Now for those who don’t know what Easter is even about, I have really good news for you. It’s much more than Cadbury Mini Eggs going on sale soon, though that is a huge bonus.
Easter is the celebration of the Empty Tomb after Jesus died. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus! And there are so many lessons and truths to ponder on but today, I want to focus on the really good news on how the resurrection offers us true FREEDOM.
Sometimes, being distracted matters, especially when we are distracted spiritually. Maybe you feel lost, and you don’t know where you are going. Or maybe your relationship with God feels lethargic and you feel apathetic in obeying Him. These are all symptoms of spiritual blindness that we all wrestle with.
Take heart! We have a God who wants to free us from our spiritual problems. He helps us with stories from the Bible. Today, I want to talk about the story of Samson, a man blessed with supernatural strength.
He’s kind of like the Bible’s version of the Incredible Hulk! He’s a literal one-man army. Here’s some context before we read our main passage, Samson had just fought against a thousand Philistine enemies all by himself. They attacked him when he didn’t have a weapon, so he found a random bone lying on the ground, and he killed all his enemies with it. Which is crazy, but it just shows how invincible he was! So, after killing an army of Philistines, he heads to Gaza which was their capital city!
In this sermon, Pastor Enoch discusses how ordinary people can tackle extraordinary problems, using the biblical story of Ehud from the book of Judges as a case study.
The narrative begins with the Israelites suffering under the oppression of King Eglon of Moab, who ruled for 18 years. Pastor Enoch emphasizes that while Ehud’s actions—lying and killing—may seem morally ambiguous, they are framed within the larger context of warfare and divine deliverance. Ehud, a left-handed man, utilized his unique physical attributes and extensive preparation to assassinate the king and liberate the Israelites.
The sermon suggests that solving significant problems requires extraordinary reasons, preparation, and perspective. The speaker draws parallels between Ehud’s courage and modern figures like Florence Nightingale, emphasizing the necessity of dedication and service to a greater cause.
The key takeaway is that with extraordinary motives and proper preparation, individuals can achieve remarkable results while recognizing that ultimate success is a partnership with divine intervention.
(The above summary was partially generated by AI, and reviewed by a human)
Successful becomes Dreadful when there is a disconnect between:
1. The head and the heart 2. The everyday and the eternal
We’ll be using a man named Gideon as our case study! But specifically, we’re looking at his post-success life. So just a quick recap on Gideon’s life. Gideon is one of the judges of Israel, but he isn’t your typical hero. When we first meet him, he’s literally hiding in a winepress trying to keep his food safe from his enemies. And then an angel pops up and calls him to rescue Israel because they have been dominated by the Midianites for 7 years! But Gideon is a coward. Full of doubts.
He asks God for miraculous signs, twice! And God is gracious and gives it to him. When Gideon said yes to God’s calling, God adds a plot twist and says that instead of 30 thousand men that Gideon had, God reduces the army’s number to 300 and they go into battle with torches, jars and trumpets. And the crazy thing is, they win! They win against 135 000 soldiers (Judges 8:10). And the people of his nation, the Israelites, are so so happy! And they try to raise Gideon as their leader and king. And that’s where our Bible passage begins.
As Christians we have a God who is invisible by nature, and sometimes it feels like all we have is a bunch of theory that feels dry and not very satisfying. But every one of us is meant to experience God for ourselves. And Jesus told us how we can experience God. Jesus said to his disciples:
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21)
In other words, if we love Jesus enough to keep his commands, he will show himself to us. But, the hard part is keeping his commands. Because, keeping his commands means really following Jesus with our life, even when it’s difficult. And, that takes courage.
So, our Bible story today is about courage. My big idea today is, if we want to experience God we need courageous faith. And courageous faith means two things. First, we need courageous reasoning, and second, we need courageous action.
I think Christianity in its purest form is a relationship with God that brings beauty and hope to the world! But like anything it can go astray. People have used Christianity to justify evil things like wars, terrorism, slavery and sexual abuse.
Many people get our religion wrong. So, my big question today is: How can we have the right kind of religion? We’ll see our answer in the story of Jephthah! It’s a crazy story from the Book of Judges! Our story takes place in one of the darkest times in Israel’s history.
Israel is completely lost spiritually! They have turned away from God and are now being oppressed by other nations. But because of God’s mercy and compassion, God raised up powerful leaders called Judges to help Israel. He would give these judges supernatural powers that would help Israel fight against their enemies. Today, our main character, Jephthah, is one of those Judges. But the thing is, he is really lost spiritually. He makes terrible decisions that trigger an incredible tragedy.
There are all kinds of weird and creative ways we can spend money.
But today I want to talk about what might be the single best use of money in the whole world. I want to talk about the idea of charity.
Now just to be clear, I am not asking you to give money to the church. And I’m also not saying that anyone has to give to charity. Because our Bible passage today is about voluntary giving to a charity far away. So I hope you don’t feel pressured to give today because that is not my intent.
But my big question today is: Why would a person want to give away as much money as they can?
My answer is, if we do charity well, we are the first to benefit, and we are the second to benefit. And I’ll show you what I mean as we go through our Bible passage.
I want to read to you the chorus of one of the songs in the movie “The Greatest Showman”:
“When the sharpest words wanna cut me down I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown ’em out I am brave, I am bruised I am who I’m meant to be, this is me Look out ’cause here I come And I’m marching on to the beat I drum I’m not scared to be seen I make no apologies, this is me.”
How empowering. How validating. It makes me so proud to be myself! A lot of us have asked ourselves, what kind of person am I? What kind of person do I want to be? Well, according to this chorus, just look deep within yourself and that’s you! That’s who you’re meant to be! You should express yourself! Those interests. Those desires. All those things that make you unique. Just go live it out!
Now, this idea is great if you’re like Albert Einstein or something, and all you care about is advancing science. But what if deep down inside, you’re a jerk? What if you’re struggling with perverse fantasies or addiction? Can you still say, “I make no apologies, this is me”? Or the bigger question is, are you hopeless to remain this way because this happens to be who you’re meant to be?
No. There is hope. You can change, or I’d even argue, you are MEANT to be changed. That’s God’s plan for you.
Today we’re talking about spiritual formation, how your spirit is formed. EVERYONE goes through a spiritual formation; everyone has been formed and is BEING formed.
So who you are, your motivations, the way you think, what you desire, what you NATURALLY do, these are all results of being spiritually formed.
Now, as Christians, God has an intended DIRECTION for our formation! And spoiler, that’s towards Christlikeness, becoming like Jesus. And this idea is all over the Bible but I want to give a framework of Christian Spiritual Formation that we specifically see in today’s passage.
People can be frustrating, but it’s a bit easier to take criticism if it’s a stranger online because you don’t see them every day. But many times, it’s the people closest to us like close friends, a family member or even a spouse who can cause the most pain in our lives.
So, my big question today is: What can bring peace to our chaotic relationships? Our Bible passage today tells us that love is the answer.
Our big question today is: How can we get better at conflict management?
Our Bible passage teaches us to remember eternity. If we’ve been wronged, remember eternity. Then we’ll see which conflicts are worth fighting about, and we’ll remember the importance of love and mission and forgiveness and community, even in the middle of our conflict.
But sometimes, we are the offender. In this case, we need to remember eternity too. We need to see how bad our sin is and see how great God’s grace is. When we do this, we won’t be crushed by our guilt, but we’ll turn away from our sins and we’ll start living a better life.
