*This episode is best for mom ears.

What do you do when you are born into circumstances that deeply impact you? Can God redeem the sinful choices of your parents? Yes, He can! And what about kids with ideal upbringing... does that guarantee their future? Walk through the book of Judges with us to learn more!

Today's Reading: Judges 10-13

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Judges 10: 10-16

Judges 11:1-2, 29, 30-40

Judges 13:1-25

Would you like to know more about this partnership we have with the Lord in our parenting? This quick episode explains how this study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

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.