33-year-old Chinese man died after 27 days of playing games
online. He spent 10,000 Chinese dollars during 650 consecutive hours of
playing. Barely any eating or drinking…he died of heart failure. His desire for
entertainment, caused his death.
Judges 16:23-30 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead.”
25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
28 Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
You’ll find pillars 136 times in the bible. Pillars have to
do with foundations. According to the text, these 2 pillars that held the
temple on which the Philistines stood. Physical pillars carry the same
characteristics we find in spiritual ones. Foundational truths that we hold
fast by which we make decisions, function, and live inside and outside the
Kingdom of God.
For example:
Pillars of the heart > Proverbs 4:23 – ‘Keep your
heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life.’
That scripture tells us that if your heart is wrong,
everything is wrong…what’s on the inside affects all of the outside.
Pillar of the home/family > Numbers 11: 10 - Then Moses
heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his
tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was
displeased.
As the home goes, so does the community. Our society is weak
morally and spiritually because the home is weak morally and spiritually. That
old statement, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ has some truth in it.
When Achan was found out – he confessed to Joshua that the
spoil he took was inside his home…the problem is inside his home.
Pillars of the church > Matthew 16:17-19 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The enemy of your soul understands the powers of pillars! He will take his aim right where it counts. He will assault your heart, your home, and your church. Because to capture these things in your life will cause a complete collapse of everything else. In our text, when Sampson pushed down the pillars, he destroyed everything! This is what hell will do.
1st Peter 2: 11 – ‘I beg you to abstain from
fleshly lusts that war against your soul.’
What you allow on the inside doesn’t sit there dormant, it
affects everything going forward.
Hebrews 3: 13 - but exhort one another daily, while it is
called “Today,” lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Listen families, what you allow in your house affects everyone
and everything in there.
Then you have the church / temple.
2nd Kings 25: 13 - The bronze pillars that were in
the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in
the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their
bronze to Babylon.
The Babylonians came in and took things from the church that
inspired worship. This is what the devil wants to do! He wants to remove the
things from the church in order to stop worship – this leads to the destruction
of your faith which will end with abandoning the church altogether.
How does the enemy push down the pillars?
1.
He pushes them down through complacency…the
Philistines didn’t recognize the danger they were in. See, they paid a lot of
money to defeat Sampson, it took a lot out of them, not realizing that Sampson
was still a threat! Many of us are guilty of the same mindset, we spent a lot
to defeat our own demons, and when they come around in their defeated state…we
relax
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
So the danger is, you relax around things because you’ve
defeated in the past…you’ve become complacent.
Complacent >
pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits,
advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect;
self-satisfied
2.
He pushes them down through entertainment…until
the invention of television, America was dominated by print! You had to read
back in the days. In other words, you had to think in order gather / gain
information. Television changed everything. It made information constantly /
instantly available.
Television gave us the ability to UNTHINK. Our text says
the Philistines desired to be entertained without engaging intellectually. The
television has the ability to turn off sensory systems (nervous system) :: your
brain is literally shut off, very similar to being hypnotized.
Today – Internet
/ Smartphones / Theaters etc. have this ability today. Here’s the problem,
EVERY MOMENT MUST BE FILLED WITH ENTERTAINMENT – This is our God-given right.
Today, many Americans spend more on weekly entertainment
than food! This is built – in, we want to feel good. Our text says this desire
brought their demise. We allow things in that transform us. ENTERTAINMENT IS
NEVER NEUTRAL…there is an agenda behind all of it!
Star Wars – Rebels vs. Separatists // Colonial Army vs.
Great Britain
Independence Day – United mankind can defeat ANY / ALL
Extraterrestrial foe // Tower of Babel unity vs. Almighty God
Brokeback Mountain – Romance in Homosexuality
Unfaithful – Adultery is romantic / exciting
There’s an agenda people!
“Film and visual entertainment are a pervasively important
part of our culture, an extremely significant influence on the way our society
operates. People in the film industry don’t want to accept the responsibility
that they had a hand in the way the world is loused up. But, for better or
worse, the influence of the church, which used to be all-powerful, has been
usurped by film. Film and television tells us the way we conduct our lives, what
is right and wrong.” ~ George Lucas, quoted by Aljean Harmetz in “U.S.C. Breaks
Ground for a Film-TV School,” New York Times, Nov. 1981,
The problem with entertainment is that it crowds God out of
our hearts. It makes devotion / prayer difficult to make time for but, we don’t
miss our episodes / games / etc. See, whatever you eat, takes away your
appetite for other things. This is true spiritually. Do you have an appetite
for God? Things of the world have become more appealing. You’ve been feeding
your flesh…
3.
He pushes the pillars down through children…verse 26
of our text says a young boy took Sampson by the hand in between the pillars…in
essence, a child led the people to their destruction! The laziness of the
adults brought all of this about! Let the kid take Sampson! Laziness killed
them.
DVDs, Television, Computers and Video Games have replaced parenting! See,
people don’t care what the kid is watching, so long as they have peace and
their children are preoccupied with garbage. You have no idea what your
children are in to – as long as they are not bugging you! The deception is kids
must be entertained all the time! This is why ministry has standards attached
to them.
Is watching G – rated movies wrong? That’s the wrong
question…the right question is…why do you want to create an appetite? It starts
with you and me parents!!
Why does my daughter wanna dress / dance / talk like that?
Because they are watching it! Beloved, it starts with us!! Now, more than ever,
I have to get out of my house, if to do nothing else but walk, and
THINK…because left to my own carnality – I will watch sports / highlights /
videos / ALL DAY LONG
See, I’m not here to shake my finger at you – I’m speaking
of all of us! We have to walk in discipline because our compromise is their
standard!
1st Cor. 8: 12 - But when you thus sin against the
brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
There’s a progression in carnality and destruction…think
with me…
Sampson said: let me feel / let me lean / let me push
We must understand that we are vessels to be used by God, so
when the vessel is defiled…it affects everything we do.
Noah released a dove after the
flood, yet the reason why it returned is because it didn’t have a clean place
to land…nothing but dead things floating around – it had to come back…could it
be that the Holy Spirit is uncomfortable landing on you for the same reason?
Whenever we take God’s holiness seriously…God will come
down! I know we’re serious whenever we desire to cleanse ourselves! Genesis 35:
1 – 4 > Jacob told his household to change their garments, rid themselves of
idols and cleanse themselves.
When we get serious about holiness...
a. God is Pleased
b. We are protected
c. We make eternal impact and can carry the cause of Christ within us
Sampson was a Nazirite but he never took it seriously…Jesus
was a Nazarene…the spirit of God came down during His baptism because He took
holiness seriously.
The devil’s aim is after the pillars...if he can knock down
the pillars, he can destroy everything! You know, we can’t choose how to sing
or play an instrument, but we can choose holiness…we can choose it together. We
should ALL say with one voice: I WANT GOD!
