#69. Judges 10-13 | Teach Us What We Are To Do With This Child

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Welcome to The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today as

we look to Christ, we rejoice in

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the God that brings great redemption

from even the most broken of stories.

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And a guy that delivers his people

using the most unlikely of sources.

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Today we're studying judges 10 through

13, and I'm pretty sure this is my

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favorite portion of all of judges.

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I'll give a sensitive ear warning on

this one so you know that a portion of

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this is for adult ears In chapter 10,

unfortunately, we see the sin cycle

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continue as the people again did what

was evil on the side of the Lord.

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They were oppressed for 18 years.

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and then finally in judges 10, verse 10,

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and the people of Israel cried out to the

Lord saying, we have sinned against you

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because we have forsaken our

God and have served the Baals.

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And the Lord said to the people of Israel.

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Did I not save you?

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From the Egyptians and from the Amorites?

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From the Ammonites, and

from the Philistines.

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From the cites also and the

Amalekites and the Manites suppressed

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you, and you cried out to me and

I saved you out of their hand.

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Yet you have forsaken me

and served other gods.

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Therefore, I will save you.

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No more.

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Go and cry out to the

Gods whom you have chosen.

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Let them save you in the

time of your distress.

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And the people of Israel said to

the Lord, we have sinned due to us.

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Whatever seems good to you only,

please deliver us this day.

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So they put away the foreign gods

from among them and served the

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Lord, and he became impatient

over the misery of Israel.

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I had to read that

verse a couple of times.

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At first, it seemed to me that God

was tired of rescuing them, but as I

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read it more and studied the context.

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It seems to fit more that he's impatient

at their suffering because the next

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thing he does is move to help them.

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In chapter 11, we meet Jeff, the

he has a sad backstory that's

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completely beyond his control.

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Now Geha, the Gileadite was

a mighty warrior, but he

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was the son of a prostitute.

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Gilead was the father of Geha and

Gilead's wife also bore him sons.

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And when his wife's sons grew up,

they drove Jeff the out and said

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to him, you shall not have an

inheritance in our father's house

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for you or the son of another woman.

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Then Jeff, the fled from his brothers

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then when the Ammonites

bring war against Israel.

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They asked Jeff the for help and he's

like, um, didn't you cast me out?

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Why do you want me now?

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But they beg him to help.

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He was mistreated for something that

was absolutely out of his control.

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I've had a dear friend that

was the product of a rape.

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Her life was evidence that God can

bring incredible good out of even

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the most painful of circumstances.

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I have another friend that blesses

me on a regular basis and she

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was the product of an affair.

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As much as the enemy would like to

convince us that something in our past

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disqualifies us, we can look to the cross

to say his blood speaks a better word.

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And he has written a better story for me.

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, The call of God in your life is

so much more powerful than the

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circumstances into which you were born.

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And praise the Lord.

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That's true for our kids too,

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that God's sovereignty is so much

greater than our biggest mistakes.

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And verse 29, the Spirit of the Lord

comes upon Jeff the, unfortunately,

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he does a very foolish thing

that was common at the time.

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He's a war general and he

makes a vow to the Lord.

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And says, God, if you'll help

me win this battle when I come

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home, whatever comes first outta

my house, I'll sacrifice to you.

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After he wins the battle, he comes

home and what comes out of his home

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first is his only child, his daughter.

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She rejoices to have her dad

home, but unfortunately he finds

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out, he's vowed to sacrifice her.

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She says, let this thing be done to

me, but leave me alone for two months

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that I can go in the mountains with

my friends and grieve my virginity.

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At the end of two months,

she returns to her father,

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and historians and scholars

really debate about this.

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Many believe that he did sacrifice

his daughter, but because she

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mentions her virginity multiple times.

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It's quite possible that she was just

dedicated to serve in the temple and

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that she was not allowed to marry.

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But because this was Jeff The's

only daughter, his line was cut

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off he uttered foolish rash words

that God never asked him to.

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so if your teen ever thinks you are

being unfair, you can say, Hey, at

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least I'm treating you better than

Jeff that treated his daughter.

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Just remember, God never asked him

to do this, and we have to be careful

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when we make vows to the Lord.

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Chapter 13 takes place after Jeff

the brings peace to the Israelites,

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and I think you know what's gonna

happen next with the nation.

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And the people of Israel again, did

what was evil and the sight of the Lord.

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So the Lord gave them into

the hand of the Philistines.

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For 40 years, there was a certain

man of Zoa, of the tribe, of

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the Dan Knights, whose name was

Manoa, and his wife was barren.

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And she had no children And the

angel of the Lord appeared to the

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woman and said to her, behold, you

are barren and have not born children.

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But you shall conceive and bear a son.

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Therefore, be careful and drink no wine

or strong drink and eat nothing unclean.

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For behold, you shall

conceive and bear a son.

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No razor shall come upon his head.

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For the child shall be en nazarite to God

from the womb, and he shall begin to save

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Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

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Then the woman came and told her

husband, A man of God came to me

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and his appearance was like the

appearance of the angel of God.

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Very awesome.

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I did not ask him where he was from

and he did not tell me his name, but he

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said to me, behold, you shall conceive

and bear a son, so then drink no wine

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or strong drink and eat nothing unclean

for the child shall be a nazarite to God

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from the womb to the day of his death.

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Then Manoa prayed to the Lord and

said, oh Lord, please let the man

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of God whom you have sent come again

to us and teach us what we are to

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do with the child who will be born.

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and God listened to the voice of Manoa

and the angel of God came again to the

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woman as she sat in the field, but

Manoa, her husband was not with her.

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So the woman ran quickly and

told her husband, behold.

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The man who came to me the other

day has appeared to me and Manoa

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arose and went after his wife and

came to the man and said to him, are

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you the man who spoke to this woman?

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And he said, I am.

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And Manoa said, now when your

words come true, what is to

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be the child's manner of life?

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And what is his mission?

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and the angel of the Lord said

to Manoa of all that, I said to

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the woman, let her be careful.

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She may not eat of anything

that comes from the vine.

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Neither let her drink wine or strong

drink or eat any unclean thing, all that.

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I commanded her, let her observe.

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Speaker 10: Manoa said to the angel

of the Lord, please let us detain

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you and prepare a young goat for you.

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And the angel of the Lord said

to Manoa, if you detain me,

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I will not eat of your food.

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But if you prepare a burnt

offering, then offer it to the Lord.

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For Manoa did not know that

he was the angel of the Lord.

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And Manoa said to the angel of the Lord,

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what is your name?

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So that when your words

come true, we may honor you.

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And the angel of the Lord said

to him, why do you ask my name?

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Seeing it is wonderful.

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So Manoa took the young goat with the

grain offering and offered it on the rock

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to the Lord, to the one who works wonders.

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And Manoa and his wife were watching.

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And when the flame went up toward heaven

from the altar, the angel of the Lord

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went up in the flame of the altar.

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Now Manoa and his wife were watching and

they fell on their faces to the ground.

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The angel of the Lord appeared

no more to Manoa and to his wife.

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Then Manoa knew that he was the angel of

the Lord, and Manoa said to his wife, we

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shall surely die for we have seen God.

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But his wife said to him, if the Lord

had meant to kill us, he would not

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have accepted a burnt offering and

a grain offering at our hands, or

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showed us all these things, or now

announced to us such things as these.

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And the woman bore a son and called

his name Samson, and the young

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man grew and the Lord blessed him.

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And the spirit of the

Lord began to stir him

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Speaker 11: This is my favorite chapter

of judges because Manoa and his wife

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seem to have such a sweet marriage,

their partnership and reliance upon

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each other seems really dear and manoa's

prayers for this child really inspire me.

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The angel of the Lord appears

multiple times to this woman, but

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we don't get to know her name.

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He repeats his directions multiple

times and it's fascinating to me that

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he knows she's going to be alone, but he

comes to her every time and she has to

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run, get her husband that second time.

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Don't you love when Manoa prays, please

tell us what we are to do with this child.

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And God listens.

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The angel comes again.

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They're wanting more clarity, and

Manoa asks, what is to be this child's

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manner of life and what is his mission?

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I'm sure you've echoed those same

thoughts as you've held your babies.

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And though it seems to be the purest

of requests, God doesn't answer.

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He just repeats the directions.

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They still don't realize who

they're in the presence of until

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the Lord accepts their burnt.

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They do ask the angels of the Lord's

name and he says, why do you ask my name?

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Seeing it is wonderful.

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And I have to admit that my modern

understanding of the word wonderful

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made me feel a little spacey because

it just didn't click at first.

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But I realized they're saying

this is the God of wonders.

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He is full of wonder.

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Then Manoa gets a little bit afraid

that he's gonna die and his wife

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is reasonable and encourages him.

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God wouldn't have told us all of

this if he was going to kill us.

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This is a great partnership.

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There's a lot we could

learn for our marriages.

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And if you know anything about the story

of Samson, it might make your head spin a

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little bit, that his tendencies are gonna

come out of this kind of an upbringing.

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We began with Jeff, the someone who came

out of a really difficult circumstance

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but God used him to deliver his people.

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And then we see a son placed in a

family where the parents desire to

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honor God deeply, and he's going

to make his own sinful choices.

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And that gives us something to pray over.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you that

regardless of what the chapters are

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in our stories that have already been

written, that we have hope in you.

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We pray we would walk in line with

your spirit to bring you glory

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through the choices that we make.

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Help us to set our

children up for success.

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But also that you would draw

them to you as they evaluate

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their own motives and choices.

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We pray they would make their faith

their own we echo manoa's words,

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teach us what we are to do with our

children, what will be their call

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and their mission, whether it's their

talents, their character, academics.

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Or friendships give us direction

so that we can steward their time

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and their affections to things

that would bring you glory.

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Jesus, we thank you that you

tell us what we need to know.

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We pray we would be steadfast

as we wait for your return.

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We praise you, risen

Lord, for defeating death.

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May it transform all that we do.

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Amen.