Pivotal Decisions (Put A Purpose On It)

there in the next few minutes. So if you don't know where Judge is in is in the Bible, you're gonna have a good head start. If you prefer to just look at the screen, that's okay too. But I wonder, as I get started, how many of you right now are in the middle of making a big decision for your life. Would you raise your hand if you're in the middle of making a big decision for your life and keep it up, keep it up. So what are

you going to do? How are you gonna You're gonna do like pros and cons or you're gonna like flip a coin if it comes to that. You gotta plan for this. You're gonna you're gonna do, Like, ask a lot of people till somebody tells you what you want to hear, like, like we all do you know? Just keep asking people till you get the answer that you wanted so they can confirm the thing that you were

gonna do all along. Anyway, now you wasted everybody's time just asking them stuff that you already knew what you were gonna do. We're you gonna do? You're gonna like, uh, just stress, eat and put it off to the last minute. That's always a good plan. I like that. I like to just watch Netflix instead personally, put it off to the last minute, and then make the decision when the pressure's on. The crazy thing is when I say that

a big decision. A lot of the decisions that you make, you don't know if they're big or not when you're making them. This is why God so much, because not only can I not make the big decisions right without him, but I don't even know which ones are big unless he tells me. Because you know, big decisions, we get caught up where we're gonna get married. That's me and Holly spent so many weeks thinking about that, Like the big decision of where we were going to have our wedding.

You know what, it didn't really matter as much as some other things. What was important about our marriage was like, how are we going to resolve conflict? Y'all don't want to talk to me today. Y'all were singing so good, and then I started preaching and y'all went to sleep. And the big decisions, you know, it's not always the ones that you think are big. And that's why I prefer the term pivotal decisions, because a big decision is not necessarily what city you're going to live in. That's

a big one, I get it. But a bigger decision for us was what church are we going to go to? Because out of the church that we attended, that's where we made the relationships that were really instrumental, and the will of God was accomplished in our life, not by just what city we lived in. But and it's funny how people will move for a job, or they'll move for a school, but they'll put church at the bottom

of the list and then kind of find one. But I think the pivotal things are sometimes not what we consider to be the big things, and that's that's confusing pivotal, you know what I mean? Like, I guess because it's All Star weekend. I don't play basketball. I don't even really like basketball. I was always terrible at it. I wrestled a little bit, played a little baseball. But when

I watched basketball, I always see them pivot. I always see that their ability to pass and you know, without traveling, without getting called, it's all from this foot that they pivot on. And I'm not going to demonstrate it for you, because again I'm not very athletic, but when I watch them pivot, I notice like, well, that's pretty important. And the only way that they can pivot is if they're planted. Now I'm going to preach that in about twenty eight minutes,

but hang on, I'm coming to judges thirteen. And I notice that, you know, pivoting is not only for athletes. It's also for politicians. And I'll be honest with you. As a preacher, I get it because sometimes you get asked the weirdest questions, the weirdest, most unanswerable, most non germane questions. I'll sometimes be doing a Q and A or something and someone will ask me, you know, what

kind of horse is Jesus coming back on. And there's really no way to answer that without making them look dumb or you know, because it is a dumb question. But I love people and the sheep, and so I'm like, I'm like, well, you know, that's a great question. And regardless of what horse he comes on, I think what's important is that we have a sense of urgency. See how I just and now you don't feel dumb, and I don't have to answer your question, and so we

all win because I know how to pivot. Touch somebody say, the power is in the pivot. Let's go to Judges thirteen. Are you ready? Because you got some big decisions you're making, And then you've got some decisions that you don't think are very big, but they're pivotal, Like how you start your day. That's not a big decision, but it's pivotal because how you start your day Watch, it's a directional decision. Watch watch me. It's directional. So I'm not watch watch watch,

I'm not moving much. It's not a big move. I'm still standing where I was. But I get a completely different perspective when I pivot. The Lord has really been speaking to me. I can tell you want them to speak to you too. And it means that sometimes it's the small moves that set the direction, the small moves that set the direction. And frankly, a lot of the biggest things about your life will be decided outside of your volition and will. Anyway, God is so much bigger

than your decisions. I know you're very successful in your business, but you and I both know that the culmination of everything that happened to you was bigger than you just made good decisions. I mean, because honestly, you made some really bad ones too. And even if you didn't, even if you only make good decisions, you wouldn't have know, You wouldn't even had the opportunity to make those decisions if God didn't position you where He positioned you. God

is bigger than my bad decisions. You know. It's not like God is just a synonym for good decisions, you know, being in the will of God the will of God. And I want to ask you this question, is your view of the will of God big enough to accommodate even your bad decisions? And that's what I wanted to look at. Judges thirteen is a passage of scripture that you've never heard a single sermon on before I polled at least thirty people this week. None of them had

heard it. And all of them went to vacation Bible School and grew up going to Wednesday night church. So if they didn't hear it, you didn't either. But the Bible says in Judges thirteen, verse one, remember in a pivotal time for the nation of Israel, A pivotal time because they were in a cycle of sin, judgment and deliverance.

A pivotal time because they didn't have a king, and they didn't really want God to be their king, so God would keep having to raise up different people to lead them and deliver them from the hands of their enemies, the Canaanites and Parasites, and Hittites, and the Philistines, the Phoenician people who were good at metal, so they always had a lot of weapons, and they were moving in on the coast, and they were ruling them, but very loosely.

Now this is the pivotal moment for the nation of Israel, and the Bible says again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines. Stop. You always hear about God delivering us out of things, But here your Bible says that God delivered them into the hands of an enemy, and use their enemy. I don't know if your theology is about to break wide open and something's

going to fall out on the floor. Let's get the ushers ready in case your brain just melts right there. But God didn't deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. But the same God who is able to deliver you out of the hands of your enemies. The Bible says that at least the perspective of the writer Samuel was, who we preached about last week, that God delivered them into the hands of their enemies. That's interesting me. I don't have a category for that. But God is

bigger than my categories. I'm learning that. I'm learning that. So he did it for forty years, and a certain man of Zorah named Manoah from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. Remember that barrenness in antiquity was a signal or a sign of the displeasure of God. It didn't mean the displeasure of God. But they perceived it to mean that,

so it brought with it a great stigma. A certain man of Zora named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless unable to give birth. The Angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, you are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink, and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never

to be touched by a razor. And my dad was a barber, so that verse offends me because it would have taken money out of my family's pocket. But anyway, because here's the reason. The boy is to be a Nazarite, and the Nazarites don't cut their hair, they don't drink alcohol, they don't touch anything dead, as the basics of being a Nazarite. In case you were thinking about doing it, that's what you would do if you were going to be a Nazarie. He is to be dedicated to God

from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines, which God delivered them into so that he could deliver them from what was in them that caused them to get in this cycle to begin with. And he's going to use this child to deliver them out. I love your word, Lord, thank you for thank you for what you're showing me. Now. Now this is where it gets really, really, really good, because then everybody say, then, woman whose name we don't know,

who's talking to a man whose name isn't given. These unnamed people have a conversation, and the woman went to her husband and told him a man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God. Very awesome. I'm gonna be like, hold up, a man come and talking to my wife anyway, you know, because he didn't have wings or heart how we think God shows up. She's like, I think it was maybe like an angel. It was kind of you know, because that's how it is when you hear from God. It's kind of like,

I think this might be this maybe God. I don't know. I mean it like it looked like it felt like it was different. I don't know, it's just different. I don't know. I'm not sure. And she's telling her husband because it's always revealed in the context of relationship. I didn't ask him where he came from. He didn't tell me his name, but he said to me, you will become pregnant. Uh huh. So this awesome looking man came to my wife and said, what I love the Bible.

Though I love the Bible, he said, you will be pregnant to have a son. Now, then drink no wine or other ferm men to drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazarite of God from the womb until the day of his death. Then Manoah name means resting place. Prayed to the Lord. Pardon your servant, Lord. I don't mean to bother you. I know you got a universe to run and all that I beg you. Let the man of God you sent to us because I didn't get to see him.

Let him come again, if you could just send him back for a few minutes. I got a few questions I need to ask him. I need him to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born. So I need you to speak to me, because you know how you need God to speak to you and show you how I want to talk about the plan. That's the first thing I want to mention is the plan, because I understand that God wants to use me, but I need to know what that's going to look like. You understand I need some details. I

need some specifics. I need some marching orders. I need some dates some times, some instructions. So please Lord, if it's not too much trouble, send that guy back. And he said we were going to have a son that was going to like change the world and stuff. But I need to hear it for myself, and I need

to know the plan. Any planners in the house, any planners, any planners, any planners, Thank God for you, Thank God for you, because all the people without their hand up, they always come late and make the worship leaders lead to the first two rows and is empty and they come crawling in the last minute. But I don't hate you in the back. But I'm just saying that God for the planners. But it can become a problem, and I'm gonna show you why. I'm gonna show you why.

He said we need to know the plan if it's going to be this big thing, you know, if you gave us this promise, I need to know the plan, because without a plan, the promise is just abstract rhetoric. Without the plan, I can know God has for me. He wants to use me. I'm spread the Gospel and all that sounds good, but just send him back. If I could get five minutes with this awesome looking man who was talking to my wife and told her she was about to get pregnant, I need to know the

plan now. I love the next phrase, God heard Manoah. God heard Manoah, and interesting that the woman wasn't praying to get pregnant when the angel said it was going to happen. I don't know if she gave up. I don't know if she did pray. I don't know if she didn't pray. Bible doesn't say it doesn't matter. And then Manoah's begging God to show up and speak to him. You know, God initiates, we respond. God initiates, we respond. But God heard Manoah. And when when Manoah prayed, God

didn't say figure it out yourself and trust me. Instead, he obliged Manoah's need for more information. Let the person next to you know something real quick, and it might sound cocky, but tell him anyway, it's truth say. He hears me. God hears me. He hears me better than Siri and Alexa. He hears me. He hears me, he knows my voice. He likes when I call him, When I say help, he says yes before I can even get out my mouth. He hears me. He hears my

groans where words don't come. He hears me. He hears my heart and the secret petitions of things that people don't know that I'm dealing with. He hears me. He hears the unspoken. Did you go to youth group and we used to say? I have an unspoken He hears what I don't say, He hears what's behind what I said that's really driving the behavior. He hears me. He hears my secret frustration that I don't say around people, because if I told him how frustrated I was, it

would scare him. But he hears me. He hears me when I sing to him, when I tell him worthy is the Lamb of God, he hears me. I know there's better singers than me, and I know I don't always sing on key, but he hears me. When I sing thank you Jesus, he hears me. It blesses his heart to hear me, and the angel of God came

again to the woman. Wait wait, wait, wait, wait to the woman, Manoah asked for the visit, and this angel is back out talking to his what because God is not going to do it like you want him to do it. He's gonna want to say see will you trust him? So the angel God came again to the woman while she was out in the field, but her husband, Manoah, was not with her. No. Woman hurried to tell her husband, he's here the man who appeared to me the other day.

Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man, he said, are you the man who talked to my wife? Hold on, let me change Manoah's accent. Are you the man who talked to my wife? She said? An awesome looking man came and said that she was gonna be pregnant? Was that you? Angel said? I am so, Manoah asked him. When your words are fulfilled, I don't doubt you're going to do it. I just need to know the plan. What is to be the rule that governs the boy's life and work? How do

we do this? How do we do this. We're in a meeting this week about the church, and I know what I want to see, but I don't know the plan for it. And so a lot of times when I get in that mode, I start trying to like tweak stuff, and I start trying to manipulate stuff. I know you don't do this, but I'm a control freak, and so I'll be like, well, we could do this, this and this, and it's all good. It's all good.

But I want you to watch what the Angel does instead of giving Manoah the plan, which is what he asked for, what do we do with this boy that you said is going to be born that's going to do something great? What do I do with this calling? What do I do in this situation? I need to know the plan. I need to know the details. I need to know the agenda. And the Bible says that the Angel verse thirteen answered your wife. So now the Angel pivots from what Manoah asked to what he needed

to know right now. Now, sometimes when you pray to God, he's going to pivot, and you're gonna be like, I need the plan, but God will pivot. I mean, this angel would have made a great politician or preacher or basketball player. He could have been in the All Star Game because watch how quick he pivots. We need to know what to do when the boys moren what we're gonna do? How many times you know, Manoah's full of questions? Right of course he is. Do we need to put

him in a special school? Do we need to get him a tutor? Do we need to see some karate? Do we need to sea some juu? You know? Should we be straight? Should we do what? Do we do it? How? Let me do it? And the angel says, just tell your wife right now, don't drink anything or eat anything unclean. That's all you need to know right now. The pivot from what you think you need to know to what

you really need to know. And God, just watch his footwork. See, we always want to see God's hand, but sometimes you gotta watch his feet because sometimes he wants to set a different direction to say, you're not even looking at the right side of this. Watch the pivot, and when he pivots, you got to be quick to go with him and say, God, I don't want your hand, I want your face, I want to know you, I want to seek you. I want to see you. I want to feel you. I want to know you. I want

to have you. I want to I want to understand what you know I need to understand. And I wonder, is God trying to pivot your prayer life? Is God trying to pivot? You're strategizing. Is God trying to pivot because you're always trying to look for him in logic, You're always trying to look for him in analysis and in calculation. But God is spirit and you can't get the spirit through strategy. You've got to come to God like this. You've got to come to God with open arms,

open hands, and an open hearts. The pivot. It's funny thing about a pivot. Though it's a small move, but it sets a completely different direction. Man, Noah, you can't handle the plan right now. You can't. My word is a lamp unto your feet, a light into your path. Funny thing about pivot. I've been doing this all week, just studying this sermon. It's trying to get God to show me different ways to see situations and to see

his will. And what I think is this will. What I thought was his will, and I thought he was always doing this, But sometimes he's doing that, and they get this promises this is from the Lord. You know, he didn't realize that at first, but he starts to sense. He starts to sense that this may be God. This may be God, because its too big to be anything I could do. I don't plan for it. I don't have a context for it. I don't know this maybe God.

This is the Lord. This is from the Lord. This gift set that I have, this talent, this child that I'm raising, this is from the Lord. Somebody say this is from the Lord. And so since it's from the Lord, then I need him to show me how to do it. But sometimes he won't answer the question that I ask. Instead, he will give me the wisdom that I need because he knows a better question. My faith is not a formula, and I'm not good at pivoting with my feet. I

don't do it a lot. That's so I had to practice it, and I'm still not very good at it. But I want to get good at it with my faith. I want to learn to pivot. And this is where it happens for Manah and his wife. And you're gonna see it in the text. It's just gonna blow up when you see it. It's gonna help you understand why

you've been trying to classify everything in your life. You know, this is good and this is bad, and this is God and this is the devil, and this is it and this is that, and you keep trying to do that, but it doesn't work. And here's why, he said. Manoah said to the angel, we would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you. We want

to cook you a goat. I make a delicious goat kebab, and I'll like you to stay and eat it because this hospitality is appropriate and we appreciate you coming by to encourage us. So stay, We're gonna do it and appreciate the worst and the Angel of the lure replot. Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. I'm not gonna do it your way. You're dealing with God now, so you're not gonna do it like you do it with humans. It's gonna be different.

It's gonna be different, different terms. It's gonna be a whole different thing this time. It's not going to be all up here and what you think you should do. It's gonna have to come from a different place. This is the pivot. This is the pivot. And he said, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. See the pivot. It's not about this. It's about this. And I wonder if we would start deflecting some of the stuff in our life and say, you know,

this is from the Lord. This is not from me. So I need God to do it through me. I cannot do it by myself. This is from the Lord. Somebody shop, this is from the Lord. This is from the Lord. But if you prepare a burn offering, offer it to the Lord. I love this in parentheses. Manoah did not realize it was the Angel of the Lord. Maybe and maybe. And then Manoah inquired of the Angel of the Lord, what's your name? So we may honor your any word comes true? And he replied, this most

annointed verse I've read in the last five years. Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding. That's the pivot. That's where you find God, beyond what you can understand. And so everything you can name that's not God. Everything you can explain that's not God. Everything you can figure out on your own, and you can make it work, and you can do it. It worked for a little while. But everything you can't name, that's God. And we've been

looking for a name for God. That's why we need so many And that's why he had to tell Moses in a very special way. I am because I need to leave room for you to know that when you get past the point of your ability to reconcile your situation, when you get beyond your ability to work it out, that's where I am. That's where I live. That's where I dwell, in the mystery, in the uncertainty, in the tension,

beyond your understanding. And we keep trying to find God in our logic, but he is not found with logic. He is beyond your logic. Manoah took a young goat and together with the grain offering and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And since the word came from the Lord, I'm gonna make the offering to the Lord. And since my breath came from the Lord, I'm gonna offer it back to the Lord. And since this situation came from the Lord, I'm gonna need the Lord to deal with it. I can't do it on my own,

and the Lord did something amazing. While Manoah and his wife watched as the flame blazed up from the altar toward the heaven, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. He was not found in the logic. He was found in the flame, not in figuring it out, but in the fire of sacrifice and needing God. That's where you're gonna find him. That's where you're gonna get it. That's where you're gonna unlock it. That's where it'll be unleashed.

I wish I could preach about g Us for thirty seconds right now, because see, all my hope is in his blood, all my faith is in his cross, all my righteousness is in his sacrifice. And when the flames went off, the revelation came through and he was like he was like Mineau was like, uh, I think we just saw God. Because when the Angel of the Lord did not show himself again Verse twenty one to know and his wife, Manau realized that it was an Angel of the Lord. We're gonna die. He said to his wife,

we've seen God. But his wife answered, if he meant to kill us, if God was out to get you, you'd be God. That's how I know he still has mercy for my mistakes, because I already made enough. If he was gonna squash me for screwing up, I'd be a bug on this stage. If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would have done it. He wouldn't accepted the offering. He would he would he would have wiped this out. He wouldn't have shown us all these things. He wouldn't have shown you all these things. He wouldn't

have seen you through all these things. Look at all he's shown you. Look at how many times you were off the path and somehow he got you back. Look at all the times you were going this way and something just you know, he just turned stuff around. I mean, just like you couldn't do it, and you were making all these plans for it, but it was the pivot that brought you back. And the woman gave birth twenty four to a boy. Oh, I forgot to tell you this and named him Samson. I forgot to tell you

it got the haircut. You remember, because we always want to remember people by their worst decisions. But Samson, the strong one who was bench pressing three oh five and seventh grade Samson. This is how it started, and a lot of people didn't know that because all they ever saw was his head in Delilah's lap. But it was decisions. It was decisions. It was decisions, and you have a destiny, but you get to make decisions, and God is sovereign,

but you're responsible. And so how you process your desires and your decisions right now is really critical. So she has a baby. She names him Samson, and the Lord blessed him. Grew biceps, triceps, laps and delts, and about all the names of the quadriceps, calf muscles. It's about all I know. And the Lord blessed them. In the spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in man. I pronounced that wrong. He was in this place. Now he's growing up and it's going good.

And God's hand is on this boy's life. He's a he's a he's a he's a star football player. He's he learned to ride his bike at the age of three. Good things have happened then. The pivot than the pivot. Now, if you just if you just watch my feet and don't think about it, you go like, well, what's the big deal about the pivot? We'll see, you don't really know how big the move is until you walk it out.

Because if I walk this way and if I kept walking that way, it would be a different completely if I but but if I if I walk this way and all I did was this, it's a small move, but it sets the direction. And that's what's happening in your life. When you decide, like how to speak to people, When you decide, like whether or not you're gonna whether you're gonna come back next weekend to church. It's a small decision, but it sets a direction. When you decide,

am I gonna tie and put God first? Oh? Yeah, I'm gonna put tithe Inn in the Sermons series. I'm gonna put it in because it's a decision. It is the will of God for you to put Him first. And when you decide like I'm gonna do that, it sets a direction to seek God first. When you decide, like you know what, I'm I'm gonna text my I'm gonna text my wife. I'm gonna text her and tell her I'm gonna be home at a certain time and

I'm actually gonna be home at that time. It's a little decision, but it sets a direction, because when you set a direction, you know I can count on you, and you're gonna do it. When you show up and eat with your family, that's not a big decision. We want big decisions, big things from God. No, No, it's the pivotal decisions. It's just it's the little things that you do that set the direction for your day and for your decade and even for generations to come. Now,

it's all going good until one day. Chapter fourteen, verse one says that Samson pivoted and went down to Timna, went down to Timnah, not very far from where he was living at the time. But when he got there, he saw a young Philistine woman who was he supposed to deliver his people from. So now he's in love with what he's called to defeat, and he has a desire. Have you got some desires that don't look anything like Bible verses? Just at least one or two I do.

He saw this young woman. This is not Delilah. That's the only woman we ever talked about in Samson's life. You know, the combed his hair and set him up and got his eyes gouged out. That's in chapter sixteen. We're not even close to that. Yet this is just his This is just his pivotal moment. Some of you are in a pivotal moment right now deciding things. And he came back and said to his father and mother verse too, I have seen a philistine woman. Oh, by the way, the key verse in the Book of Judges

says many many different times. I don't know how many, but it says at least three times they did what was right in their own eyes. And so Samson says, I saw with my senses. I saw my senses, my feelings, my emotions. I saw a philistine woman in Timna. Now dinner for me is my wife. And his father and mother replied, I think heartbreaking. This is he's on the path, he's growing, he's being blessed, spirit of the Lord stirring him. Oh,

it's just like I thought it was gonna be. You know, I graduated college, I got the job, I did the thing, and then all of a sudden, life will just pivot on you. And the kid was so cute, so cute until they started saying words, so cute until they start saying mine. You know, not just with children, but things in our life that just all of a suddenly is headed this way, is headed this way, just like I said, Oh, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not

on your own understanding. I hear you Proverbs three five and six. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And you know, I didn't drink the for a minute, drink like the angel said. And I didn't eat the unclean food and so and he's doing right. And all of a sudden, Samson said, I saw something in tim whoa come back. And now now watch this. The destiny of the nation is threatened by Sampson's bad decision. And the parents are like, please, please make a better decision. Please quit hanging out with

those friends. Please. I'm telling you it's dangerous. I'm telling you it's wrong. Because the Philistines were known for child sacrifice, the Philistines were known for worshiping other gods. The Philistines were known for very abusive practices that were contrary to the word of God. And his father and mother replied, isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people. Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines

to get a wife. Bus Sampson had already made his decision, and now this child. I'm just thinking, as a parent who had so much promise, so much potential, needs a haircut. But even that's intentional. Now he's making the dumbest decision he could possibly make, to run too what he's supposed

to be delivering the people from and they can't convince him. Now, this is where it gets tricky, because it's hard enough to make your own good decisions, but then you start, you start throwing in the decisions that other people make that you can't affect or control no matter how hard

you try. And everybody who writes parenting books, I want to give them just one bad kid and see what they still write it the same way, because all this seven ways to raise your kid with the you know from the Book of Ruth whatever, I'll give you one demon child with a strong will, and you will burn your own book. Get out of my face, because some stuff you can't control. Hello, he was determined, he was determined, he was already he was already gone, So they went

with him. And this is the pivotal moment of my message. Is this is the part God showed me that got me so excited, because everyone in here knows what it is to have the plan that you made right in your head, the model that you had that doesn't match the life that you're living. And now, all of a sudden, Samson whose name means son, Samson who's radiant, Samson who's blessed, Samson who's strong, Samson who carries the expectation of the deliverance of the nation on his shoulders, is making a

dumb decision. And it doesn't have to be a kid, and it doesn't have to be a spouse, it doesn't have to be a relationship at all. You are going to go into some situations in your life that you will pray about, plead about, and plan about, and none of it will work, and you will be faced with the question, now what do I do? I want to suggest that when this happens, that you consider the parentheses. There's a little thing that Samuel will put into the record.

And he was writing this record long after the events had happened, and all Sampson's parents knew us this is trouble. If he marries her, it's going to lead to all kinds of clashing values if he goes through with this, because that's all we know when we're in it is our plan. But watch how the text pivots with a

parenthetical insert. Have you studied any grammar books lately? The parentheses is when you want to put something in the sentence, but the sentence makes sense without it, but you add it in to give additional information that might be helpful to the person reading it, but the sentence would make sense without it, But the parentheses. In Judges, chapter fourteen, verse four, says his parents did not know that this

was from the Lord. They knew Sampson was from the Lord because the Angel spoke it and her wound was barren, So the only way it could have happened was that it was from the Lord. But now they've got to look at a disappointment. Look, it's no problem to look at your gifts, your blessings, and your strengths and say, this is from the Lord. I praise you for another day, how great and mighty you are, and I lift your

name on high. But this this, have you ever had to walk through a situation where you thought, really, God, this like I didn't drink any wine and I didn't eat any unclean foods, and I did everything the Angel told me. And now this you're really gonna let this break out of my life. And the author said, yeah, this was from the Lord because he was seeking an occasion. The Hebrew really means he was picking a fight. God wanted to set his people free from the Phoenicians, from

the Philistines, and he was gonna do it. But he wanted to do it not through a good decision, but through a bad decision. So watch what he does, because he's sovereign and almighty. The Lord is his name, and he is beyond understanding, and his ways no man can fathom. Watch what he does. He uses Sampson's dumb decision to deliver a nation. Now, if he did that for Samson, won't he do it for you? Won't he use this too? The more things that I can look at my life

and say, this is from the Lord. Look he didn't give me my verse again, verse four. It's so good, and it's in parentheses because the sentence will make sense without it, but your life will not make sense without this. Trying to make sense of it, you need to put a parenthesis on it and be like, there's something that the author knows that I don't know of yet. And he who began I'm looking for, whoever God gave me this sermon for because it couldn't have just been me.

Touch somebody say, put a purpose on it. Put a purpose on it, because when you find yourself beyond your understanding, you gotta pivot to the purpose God. I don't like this right now. I don't get this right now. I can't explain this right now. I can't rationalize it right now. But if you started it, you'll finish it. There is power in the pivot, there is power in praise, and there is a purpose in your situation. There's a purpose

in it. There's a purpose in it. God's trying to pick a fight with the devil, and he wants to break some things free and shut some things down and get some things through. And he's gonna use this to This is from the Lord. I'm making a decision right now, a pivotal decision. I'm gonna turn from facing this and I'm face I'm gonna turn from what I don't understand to the God who, according to the mystery of his will, has predestined, according to his good pleasure, that all things

work together for his purpose. I'm serving the God who could take an instrument of death called a Roman cross, hang on it. And then get down in the ground and come forward talking about I am resurrection power and I have the keys of death, hell and the grave. I hear the spirit of God saying, put a purpose on it. I know you're going through some pain, and I know your past was kind of rough and you made a lot of mistakes. But put a purpose on it. God, would you use even the dumb stuff that I did

to deliver your purpose. This is bigger than me. This is bigger than what I feel right now. This is bigger than what my mind can fathom. This is bigger than what my heart can know. This is bigger than my senses. This is bigger than my This is bigger than this setback, This is this is bigger. This is bigger. This is bigger. He called me, he chose me, and I'm going to trust him that this is from the Lord.

With a parenthetical insert, the NIV Translation Committee decided to let us know that there are some things that don't make sense in your life, but the parentheses, that's where you see the purpose. You just got to pivot and trust that is there even when you can't fill it in yet. I don't have to explain why people in this room, had children die, husbands that left them, addictions that were passed on to them. I'm not talking about

whether God did that or not. We know that humans make decisions, but God is a bigger god then you've given him credit for, and he's above every human decision. God is bigger than human decisions. And if Samson didn't marry that woman, the one that he wasn't supposed to marry, yeah, I know it's crazy because we teach like, if you make good choices, God can use your life. I'm saying this too us from the Lord. He was looking for something. He's looking for something that he can work through, and

he'll even use the dumb stuff. Because if he didn't marry this woman right when he was going down to get her and to pay the dowry for her with his parents and killed the lion and ripped the lion apart, and then came back by after he came back for the wedding and saw honey in the lion's carcass and gave the honey, which he wasn't supposed to do because he wasn't supposed touch anything dead, and gave it to his parents and licked some and then went to the

wedding and sat around the table with thirty boys talking about I got a riddle for you. Out as strong came something to eat, and out of the eater came something to eat. Out of fr came something sweetf you can solve my riddle, give you thirty sets of linen clothing. But if you can't solve it, you're gonna get me thirty sets of clothing. And the boys got to his wife and they were like, tell us the riddle, or we're gonna kill your whole family. And then she was like,

tell me the riddle, Sampson, tell me the riddle. And then he said, oh, okay, well I'll tell it to you, but don't tell it to them. But then she told it to them, and then they solved the riddle, and then he had to he had to go to Ashaakt to kill thirty men and beat him up and kill him to take their clothes to bring them back because of his dumb decision. But that's what set him on a course to be able to be able to have

an opportunity to then go back home. And after the wedding, he went back home and he was so mad at his wife for betraying him that he went back home and didn't even stay with her, and by the time he got back, she'd been married to another man because his father in law betrayed him, because he figured, you never want to marry her now after what she did

to you. But he came back and got so mad that he took three hundred foxes and tied their tails together in pairs, lit them on fire, sent them loose in the Philistine fields, and when they tore up the fields, the Philistines were mad. But Samson killed them because he was strong. Now, he never would have killed them if they hadn't hurt him, and he never would have been hurt by them if he hadn't made the wrong decision. And so it goes to show that God is using everything.

If he never would have set the foxes loosen everyone to come to Judah and tied him up and tried to deliver them so we could break them free and kill a thousand of them with a job one of a donkey. If it never would have happened the way it happened, it couldn't be what it is. So stop looking at what it was and ask God what he wants it to be. God wants to use the dumb stuff too. You can't control it anyway. The spirit of the Lord is on you. The spirit of the Lord

is on you. If the lion comes to attack you, he will give you the ability to rip it open because the spirit of the Lord is on And it's a pivotal decision that you make when you find yourself in these disappointing situations where it seems like you can't win. Whether I'm going to believe that there is a bigger picture or if I'm going to minimize God's presence to the level of my understanding. Right now, let's turn it around.

Let's turn it around and instead of trying to tell God what's best for us, and instead of trying to do what's right in our own eyes, let's turn it around. Instead of groveling in the guilt of things that are already over, I'm telling you God uses the weirdest things about you. God uses that big nose that you hate and that little habit that you have. He uses that because when He delivers you from it, you could be a testimony. And He's going to use that too. This

is from the Lord. How I don't know, I don't know a plan. But when I don't know the plan, I pivot to the purpose. And he's working it all in. He's working it all in. God, help me make better decisions in the future. But use the dumb stuff too. That's maybe the best prayer I ever pray. God, use the dumb stuff too. Father, I bless and honor your great name today, as together your people offer you the reverence of our attention and our affection. I don't know

what they did. I don't know what was done to them. I don't know what they can't control. That's going down to Timna today to make a dumb decision. I declare over their life that this is from the Lord. Even if you didn't cause it, there is nothing you can't use with everyone standing, no one moving. You can pivot when you're planted. You can pivot when you're planted. When you know that he spoke it, you could be assured

he will perform it. God's trying to turn your attention to something greater than your pain, greater than your insecurity. This is from the Lord. It's easy to say that when you're holding Samson, harder to say when you can't control him. But Samuel will put it in parenthesis to let us know this is what makes life make sense, that this is from the Lord. There's something bigger. I can't tell you what it is right now, but his

name is beyond understanding. Father, thank you for your sweet holy spirit that gently reminds us of your love and compassion and concern for us. Now than in this moment, you would administer the gifts of healing, the portion of joy that belongs to your children but has often been robbed. Well, come against the thief now who has come to cause them to face in the wrong direction. We turn our

eyes on you. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks

again for listening. God bless you