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  THE AMERICAN CHURCH LIKE SAMPSON
  by Carter Conlon
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Summary: This sermon draws parallels between the story of Samson and the
Church of Jesus Christ, emphasizing the importance of maintaining
separation unto God's purposes. It highlights how the church can lose
its vision and strength when enticed by self-gratification, but through
a return to God's calling, there can be a revival and a restoration of
strength to bring down the works of the enemy. The message encourages
believers to seek a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, embrace weakness
for God's strength, and anticipate a spiritual awakening in this
generation.

Duration: 9:00 Topics: "Separation for God's Purposes", "Revival and Restoration"
Scripture References: Judges 16:17, Matthew 16:24, 2 Corinthians 12:10, Acts 1:8, Ephesians 6:10, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Joel 2:28, John 8:36, Psalm 146:7

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon draws parallels between the story of Samson and the Church
of Jesus Christ, emphasizing the importance of maintaining separation
unto God's purposes. It highlights how the church can lose its vision
and strength when enticed by self-gratification, but through a return to
God's calling, there can be a revival and a restoration of strength to
bring down the works of the enemy. The message encourages believers to
seek a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, embrace weakness for God's
strength, and anticipate a spiritual awakening in this generation.

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CONTENT
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I'm meeting a song called Freedom. But here's the thought that I have on
my heart, and I'm going to make it very simple, because it was a
devotional I did for my kitchen just a couple of weeks ago, and the
thought came to me one day that, you know, that Samson was a young man
called to bring victory and freedom and deliverance to his people and
all the people around, and he had an anointing on his life, and the
anointing was marked by his separation under God. And the separation
under God, the physical sign of that separation was the fact that his
hair had never been cut, and it marked him out from among the society
around him.

And he was a Nazarite. He was dedicated to the things of God and to the
service of God, just as you and I are when we're born again by the blood
of Jesus Christ, when we receive the Spirit of God, we're left on this
earth to bring others into victory and deliverance in the kingdom of
God. But Samson got enticed by the desires and needs of his own life and
his own heart, and the Bible called it seduction, and he fell asleep on
the knees of seduction, and he, instead of living for his purpose, he
started living for another purpose, started living really to gratify his
own desires and his own heart, and in that, in living that way, he lost
his separation, his hair, he fell asleep and his hair was cut, his mark
of his separation was taken away.

And I think in great measure, that happened to the Church of Jesus
Christ in our generation. We were enticed by, instead of denying
ourselves and living for the sake of others, we were enticed by, well,
why not use the gospel for our own needs and to satisfy our own inner
cravings or whatever it is. And we lost our separation.

We lost our purpose as the Church of Jesus Christ, to be ambassadors of
the one who gave his life that we might be forgiven, and to go to them.
That's why Jesus said, if any man does not take up his cross, he's not
worthy to be my disciple. And so, the end result of that is that Samson
ended up in captivity, and he was placed in a, put in a place where he
just started going around in circles, and he was literally grinding in a
millhouse, and he lost his vision.

And I think in great measure, the Church in America of our generation
lost her vision and lost her strength. And you know, the devil is never
satisfied with just taking away the vision and the strength of the
servants of God. And ultimately, what he did is he built a podium, as it
was, or like a portico, over the head of Samson, and brought 3,000
people in and started having this incredible party, just rejoicing over
the fact that we've defeated this man who was separated to deliver his
people from our authority and our power, and they began to celebrate.

But what they didn't notice is that while they were celebrating, the
hair on Samson's head began to grow again. That means his separation
started coming back. And in great measure, the Lord has put us in our
homes at this time, and our separation to his purposes are now starting
to come back.

Now hair doesn't grow overnight. It grows a little bit every day. And a
little bit every day, we're starting to reconsider our relationship with
God.

What is our purpose on the earth? We're starting to read the Word of God
maybe with a deeper lens than we've ever read it before. And this is
what the devil failed to notice, that while he was mocking this anointed
man of God, this servant of God that was sent to deliver the nation,
he'd failed to notice that his separation to God was starting to return.
And I close the Kitchen Devotional by saying it this way, the devil may
be trying to rejoice over the church, or maybe thinking he's got the
church in his back pocket in this generation, but I serve notice on
every devil and demon of hell, our hair is starting to grow again.

Just take a look at it right here, just in the back. I can't even hide
it anymore. I'm going to need an elastic band, and I'm going to have to
have a little ponytail at the back soon.

But I'm telling you, my hair is starting to grow. And many around, our
hair is starting to grow. Our separation to God is coming back.

And in that last moment, his strength returned, and the Bible says he
did more for the kingdom of God in that final moment in his life than he
had done through all of a ministry that had always been somewhat
compromised. In that final moment of saying, God, give me your spirit
once again. Give me the power once again, and show me where this house
of mockery, give me the pillars that it sits upon.

And he brought the whole thing down, and he did more in his death than
he had done in his life. And when we've lost all of our plans, and we've
lost all of our schemes, and we've lost all of our strength, and we've
lost all of what we thought we were, the reality is we haven't lost
anything. In our death, in our giving up, in a sense, of our own plans
and desires, the separation unto God is coming back to us, and the
spirit of God is coming upon his people again.

By God's grace, by God's grace, we're going to see a spiritual awakening
in our generation. We're going to see the house of hell brought down one
more time, and God's people set free. Set free so that they can worship
him, because the Bible tells us that we are the church of Jesus Christ,
and the gates of hell cannot prevail against us.

That doesn't mean we're holding out. That means we're moving forward.
And no matter how strong those pillars are, no matter how strong that
house of mockery is that the devil has built over the church of Jesus
Christ, it cannot prevail against the church of Jesus Christ.

This is an awesome hour to be alive. This is an awesome hour to be a
believer in Jesus Christ. So here's my prayer for you, and here should
be your prayer for yourself.

Almighty God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of the
calling on my life, and for the sake of this generation, let your Holy
Spirit come on me one more time. God, use me, not in my strength, but in
my weakness, not in my victory, but in my failure. Use me, God, and make
a great deliverance in the earth through us as your people in this last
time.

I believe with all my heart that the church of Jesus Christ is going out
with a shout of glory in this final generation. I believe the healing of
God is going to flow again. I believe that prisons have to release their
captives, sickened bodies will be healed, wounded hearts will be made
bright.

The poor will have this treasure of God revealed to their heart, and
those who can't see, as Samson once couldn't, will be given their sight,
a spiritual sight that only God can give. Praise be to God. So you don't
have to sit in your pain and the fear of your failure any longer, or the
regret of your past.

God is willing to use you. God is willing to pick you up. God is willing
to bring glory to his name, not in your strength, but in your weakness.

That's what Paul meant when he said, when I am weak, then I am strong.
This is a great day. This is a great day.

Thank God we can't get our hair cut. Thank God we're stuck in our homes.
Thank God we have to start thinking about our future and what our
purpose is on the earth.

This is the doing of God, and is it marvelous in our eyes. God is doing
this. God, not the coronavirus, God is doing this.

He's separating his people unto himself for one last great move of his
Holy Spirit. So be encouraged tonight. Father, thank you for freedom.

Thank you, God, that you're lifting us out of the confines of our
weakness, the confines of our self-loathing, the confines of our
failure, the confines of our own need. And you're showing us again who
we are as your people. And you're lifting us up.

And you're putting us in a place where we will be given the strength to
bring down this house of mockery one more time. Lord, Jesus Christ, for
the sake of our children, for the sake of our homes and our families,
for the sake of your name, Lord, God, we ask you to do what only you can
do. And thank you for bringing us into this place of reckoning one more
time, perhaps one last time.

Oh, Holy Spirit of the living God, come upon us again in this
generation. Bring us back, Lord, to where we should have always been.
And we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name.

Freedom. No more chains. No more bondage.

I'm free. Let that be the cry of your heart. Let it be the prayer of
your heart tonight.

Get up in your room, your bedroom, your living room, your car, or if
you're on the street corner with a cell phone, wherever you are, start
singing with us tonight. No more shackles. No more chains.

No more bondage. I am free. Hallelujah.

See you again Sunday morning right here, 10 a.m.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/ANqU809B_KA.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/the-american-church-like-sampson/
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