let's continue with our series what's the series real people real impact it's such a wonderful series because we're looking at different characters in the Bible and these characters are real they're not uh like just storytelling they're real they lived their life here on earth they had real problems they had real challenges and God used them mightily some of them because of their failures they failed to be used by God and somehow there were consequences in their lives but majority of them because of their faith God is using them mightily and guess what the desire of God is to use you as well each and every one of us he has an amazing plan can you tell your seatmate God has an amazing plan for you go just encourage that person god has an amazing plan for all of us that's the real deal with God he wants to use us mightily he has great things in store for us he wants us to make an impact but the problem is this that plan there are hindrances in achieving that and actually all of us there are hindrances in achieving great things for the Lord in accomplishing his plans in our lives and that's what we are going to talk about today because one of those hindrances the character that we're going to look at that was his struggle and what is that hindrance the lack of selfont control yeah i realize all of us struggle in this area how do I know who among you you made the commitment January 1 2025 i'm going to lose weight this year can you ask your seatmate kumusta naman how is it why it's so hard to practice self-control in fact we have this recent incident uh in Antipolo the road rage and it didn't end well why because we have this struggle at times and you know when I was preparing for this I realized I need to learn this as well i need to practice self-control and when you say self-control it's not just with when it comes to anger it's also when it comes to lust it al it's also when it comes to eating it's also when it comes to let's say shopping the add to cart add to cart always right you don't have money anymore add to cart i have credit card add to cart and not just that even the binge watching it's not wrong to watch series but to always watch and then you're sleeping late no one more episode one more episode but it's 1:00 a.m no one more last 2 a.m last one and then when the series is done you're going to find another one look for another one self-control and look at this statement i realize many of our regrets in life happen because of our lack of self-control many of our regrets because we fail to practice it because we failed to do it some of us we have relationships that are stained some of us we have money problems some of us we didn't graduate on time or our work we have problems there in our business because we lack self-control and that's why our topic for today very simple it's this one let's read this together practice self-control can you tell your seatmate one two three go and this is not something like a self-help thing like just a motivation practice self-control because only with the power of God and the Holy Spirit can we exercise self-control but the thing is the truth is God wants us to practice that and you know why this is very important because first it's the fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter 5 it reads but the fruit of the spirit is what love joy peace patience kindness goodness goodness faithfulness gentleness and there you go self-control so this is a fruit of the spirit in other words if you say you're a Christian and the spirit of God resides in your hearts this should be a natural thing but the reality is even if the Holy Spirit is convicting us even if we hear messages like this sometimes we still fail to practice self-control and the reason also that self-control practicing it is very important because there are benefits let me give you some examples for example if you control your eating you'll have good health you'll have ideal weight if you control the use of your gadgets Candy Crush it's not necessarily wrong to play to watch TV to watch series but if you're addicted to it it affects your priorities then we need to practice self-control and if you practice that you're going to avoid addiction you're going to prioritize more important things now what about lust we know that those lustful things are against God if you we practice self-control we avoid addiction we experience true freedom now for the singles who are here if we exercise if you exercise selfont control you avoid unnecessary pain you avoid and you will also be protected from wrong relationship because some of us that's our story we couldn't help it because this is my desire I give in right away wrong relationship that's why self-control is very important and there's this person who exercise self-control another benefit of that is look at this person this guy's name is LeBron James the second best player in NBA second to Steph Curry now I know some of you will be angry but Steph Curry is my favorite but anyway this guy is in his 21st year in NBA 40 years old and still going strong they're third in the Western Conference right now and still he is good he blocks shots he gets 50 points at 40 years old now he was interviewed how he's taking care of his body he said he spends $1.5 million to take care of his body but it's not because of the money that he is able to take care of his body he has his routine he has his schedule the the time that he wakes up the food that he eats the exercise schedule even the rest so there are things that he wouldn't do because he knows that it's going to affect his playing his skills and not all NBA players are like this in fact a lot of NBA players some of them they will not have a long career there's this guy that's supposed to be the next LeBron James because he's big he's strong he can jump high but because he was too big and he's not taking care of his weight the older NBA player said you know this guy needs to lose weight or else he's not going to last in fact he had so many injuries that until now sometimes he's not playing in with his team because he also lacks self-control now the opposite is true if we don't practice self-control look at this this is what's going to happen in Proverbs 25 let's read this together verse 28 like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control so if you want to have a secure life which all of us that's our desire we need to practice self-control if we're not going to do that don't expect security don't expect being whole because most of our regrets happen because we lack self-control and in fact that's the problem of our character because the character we're going to talk about today is Samson so what happened to Samson i know you know his story you know his story about Delilah but there's more to Samson than just Delilah let's look at the background first so in Judges chapter 13 this is what happened the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years now we have to understand the background of the book of Judges before Judges it was the book of Joshua joshua led the Israelites to the promised land they were already there when Joshua was still alive and his elders were still alive they were following the Lord but when they all died the Israelites started disobeying God now come the book of Judges in the book of Judges whenever the Israelites were disobeying God God will punish them god will allow them to be conquered and when they're conquered and they're being oppressed they will cry out to God "Lord please please we're so sorry rescue us." And God will send a judge and it was a cycle an ongoing cycle in that book god will rescue them they will disobey again god will punish them they will cry god will send a judge and so on and so forth one of the judges is Samson so this is what happened this is the background of that in Judges chapter 13 the next verse there was a certain man of Zora this is the parents of Samson family of the Danites whose name was Manoah the father and his wife was barren and had borne no children the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her "Behold now you are barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and give birth to a son." You know what's amazing about God a lot of stories in the Bible are women that he mightily used and they were barren and because of their limitation God interveneed and said "I'm going to use you you're going to bear a son in spite of your limitation." Because that's how powerful God is that's the story of the parents of the mom of Samson so what happened of course the woman was excited yes I'm going to have a son but there's a command what's the command look at the next verses therefore what be careful this is for the woman and the husband be careful not to drink wine strong drink nor eat any unclean thing and then behold you shall conceive and give birth to a son and this is what you're going to do with him no razor shall come upon his head because the boy is a Nazerite that's a commitment commitment before God he is going to be a Nazerite it's a vow that's the commitment then he and he repeated his command he repeated the command he said to the parents especially the mom behold you shall conceive give birth to a son and you shall not drink wine now why is this very important you see the command is not just for the parents this is also for the child for Samson how do I know look at numbers chapter 6 speak to the sons of Israel say to them when a man or woman makes a special vow so not all Israelites are like this the vow of a Nazerite to dedicate himself fully to the Lord he shall what's that abstain from wine and strong drink meaning to say it's also the young the person's the the son's responsibility but the parents need to model it that's why God is saying to the parents you should not drink wine because you will pass on this discipline to Samson self-control so if you practice self-control you should teach your child Samson oh we're not drinking wine you should also not drink wine there's nothing wrong with drinking wine of course getting drunk is what's sinful but this is a special vow it's a special commitment before the Lord so what do we know about Samson as a Nazerite commitment he shall not cut his hair shave his head he shall he shall not drink wine and these are very important because this is part of our story this is very relevant and then look at the next one all the days of his life he's going to be separated to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person in fact even what he shall not make himself unclean for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister when they die he should not get near that's very tough but that's the commitment all the days of his life he's going to be separated holy to the Lord that's being set apart that's God's command for a Nazerite so what's the commitment of a Nazerite because this is very important in the story abstain from wine avoid contact with the dead you shouldn't go near refrain from cutting hair these things are relevant to story that's why I'm showing this to you so what happened let's look at the next verse a woman gave birth to a son his name is Samson and look at the the next line his the child grew up and the Lord blessed him in other words the favor of the Lord was with Samson just like the story of Esther last week the favor of the Lord was with Samson and you know why that line is very important the Lord blessed him because Samson doesn't have any excuse god is with him he will empower him he has a great plan for him in fact he was so strong because God was with him but we know his story so let's look at what happened to Samson what's our message again practice self-control so how do you do it again we can never do this apart from the power of the Holy Spirit but we also need to be reminded that we have a part to play i need to practice self-control and we can do it because God is with us we don't have any excuse so how do we do it what can we learn from the story of Samson because somehow he failed doing these principles three things to practice self-control we need to master our emotions we need to mind our weaknesses and we need to magnify our God and Samson failed to do these things he learned it actually the hard way and I don't want us to learn this the hard way because some of us are already reaping the consequences of our lack of self-control so let's go to the first one master your emotions now emotions are not necessarily wrong but there emotions has the tendency to control us and when it's controlling us sometimes it's going to draw us away from God so it's not necessarily wrong but our emotions should be evaluated by the word of God because if we always believe in what we feel always tr always trust our desires if it's wrong it's going to lead us to the wrong path look at this statement one of the most difficult opponents in life is our wrong desires right when you have to say no to the things that you want for example you're addicted to gambling and you know you shouldn't do it but the desire is there it's so hard let's say you're addicted to pornography and you know you shouldn't do it but you're all alone in your room and it's 12 midnight it's 1:00 a.m it's 2:00 a.m and then you are about to open your laptop it's so difficult to say no or for the singles who are here you know you shouldn't you know have a relationship with someone who doesn't love the Lord Marty he looks really good pastor she looks really good how do I stop that desire that's why the most one of the most difficult opponents in life is our wrong desires and that's what happened to Samson why what happened to him look at the next chapter in chapter 14 and this is such an interesting story Samson went down to Timna and saw a woman in Timna one of the daughters of the Philistines he came back and told his father and mother and look at the conversation he told his father and mother "Mom dad I saw a woman in Timna one of the daughters of the Philistines now therefore get her for me as a wife." Imagine that that doesn't work in our country imagine telling your parents "I like this girl mom dad uh can you get that girl come on get that girl for me how do you do that i mean somehow in their culture maybe it can happen like talk to the parents we can't do it here okay and actually I'm going to kidnap the girl it doesn't work somehow in our culture but somehow there he could demand it but again it's not also a culture of the Jewish people the Israelites but because Samson was strong and he thought he could get everything that he wanted and it seems like the parents the parents were somehow scared of Samson because Samson is very strong so that was why the conversation is like this get her for me as a wife but you know that woman was problematic it was not the will of God how do we know it's not the will of God deuteronomy chapter 7 furthermore for the Israelites you shall not intermar with them who's the them the nonIsraelites when you enter the promised land there are beautiful people there but do not intermarry with them you shall not give your daughters to their sons you shall not take their daughters so the parents were obedient to the law why shouldn't you do it they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so it was clear but what was Samson's response look at what his father and mother said is there no woman among the CCFers no he didn't say that among the daughters of your relatives or among all the people our people those who follow God why should you look or take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines they're going to draw you away from the Lord but what Samson responds look at this i don't care get her for me for she looks good to me you know not everything that looks good is good for us and not everything that we think is right is right for us actually it's better in Tagalog that's a real statement because some of us maybe for the singles who are here you've experienced so much pain because you chose something that you know God doesn't want even though it looks good or she looks good or he looks good that's why we need to be aware look at what happened to Samson he was forcing the issue Samson so look at what happened the next one however then this is a very important verse However his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord now we have to theologically understand this the right way because some people interpret this like this ah the reason why I'm like this it's because of God you know Pastor Marty the reason why I'm addicted to pornography God made me this way the reason why I can't say no to guys like that Pastor Marty God made me this way the reason why I'm a gambler God made me this way that's not a right theology that's not the right interpretation of this you know what this means it means that whether we like it or not God will accomplish his purpose so it's either he accomplishes it with you following him and you are blessed or he accomplishes it without you and you are cursed just like the story of Esther if Esther said no to Morai she would have missed out on the blessing she would have been dead as well and somebody would have rescued the Israelites it will be a totally different story i know we know the story of Samson and we know that he had a challenging life he was he experienced the wrath of God he could have escaped that he could have been blessed by the Lord it would have been a totally different story if he was obeying it would have been a totally different story if he was practicing self-control but because he wasn't doing it the Lord was moving he's going to accomplish his plan but Samson will experience the wrath of God so let's go back to the story you know the problem of Samson look at Jeremiah chapter 17 let's read this together the heart is more deceitful than all else it is what desperately sick who can understand it that's why I said it's so hard Lord and I'll be honest with you there are certain desires that I know is wrong but when you're there it's just so hard to say no because that's your wrong desire so what do we do look at verse 10 i the Lord search the heart i know what's inside i test the mind and look at the promise even to give to each man according to his ways in other words God is saying through the prophet Jeremiah I want to bless my children if they don't allow their hearts to take over their lives if they allow their heart if they if they surrender their heart to me and allow me to control and take over their heart I'm going to bless them i'm g going to lead them to my plans and I'm going to give my promises to them that's why pe I David look at his prayer in Psalm 139 this is the prayer of David search me oh God and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts see if there be any hurtful way in me and what's the next prayer lead me Lord lord please lead me there in the everlasting way because on my own I'm going to fall into the trap on my own I'm going to give into my desires but I need your power Lord i need your help i cannot practice self-control on my own i love this statement a strong heart is developed through the daily practice of godly principles if you want to have a healthy body there's a daily practice if you want to have a uh a healthy mind there's a daily practice if you want to be successful in your career in your sport there's a daily practice now if you want to have a strong heart we need to have the daily practice and it's the daily practice of godly principles you see the world would teach you self-control but the what the world teaches is different from God's teaching when it comes to self-control usually what the world teaches it's all about you i'm going to practice self-control i can do it on my own self-will i can do it for your own help for your own goal but God teaches us through his word so that what we follow are his principles not the world's principles because if we just follow the world's principles we may practice a certain kind of self-control but we may not accomplish the purpose of God in our lives so what are these godly principles that we need to follow now this is very basic but there's no shortcut for example you want to have a strong heart we have to pray prayer is part of that and you know why prayer is part of that that's why the apostle Paul said "Do not be anxious present all your concerns your request pray to God because what prayer does is it aligns our heart to God we're crying out to the Lord lord I need your help we are having this conversation with God we're pouring our spirit our heart to the Lord and we're surrendering it that's prayer lord this is my concern i cannot do it and the more we spend time with God the more we can evaluate our heart because sometimes the problem is we make hard rash decisions because we're too emotionally high or too emotionally low don't make major decisions in life when you're too emotionally high or you're too emotionally low we need to pray and then not just pray we need to what's the second one meditate on God's word because whatever fills our minds will impact our heart if we fill our minds with the wrong things then we will develop wrong desires if we fill our minds with the word of God then we will develop desires that are honoring to the Lord that's why there's no shortcut we need the word of God and then we need to surround ourselves with people who love the Lord why is that very important it's so hard to say no to your wrong desires when there are people who will force you to do it in Tagalogan what's that in English they will fuel the fire the wrong desire for example you know you don't have money but you went to this store and you have your friends who are also addicted to shopping and you saw this beautiful dress and you wanted to buy but you wanted to save but then your friends say "Use my credit card you can pay that eventually how can you say no or for example you are in a wrong relationship certain people are already telling you leave that relationship but you have other friends that you spend most of your time with and they all say it's okay yan how can you move on how can you move forward that's why we need to surround ourselves with people who loves the Lord and not just that you know it's one thing to surround yourself with people who love the Lord it's another thing to listen to them that's why number four we have to be humble because God will use these godly people to give us godly counsel but it's our choice to listen or not because sometimes God is already rebuking us through people but we're not listening we still hold on to our wrong desires we still hold on to our lust we still hold on to these things that we know are wrong that's why humility is very important then what's number five we flee from our weaknesses sometimes our problem is like Samson the sin is there the sin is here but we don't go all over the sin we're just nearby nothing's going to happen i'm not going to fall i'm just going to look it's okay i'm not going to fall it doesn't work that way maybe in one day you're not going to fall maybe in a week you're not going to fall in a month's time I don't know in a year you're nearby the sin and you expect with your self-will you can say no to that i don't think so that's why God's command is flee you flee from that don't go near it what's our message again you practice what self-control can you tell your seed mate one three go okay so how do we do that first is we master our emotions again all of these things these principles we cannot do it apart from the Holy Spirit but we need to learn it we have our part to play and then we need to mind our weaknesses what's mind our weaknesses it's just like the mind the gap right we need to be aware of the gap we need to be aware that we have weaknesses you know I realize now all of us all of us we have weaknesses but sometimes we're not aware of those things i remember before uh last year uh we I had the the usual uh blood test the test the health test right so the blood chem results came late last year and then I saw that my creatinine level went a little bit high and it was highlighted already it was not too high maybe uh near the borderline so I was like this is the first time so I showed that to my doctor friend and I I told the doctor hey I had this what's what's this all about and then she said "Oh Marty you need to drink lots of water eight glasses." Actually uh he mentioned the amount and then I said "I don't like drinking water i mean I want something that tastes something but I need to practice that discipline." And then I confessed to the doctor i said "You know doc I realized also that before the blood test I was out of the country i was in Dubai visiting our churches there and then we ate a lot of meat and the number one culprit when it comes to creatinine is meat and I'm a meat lover i love steak korean barbecue creatinine level went up so the doctor said to me Marty can you Okay seriously we'll we well let's give it a week drink lots of water and then can you just try eating only fish for one week i said fish for one week please dog i'll just drink lots of water and can I just you know try eating just once a week maybe of meat or of or like not steak but just beef cuz I love it i really love it but you know what by God's grace this year I had my blood chem again and praise God the creatin level is normal but the reason why I'm sharing that is this look at look at this statement the reason why I'm saying sharing that because sometimes we need to experience the consequences to expose our weaknesses sometimes we need to experience the pain of losing money the pain of hurting someone the pain of losing our job to expose that we have a problem we need to expose that we need to be aware of our weaknesses you see that's what Samson needed to learn the problem with Samson is his strength is also his weakness because he was so strong he felt he could get anything that he wanted he felt that I'm strong i can get anything i'm powerful that's why he kept demand from his parents get me that wife get me that girl and look at what happened to him look at Judges chapter 14 so Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother came as far as the vineyards of Timna and behold a young lion came roaring toward him so they were about to visit the woman and then the spirit of the Lord you see how powerful powerful Samson is because of God the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that he tore him the lion as one tears a young goat now I don't know how to tear a young goat but that's their description here though he had nothing in his hand but he did not tell his father and mother so maybe the father and mother was quite far away now when they arrived and look at this h when they arrived Samson saw the woman and he said oh she looks good i want to marry her and then eventually he went back to his hometown and then went back to the woman again for the wedding celebration but when he went back to meet the woman again for the wedding celebration look at what happened when he returned to take her he turned aside to look at the carcasses of the lion that he killed and then behold a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion he got interested oh this is my kill i deserve that honey but what's the commitment of the Nazerite do not approach a dead body but he doesn't care so he went near he scraped the honey into his hand and went on eating as well and he didn't just do it once he did it again because in that wedding celebration there was a party and the friends and relatives of the woman were there so he was talking to the friends and the relatives of the woman and he gave a riddle to them he said "Okay I'm going to give this riddle if you guess this riddle correctly I'm going to give you 30 sets of clothes but if you don't get it right after several days because usually their wedding celebration takes a long time so after several days if you don't get it right you need to give me 30 sets of clothes." So for days and days they couldn't answer the riddle so the relatives and friends of the girl forced the girl "You have to ask Samson what the answer is and tell us or else we're going to hurt your family." So the woman did so and she gave the answer and they were able to answer samson was so mad look at what he did the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily he went down to Ascalon killed 30 of them and what he didn't just kill he could have killed and left but went near the dead bodies took the spoil gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle he did it again and look at what happened in verse 20 but Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend well broke code broke code his friend took his wife why samson left he was so frustrated you know what I realized here god was teaching him a lesson you thought you're strong and you could get anything you wanted you didn't even get the woman he was supposed to marry the woman but he left because he was frustrated he couldn't practice self-control the woman was given to someone else samson's wife was given to someone else and when he wanted this woman back they wouldn't give it to him so he was so mad look at the next verse in chapter 15 samson said "This time I shall take my vengeance blame I will be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm." So Samson went and caught 300 foxes i don't know how he did it took torches turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle of those two tails and then when he had set fire to the torches he released the foxes and it burned the grains the shocks the standing groves uh the groves the vineyards all of those things it was burned and the Philistines were so angry they wanted to kill Samson so Samson ran away he hid himself with some of the Israelites and when the Philistines came the Israelites were scared and they told Samson "Hey the Philistines are trying to get get you they're asking for you we should surrender you to them." And he said "Okay surrender me but just tie me okay don't kill me just surrender me." So he was surrendered to the Philistines and when he was surrendered to the Philistines at least shouted as they met him and the spirit of the Lord imagine this h God was always there he is not practicing self-control he's not listening to God but the grace of God his presence is still there so the Lord came upon him mightily he uh broke free from the ropes that was on his arms and then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and he reached out and took it and killed how many thousand men you know I remember Samurai X Kenshin Himura but this is the real deal killing thousand men that's how strong Samson was imagine that and that's why look at this because of his strength he became the judge of Israel for 20 years the Philistines were scared of Samson imagine this even though Samson doesn't practice self-control even though Samson was still you know disobedient to God trying to get whoever he wanted to get somehow he's still not learning his lesson but still God was gracious and I realized the reason was God the reason why God was gracious god was giving him a chance i'm giving you a chance Sam Hson you already didn't get the woman i want you to go to me because I'm going to give you the desires of your heart the right way you wanted also to you know to be protected you almost died many times the Philistines wanted to kill you it was already a wakeup call from God but still Samson was not listening to the Lord god is always gracious to us he's going to be gracious and faithful he is going to send warning signs to us but if we are not humble if we're not going to listen if we're not going to flee if we're not going to practice self-control then we're going to experience the consequences look at this statement if we don't deal with the red flags in our lives it will cause what more pain in the end can you ask your seatmate what are your red flags go ask your seatmate cuz that's true all of us there are warning signs already before you fall into that trap before you fall into the sin there are warning signs already i never agree when someone ask tells me you know Pastor Marty I got this girl's pregnant and then I didn't know why it happened or how it happened what do you mean you didn't know of course you know of course you planned for it of course it was in your head all along of course you were thinking already where are we going to go but I don't want to do it but I'm just going to spend time with her you know that already you know that you're going to sin whatever that is it's already in your mind let's say you lost a lot of money because of gambling you know already it might happen it was in your mind it was It's never an accident there are warnings there are red flags but if we don't deal with it it will cause what more pain in the end what's our message again practice self-control again wake up your seatmate say practice self-control what do they go so how do we do this we need to master our emotions we need to bind our weaknesses we need to be aware we need to be aware of the red flags the warning signs you know sometimes God will warn us through other people sometimes God will warn us through messages like this sometimes God will warn us when we read the word of God and sometimes and I hope it doesn't happen to us but sometimes or a lot of times it happens he warns us with the consequences that's why the last one is we need to magnify our God why is magnify our God very important you know whether you like it or not whether I like it or not I'm going to submit to God in the end it's either I submit to him and I'm part of his team and I'm blessed or I am forced to submit to him because I'm against him we have to make a choice it's either we humble ourselves and we receive God's blessings or he humbles us and we receive God's the consequences of our sins that's why humility is very important in practicing self-control you see with humility we're telling God Lord you are God i cannot handle this on my own i need your help i need you with me your power and grace is the only one your spirit is the only one who can grant me victory over this so we're surrendering our desires we're surrendering our hearts the problem without humility is our hearts is the one controlling our bodies our lives it's the one controlling us but when we magnify our God we're saying "Take control Lord it's yours i need your help and somehow Samson failed in this area but in the end eventually he realized but let's look at what happened to Samson so Samson went to Gaza he saw a harlot you know the weakness of Samson the wrong problematic girls that's his number one weakness problematic girls the first one was a Philistine and God already told him through his parents that's not for you and now a harlot now a harlot or a prostitute is not an Israelite it's also a Philistine because you cannot be a harlot and an Israelite you're going to be stoned to death but Samson that's how that's who he gets attracted to so he saw this harlot he went into her when it was told to the Gazites Samson is here samson is here look at this they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city and they kept silent all night saying let us wait until the morning light then we will kill him you know this is God's grace they could have killed Samson that night when he was sleeping but because somehow God was moving God protected Samson and guess what the next morning Samson escaped imagine this uh God was already sending warnings oh Samson another girl you almost died but Samson didn't learn his lesson why here's the last girl after this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose name was Elila the famous story I told you the number one problem of Samson he's attracted to problematic girls and some of us were attracted not to maybe some sometimes problematic people but problematic desires and we keep forcing it and we need to learn from Samson why what happened to Samson look at the next verse the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her now before they said this notice this huh the Philistines knew the number one weakness of Samson because they know oh here's another girl i really believe Samson was the talk of the town oh who's the ne girl of Samson oh he's he has a new girl ah Delilah let's talk to Delilah let's talk to Delilah you know I believe Delilah even though her name was in Hebrew she was a Philistine why because one Samson was attracted to Philistines second Delilah was close to the lords of the Philistines so most probably she's a Philistine now look at this they all know imagine he's the judge of Israel but he's the talk of the town he struggle with women he is proud he's always angry he gets whatever he wanted so the Philistines took advantage of this so he they said to Delilah "Okay okay Delilah we have a deal we have this proposal for you entice him see where his great strength lies." Because they couldn't figure it out he They knew he has a weakness see how we may overcome overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him and then we're going to reward you we're going to give you money samson will not give you money but we will give you money so the famous conversation of Samson and Delilah so what happened the first attempt so Delilah said to Samson Samson honey shoulders please tell me where your great strength is how you may be bound to afflict you and then Samson you know with all this pride said "Okay okay I will tell you bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been tried." And then when Samson was sleeping that's what Delilah did bound him with the fresh cords and then the next morning Delilah shouted "Samson Samson the Philistines are upon you." He broke off the fresh cords he beat the Philistines and then the second conversation Samson behold you have deceived me now please tell me how you may be bound and then Samson said "Okay okay i'm sorry i'm sorry my love i'm sorry." He was so in love with Delilah i'm sorry i'm sorry okay okay here's the real deal if you bind me tightly with new ropes that have not been used I'm going to be weak so that night Samson was sleeping he was bound with new ropes and the next morning Delilah shouted again "Samson the Philistines are upon you." and he broke free defeated the Philistines again and then the third time Delilah said to Samson "Okay up to now you have deceived me you told me lies that how you may be bound please please tell me the truth." So Samson said "If you weave the seven locks of my hair look at my hair it's so beautiful if you weave it with web fasten it with a pin I will lose my strength." So that night when he was sleeping Delilah did that and the next morning Delilah shouted again "Samson Samson the Philistines are upon you." And he broke free he just removed those fast and he beat the Philistines you know what's funny about this what's funny is this samson should have figured out that Delilah was deceiving her i mean three times wouldn't you question that that you told the secret and then the morning you were tied up oh how come I tied up oh maybe this is Delilah doing it's okay i'm going to break free i'm going to defeat it and then the next day on and then the next day is the same thing how come he didn't get the point that Delilah was the one fooling him but you know what the problem is let's look at this statement it's so difficult to see the truth when our wrong desires control us that's why there's this popular Tagalog phrase you're blinded you don't know the truth you don't see it you don't see that you're being deceived by your desires let me prove that to you for example look at this you already lost so much money in gambling but you still want to try because you think you will win this time if I just get that triple 7 I'm just going to get the triple 7 i'm going to win it all but you lost so much money already why still go back because it's so difficult to see the truth when our desires control us look at this next example you almost get got kicked out of school because you keep playing online games every night for several hours and then the teacher became gracious to you the teacher said "Okay I don't want you to get kicked out i want you to pass my subject so I'm going to give you a chance just finish this project and you're going to pass my subject." But in your mind oh wow my teacher is very kind i can still play computer games all night and I'll take care of that project i can finish it why take the risk well look at this next example you almost got sick because of your immorality so you went to the doctor and the doctor said "You know you you have to thank God you're not sick." But because the result was "You're not sick." You still think "Oh I can still do this i can still live my promiscuous life because I'm still alive." Why take the risk and how about this one for the single ladies who are here the you the single ladies were here the guy doesn't follow Jesus jesus showed to you already the guy's true character when you caught him cheating on you many times and you still want to marry him because it's so hard to see the truth when our desires control us last example last example you almost fell into adultery because you kept traveling alone with your officemate and you know when that happens it's going to destroy your marriage and you still want to risk going with her alone on a business trip thinking nothing's going to happen no nothing's going to happen nothing's going to happen i'll just put in my mind she's ugly she's ugly she's ugly nothing's going to happen doesn't work that way doesn't work that way why take the risk because it's so difficult to see the truth when our desires what control us that's what happened to Samson and the last conversation of Samson and Delilah then she said to him "How can you say I love you ladies and gentlemen don't fall for this trap even if they look so good never fall from this trap." So look at what Delila said how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me you have deceived me these three times you have not told me you're the the secret of your great strength and then it came about look at verse 16 he they she pressed him daily anointed him to death now please ladies and gentlemen even if they keep annoying you even if they keep pressing you daily never give in but Samson lacks self-control eventually he gave in so he told her all that was in his heart and said to her "Okay Delilah this is it a razor has never come on my head i have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb it's my commitment if I am shaved then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man." And that night his head was shaved the next morning one of the saddest verse in the Bible happened in verse 20 the same script samson Samson the Philistines are upon you look at this he woke from his sleep thinking I can do this thinking I will go out as at other times i will shake myself free because I am strong i can do this but look at the last line he did not know that i never want that to happen in my life i don't want that to happen in your life the Lord departed from him one of the saddest verse in the Bible god was already with him god was giving him power and success god protected him many times but at this point because he was so forceful because he still wanted his own desires God eventually said "I'm still here but I'm not near you you're on your own." I don't want that to happen i don't want that to happen to any of us but you know what i realized maybe some of us were experiencing that that's why we h we need this message look at what happened to Samson eventually the Philistines seized him gouged out his eyes they brought him down to Gaza bound him with bronze chains and he was a grinder in a prison imagine before he was the ruler he could get anything that he wanted now he's a slave before he was so powerful but now he's just all around doing grinding staying in prison he's now limited and even though he had the power he never got the joy that he wanted he was still empty but look at what happened afterwards look at verse 22 however let's read this together the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shave off but notice this notice this even though the hair came back he wasn't as strong as before because the power was not in the hair it was in the presence of God and how do I know that because later on you're going to see he was not that strong he needed to ask God so what happened to Samson now the lords of the Philistines assembled there was this great party to offer a great sacrifice to their god Tagon so they were rejoicing our God has given Samson our enemy into our hands and then since they were so high in spirit they called for Samson we want to be entertained g bring Samson here we want Samson to entertain us so they made him stand between two pillars and Samson look at verse 26 said to the boy holding his hand "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rest that I may lean what?" against them and look at what happened you know I really believe during this time Samson realized he needed the Lord samson realized the strength comes from God why he was empty already you know before he thought his strength can give him security before he thought his power could give him the prestige the authority he thought all of these things that are his desires all of the things that he thought is for him he could get everything that he wanted but still he was not happy he was not joyful there was no peace he was still searching he was searching for girls to bring her satis him satisfaction but it's still not enough and guess what we're like Samson we think these things this conviction this ideology that I have is going to lead me to where I want to be but it's still empty and that's why look at the prayer of Samson verse 28 Samson called to the Lord and said "Oh Lord God please remember me." Now he realized he needed the Lord please strengthen me this time that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes now some people would say he's doing it to take vengeance no he's doing it because he realized this is God's plan and you know why God wanted to destroy the Philistines because they were wicked people god wanted to punish the Philistines that's why he wanted to do this but Samson was disobedient to the Lord and here's how he learned humility when everything was taken away from him his power was taken away his strength was taken away his authority his position his family and even his eyes were taken away from him and all he had was the Lord that's the time he said "Lord please remember me." We need those moments in our lives to cry out to God and say "Look I need you i need your strength." So Samson said to the Lord "Let me die with the Philistines this was your plan you want to destroy these wicked people because they're oppressing your people." So yes Lord use me i'm humbling myself i want to magnify you in my life as I end my life I want to magnify you so he bent with all of his might the house fell on the lords all the leaders of the Philistines and all the people who were in it and look at the glorious ending of Samson the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life guess what samson fulfilled God's purpose it wasn't a nice that all the stories that happened to him it wasn't that nice it wasn't a perfect life very challenging because of this his disobedience but the moment he humbled himself that's where God said "Okay I'm going to give back the strength i'm with you and you will fulfill my purpose." That's God's plan for us he wants us to see that nothing in this world can give the satisfaction that we need we need God now I want you to watch this testimony this is a friend of mine who lives in Dubai i met him in CCF Dubai and I when I heard this story I said "We need to hear this." It's similar to what happened to Samson this guy was running away from the Lord but he also experienced the grace of God he experienced consequences but he learned from his mistakes and he saw how God restores let's all watch this video i was born into a Christian family surrounded by faith yet never truly experienced a personal relationship with God thank you growing up as a child of RFW parents I had an unusual amount of freedom without the their guidance I found myself drawn into a life that led me far from the values I have been brought i spent time with older friends engaging in things no child should by the age of 14 already fallen into smoking drinking and drugs habits that held me captive for years i didn't realize then that the emptiness I felt inside was a void only God could fill during my second year of college I met a girl young and deeply in love we paid little attention to the consequences of our action after a few months she become pregnant and at 22 I become a father that moment stirs something in me a desire to change and to be good father to my son i move in with her hoping to build a life together but things didn't go as I imagined our relationship ended 2 years after our son was born leaving me devastated and lost in my pain sought comfort in my old ways no matter how much I indulge in vices and destruction nothing could fill the aching void within me my life is spiraled downward until I reach my lowest point it was then that God in his mercy stripe away everything that I had relied on my job my money car relationship and even my son and in that moment the brokenness I met Jesus and accepted him as my Lord and Savior yet in my journey was not without struggle after I heated argument with my son's mother I was kept from seeing him for an entire year anger and bitterness consumed me and I turned away from God refusing to pray and go to church i choose to live life on my own term again diving deeper into sin drinking smoking drugs and fleeting relationship on the outside it seems like free but inside I was lost empty and alone then one Christmas unexpected invitation changed everything a relative of my son's mother reached out inviting me to celebrate with them and my son will be there my heart lipped with excitement seeing him again after so long filled me with indescribable joy but even more powerful was the realization that despite my rebellion God had never stopped pursuing me he had orchestrated this moment to remind me of his unfailing love proving that he knew the deepest cries of my heart that day I surrender my life fully to Christ in his faithfulness he embraced me with love and grace leading me back into his arms in 2013 I moved back to Dubai to seek a better future by God's divine plan I found not just a job but a church and a disciplehip group that transformed my life my biases disappeared and I discovered a deep contentment in Christ even in my singleness as my faith grew I stepped into leadership sharing my testimony and serving others for his glory in time I longed for a partner but placed that desire in God's hand trusting him completely then I met Valerie at first I feared my past might stand in my way would she accept me knowing my history and my son but as I got to know her I saw the beauty in her heart for the Lord and deep within I knew that she was God's had chosen for me more than her outworld beauty it was her faith and devotion that draw me in god has sent her not just a companion but as a partner in fulfilling his purpose in 2017 we became husband and wife today we're a family of four blessed with our eldest son Joshua and youngest son Caleb together my wife and I found our calling in serving the Lord we lead a Dgroup and head the singles and B1G ministry at CCF Dubai a ministry where we experience the fulfillment and living out God's purpose for our lives through it all we have seen the truth of God's word that if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here 2 Corinthians 5:17 from darkness to light from addiction to freedom Jesus Christ has transformed my life my name is J.R banag i am the living proof of his grace to God be all the glory you know as we are about to close I would like to share this statement look at this statement our brokenness is God's way to make us whole you see brokenness is a sign of God's grace it's a blessing from the Lord because once we realize that the only person that can make us whole is God then we will never be whole that's why he allows brokenness so don't waste that that's what happened to Samson the time that he was completely broken everything was taken from him that's the time he cried out to God I need you Lord rescue me that's what happened to Jr and for some of us that's what God is doing right now you see even if you've failed so many times in the past it's never too late god is gracious he wants to rescue you he wants to restore you he wants to accomplish his plans in your life but also for those who have a great plan of God you're living the great plan of God right now in your life for some of you you're obeying God and that's good and some of you are thinking "Oh if I sin like Samson God will restore me." But no no you don't have that mindset you don't want the consequences that that Samson experienced you don't want that you want the freedom the joy the blessings from the Lord and God is for you god is for us you know what God did look at this verse in 1 Peter 2:4 he himself Jesus he sent Jesus broken before us he himself bore our sins in his body on that cross and that's what we're going to be reminded of this Holy Week when Jesus Christ died for your sins for my sins and why did he do it so that we might die to sin we might le live leave our past life we might leave our struggles those wrong desires we let them go we flee from them leave the life of sin and live to what righteousness that's what Jesus Christ did for by his wounds you were healed you know Jesus like Samson both of them really strong of course Jesus is the strongest but he never forced himself he never fought like Samson did fighting the Philistines they had the same you know somehow mission samson needed to rescue the the Israelites jesus need to redeem us desires to redeem us jesus did it in a humble way god had to humble Samson we need to be like Jesus we need to follow him we need to surrender our lives to him without the power of Jesus without the Holy Spirit it's difficult to master our emotions it's hard and impossible to mind our weaknesses and when we have the Holy Spirit in our lives definitely we can magnify our God can I pray for you guys let's pray father God thank you so much for your message to all of us lord just like Samson we have weaknesses have struggles Lord and some of us are in that point of our lives we are experiencing the consequences of our lack of self-control please rescue us from these things we're crying out to you remember us and Lord I want to pray for two groups of people here today for the first group that I want to pray for lord some of the people who are here they don't have that relationship with you some of you who are here you don't know Jesus personally he's not your Lord and Savior and maybe that's why you cannot practice or you have a hard time practicing self-control the first step is to surrender your life to him so if you're that person you pray something like this jesus thank you for loving me thank you that this week I'm reminded of the cross that you died for my sins and you rose again to prove that you're God so today Jesus I humble myself i've been living my life on my own i've been focusing on my wrong desires please forgive me i receive you today as my Lord and Savior and from now on I commit to follow you for the second group of people that want to pray for Lord majority of us we have a relationship with you but Lord we struggle with self-control you know our weaknesses Lord some of us have been running away from you please God remember us strengthen us bring us back to you Lord God we want to be in your presence because that's where the power is that's where the grace is that's where the purpose is that's where the security is thank you dear God for reminding us these things thank you for your amazing grace we worship you and we love you in Jesus name we pray amen and amen god bless you guys good day CCF family welcome to Sunday Fastrackk where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical truths i'm Misha Valencia from CCF Communications Team and we're here today with our speaker Pastor Marty Okaya to answer some of your questions good day Pastor Marty how are you doing good how are you Misha i'm doing well i'm okay too thank you for your message about practicing self-control all right so for our first question we live in an age of high media consumption social media vloggers or even the everp popular Kdramas and K-pop how do you draw the line between entertainment and addiction and what guidelines can we put in place to practice self-control when it comes to our consumption of such things well well Misha it's it's not wrong to be entertained it's not wrong to if you want if you want to watch series K drama if you're following some K-pop idol something like that it's not wrong but if it's affecting our priorities I think that's where God is already saying hey that's not good for you or if those idols are teaching certain things that's affecting your conviction maybe you need to distance yourself from those things so if it's affecting your priorities if it's hurting your relationship with your uh with your family with the people that you need to build relationship with with your spouse that you don't talk to them anymore because you just keep on watching keep on playing games and do doing all of those things i think that's where you draw the line and when you spend time with the Lord when you're praying God will reveal that to you god will expose the weakness god will eventually say "Stop now don't do that avoid that it's not good for you." And eventually God can help you also lead you to the right things that you need to do and prioritize what you need to prioritize so prioritize God so that you know what to prioritize with the other things all right so for our second question it's hard to practice self-control when we are high on our emotions what are effective ways to catch ourselves when we're in this state so that we can master our emotions well I remember this statement never make a decision or a very crucial decision when you are emotionally high or when you're emotionally low no never make that uh major decision because sometimes you may make a decision that you will regret so it's very important to process your emotions and you process it with God first you pray you pray you ask God "Lord I'm feeling this i want to do something i want to hurt this person i want to text these hurtful words to this person because I'm emotionally high but process it with God first and then you can process it with godly people people that can help you see what's really going on people that can give you insight and wisdom how you can respond so those are very important things when you're emotionally high always go to God always choose godly people to help you we have to learn how to process our emotions with God and also with godly influences so for our third question our natural tendency is to want to intervene and correct when we see someone who is having a hard time practicing self-control or doing something that in our eyes is wrong how far can we go in our correction of others and how can we also practice self-control if the person doesn't want to listen there are many people who it's they just don't listen so where do you draw the line definitely just like our theme this year in CCF love and truth so we are to love them by listening to them by being patient but at the same time we have to say the truth now we part of loving is exercising self-control as well i know some of you guys who are here you are frustrated already because there are people who are not listening you've been telling them the wrong things but also have this in your mind that God is at work so if they're not listening let them experience the consequences because when they're broken most probably if you're a good good friend they will go near you they will approach you they will ask for prayers and then you can say to them "Okay I'm going to pray you." Don't tell them "Oh I told you now look at what's happening in your life." Don't don't uh don't feed that hurt that they're feeling make sure that the love is still there but make sure also that you tell the truth so leave the results to God that's how you can exercise self-control when you're annoyed already with certain people yes I agree so practice love and truth and also let God do his work in people thank you for answering our questions Pastor Marty and as we enter the Holy Week resources are available for you to be able to reflect and experience God more on Monday Thursday April 17 you can listen to a new episode of CCF on air podcast and on April 18 Good Friday we will have a special pray session at 12:00 noon over YouTube and Facebook moreover on April 19 and 20 we will celebrate the risen Christ during our Saturday and Sunday worship services so invite your family and friends this is a great opportunity for us to share the love of Jesus to them so we can all together worship Jesus our Lord and Savior may we all have a blessed Holy Week and that's it for CCF Sunday Fastrack god bless bye-bye