January 25, 2015 Becoming A Stronger Person

BECOMING A STRONGER PERSON

Hebrews 11:32

Judges 13:24 – The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson.  He grew and the Lord blessed him.

Three Things That Will Weaken Your Life

1. Self Indulgence.

Judges 14:1 – Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.

Verse 2 – When he returned, he said to his father and mother, I have seen a Philistine woman, not get her for me as my wife.

Verse 3 – His father and mother replied, isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among your own people?

Galatians 6:7-8 – Don’t be misled, remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it, a man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows!  If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death.

Lesson One: Strong people discipline their desires.

1 Corinthians 6:12 – I will not be mastered by anything.

Proverbs 25:28 – Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self control.

2. Bitterness.

Judges 14:18 – He was burning with anger.

Judges 15:3 – This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines.

Judges 15:7 – Since you acted like this, I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.

Judges 15:11 – I merely did to them, what they did to me.

Judges 15:3-5 – I will really harm them.  He went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs.  He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.  He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vine yards and olive groves.

Judges 15:15 – Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Lesson Two: Strong people restrain their reactions.

Proverbs 29:22 – An angry man stirs up dissension and a hot tempered one commits many sins.

Proverbs 11:32 – Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

3. Carelessness.

Judges 13:4-5 – See to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, no razor shall be used on his head.

Judges 16:7   Verse 11   Verses 13-14

Verse 17 – He told her everything.

Verse 19 – Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and his strength left him.

Verse 20 – He did not know that the Lord had left him.

Lesson Three: No one ever plans to be a failure.

Verse 21 – Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza, binding him with bronze shackles.  They set him to grinding in the prison.

Verse 22 – But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

June 29 2014 Finding Courage Over Fear

God On FIlm: Finding Courage Over Fear

Memory Verse: “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of them! The LORD your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6

Gideon Faces His Fear with Courage
(Judges 6-7)

Judges 6:1-6 Again the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight. So the LORD handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites fled to the mountains, where they made hiding places for themselves in caves and dens. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, marauders from Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east would attack Israel, camping in the land and destroying crops as far away as Gaza. They left the Israelites with nothing to eat, taking all the sheep, oxen, and donkeys. These enemy hordes, coming with their cattle and tents as thick as locusts, arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help.”

*What is the greatest fear I am facing right now?

HOW DO I FIND COURAGE IN THE FACE OF FEAR?
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• ADMIT my insecurities.

Judges 6:11-16 Gideon son of Joash had been threshing wheat at the bottom of a wine press to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!’ ‘Sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?...But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’ Then the LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ The LORD said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.’”*What insecurity is keeping me from moving forward with courage? 
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• CONFIRM God is With you BEFORE MOVING FORWARD.

Judges 6:36 -40 Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to me in this way. I will put some wool on the threshing floor tonight. If the fleece is wet with dew in the morning but the ground is dry, then I will know that you are going to help me rescue Israel as you promised.’ And it happened just that way. When Gideon got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out a whole bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Please don't be angry with me, but let me make one more request. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew.’ So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew.”
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• PLACE YOUR Trust in God OVER PEOPLE AND THINGS.

Judges 7:2 -7 The LORD said to Gideon, ‘You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, tell the people, “Whoever is timid or afraid may leave and go home.”’ Twenty two thousand of them went home, leaving only ten thousand who were willing to fight. But the LORD told Gideon, ‘There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will sort out who will go with you and who will not.’ When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the LORD told him, ‘Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.’ Only three hundred of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream. The LORD told Gideon, ‘With these three hundred men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.’”
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• OBEY God Completely AND MOVE FORWARD in Faith

Judges 7:16, 19 - 22 He divided the three hundred men into three groups and gave each man a ram's horn and a clay jar with a torch in it...It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the one hundred men with him reached the outer edge of the Midianite camp... Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands and shouted, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’ Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran. When the three hundred Israelites blew their horns, the LORD caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled.”