Navigating Life's Tightrope through Choices

Hey family, I'm Pastor Tore. I'm Pastor Sharon. And listen, you're getting ready to hear an incredible word from the Lord. I believe it's going to bless you. I believe it's going to be timely. Do me a favor, share the message. If it moves you, share the message. And then also, you have an opportunity to be a part of not only helping to spread this message, but to be a part of our outreaches. We're doing a lot of practical things to be a blessing to someone. So feel free, if God so moves you, to use the information here in the video to support what we're doing. We're being a blessing, not just people spiritually, we're being a blessing to people practically. We love you. Get into this message and change your life. I'm going to be speaking out of Judges 16, verse 16. My subject, for those of you who like to take notes, is tightrope. Tightrope, and God willing, that's going to make more sense when this is all said and done. But I'm going to start in Judges 16 and 16, and my text begins, it says, And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words. A little background. So this is Samson and Delilah, and you don't even have to be a Bible scholar to understand this. Samson is like the Popeye of the Bible, okay? The guy was strong, okay? But there was a secret to his strength, and this woman was trying to figure out this secret to his strength. And you know, it's not nice to say that people are dull of wit. But Samson, strong as he is, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And so this woman has tried at this point in the text, she's tried three times to figure out what the secret is to his strength. And this moment is when she's going to finally get the answer from him. So verse 16, it begins and it says, When she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death. Come on, somebody knows what it's like to be vexed to death. That he told her all his heart and said to her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart and said, all that is in his heart. She sent and called for the lords of the Philistines. These are his enemies, the enemies who've been trying to figure out the secret of his strength. She calls to the Philistines saying, come up once more for he has told me all his heart. So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off. the seven locks of his heads. Come on, dreadlocks. Then she began to torment him and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Spirit of the living God, we receive your presence. We receive that there is a nugget in this word. Perhaps we've already begun to see that you've been speaking to us in the worship, but Father, we believe that this is a divine moment for you to speak. And so, Father, I pray that you would make me the perfect vessel for this moment, that even in my imperfection, even in my insecurity, that you would make me perfect in this moment because your oil, your grace, your anointing is going to flow through me. It's going to flow into Africa, your anointing. It's going to flow over to the east coast. It's going to flow into the west coast. It's going to flow into Brazil. It's going to flow into Australia because your anointing, your grace, your word cannot be distanced by location, Father. But when it inhabits the earth, you said that it will not return into you void. And so, Father, I pray that whoever this word is for will be open and empty enough to receive it, to stand in it. and to allow it to become flesh on the inside of them. God, I thank you so much that you are consistent in showing up and that you're going to do exactly that in this moment. In Jesus'name, amen. You know, PT has been speaking to us all the latter part of 2020 about the vision for 2021 for us as a church. First of all, I have to tell you, Being a part of a church that has vision is something that we cannot take for granted. When our pastor is talking to God about who we are to be and how we are to navigate in the earth, God gave him a word, and that word was bridges. And so he's been talking to us about how the church is going to be a bridge, how we are going to be a bridge, how we're going to be meeting, how we're going to be building a bridge that will allow us to overcome problems and to solve problems. that have been taking place in the earth. And I've been meditating on that because I have to tell you, when I heard that, I was so very excited about my opportunity to become a bridge. You see, when you receive a word, it's one thing to just receive it in the moment. But I know so many of you take notes and you say to God, God, how do I apply this to my life? And that's one of the things that I was doing. God, you've given me this mandate from my covering. You've given me this mandate from my pastor. You've given me this mandate from the community that I am a part of. And so, Father, I'm not going to sit back and watch someone else step into the word that you gave to all of us. God, I'm asking you, how do I respond to the word? That's something that we've got to get down in our spirit. When we receive a word, don't just be a hearer of the word, but be a doer of the word. What is my response to the word that I received? And so I've been praying, God, if my role... is to be a bridge, what is my responsibility and my response to that mandate? And as I was praying, I heard God saying, there are so many bridges connected to your name. I feel this for somebody, I don't know who you are, that God has ordained you to be a bridge in so many different areas, in your community, for your family, in your industry. He's going to make you a bridge. He's going to give you the ideas. He's going to give you the creativity. He's going to give you the vision connected with how you're going to build this bridge. And I felt that for me as well. And one of the things that he told me, the first thing I want you to master, though, are the bridges that exist down on the inside of you. You see, sometimes we focus so much on the bridges we want to build outside of us. I want to bridge faith and fashion. I want to bridge nonprofit services with the people in my community. I want to bridge ministry into the culture. We focus so much on that. outer impact of our bridge, but I heard God saying that we're working on the outside without focusing on the inside sometimes. And I want you to make sure that while you're solving the problems on the outside, that you're also paying attention to the bridges that you need to have on the inside. I wish I could preach it the way that PT preached it, but in the message when he was telling us about the infrastructure of the bridge, he was telling us about the bottom part of the bridge, the bridge that isn't even seen, and that is the area that is most important because it is what allows us to have weight on us. And so if you will allow me for this Thursday night activate, I would like to draw your attention to the bridges or lack thereof that are required for our incisors. When we talk about bridges, this is where our discipline and our integrity and how we're going to show up in the world begins to play a role because we cannot go from where we are to who we are supposed to be in God without building a bridge. We can't go. from bitterness to forgiveness unless we build a bridge. We can't go from angry and easily angered into someone who's patient and kind unless we're building a bridge. God, I know where I am supposed to be, but how do I build a bridge from where I am to where I am headed? And I heard God tell me in my prayer time and in my study time that we have to see the connection between our choices and where we are headed. Our choices are the bricks and the tools that build the bridge to where we are headed. I can tell where you're headed by the choices you're making today. Your choices are building a bridge. You may not know that or maybe we don't think about it in the moment because we see the choice is something that is singular and isolated, but the reality is that every choice is laying a brick towards a bridge, and you have to ask yourself, do I like the bridge of where this is headed? It's not just a hey, big head text. It's a choice, and me responding to that text message is a choice for me to be entangled in something that I know is less than me. It's not just a one-time thing. I'm building a bridge, and we have to ask ourselves, am I going to like who's on the other side of this bridge? Is God going to rejoice on who's on the other side of the bridge? It's not just one night. It's a bridge. building something. Each time I make a decision, I'm building something. Each time I pick up my phone and I ingest information, I'm building something. Each time I read my word, I'm building something. There are some people who have made some decisions about 2021 and in making those decisions, they are making different choices because they recognize That the only way I'm going to get to who God has in mind in 2021 is if I make a decision today. I can't postpone it. I have to make a choice today that's going to get me there. I want to become closer to God so I don't just turn on church as something that I have to do as my to-do list. I dig into the word because I want to get closer to him. My choices are building a bridge. Come on, somebody. If you have made a decision. that you are going to be building this bridge, I want you to type in the comments, I'm building something, I'm building something, I'm building something. My choices are different. I'm not the same person who I used to be. My choices are building something you've never seen before. Yes, I'm acting a little funny, but my choices are building something. Yes, I had to isolate myself, but my choices are building something. No, I don't have time for that any longer because my choices are building something. What are your choices building? My choices are building a bridge to who I am supposed to be. My choices are building a bridge to who I am supposed to be. bridge to who God has called me to be my choices are going to build that ministry it's not just going to happen because you got on Instagram your inside choices are going to determine how you get there I'm building something in my marriage I got to make a different choice I'm building something in my business I got to make a different choice I'm trying to buy that house I got to make a different choice my choices are building a bridge God told me responsibility is a part of my mandate for 2021 so the area where I was being irresponsible I'm making a different choice because I'm bridging it to responsibility. The area where I didn't have integrity, I'm communicating on a different level because I'm trying to build some integrity. So you have to understand that we're not just going to wake up and have it. We're going to have it because we built it. We're going to have it because we took the word that God said and we started applying it to our decisions. We started saying, God, what do I need to change in order to build? That's what we need to start asking God is what do I need to change about how I'm functioning today? I can build something that has your glory on it tomorrow. What do I need to change about how I engage so that I can build something that has your glory on it tomorrow? God teach me how to build wholeness. I'm single and I'm lonely but I need you to teach me how to build wholeness in this season because I want to show that it's better to be lonely and it's better to be single and by yourself than it is to settle for something that doesn't look like you. So God show me how to build my life as a single person. Show me how to build my marriage. God show me how to raise these children. I don't want them to be broken in the same way. I was broken I'm trying to build something that I've never seen before so God if you give me the words I let my choices lay the bricks and I'll end up where you decided Because you are the chief architect of the bridge. I'm trying to build inside of me and So when we come to that realization And we allow that to become our mandate. We recognize that the connection between our choices and the bridge that we are building are going to determine our destination. There are some choices that we have made that we wish we could undo. If we're being honest here, I've made some choices that built a bridge That now feels like an island. Yeah. Yeah, you're saying, Pastor, I understand what you're saying about choices leading you to destinations. But now the place that I'm on, it feels like an island. As in, I don't know how to move from here. Regret would tell us that what you need to do is go back to where you started. But faith tells us that if you feel like you're on an island and you're ready to move from where you are to where you know you're supposed to be in God, that maybe we should stop looking for a bridge that looks like the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe we should stop looking for a bridge that looks like the San Francisco Bridge. And instead, we should start looking for a rope, a tightrope. You see... There are some bridges that don't look like bridges at all because they are so small and the line is so finite that you have to become someone you've never been before to cross that bridge. Yeah, I want to talk to you about walking on a tightrope because I heard God telling me in my own prayer time That in order for me to move from where I am to where I am supposed to be, that it may not be as easy as just walking without having to be careful. And it may not be as easy as walking without sensitivity because there's so much infrastructure and confidence around me that it may look like walking on a tightrope. Can you imagine what it's like to walk on a tightrope in those moments? Yes, this is a bridge, but there's so much fear and anxiety connected to this moment. And yes, I got across it anyway. When I'm innovating a new path that's never been done before, and I'm trying to do this without the degree and without the help and without the support, it's not as easy to be a bridge when you're walking on a tightrope. I want to talk to some people who are watching today, who God says, I'm going to ask you to bridge something, but you're going to have to do it with a tightrope. If that's you, I want you to say, that's me, that's me, that's me. God's asking me to do this on a tightrope. The bridge to who you are supposed to become in God may look like a tightrope. The purpose that is connected to your life, the forgiveness, that wholeness, it's going to look like a tightrope. And that's why God brought this story of Samson into my mind. When Samson tells Delilah that since birth he was a Nazirite, what he's saying to us is my strength is connected to my ability to walk the tightrope of being a Nazirite. A Nazarite is an Israelite consecrated to the service of God. Under these vows, they abstain from alcohol, they let their hair grow, and they avoid defilement by contact with corpses. That's even family members or whatever. They're not able to engage with corpses. They have to allow their hair to grow. They don't celebrate the way other people celebrate. They don't cut themselves in the way other people cut themselves because they have to live on a tightrope. Samson has been living on this tightrope since birth and his strength is connected to his ability to stay on that tightrope. Your strength, oh God I feel it, your strength is not going to come because someone else came and gave you something. It's not going to come because you were able to outsmart the people who are around you. I hear God saying that your ability to make it to this next dimension, your ability to walk in the favor and promises of God, your ability to shake earth up in a way that makes heaven rejoice is connected with your ability to navigate this tightrope that you have to live on. I hear God saying that you cannot defeat enemies and walk on a tightrope. at the same time unless you're walking on the tightrope that God has given you. God help me to break this down the way that you gave it to me. When we see Samson in this moment, he is confident about who he is. He is confident about the strength that he carries because he learned to live life on a tightrope. When I think about my husband and I think about how God has blessed him, how God has transcended him from where he started to where he is now, it's what I hear at night that moves me the most. It's not the books, though I'm proud of that. It's not the messages, though they have moved me and changed my life. It's about who he said he had to become on the inside. The integrity. that he had to carry on the inside. I had to learn to walk on a tightrope. I had to learn to make sure that I wasn't falling in with the same crowd that kept pulling me down. I hear God saying that you want to fit in and walk on a tightrope at the same time, and that's why nothing has moved in your life yet. But I hear God saying if you would surrender to the fact that the only way you're going to be strengthened in this season is if you learn to walk on a tightrope. I hear God saying I do always provide, and I most certainly provide for those who who are willing to sacrifice their comfort and sacrifice the way they have always done things and dare to get on the tightrope, the tightrope that says, God, this is who I am. Even if I have to do it afraid, God, I'm going to make this marriage work. Even if it means I have to walk on a tightrope, what does that mean? That means I communicate when I want to suppress. That means I pray when I want to be bitter. Why am I doing this? Because I got to make it to the other side. You see, as long as you have options, you may not get on a tightrope, but when you decide God I don't want to do anything if you're not in it and God I don't want to be anywhere if you're not on the other side of it God says but can you follow me on the tightrope I'm thinking about the virgin Mary when she heard that she was going to become pregnant with the Holy Spirit in order to do that thing in order to carry the spirit of God God said you're going to have to learn to walk on a tightrope you're going to have to hide away sometimes you're going to have to give birth in a barn but baby when I tell you I'm going to be with you I hear God saying that what you don't understand about the time tightrope is yes it's scary and yes it's lonely and no you don't always know if you have what it takes but he always provide who is the he that I am talking about it is the great I am who told me I'm gonna be a safety net when you get on the tightrope I'm gonna make sure that it's got enough slack in it to give you breaks when you need it I'm I'm learning I'm learning how to walk on a tightrope when Peter had to build the church he had to do it on a tightrope When Moses had to save the Egyptians, when he had to save the Hebrew children from the Egyptians, he had to learn to walk on a tightrope. I'm neither Hebrew nor Egyptian, but I'm learning to walk on a tightrope. I hear God saying that you're in the world, but not of the world. What does that mean? That I'm in the world, but I'm walking on a tightrope. That I understand that my role in this world is to make sure that heaven touches earth. I wish I had some people in this chat room who would give me about 30 seconds to thank God that he's still going to be with us. even when we get on tightrope that he's still gonna be with us even when I lose my balance I hear God saying you think you're gonna lose your balance if you try so you haven't even stepped into it yet but I hear God saying if you would just take one step if you would just get yourself in position then I would allow for my grace to show up and show you how to make it the rest of the way some of us won't get on a tightrope because we're not sure we'll make it to the other end God says that's good if you get on the tightrope you're gonna have more faith than you've ever had you're gonna pray in a way you've never prayed before God says you want to know how it ends and I want to know when you're going to get started you want to know how it's going to turn out and I hear God saying if you would just take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step it's going to be hard but you got to take the step anyway it's gonna cause you to become someone you've never been before but you got it take this step anyway that you've got to want what God wants for you and bad is just as bad as God wants you to have it you've got to have what God wants for you down in your spirit so heavy that it makes you do crazy things like instead of falling into hustling you decide now is the time for me to pray and center myself Because when the gun is fired, I gotta make sure I'm in position. Samson has been living on a tightrope for so long that his strength is his confidence. And yet, what this text reveals to us is though he has mastered living on a tightrope since birth, That maybe what looks like a tightrope on the outside is just his norm. That means that what would have been hard maybe when he explained it to Delilah about his strength was actually not hard for him at all because it's all he's ever known. Some of us were born on a tightrope. And we learn to live on that tightrope and to navigate that tightrope, the identity between our calling and our communities, our calling and our families. I've been living on a tightrope. I recognize that that is my distinction. That is what makes me strong. And Samson is now so confident in his ability to navigate that tightrope that he doesn't recognize the other areas of his life that are going to sabotage his strength. You see... Samson has a weakness and this particular weakness is for women and this woman is a part of his enemy's camp and because Samson is so used to walking on this tightrope he hasn't dared to evaluate the other areas of his life where he could stand to tighten up a little bit if we was in church I would say tag your neighbor and say tighten up tighten up but since we're not in church I want you to type it tighten up tighten up tighten up Samson needs to tighten up. You see, because one of the things that we have to learn from this, and one of the things that is important to us as we study this scripture and as we study this story, is the connection between Samson's weakness and his strength. I feel like a lot of times we compartmentalize our weakness and we think, I'm weak here, but I'm strong here, and somehow that balances things out, and so we don't focus. on how we need to get that weakness on a tightrope so that it can eventually become a strength. And so instead, Samson is so confident in who he is and where he is now that he thinks that he is strong enough to handle the casualties of his weakness. Have you ever been there? Where you feel like you're strong enough to handle the casualties of your weakness? Like maybe... There's a toxic relationship that you know is a weakness, but you feel like you're strong enough to navigate it at arm's length. Maybe you're trying to save a certain amount of money. Maybe you're trying to build a business and you indulge in things that you know are a weakness, but you feel like you're strong enough to handle that weakness at arm's length. That's what happens when we see Samson in this text. He's learned to walk the tightrope, but he hasn't dissected the other areas of his life that need to come into submission to that level of discipline. And because he has failed to do that, his weakness is now sabotaging his strength. That's somebody's word right there. You're compartmentalizing your weaknesses, but what you need to understand is that your weakness is going to sabotage the area of your strength. That it's not just going to be separated. That if you become so comfortable with a weakness that has become unaddressed, that God is not going to allow you to just continue to keep flirting with your enemy while he's also trying to raise you up to be something that's different than what you've seen before. Samson's greatest issue here is not that he's a Nazarite. His greatest issue is not that he's had to walk on a tightrope. His greatest issue in this moment is that he hasn't dissected the other areas of his life that need to come into submission. Your weakness is going to sabotage your strength. What I wrote in my notes when I was studying is you cannot flirt with the behavior patterns, rhythms that you're trying to kill. That you can't be trying to kill it and flirt with it at the same time. That you can't come to a place where you think that you have your weaknesses under such control that you don't understand that it's going to sabotage your strength. So to overcome his weakness, Samson would have to get on a different type of tightrope and this tightrope may require him to be lonely. This tightrope may require him to have his confidence in something other than who he slept with. And because Samson did not get on that tightrope, he became known for his weakness instead of his strength. Family, if I could talk to you for a minute. What I would say to you is this. No matter how well we master walking on one tightrope, It doesn't mean that we have mastered every area of our life that needs to come into submission. The bridge to get to who we are, to where we want to become in God, it may look like a tightrope in some seasons. And when we master it, we have to be willing to look back and say, God, now what is the next area? Maybe it was my wisdom in one season. Now it's my discipline in another season. Maybe it was my discipline and now it's my integrity. But I am constantly looking for areas of my life where my weakness is going to sabotage my strength. Sometimes we feel like the sabotage is going to come outside of us and we talk about our haters and we talk about someone who's sleeping on us and we're talking about someone... who doesn't understand just how incredible we are, or someone who is so jealous and envious of who we are. But what we need to recognize is that the greatest enemy is not outside of us. The greatest enemy is the weakness that is unchecked on the inside of us. And until we are willing to examine ourselves and say, what are my own patterns? What are my own thoughts? What are my own fears? What are my own insecurities that are going to sabotage my strength? Then we're going to be looking outside of us when the real enemy, the real culprit is inside of us. Samson is forced to take this look on the inside of him because his weakness is now what he's known for. Because when the Philistines finally attack him and figure out the secret to his strength, they take his eyes away. They strip him down to nothing. They cut his hair off and now he is less than just any other man. Now he has handicaps that have made him almost, almost useless in their eyes. And yet what they didn't know that we know is that God can start from anywhere. Remember when I was talking earlier about making choices that lead you to a place that you don't always like. That's exactly where we find Samson in verse 28 as this text continues. His choices had led him to a place that he doesn't even like. that he doesn't even understand. He didn't recognize that his weakness was sabotaging his strength. And now he's wishing maybe that he could get back on that tightrope and that he could live his life differently. And what we know now, though, is that God will never leave you nor forsake you. But Samson in that moment had to do something crazy. Samson in that moment had to do something that maybe some of you are going to do when we're about to pray. He had to call out from God from the place of his weakness. You see, what the Philistines thought is that if they cut his hair, that he wouldn't be strong anymore. But what they didn't realize is that even when they cut his hair, that God was going to grow his hair back. Our text tells us in between verse 16 and verse 28 that though they cut his hair, that his hair started growing back. They were beating him in chains and they stripped his eyes out, but his hair started growing back. What is the word of the Lord in that moment? The word of the Lord in that moment is that even when life is tearing you up, even when your decisions have put you in a position that feels like defeat, that at the end of the day, your hair, your strength is still going to grow back. I need somebody to know. That you are not still here because God wants to display what you could have had. You are not still here so that God can show you how if you would have done things differently, this could have been you. God is not interested in making you be a participant in the museum of the highlights of other people's life. God wants to show you that if you are still here, then something can still grow on the inside of you. And if something can still grow on the inside of you, it may start off looking like a tightrope. But when it's all said and done, you'll become a bridge again. You'll defeat the enemies again. You'll be looking like who I thought you were in the first place again. I hear God saying that somebody's strength is coming back to you. I know 2020 was hard on you. I know 2021 may have not started off the way that you wanted to. But I hear God saying your strength is coming back to you. What is your strength? Your strength is the confidence that I am going to be with you. Your strength is the confidence that I have not departed from you. And in verse 20. we hear Samson say oh Lord God remember me oh Lord God remember me I pray somebody needs to get in their prayer closet and just start saying God remember me God remember when I used to be your servant God remember when I used to carry your joy God remember when I used to feel anointed. God remember when I walked into a room and I knew who I was when I was in the room. God remember when the checks didn't define me. God remember when the bank account didn't define me. Samson cries out to the Lord. God remember Remember me, I pray. And strengthen me, I pray. Just once, he asked God for. I don't need you to do it over and over again. If you could just provide your strength just one time. If you would just provide your strength just once. one time because I got one more devil to fight. Samson's hair is cut off. Samson's eyes have been plucked out. But he said, God, if you would remember me in my weakness, if you would give me strength in the place that I am weak, I understand what I didn't understand then. What Samson didn't understand before this moment is that he and God were not on the same page about the enemy he had given him to defeat because Samson was still flirting with the enemy he was supposed to defeat and sometimes your enemy has to capture you and sometimes your enemy has to change the way you show up in the world for you to finally get on the same page with God about what this enemy is Samson is showing up in this moment differently than he showed up before because now the Philistines mean the same thing to him that they meant to God I hear God saying that your breakthrough That your ability to break away from this thing is going to be connected to you hating it the way that I hate it. I hear God saying we got to have common enemies. When we have common enemies, that's how I know we're really in relationship. It ain't nothing like having a friend who understands that we don't fool with that person. I hear God saying that you need to get on the same page with me. We don't fool with that anymore. We don't fool with regret. We don't fool with shame. That's an enemy to who I've called you to be. We don't fool with shame. That's an enemy. enemy to who I've called you to be I hear God saying when you get on the same page with me about your enemy you'll find the way to navigate this captivity Samson says you got to read it judge 16 28 through 30 he says Lord God remember me I pray strengthen me I pray just this once oh God that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes and Samson he took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and he braced himself against them I hear God saying that's what's going to happen for some of us in 2021 that some of us came into this year limping we came into this year unclear but I hear God saying that I can still use you limping. I can still use you grieving. I can still use you broken. I can still use you with your mind fuzzy. I hear God saying, just let me show you how to walk on this tightrope. Let me show you how to navigate this dark season. Let me show you how to navigate the unknown. Let me show you how to navigate this business, how to navigate this marriage. And he put his two hands on those pillars. And he braced himself against them, one on his right hand and one on his left. And he pushed, he pushed those pillars down. And in that moment, he defeated more Philistines than he had defeated in his entire lifetime. But it was because he finally got on the same page with God about who his enemy is. and who his enemy is not even in the middle of his weakness God still made a way for him to become who he was supposed to be in God and it didn't look as powerful as it looked before this wasn't one of those big beautiful bridges it was a tight rope and God used it anyway I want to pray with you Perhaps as we've been sharing this time with each other, you've been feeling convicted. Maybe it's been confirmation that it's time for me to stop playing. It's time for me to finally get to a place where I'm willing to undergo the uncertainty, the instability. The lack of confidence connected with who I need to be in God. You see, I'm going to get to that place of confidence. I may not get there overnight. I may not become that boss overnight. I may not get there the way that I want to as rapidly as I want to, but it's time for me to first. shed the skin of the old so that I can walk into the new. And I hear God saying, it's okay for the journey to be scary. It's okay for it to even feel like a tightrope, but a tightrope can still serve as a bridge. I want to pray with you. I want to pray for those of us who have decided that I'm going to navigate this tightrope. I'm going to do it for my family. I'm going to do it for my community. I'm going to do it for my God. I'm going to get on this tightrope. And yes, sometimes I may lose my balance. And yes, sometimes it may be hard. Sometimes I may have to pause. Sometimes I may have to start over again. But it is so important to me that I finally get to this destination. of who God has been hinting at me that I could always become. God's going to give you strength just like he gave Samson in that moment. He's going to give you peace. He's going to show you how to navigate your weaknesses and how to master your strength. God's already got a plan. He's just waiting on you to begin. Father, I thank you that your word will not return until you void. That means that even as I was speaking, Father, that someone was saying, that's my word, that's my word, that's my word. Father, it is my prayer that every person who reached up and grabbed this word, that they would hold on to this word as their truth and their confidence, and that this would be the word that propels them to finally get started. God, it is my prayer that we would start moving, even if we have to do it at a slow pace, that we would begin moving in the direction of who you have in mind. Father, where there is loneliness, let there be wholeness. Father, where there is brokenness, let there be healing. Father, where there is pain, let us have restoration. Father, where there is grief, let it become love and let us live in the space of love. Father, it is my prayer that whatever is necessary for us to become, that we would be willing to sacrifice and surrender so that we may manifest not our vision, not our desires, but your peace, your presence, your power. Father, we want to be vessels. We want to be an extension of what you're doing in the earth. As unworthy as we are, as broken as we are, it is still our desire to serve what you're doing in the earth. And so, Father, if we are the only way that heaven can touch earth, give us room, give us capacity, and give us wisdom to navigate that tightrope. Father, forgive us for making choices that we know We're leading us to a lesser version of ourselves. We repent. We change our way of thinking. We won't flirt with our enemy or flirt with our dangers anymore. Instead, Father, we will take the hard, hard road of saying goodbye to what hurts us but feels good and instead elect to be uncomfortable in pursuit of your glory and your grace. Father, we have sinned. We have fallen short. but we are still here so we repent. We ask that you would forgive us as we come into alignment, Father. Give us peace. Give us connection with people on the same road and allow us to continue to grow and grow and grow that we may become bridges because we first became tightropes. In Jesus'name I pray. Amen. Family, I love you so much. If this is your word or you feel like someone else needs to hear it, make sure you share it. I believe together and in the context of community that we're going to not just become bridges, but we're going to become bridges that create bridges, just like PT has been telling us. And so let's continue to be those bridges by sharing this word, praying with one another. You don't know it, but you're chatting with your family, you're chatting with your next of kin, and together we're going to look back and say, God, Not only were you were providing, you were building us up in the process. I cannot wait to see you Saturday, Sunday, Thursday. You know where to find us. We'll be right here. You can count on the Potter's House 1LA in Denver to be with you every step of the way.

Hey family, I'm Pastor Tore. I'm Pastor Sharon. And listen, you're getting ready to hear an incredible word from the Lord. I believe it's going to bless you.

I believe it's going to be timely. Do me a favor, share the message. If it moves you, share the message.

And then also, you have an opportunity to be a part of not only helping to spread this message, but to be a part of our outreaches. We're doing a lot of practical things to be a blessing to someone. So feel free, if God so moves you, to use the information here in the video to support what we're doing.

We're being a blessing, not just people spiritually, we're being a blessing to people practically. We love you. Get into this message and change your life. I'm going to be speaking out of Judges 16, verse 16. My subject, for those of you who like to take notes, is tightrope.

Tightrope, and God willing, that's going to make more sense when this is all said and done. But I'm going to start in Judges 16 and 16, and my text begins, it says, And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words. A little background.

So this is Samson and Delilah, and you don't even have to be a Bible scholar to understand this. Samson is like the Popeye of the Bible, okay? The guy was strong, okay? But there was a secret to his strength, and this woman was trying to figure out this secret to his strength.

And you know, it's not nice to say that people are dull of wit. But Samson, strong as he is, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. And so this woman has tried at this point in the text, she's tried three times to figure out what the secret is to his strength. And this moment is when she's going to finally get the answer from him. So verse 16, it begins and it says, When she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death.

Come on, somebody knows what it's like to be vexed to death. That he told her all his heart and said to her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart and said, all that is in his heart.

She sent and called for the lords of the Philistines. These are his enemies, the enemies who've been trying to figure out the secret of his strength. She calls to the Philistines saying, come up once more for he has told me all his heart.

So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off. the seven locks of his heads.

Come on, dreadlocks. Then she began to torment him and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free.

But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Spirit of the living God, we receive your presence. We receive that there is a nugget in this word.

Perhaps we've already begun to see that you've been speaking to us in the worship, but Father, we believe that this is a divine moment for you to speak. And so, Father, I pray that you would make me the perfect vessel for this moment, that even in my imperfection, even in my insecurity, that you would make me perfect in this moment because your oil, your grace, your anointing is going to flow through me. It's going to flow into Africa, your anointing.

It's going to flow over to the east coast. It's going to flow into the west coast. It's going to flow into Brazil.

It's going to flow into Australia because your anointing, your grace, your word cannot be distanced by location, Father. But when it inhabits the earth, you said that it will not return into you void. And so, Father, I pray that whoever this word is for will be open and empty enough to receive it, to stand in it. and to allow it to become flesh on the inside of them. God, I thank you so much that you are consistent in showing up and that you're going to do exactly that in this moment.

In Jesus'name, amen. You know, PT has been speaking to us all the latter part of 2020 about the vision for 2021 for us as a church. First of all, I have to tell you, Being a part of a church that has vision is something that we cannot take for granted. When our pastor is talking to God about who we are to be and how we are to navigate in the earth, God gave him a word, and that word was bridges.

And so he's been talking to us about how the church is going to be a bridge, how we are going to be a bridge, how we're going to be meeting, how we're going to be building a bridge that will allow us to overcome problems and to solve problems. that have been taking place in the earth. And I've been meditating on that because I have to tell you, when I heard that, I was so very excited about my opportunity to become a bridge.

You see, when you receive a word, it's one thing to just receive it in the moment. But I know so many of you take notes and you say to God, God, how do I apply this to my life? And that's one of the things that I was doing. God, you've given me this mandate from my covering.

You've given me this mandate from my pastor. You've given me this mandate from the community that I am a part of. And so, Father, I'm not going to sit back and watch someone else step into the word that you gave to all of us.

God, I'm asking you, how do I respond to the word? That's something that we've got to get down in our spirit. When we receive a word, don't just be a hearer of the word, but be a doer of the word. What is my response to the word that I received?

And so I've been praying, God, if my role... is to be a bridge, what is my responsibility and my response to that mandate? And as I was praying, I heard God saying, there are so many bridges connected to your name.

I feel this for somebody, I don't know who you are, that God has ordained you to be a bridge in so many different areas, in your community, for your family, in your industry. He's going to make you a bridge. He's going to give you the ideas.

He's going to give you the creativity. He's going to give you the vision connected with how you're going to build this bridge. And I felt that for me as well.

And one of the things that he told me, the first thing I want you to master, though, are the bridges that exist down on the inside of you. You see, sometimes we focus so much on the bridges we want to build outside of us. I want to bridge faith and fashion. I want to bridge nonprofit services with the people in my community. I want to bridge ministry into the culture.

We focus so much on that. outer impact of our bridge, but I heard God saying that we're working on the outside without focusing on the inside sometimes. And I want you to make sure that while you're solving the problems on the outside, that you're also paying attention to the bridges that you need to have on the inside. I wish I could preach it the way that PT preached it, but in the message when he was telling us about the infrastructure of the bridge, he was telling us about the bottom part of the bridge, the bridge that isn't even seen, and that is the area that is most important because it is what allows us to have weight on us.

And so if you will allow me for this Thursday night activate, I would like to draw your attention to the bridges or lack thereof that are required for our incisors. When we talk about bridges, this is where our discipline and our integrity and how we're going to show up in the world begins to play a role because we cannot go from where we are to who we are supposed to be in God without building a bridge. We can't go. from bitterness to forgiveness unless we build a bridge. We can't go from angry and easily angered into someone who's patient and kind unless we're building a bridge.

God, I know where I am supposed to be, but how do I build a bridge from where I am to where I am headed? And I heard God tell me in my prayer time and in my study time that we have to see the connection between our choices and where we are headed. Our choices are the bricks and the tools that build the bridge to where we are headed.

I can tell where you're headed by the choices you're making today. Your choices are building a bridge. You may not know that or maybe we don't think about it in the moment because we see the choice is something that is singular and isolated, but the reality is that every choice is laying a brick towards a bridge, and you have to ask yourself, do I like the bridge of where this is headed? It's not just a hey, big head text. It's a choice, and me responding to that text message is a choice for me to be entangled in something that I know is less than me.

It's not just a one-time thing. I'm building a bridge, and we have to ask ourselves, am I going to like who's on the other side of this bridge? Is God going to rejoice on who's on the other side of the bridge? It's not just one night.

It's a bridge. building something. Each time I make a decision, I'm building something. Each time I pick up my phone and I ingest information, I'm building something. Each time I read my word, I'm building something.

There are some people who have made some decisions about 2021 and in making those decisions, they are making different choices because they recognize That the only way I'm going to get to who God has in mind in 2021 is if I make a decision today. I can't postpone it. I have to make a choice today that's going to get me there. I want to become closer to God so I don't just turn on church as something that I have to do as my to-do list. I dig into the word because I want to get closer to him.

My choices are building a bridge. Come on, somebody. If you have made a decision. that you are going to be building this bridge, I want you to type in the comments, I'm building something, I'm building something, I'm building something.

My choices are different. I'm not the same person who I used to be. My choices are building something you've never seen before.

Yes, I'm acting a little funny, but my choices are building something. Yes, I had to isolate myself, but my choices are building something. No, I don't have time for that any longer because my choices are building something.

What are your choices building? My choices are building a bridge to who I am supposed to be. My choices are building a bridge to who I am supposed to be.

bridge to who God has called me to be my choices are going to build that ministry it's not just going to happen because you got on Instagram your inside choices are going to determine how you get there I'm building something in my marriage I got to make a different choice I'm building something in my business I got to make a different choice I'm trying to buy that house I got to make a different choice my choices are building a bridge God told me responsibility is a part of my mandate for 2021 so the area where I was being irresponsible I'm making a different choice because I'm bridging it to responsibility. The area where I didn't have integrity, I'm communicating on a different level because I'm trying to build some integrity. So you have to understand that we're not just going to wake up and have it.

We're going to have it because we built it. We're going to have it because we took the word that God said and we started applying it to our decisions. We started saying, God, what do I need to change in order to build? That's what we need to start asking God is what do I need to change about how I'm functioning today?

I can build something that has your glory on it tomorrow. What do I need to change about how I engage so that I can build something that has your glory on it tomorrow? God teach me how to build wholeness. I'm single and I'm lonely but I need you to teach me how to build wholeness in this season because I want to show that it's better to be lonely and it's better to be single and by yourself than it is to settle for something that doesn't look like you. So God show me how to build my life as a single person.

Show me how to build my marriage. God show me how to raise these children. I don't want them to be broken in the same way. I was broken I'm trying to build something that I've never seen before so God if you give me the words I let my choices lay the bricks and I'll end up where you decided Because you are the chief architect of the bridge.

I'm trying to build inside of me and So when we come to that realization And we allow that to become our mandate. We recognize that the connection between our choices and the bridge that we are building are going to determine our destination. There are some choices that we have made that we wish we could undo.

If we're being honest here, I've made some choices that built a bridge That now feels like an island. Yeah. Yeah, you're saying, Pastor, I understand what you're saying about choices leading you to destinations. But now the place that I'm on, it feels like an island.

As in, I don't know how to move from here. Regret would tell us that what you need to do is go back to where you started. But faith tells us that if you feel like you're on an island and you're ready to move from where you are to where you know you're supposed to be in God, that maybe we should stop looking for a bridge that looks like the Brooklyn Bridge.

Maybe we should stop looking for a bridge that looks like the San Francisco Bridge. And instead, we should start looking for a rope, a tightrope. You see... There are some bridges that don't look like bridges at all because they are so small and the line is so finite that you have to become someone you've never been before to cross that bridge.

Yeah, I want to talk to you about walking on a tightrope because I heard God telling me in my own prayer time That in order for me to move from where I am to where I am supposed to be, that it may not be as easy as just walking without having to be careful. And it may not be as easy as walking without sensitivity because there's so much infrastructure and confidence around me that it may look like walking on a tightrope. Can you imagine what it's like to walk on a tightrope in those moments?

Yes, this is a bridge, but there's so much fear and anxiety connected to this moment. And yes, I got across it anyway. When I'm innovating a new path that's never been done before, and I'm trying to do this without the degree and without the help and without the support, it's not as easy to be a bridge when you're walking on a tightrope.

I want to talk to some people who are watching today, who God says, I'm going to ask you to bridge something, but you're going to have to do it with a tightrope. If that's you, I want you to say, that's me, that's me, that's me. God's asking me to do this on a tightrope. The bridge to who you are supposed to become in God may look like a tightrope.

The purpose that is connected to your life, the forgiveness, that wholeness, it's going to look like a tightrope. And that's why God brought this story of Samson into my mind. When Samson tells Delilah that since birth he was a Nazirite, what he's saying to us is my strength is connected to my ability to walk the tightrope of being a Nazirite.

A Nazarite is an Israelite consecrated to the service of God. Under these vows, they abstain from alcohol, they let their hair grow, and they avoid defilement by contact with corpses. That's even family members or whatever.

They're not able to engage with corpses. They have to allow their hair to grow. They don't celebrate the way other people celebrate. They don't cut themselves in the way other people cut themselves because they have to live on a tightrope. Samson has been living on this tightrope since birth and his strength is connected to his ability to stay on that tightrope.

Your strength, oh God I feel it, your strength is not going to come because someone else came and gave you something. It's not going to come because you were able to outsmart the people who are around you. I hear God saying that your ability to make it to this next dimension, your ability to walk in the favor and promises of God, your ability to shake earth up in a way that makes heaven rejoice is connected with your ability to navigate this tightrope that you have to live on.

I hear God saying that you cannot defeat enemies and walk on a tightrope. at the same time unless you're walking on the tightrope that God has given you. God help me to break this down the way that you gave it to me. When we see Samson in this moment, he is confident about who he is. He is confident about the strength that he carries because he learned to live life on a tightrope.

When I think about my husband and I think about how God has blessed him, how God has transcended him from where he started to where he is now, it's what I hear at night that moves me the most. It's not the books, though I'm proud of that. It's not the messages, though they have moved me and changed my life.

It's about who he said he had to become on the inside. The integrity. that he had to carry on the inside. I had to learn to walk on a tightrope.

I had to learn to make sure that I wasn't falling in with the same crowd that kept pulling me down. I hear God saying that you want to fit in and walk on a tightrope at the same time, and that's why nothing has moved in your life yet. But I hear God saying if you would surrender to the fact that the only way you're going to be strengthened in this season is if you learn to walk on a tightrope.

I hear God saying I do always provide, and I most certainly provide for those who who are willing to sacrifice their comfort and sacrifice the way they have always done things and dare to get on the tightrope, the tightrope that says, God, this is who I am. Even if I have to do it afraid, God, I'm going to make this marriage work. Even if it means I have to walk on a tightrope, what does that mean? That means I communicate when I want to suppress. That means I pray when I want to be bitter.

Why am I doing this? Because I got to make it to the other side. You see, as long as you have options, you may not get on a tightrope, but when you decide God I don't want to do anything if you're not in it and God I don't want to be anywhere if you're not on the other side of it God says but can you follow me on the tightrope I'm thinking about the virgin Mary when she heard that she was going to become pregnant with the Holy Spirit in order to do that thing in order to carry the spirit of God God said you're going to have to learn to walk on a tightrope you're going to have to hide away sometimes you're going to have to give birth in a barn but baby when I tell you I'm going to be with you I hear God saying that what you don't understand about the time tightrope is yes it's scary and yes it's lonely and no you don't always know if you have what it takes but he always provide who is the he that I am talking about it is the great I am who told me I'm gonna be a safety net when you get on the tightrope I'm gonna make sure that it's got enough slack in it to give you breaks when you need it I'm I'm learning I'm learning how to walk on a tightrope when Peter had to build the church he had to do it on a tightrope When Moses had to save the Egyptians, when he had to save the Hebrew children from the Egyptians, he had to learn to walk on a tightrope. I'm neither Hebrew nor Egyptian, but I'm learning to walk on a tightrope. I hear God saying that you're in the world, but not of the world.

What does that mean? That I'm in the world, but I'm walking on a tightrope. That I understand that my role in this world is to make sure that heaven touches earth.

I wish I had some people in this chat room who would give me about 30 seconds to thank God that he's still going to be with us. even when we get on tightrope that he's still gonna be with us even when I lose my balance I hear God saying you think you're gonna lose your balance if you try so you haven't even stepped into it yet but I hear God saying if you would just take one step if you would just get yourself in position then I would allow for my grace to show up and show you how to make it the rest of the way some of us won't get on a tightrope because we're not sure we'll make it to the other end God says that's good if you get on the tightrope you're gonna have more faith than you've ever had you're gonna pray in a way you've never prayed before God says you want to know how it ends and I want to know when you're going to get started you want to know how it's going to turn out and I hear God saying if you would just take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step take a step it's going to be hard but you got to take the step anyway it's gonna cause you to become someone you've never been before but you got it take this step anyway that you've got to want what God wants for you and bad is just as bad as God wants you to have it you've got to have what God wants for you down in your spirit so heavy that it makes you do crazy things like instead of falling into hustling you decide now is the time for me to pray and center myself Because when the gun is fired, I gotta make sure I'm in position. Samson has been living on a tightrope for so long that his strength is his confidence.

And yet, what this text reveals to us is though he has mastered living on a tightrope since birth, That maybe what looks like a tightrope on the outside is just his norm. That means that what would have been hard maybe when he explained it to Delilah about his strength was actually not hard for him at all because it's all he's ever known. Some of us were born on a tightrope. And we learn to live on that tightrope and to navigate that tightrope, the identity between our calling and our communities, our calling and our families. I've been living on a tightrope.

I recognize that that is my distinction. That is what makes me strong. And Samson is now so confident in his ability to navigate that tightrope that he doesn't recognize the other areas of his life that are going to sabotage his strength. You see...

Samson has a weakness and this particular weakness is for women and this woman is a part of his enemy's camp and because Samson is so used to walking on this tightrope he hasn't dared to evaluate the other areas of his life where he could stand to tighten up a little bit if we was in church I would say tag your neighbor and say tighten up tighten up but since we're not in church I want you to type it tighten up tighten up tighten up Samson needs to tighten up. You see, because one of the things that we have to learn from this, and one of the things that is important to us as we study this scripture and as we study this story, is the connection between Samson's weakness and his strength. I feel like a lot of times we compartmentalize our weakness and we think, I'm weak here, but I'm strong here, and somehow that balances things out, and so we don't focus. on how we need to get that weakness on a tightrope so that it can eventually become a strength.

And so instead, Samson is so confident in who he is and where he is now that he thinks that he is strong enough to handle the casualties of his weakness. Have you ever been there? Where you feel like you're strong enough to handle the casualties of your weakness?

Like maybe... There's a toxic relationship that you know is a weakness, but you feel like you're strong enough to navigate it at arm's length. Maybe you're trying to save a certain amount of money.

Maybe you're trying to build a business and you indulge in things that you know are a weakness, but you feel like you're strong enough to handle that weakness at arm's length. That's what happens when we see Samson in this text. He's learned to walk the tightrope, but he hasn't dissected the other areas of his life that need to come into submission to that level of discipline.

And because he has failed to do that, his weakness is now sabotaging his strength. That's somebody's word right there. You're compartmentalizing your weaknesses, but what you need to understand is that your weakness is going to sabotage the area of your strength. That it's not just going to be separated. That if you become so comfortable with a weakness that has become unaddressed, that God is not going to allow you to just continue to keep flirting with your enemy while he's also trying to raise you up to be something that's different than what you've seen before.

Samson's greatest issue here is not that he's a Nazarite. His greatest issue is not that he's had to walk on a tightrope. His greatest issue in this moment is that he hasn't dissected the other areas of his life that need to come into submission.

Your weakness is going to sabotage your strength. What I wrote in my notes when I was studying is you cannot flirt with the behavior patterns, rhythms that you're trying to kill. That you can't be trying to kill it and flirt with it at the same time.

That you can't come to a place where you think that you have your weaknesses under such control that you don't understand that it's going to sabotage your strength. So to overcome his weakness, Samson would have to get on a different type of tightrope and this tightrope may require him to be lonely. This tightrope may require him to have his confidence in something other than who he slept with. And because Samson did not get on that tightrope, he became known for his weakness instead of his strength. Family, if I could talk to you for a minute.

What I would say to you is this. No matter how well we master walking on one tightrope, It doesn't mean that we have mastered every area of our life that needs to come into submission. The bridge to get to who we are, to where we want to become in God, it may look like a tightrope in some seasons.

And when we master it, we have to be willing to look back and say, God, now what is the next area? Maybe it was my wisdom in one season. Now it's my discipline in another season. Maybe it was my discipline and now it's my integrity. But I am constantly looking for areas of my life where my weakness is going to sabotage my strength.

Sometimes we feel like the sabotage is going to come outside of us and we talk about our haters and we talk about someone who's sleeping on us and we're talking about someone... who doesn't understand just how incredible we are, or someone who is so jealous and envious of who we are. But what we need to recognize is that the greatest enemy is not outside of us.

The greatest enemy is the weakness that is unchecked on the inside of us. And until we are willing to examine ourselves and say, what are my own patterns? What are my own thoughts? What are my own fears? What are my own insecurities that are going to sabotage my strength?

Then we're going to be looking outside of us when the real enemy, the real culprit is inside of us. Samson is forced to take this look on the inside of him because his weakness is now what he's known for. Because when the Philistines finally attack him and figure out the secret to his strength, they take his eyes away.

They strip him down to nothing. They cut his hair off and now he is less than just any other man. Now he has handicaps that have made him almost, almost useless in their eyes.

And yet what they didn't know that we know is that God can start from anywhere. Remember when I was talking earlier about making choices that lead you to a place that you don't always like. That's exactly where we find Samson in verse 28 as this text continues. His choices had led him to a place that he doesn't even like.

that he doesn't even understand. He didn't recognize that his weakness was sabotaging his strength. And now he's wishing maybe that he could get back on that tightrope and that he could live his life differently. And what we know now, though, is that God will never leave you nor forsake you. But Samson in that moment had to do something crazy.

Samson in that moment had to do something that maybe some of you are going to do when we're about to pray. He had to call out from God from the place of his weakness. You see, what the Philistines thought is that if they cut his hair, that he wouldn't be strong anymore.

But what they didn't realize is that even when they cut his hair, that God was going to grow his hair back. Our text tells us in between verse 16 and verse 28 that though they cut his hair, that his hair started growing back. They were beating him in chains and they stripped his eyes out, but his hair started growing back. What is the word of the Lord in that moment?

The word of the Lord in that moment is that even when life is tearing you up, even when your decisions have put you in a position that feels like defeat, that at the end of the day, your hair, your strength is still going to grow back. I need somebody to know. That you are not still here because God wants to display what you could have had. You are not still here so that God can show you how if you would have done things differently, this could have been you.

God is not interested in making you be a participant in the museum of the highlights of other people's life. God wants to show you that if you are still here, then something can still grow on the inside of you. And if something can still grow on the inside of you, it may start off looking like a tightrope.

But when it's all said and done, you'll become a bridge again. You'll defeat the enemies again. You'll be looking like who I thought you were in the first place again.

I hear God saying that somebody's strength is coming back to you. I know 2020 was hard on you. I know 2021 may have not started off the way that you wanted to.

But I hear God saying your strength is coming back to you. What is your strength? Your strength is the confidence that I am going to be with you.

Your strength is the confidence that I have not departed from you. And in verse 20. we hear Samson say oh Lord God remember me oh Lord God remember me I pray somebody needs to get in their prayer closet and just start saying God remember me God remember when I used to be your servant God remember when I used to carry your joy God remember when I used to feel anointed. God remember when I walked into a room and I knew who I was when I was in the room.

God remember when the checks didn't define me. God remember when the bank account didn't define me. Samson cries out to the Lord.

God remember Remember me, I pray. And strengthen me, I pray. Just once, he asked God for. I don't need you to do it over and over again.

If you could just provide your strength just one time. If you would just provide your strength just once. one time because I got one more devil to fight. Samson's hair is cut off.

Samson's eyes have been plucked out. But he said, God, if you would remember me in my weakness, if you would give me strength in the place that I am weak, I understand what I didn't understand then. What Samson didn't understand before this moment is that he and God were not on the same page about the enemy he had given him to defeat because Samson was still flirting with the enemy he was supposed to defeat and sometimes your enemy has to capture you and sometimes your enemy has to change the way you show up in the world for you to finally get on the same page with God about what this enemy is Samson is showing up in this moment differently than he showed up before because now the Philistines mean the same thing to him that they meant to God I hear God saying that your breakthrough That your ability to break away from this thing is going to be connected to you hating it the way that I hate it. I hear God saying we got to have common enemies. When we have common enemies, that's how I know we're really in relationship.

It ain't nothing like having a friend who understands that we don't fool with that person. I hear God saying that you need to get on the same page with me. We don't fool with that anymore.

We don't fool with regret. We don't fool with shame. That's an enemy to who I've called you to be.

We don't fool with shame. That's an enemy. enemy to who I've called you to be I hear God saying when you get on the same page with me about your enemy you'll find the way to navigate this captivity Samson says you got to read it judge 16 28 through 30 he says Lord God remember me I pray strengthen me I pray just this once oh God that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes and Samson he took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and he braced himself against them I hear God saying that's what's going to happen for some of us in 2021 that some of us came into this year limping we came into this year unclear but I hear God saying that I can still use you limping. I can still use you grieving.

I can still use you broken. I can still use you with your mind fuzzy. I hear God saying, just let me show you how to walk on this tightrope. Let me show you how to navigate this dark season. Let me show you how to navigate the unknown.

Let me show you how to navigate this business, how to navigate this marriage. And he put his two hands on those pillars. And he braced himself against them, one on his right hand and one on his left. And he pushed, he pushed those pillars down.

And in that moment, he defeated more Philistines than he had defeated in his entire lifetime. But it was because he finally got on the same page with God about who his enemy is. and who his enemy is not even in the middle of his weakness God still made a way for him to become who he was supposed to be in God and it didn't look as powerful as it looked before this wasn't one of those big beautiful bridges it was a tight rope and God used it anyway I want to pray with you Perhaps as we've been sharing this time with each other, you've been feeling convicted. Maybe it's been confirmation that it's time for me to stop playing.

It's time for me to finally get to a place where I'm willing to undergo the uncertainty, the instability. The lack of confidence connected with who I need to be in God. You see, I'm going to get to that place of confidence. I may not get there overnight.

I may not become that boss overnight. I may not get there the way that I want to as rapidly as I want to, but it's time for me to first. shed the skin of the old so that I can walk into the new.

And I hear God saying, it's okay for the journey to be scary. It's okay for it to even feel like a tightrope, but a tightrope can still serve as a bridge. I want to pray with you. I want to pray for those of us who have decided that I'm going to navigate this tightrope. I'm going to do it for my family.

I'm going to do it for my community. I'm going to do it for my God. I'm going to get on this tightrope.

And yes, sometimes I may lose my balance. And yes, sometimes it may be hard. Sometimes I may have to pause.

Sometimes I may have to start over again. But it is so important to me that I finally get to this destination. of who God has been hinting at me that I could always become.

God's going to give you strength just like he gave Samson in that moment. He's going to give you peace. He's going to show you how to navigate your weaknesses and how to master your strength.

God's already got a plan. He's just waiting on you to begin. Father, I thank you that your word will not return until you void.

That means that even as I was speaking, Father, that someone was saying, that's my word, that's my word, that's my word. Father, it is my prayer that every person who reached up and grabbed this word, that they would hold on to this word as their truth and their confidence, and that this would be the word that propels them to finally get started. God, it is my prayer that we would start moving, even if we have to do it at a slow pace, that we would begin moving in the direction of who you have in mind. Father, where there is loneliness, let there be wholeness.

Father, where there is brokenness, let there be healing. Father, where there is pain, let us have restoration. Father, where there is grief, let it become love and let us live in the space of love. Father, it is my prayer that whatever is necessary for us to become, that we would be willing to sacrifice and surrender so that we may manifest not our vision, not our desires, but your peace, your presence, your power.

Father, we want to be vessels. We want to be an extension of what you're doing in the earth. As unworthy as we are, as broken as we are, it is still our desire to serve what you're doing in the earth. And so, Father, if we are the only way that heaven can touch earth, give us room, give us capacity, and give us wisdom to navigate that tightrope. Father, forgive us for making choices that we know We're leading us to a lesser version of ourselves.

We repent. We change our way of thinking. We won't flirt with our enemy or flirt with our dangers anymore. Instead, Father, we will take the hard, hard road of saying goodbye to what hurts us but feels good and instead elect to be uncomfortable in pursuit of your glory and your grace. Father, we have sinned.

We have fallen short. but we are still here so we repent. We ask that you would forgive us as we come into alignment, Father.

Give us peace. Give us connection with people on the same road and allow us to continue to grow and grow and grow that we may become bridges because we first became tightropes. In Jesus'name I pray. Amen.

Family, I love you so much. If this is your word or you feel like someone else needs to hear it, make sure you share it. I believe together and in the context of community that we're going to not just become bridges, but we're going to become bridges that create bridges, just like PT has been telling us.

And so let's continue to be those bridges by sharing this word, praying with one another. You don't know it, but you're chatting with your family, you're chatting with your next of kin, and together we're going to look back and say, God, Not only were you were providing, you were building us up in the process. I cannot wait to see you Saturday, Sunday, Thursday.

You know where to find us. We'll be right here. You can count on the Potter's House 1LA in Denver to be with you every step of the way.

Transcript for:Navigating Life's Tightrope through Choices

Transcript for:
Navigating Life's Tightrope through Choices