Take the High Ground | Week 3 | The Coming King
Last week we learned our assignment of influence and the effect we should have on culture and the
world around us. Today I’d like to remind us that we need to keep our guard up, be actively thoughtful as we effect the world around us.
5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13:5,24-25 HCSB
Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
Judges 14:1-2 HCSB
Take the High Ground
Moral High Ground
1. Care About Your Exposure
Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, because I want her.” 8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.
Judges 14:1-3,8-9 HCSB
Social Media & Entertainment
• Life is About Fame, Money, Erotic Love
• Your Identity Is What You Choose
• Truth Follows Your Feelings
• Don't Push Your Beliefs on Others
Beliefs Grown from Passivity and Not Thoughtful Consideration
8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.
Colossians 2:8 HCSB
1. Care About Your Exposure
2. Be Aware of Their Affect
10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought 30 men to accompany him. 12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?” 16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people.
Quantified Nostalgia: Social Media, Metrics, and Memory - Benjamin N. Jacobsen, David Beer
In a new study, they found social media metrics such as Instagram “likes” can negatively impact how people feel about certain memories, especially if these memories are shared without getting many likes.
Research of Temple University’s Laurence Steinberg reveals a twist: We are influenced by others not necessarily because of any direct pressure. Just the presence of others is enough, because the reward centers of our brains are more active with peers than when alone.
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough."
Galatians 5:9 (NIV)
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.
Judges 16:4 HCSB
16 Because she nagged him day after day and pleaded with him until she wore him out, 17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, “My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.” 19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she made him helpless, and his strength left him.
Judges 16:16-17, 19 HCSB
1. Care About Your Exposure
2. Be Aware of Their Affect
3. Dare to Go Upstream
Ask yourself these questions:
• What direction are you moving? Are you taking the high ground, or moving down toward Timnah?
• Who are the people holding you accountable? Is there someone close letting you know it's time to redirect?
• How can we honestly know when we’ve moved in the wrong direction instead of practicing impression management?
21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.
1 Kings 18:21 HCSB
28 He called out to the Lord: “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more. With one act of vengeance, let me pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars supporting the temple and leaned against them, one on his right hand and the other on his left. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the leaders and all the people in it. And the dead he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life.
Judges 16:28-30 HCSB