Speaker 2: Are you ready to do this?
Speaker 1: Are you ready to get daily time with God, to
Speaker 1: give a weekend tithe to God, and to give a
Speaker 1: weekly team for God. These three habits will change your life.
Speaker 1: I sat at the beginning. Spiritual strength is not accidental.
Speaker 1: It's the result of choices we make and habits we develop.
Speaker 1: I have developed these habits and they've brought spiritual strength
Speaker 1: to me, and I challenge you to do them too. Now,
Speaker 1: let me read this verse again Ephesians six', ten and
Speaker 1: we'll close build up your strength in union with The
Speaker 1: lord and by means Of his mighty. Power you can't
Speaker 1: do these habits on your. Own you don't have the
Speaker 1: power to do them on your. Own you Need god's.
Speaker 1: Power and where do you get? It by being in
Speaker 1: union With. Christ if you've never opened your life To,
Speaker 1: christ if you've never developed a friendship With, christ that's
Speaker 1: your starting. Point you need to, Say jesus, CHRISTY i
Speaker 1: want to get to know. YOU i don't want to
Speaker 1: go another year without a relationship with. You why don't
Speaker 1: we close with a word of? Prayer will you bow
Speaker 1: your heads with?
Speaker 2: Me Dear.
Speaker 1: GOD i don't want to be a spiritual. WEAKLING i
Speaker 1: don't want to be a spiritual. WHIMP i want to
Speaker 1: be stronger at the end of this, year not. WEAKER
Speaker 1: i want to be closer To, you not farther. Away
Speaker 1: just Say, GOD i don't want to live a mediocre.
Speaker 1: LIFE i want to be spiritually. STRONG i want to
Speaker 1: be a strong woman Of. GOD i want to be
Speaker 1: a strong man Of. God AND i want to start
Speaker 1: down that. Path and then say, This Dear, god help
Speaker 1: me to discipline my desires and not give in to self.
Speaker 1: Indulgence say help me to discipline my desires and not
Speaker 1: give in to self. Indulgence say help me to control
Speaker 1: my reactions and to not give into to, resentment, bitterness
Speaker 1: to forgive and to let it. Go, FATHER i let
Speaker 1: that person go, today and then, say help me to
Speaker 1: not give into carelessness but develop good. Habits And, father
Speaker 1: TODAY i make a vow to. YOU i make a
Speaker 1: commitment to you, that as BEST i know, HOW i
Speaker 1: want to have a daily time with you every. Day
Speaker 1: AND i want to get together with other believers every
Speaker 1: week in a small. Group AND i want to give
Speaker 1: a tithe to you every. Weekend so that these three
Speaker 1: representing my time and my money and my relationships are
Speaker 1: under the lordship Of Jesus. Christ if you've never Invited
Speaker 1: christ in your, life Say Jesus, christ make yourself real to,
Speaker 1: Me come into my life and save. ME i pray
Speaker 1: this humbly In jesus's.
Speaker 2: Name. Amen