"Misusing God's Grace: The Story of Samson"

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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're continuing our series,

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The Games We Play with God.

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Today's episode is titled, Misusing God's Grace.

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Grace is one of the most beautiful gifts God offers us, an unmerited favor that we can never earn.

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But when we take that grace for granted or use it as an excuse to live outside

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of God's will, we step into dangerous territory.

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We'll explore the story of Samson, a man anointed by God with incredible strength

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who misused his gifts for personal gain.

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If you ever struggle with taking God's grace for granted or using his blessings

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for the wrong purposes, this episode is for you.

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The story of Samson. The story of Samson begins in Judges 16.

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So you can read the whole chapter of Judges 16. I want to start here at 15, verses 15 through 17.

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It reads, Then she said to him, how can you say I love you when you don't confide in me?

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This is the third time you had

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made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength.

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With such nagging, she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death

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of it. So he told her everything.

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No razor has ever been used on my head, he said, because I have been a Nazarite

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dedicated to God for my mother's womb.

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If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and I would become as weak as any other man.

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So the story takes place of Samson and Delilah.

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Many of us know that story. We know Samson was doing some things he wasn't supposed to do.

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And he messed around with a woman he wasn't supposed to be messing around with.

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And so this woman wanted to know his secret.

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And so she kept bugging him. What's your secret? What's the secret to your strength?

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What's the secret to your strength?

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She wore this man out. But Samson had a strength. It was in his hair.

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But at one point, this woman, the story, if you read the story,

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he knew that she was after this strength and was really not for his good.

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But yet, he continued to play with this woman.

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And at the end, it became the death of him.

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And so a lot of times, you know, when we talk about the story of misusing God's

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grace, we get to a point where we think that we can play with God,

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or play with other people's emotions who are not playing with God,

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who play with God. You see what I'm saying?

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So we know Samson knew he wasn't supposed to be with this particular woman.

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And a lot of times we as women know we're not supposed to be this particular

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man and vice versa. But this is a diary of a black woman podcast.

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So it's probably speaking to a lot of women.

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And so playing this little game here with this man, it was interesting. So let's keep going.

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So Samson was chosen by God before birth, blessed with supernatural strength

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to deliver Israel from their enemies.

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So he had this supernatural strength blessed from birth that God has given him.

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Women, we are given supernatural strength blessed from birth, right?

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When you know God, all of us are given a special strength.

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But what happened to Samson can happen to you.

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But instead of fully honoring God with his gift, Samson often used it recklessly.

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Pursuing his own desires and ignoring the responsibility of his calling.

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And this is a diary of black women, so we know we're talking to the women.

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If there are men listening, then go ahead and listen.

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But sometimes we, at sometimes, maybe many times, we are called to the ministry,

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a call to serve, and it's not a glamorous job.

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There was a song out, The Glamorous Life. Nothing about serving in the ministry is really glamorous.

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Every now and then, it might feel glamorous, it might look glamorous,

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but we know ladies what it takes to

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put on a show for us if we're

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having a women's a conference if we're having

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a special guest if we're even serving doing the offering if we're even doing

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anything in ministry we know what it takes to prepare we even get an opportunity

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to preach we know that that one moment of glamour it took a lot it took a lot

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of work to get there Right.

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And so we know here that Samson, we see here that God has chosen him from birth

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and many of us have been called from birth.

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But how are we honoring that gift that God has given us?

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But instead of fully honoring God with his gift, Samson often used it recklessly,

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pursuing his own desires and ignoring the responsibility of his calling.

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Misusing God's grace doesn't remove it immediately, but it often leads us down a path of destruction.

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Are you using the gifts of God has

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given you for his glory or for

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your own gain we have

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a lot of podcasts a lot of special a lot of like YouTube whatever social media

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that's out there and it can start out really good you're using the people are

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using the Bible they're praying they're fasting to get the word out.

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And then something happens where they start to taint the gift.

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They're speaking the truth, but they're not getting the likes.

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So they have to have a little drama in it.

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They have to kind of maybe, you know, it just starts to get a little bit filtered down.

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It just starts to get watered down It's not giving the 100% That you did at

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the first time You know Growing with God And growing people with God It's not an overnight success,

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It's just not, you know, and if you're in it for the money and you're using

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your gifts and not, let me start this over, but instead, if you're not honoring

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God with your gifts and you're using it recklessly for your own desire,

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it's going to be a lot of trouble in the end.

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You might not feel it right now, but guess what? It's coming.

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So is it for your gain or God's gain? Is it for the money? Is it for the show? I don't know.

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It's just up to you. But what is the cost of misusing the grace of God?

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Let's look at it through what happened to Samson.

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Samson's story shows us the dangers of taking God's grace for granted.

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Number one, it compromises or weakens us.

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We see here that, first of all, Samson wasn't supposed to be with Delilah. He knew that.

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He knew that. He was playing games with Delilah all along until Delilah,

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who was good at her game, wore him out.

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So a lot of times we take for granted that the people who you're playing with are good at their game.

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And so you might just want to stop playing with the devil because God is good.

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But if you leave a gate open, you're going to get ran over by the devil.

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It says, number one, compromise weakens us.

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Standing strong in God is your strength. Samson repeatedly compromised his calling

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by pursuing relationships and actions that dishonor God.

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So when you open the door to compromise, you open the door to defeat.

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Samson was playing with the wrong girl.

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He opened the door to compromise. He pursued a relationship that did not honor God.

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And he knew that, so he intentionally did it. You got to read the story.

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He intentionally did it over and over again as it was a game because he knew his power came from God.

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He knew if he got a little hair on his hair, he's going to win.

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He's going to win. But at one point, he did not win.

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At the end, he did win despite the grace of God, but he didn't have to go through

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all that. Number two, the loss of spiritual sensitivity.

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Oh, my goodness. That's a good point. By the time Delilah betrayed him,

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Samson didn't even realize the spirit of the Lord had left him.

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You know, you can be flowing and then you won't even know that you're not sensitive

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to the Holy Ghost anymore. Right.

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Same way with Samson. You have to read the story.

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Samson said, I went. I went every time. I win every time until he didn't win.

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He didn't win that one time. And that was probably when he got his eyes poked out.

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So when he didn't win, it was like, oh, that wasn't a good look for him.

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And it's not going to be a good look for you. So it weakens you.

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You lose your spiritual sensitivity.

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Oh, let's keep going. Number three, consequences are inedible. So it coming. for you.

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Although God restored Samson's strength at the end of his life,

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the consequences of his action led to a captivity and death.

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We talked about that in the other earlier episodes, that even though God will

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rescue you, he will save you, there always are consequences to your actions.

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Yeah, he forgave you, but there's some consequences to your actions.

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So it weakens us. It says, Samson's story shows us the danger of taking God's

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grace for granted. Compromise weakens you.

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You lose spiritual sensitivity. You don't ever want to lose your spirit sensitivity.

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It's pretty much the Holy Ghost has left the room.

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It has left the building. The building is your spirit. It's gone.

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And what do you need to survive? You need to be aware.

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You need discernment. You need spiritual sensitivity.

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Because the devil is out there acting. and say he acts as a roaring lion,

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you don't know if he's faking or not.

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Without the Holy Spirit sensitivity, you will lose that fight because you're playing games.

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Number three, consequences. Oh my gosh. Yeah, Samson was young.

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He didn't die old. He died young because he was playing games.

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God let him win, but he died young, playing games.

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Let's go to Romans 6, 1 through 2. I know this is serious.

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It's a serious tone because people get caught up thinking that you can,

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because I'm a Christian, because I read my Bible, that I can go out and play

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these games with God, that I will always win.

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We see here that Samson thought the same thing, but he lost that fight.

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He got caught up with the, he really opened doors because he was winning,

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but God gave him a way of escape, but he didn't escape.

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He's still playing with Delilah until he lost his spiritual sensitivity,

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and then he lost his life.

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Romans 6 says, what should we say then?

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Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means,

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we are those who have died to sin.

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How can we live in it any longer?

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Oh my gosh, I'm gonna read that again. Romans 6 verses one through two,

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it says, what should we say then?

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Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

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By no means, we are those who have died to sin.

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How can we live in it any longer? Like once you've been delivered from it, let it go.

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God's grace is not a license to sin. It is an invitation to live a life that honors him.

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Can I get an amen?

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So once you've been delivered, don't play on that testing ground of grace.

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Because we see the light, not the light, we see here that Samson,

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I don't know what he was thinking, but he played the game and he lost.

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He lost. God made him look good at the end. but he's still lost.

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How do we do that today? How does that Samson Bible time?

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How do modern ways that we misuse God's grace?

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Misusing grace isn't just an ancient problem. It's something we see every day.

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Number one, living without accountability, thinking God will forgive me anyway

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and continue in harmful behaviors.

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I was just thinking, you know, there was a pastor that says,

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if I did sin, God will forgive me.

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Like you go into it intentionally sinning, knowing that God will forgive you.

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What did I just read? What should we say then? Should we go on sinning that grace may increase?

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By no means are those, we are those who died to sin.

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How can we live in it any longer? So we live without accountability,

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thinking God will forgive me anyway and continue in harmful behaviors.

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Like we saw Samson died early.

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You lose, what do you lose? You lose your spiritual sensitivity.

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Wow, neglecting our calling, ignoring the gifts and purposes God has placed in our lives.

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So if we are living without accountability, we're not really thinking about

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what God calls us to do because we're on the wrong side of the track.

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We're on the enemy side. You think he's going to remind you about your gifts

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and calling? The Holy Ghost will.

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But if your spiritual sensitivity is getting numb, then you're going to die

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with all those gifts and calling and all the gifts and callings and all the

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people that you're supposed to bless are going to miss out on that.

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So we're going to collect our gifts and callings.

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And number three, using grace as a cover for pride, believing we're above correction

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because of our status in the church or community.

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Like I said, that was from a

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pastor of great status. Well, I don't know if he's still great status now,

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but just because you're on the pulpit, I guess because you get to,

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I call it, get the mic and say a few words, you are still held at a higher level of accountability.

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And, you know, and you're held at a higher level, you're apt to be like Samson

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and get struck down at a higher level.

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And it costs a little bit of embarrassment.

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So you don't want to live without accountability, right?

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Thinking God will forgive me anyway. So are you really on God's team?

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Are you just trying to figure out a way to get away with sin and still call yourself a Christian?

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Neglect your calling, just like Jonah running the other way.

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I know I'm called, but I'm not going to do all the things I'm required to do.

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And using grace as a cover for pride.

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Do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love.

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Galatians 5.13. Grace is meant to free us to serve, not to indulge in selfish desire.

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So once you get free, day free.

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So how do we honor God's grace?

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That's kind of a serious tone. And let's kind of, well, I can't lighten it up

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because this is God, and you saw that if you heard the introduction, he's serious.

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He wants you to get serious about him. And it says the games we play with God,

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this is what this is about.

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And it's for the next 60 days so we can get our act together, our acts together.

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So how do you honor God's grace?

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How do we stop playing this game of misusing God's grace?

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I remember it comes through the preacher first. So it's not just me just barking up the tree.

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It's like coming right through me so that some things that I need to get straight.

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And so if he's talking to me, then I'm talking to you. Amen.

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I love that he gives you what he doesn't like, but then he tells you how to get it right.

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I love it. It tells you what you don't like and tells you how to get it right.

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Number one, recognize grace as a gift. Ephesians 2.8, for it is by grace that

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you have been saved through faith.

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And this is not from yourself. It is a gift of God.

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Remember that grace is unearned and undeserved, given freely out of God's love.

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So God loves you. He wants you to get it right. So he gives you grace to give

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you that space, that cushion to get it right.

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And so we've been saved by grace through faith.

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It's a gift of God, right? And so recognize grace as a gift.

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Number two, Titus 2, 11 through 12 says, For the grace of God has appeared that

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offers salvation to all people.

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It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions.

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So live in obedience.

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Grace empowers us to live holy lives, not to take shortcuts.

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So instead of using grace to take a shortcut, let it empower you to live in obedience.

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Let it empower you to say no to ungodliness and no to worldly passions. Amen.

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Let it teach you. Let it guide you to obedience, not a way to skip out on obedience

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like Jonah did. You know, not like Samson did and other people in the Bible.

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And number three, use your gifts for God's glory.

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1 Peter 4.10 says, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to

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serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms.

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Dedicate your time, talents, and treasures to honor God and to serve others.

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Amen. And so how do you stop playing games and misusing God's grace?

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You recognize grace as a gift, Ephesians 2.8. You live in obedience.

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You can say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, Titus 2.11-12.

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And number three, use your gifts for God's glory.

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1 Peter 4, 10. Be a steward of God's grace.

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Mmm, so good. So let's decree it.

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Let's get it stirred up on the inside of us so that we can do it right, get it tight.

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Let's go. I decree that I will honor God's grace by living a life of obedience and surrender.

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I decree that I will use my gifts and talents for God's glory and the good of others.

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I decree that I will walk in humility, recognizing that God's grace is a gift

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and not a license to sin. Check, check.

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So what are we going to do this week?

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Excuse me. This week, reflect on how you're responding to God's grace.

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Ask yourself, am I using God's gifts and grace in a way that honors him?

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What areas of my life needs realignment with God's purpose?

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One thing I would do and I would say read, I would go ahead and read Jonah if

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you got a chance, but also read Samson.

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Go ahead and read the story of Samson. I'm trying to find Judges 16,

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read the story of Samson.

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And don't rush through and read it. Read it like happening in real life.

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Like, this is what he did.

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You know, he just went out looking for trouble, and he got exactly what he wanted.

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There's always this little space in between that God gave him to repent.

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If you read it and you look how God always said he'll make a way of escape, he leaves the space.

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For him to like repent and get, first of all, give it to Delilah.

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But he doesn't. He enjoyed the games with this lady.

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And this lady became the death of him.

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And so we have to be careful when God gives you that space to get it right.

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Get it right. Get it tight. Amen.

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And so, and also dedicate one day this week to fasting and prayer.

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Asking God to reveal any area where you may be misusing his grace.

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Commit to aligning your action with his will.

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You know, soon as you, I don't know how God works in your life,

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but when you get ready to like repent, as soon as you hit that floor,

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that ground, wherever you're praying at, he's going to go right to you and say,

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this is what I need you to stop doing.

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And if asking one day might be, before you even start fasting,

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He's going to boom, just tell you exactly what you need to stop doing.

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Then the rest is up to you. Now you fast and say, how do I do it?

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Because he's waiting for your response of obedience.

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So let's close out with prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your incredible

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grace that saves, sustains, and empowers us.

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Forgive us for the times we've taken your grace for granted Or use it for our

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own purposes Teach us to talk, to walk, I'm sorry, to walk in obedience Humility and purpose,

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Honoring you with every part of our lives In Jesus' name, amen,

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Wow, that was really good Thank you, Lord Thank you for joining me on this episode

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The games we play with God,

00:24:25.769 --> 00:24:29.069
If today's episode Encourage you Share with

00:24:29.069 --> 00:24:32.949
a friend And subscribe So you don't miss The next episode Where

00:24:32.949 --> 00:24:40.789
we're Where we're going to Talk about Game number nine Trusting in worldly strength

00:24:40.789 --> 00:24:51.289
Until next time Stay humble Stay grateful Stay fasted up And be blessed.