God's Escape Room

as brother willaford mentioned you know making the move to saying louis a lot of changes my wife is here with me glasses they gonna be with me this morning the hardest thing to leave that little grandbaby that little she's 15 months old now you know he mentioned about my dad who was so tough on us but man the babies they have no rules whatsoever but now that i'm a grandparent i understand my daughter came to see me one day and she says dad i want to talk to you about something so my husband and i were really concerned we want to raise our daughter with boundaries and it seemed like whatever she asked for you're going to get it for her and so i'd like to ask you you know that you don't do that i said i am so sorry if you thought that's how i viewed it that whatever she asked for i'm going to get it for her and she said well dad i feel so relieved because we thought that's how you would be i said no no no i've misled you if she has to ask for it i fail my job is to get it for her before she has to ask for it so now that we have that understanding then we can move forward i don't think

she felt much better to go back and tell her husband about those boundaries amen but anyway we love our little grandbaby judges chapter 16 will be our key text today in acts 16 and first corinthians chapter 10 i want to thank pastor willow for passing along for allowing us to be here this great church many of you we know and work together even at world headquarters and other friends in the room justice chapter 16 beginning at verse number 20. and the bible says and she said the philistines be upon thee simpson and he woke out of his sleep and said i will go out as other times before and shake myself and he wished not that the lord was departed from him verse 21 but the philistines took him and pulled out his eyes and brought him down to gaza and bound him with feathers of brass and he did grind in the prison house verse 22 how be it the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven and down to verse 30 and samson said let me die with the philistines and he bought himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein to the dead

in which he slew had his death more more than they were just flew in his life let's jump to acts chapter 16 verse 24 to 26 who having received such a charge thrust themselves into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at midnight paul and silas prayed and sang praises unto god and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prisons were shaken and immediately all the doors were open everyone's bands were loosed one last portion of scripture that's somewhat familiar i'm sure to many of us first corinthians 10 and 13. and the scripture says there's no temptation taking you such as it's common to man but god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it for a few moments a day i'm going to preach on the topic of god's escape room heavenly father speak to our hearts and mind right now let us be changing your image today from glory to glory father let your will be in our life today and let your word change us

today into your image and we come to you lord in this service we felt your presence we see you here father and touch every heart and mind in the house and jesus put your hands together one more time as you're seated you know we sang that song and the beautiful spirit of the praise and worship team thank you so much but uh we sang that last song about king of glory fill this place and begin to feel the presence and worship of god moving into this place and some even responded by coming down to the altar to lift their hand and worship him and i thank god for their beautiful spirit the freedom and of worship for the spirit of god as there is liberty to praise and to worship him but today i've come to preach to somebody perhaps you didn't make your way down to the author this morning perhaps as other worship you weren't feeling the same thing that that they were feeling god i've come to let somebody know today that we serve a god who was promised he will not put more on you than what you are able to bear we serve a god that said what has happened to you is common to man you might be going

through something in your marriage you might be going through something in your health you might be going through something in your finances today but the word lets me know that what you are going through is coming to man but in every temptation god is going to make a way to escape your story is not going to end the way it is right now your life is not going to be just the way it is right now we serve a god who promised i would not put more you know what you're able to escape and i believe that that part of god that says that i will make a way to escape is a part of the very dna of god because when god made man and god created this world god looked at it all and said that it was good but god knew it was not going to stay good god knew it would get polluted it would get dirty it would get full of sin and it would get messed up but god has a way to always restore his creation back to its intended created state you see i grew up in liberia west africa and over there the number one cash crop the main source of food is rice and when they were riding down the road when i was young and i saw

what looked like acres and acres of land that had a horrible forest fire and i said what happened here with this land they said oh no no it's not what it looks like over there they they plant rice every year but they don't have the best irrigation the best fertilization to take care of the land and one day the farmer comes out to harvest that rice and the harvest that year is not very good doesn't yield a good crop and instead of harvesting that year intentionally the farmer sets fire to that entire field and that burns it all down just to ash and smoke and destruction because what they have learned that if you burn that field down but come back the next year and plant rice seed in the midst of those ashes in the midst of that burnt ground they get the best crop they've ever seen before because god put something inside the ashes that replenishes the soil that was just destroyed to take it back to the state of what it used to be i come to tell somebody sometimes the fires of destruction that the devil brings into your life to destroy you but in the very ashes of that destruction god has

a way to rebuild his plan and his purpose right back into your life you go somewhere that's had a horrible forest fire and there's no birds singing there's nothing green there's nothing growing but guess what you come back a few years later and the grass is green again and the birds are singing again how is that possible in the very dirt and land that god created god said there must be a way to escape then how much more for you and i no matter what we face no matter what we go through you see the book of john lets us know in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god and down in verse 14 it says the word was what made flesh and and dwelt among us uh now we understand in john 1 1 the greek word that was used on logos means the mind or the thought of god you know what that lets me know is that the hand of god reached into the dirt to make adam and the hand of god reaching to the side of adam to make eve but as the hands of god was making adam the mind of god was making a lamb that was foreordained before the foundation of the world god was saying my hands

are making adam but adam is going to sin and eve is going to sin so my mind my thought is on a lamb that's going to come in flesh and die on the cross for the sins of adam and eve and all of us because there must be a way to escape that's in the very nature in the plan and the mind of god you see i enjoy reading all the miracles of christ in the bible i loved reading about blind bartimaeus that cried out from the roadside and said jesus thou son of david have mercy on me as we're saying in that song today if you're here today and you cry out that same prayer and say jesus have mercy on me i'm here to let you know he will have mercy on you and will answer your prayers but as much as i love the stories of those that came to jesus and received their miracles i've always been very fascinated by the ones that did not come to jesus but the ones that jesus went to them because one day the bible says that christ saw his disciples i must need go through samaria and they said jesus why do you want to go to that part of town people that look like us we don't go to that part of town it's not safe

it's dangerous they have robbers and thieves that road the land and we don't go through that part of town but you know why he said i must go through samaria there was one woman that was walking to a well she had been married and divorced five times her life was a mess and the man she lived with now was not her husband and jesus said she can't come to me she doesn't know a way out she doesn't have a way to escape but but she is part of my creation and everything that i have created must have a way to escape and so since she cannot come to me she does not know how to get to me i have a need to go through samaria and find a woman who's been married divorced five times he didn't care what society said about her he didn't care who wrote her off he said i gotta go find her because there must be a way to escape for her one day christ went in a place called the pool of mercedia and i believe he went there that day to heal everybody i don't think he went there to heal one person but he walked around he said will you be made whole and this guy said well sir thank you very much for your offer but

i finally after years of waiting and planting i'm on the edge of the pool because every time the pool is troubled the first one in you know gets healed and he said i'm right on the edge of the pool my son is right here next to me to push me in i got a plan and i got my own way out of my mess that's our problem sometimes you know we think we got it all figured out and don't even need god's help and think you know we can somehow make a miracle happen on our own but he found one man he said will you be made whole and what this man said back to the sir i would love to be made whole i've laid here for 38 long years but i have no man i have no person to help me when the water is troubled and jesus said you know what i can't have one of my creations saying i don't have a man i don't have a way it's been 38 years and there's no way out of my situation he said today rise take up your bed and walk because i created you and i don't want you laying here saying i don't have a way 38 long years he waited but jesus showed up there was anybody that the devil had in his win column there was anybody that

the devil thought for sure this one belongs to me it was a man they called legion who lived in the lane of the gatherings or graveyard and his family deserted him there they chained him up and left him now i've always wondered the day they left them chained up how much food did they leave how long did they expect him to live they chained him up where he can't walk and whatever food they left him after a few days he's going to starve to death they left them there to die in the bible that said they called him legion he had so many devils in him they couldn't even number them they called them legion amen there he was bloodied and naked he broke the chains he cut himself took off his clothes living in the graveyard but one day christ said to his disciples let's go to the other side of galilee and a storm was coming they almost died in the storm christ fell asleep in the boat they said master do you care not that we perished i'm sure they were saying to themselves how dare you go to sleep you're the one told us to go to the other side in the middle of this bad storm but why did he do all

that because there was a man that was called legion that was bleeding that was naked that was left alone that needed to find a savior to worship and fall at his feet and be clothed and in his right mind i come to tell somebody today that this woman she was ostracized this man he was paralyzed and legion he was demonized and because of their situation they said i don't have a way to escape but jesus said guess what i don't care if society says you're ostracized i don't care how long you've been paralyzed in your situation i don't care who has demonized you amen i don't care about that if you can't come to me then i gotta come to you because there must be a way to escape if you're here today you say preacher you don't understand i've tried to dig my way out the situation and man and my hands are bloodheaded i've tried to work my way out and now my shoulder's head i tried to jump my way out and now my head hurts i come to tell somebody god never promised you would make a way to escape what god promised is he would make a way to escape for you and you're at the point of your greatest victory

when you feel like you have no way out because god has promised you must be a way to escape i've come to tell somebody the reason why we give to christmas for christ is to build rooms across north america just like apostolic pentecostal church you know because thirsty people will go to the nearest well to drink and our job is to put churches out there in communities where people feel i don't have a way to escape but i don't have way out of my situation they can get up and go to a church on a sunday morning or wednesday night go to a bible study on a monday night go to a coffee shop go to someone's home and find out god has a way out for me doesn't escape for me this room this building this place is here just to give me a way to escape you can put the first picture for me on the screen amen this is tabernacle of hope in temple florida where my wife and i pastored for 13 years before we came to st louis uh this building is literally on one of the street the worst corners in the inner city of tampa i don't have time to tell you about the drug dealings and the prostitutions and the drive-by

shootings and the stabbings and the human theses and all the stuff will go on in our parking lot day and night but god called us right there in the midst of that situation right there in the midst of that city and said right here in the midst of the gangs in the midst of the drug dealers in the midst of the prostitution in the midst of what the enemy has done to people's lives people need to know there is a way to escape there was a savior that came and died for them and we said guess what we're going to stay here and we're going to build a church for the kingdom of god because people need to know there's a way out for them you can look at the next line this is one of the newest churches that we have in the united pentecostal church if you look at the top where that red dot is that that's a city of gypsies uh gypsum sits between denver and colorado springs about 250 miles and i've been told by pastors in the colorado district that in that 250 miles they knew of no apostolic church not just united pentecostal church no apostolic church and when they would meet people amen that wanted

to attend the church they had to drive to denver or they had to drive to colorado springs after many of them that was four hours away yeah but the gonzalez family hector and rachel gonzalez went to gypsen one of the most expensive parts of colorado and they were determined to build a church for the kingdom of god and the bottom left picture that's one of our newest church in the days they have so many issues and so many problems a church in a day normally costs about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars with all the cost overruns of covert doing the pandemic in 2020 and the restrictions in colorado that building cost almost 300 thousand dollars but churches and districts across north america the colorado district raised 65 000 extra and they invested there in gypsum florida i'm egyptian colorado and why is that because we can't tell a lost soul you got to drive four hours to hear the apple styling message and that bottom right picture that's a very first service there in gypson colorado i come to tell somebody that when you give to christmas for christ somebody in gypsies that may be

four hours away from the nearest church needs to know god's got an escape room for you right in your community and the next slide this church here my wife and i went to just a few weeks ago in fresno california life center in fresno i've never been to a church like this because almost everybody i met after church who gave me their testimony they've been shot or stabbed at least three times i mean it was just asking okay so everybody's been shot and stabbed i get it i get one guy been shot and stabbed eight times and still alive i mean it was just like wow i've never been to a church i had so many people in there amen that came from that east fresno area living that gang lifestyle but what teresa and rachel gonzalez went in there they're in their fifth year as a church plant and that sunday morning they had over 250 people there and these were people and man you could tell they didn't know where the church was growing up they didn't we're raised in the church they didn't come from somebody else's church but they went there to say we're going to come here to fresno and we're going to let

people know there is a way to escape there is a way out of their situation but right there in that plaza they have a beautiful building but in their place you put up the last picture as i drove up that morning and man on the corner there was a smoke shop next to that was a tattoo shop next to that was a spa next to that was a church then it was a mexican restaurant then it was some kind of fitness store then it was a massage parlor and then it was a pawn shop and i said to pastor gonzalez guess what people used to come to this plaza to go to the smoke shop to go to the spa to go through the tattoo parlor but guess what they're coming here now to find life center of fresno and i said i love where you are right in the middle of all the sin right in the middle of all the things that the devil wants to offer people to say guess what put that cigarette down come out of that spa you don't have to go to that parlor but come here and you can find a god that's going to change your life that's what happens when you give to christmas for christ churches like this are planted all around north america

but you say to me preacher i don't know about that i'm going through some things right now how do i know that god has a way out for me you know what most of our problem is it's not that god is not working we don't understand how god works you see when my oldest daughter was really young every day i come home from work she would say dad sit down let me comb your hair in the back and those that had a lot more here and have that kid in play afro that was sticking out here low on the side and i will sit on the floor in front of the chair that mom would comb her hair it's gonna come as a shock to all of you as big and tough and strong as i look i have a very tender scalp and i would sit there every day she would take one little hand and she would pull my hair as hard as she could she pulled my hair so hard i'd be crying because i was in pain her other hand she'd take the brush and hit me on the side of the head as hard as she could and i'm sitting there crying tears i was in pain my head was on fire i'm getting beat my wife would ask me why you let her do that to you i said she enjoys it

so much now it is with the first child they can do anything one day i sat there and she was pulling my hair and i'm crying hit me with the brush and i'm crying i said to myself why does my little princess like to hurt me like this i feel like the lord said to me you know what it is that's how it feels to her when mom is combing her hair when mom says sit here and comb your hair all she feel is tug-tug-tug hurt hurt hurt pull pull pull hit hit hit and so she's doing to you to what she think mom was doing to her mom was taking her to a process a beautification process and some of you when you came to god all you thought the pastor was beaten upon you you thought that god was beating up on you let me tell you something honey there's a process of sanctification that god must take you through now if you don't understand that god is working it feels like sometimes you're just getting beat up on and that's why somebody i want to beat up on the new saints that's a whole nother message you thought somebody beat up on you so it's your job to beat up on the news saying leave them you saints alone

let the pastor deal with them but there's a process that god's going to take you through and sometimes it hurts a little bit look at acts chapter 16 we read in verse 24 paul and his eyes were arrested and the intention was to cut their head off the next day to kill them acts chapter 12 they put peter in prison and the angel walked peter out of prison this time they said listen jailor make sure these men stay locked up make sure these men stay in prison so in verse 24 he put them in the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks you know today we think a prison that has a comfortable bed three meals a day went like that back then this was a dirty nasty wet place snakes rats frogs dirty place in the inner prison he locked them up where they couldn't even even move a muscle and they had a death sentence over their head the next day look at verse number 25 what happened at midnight on the darkest part of the night what happened is that paul and silas prayed and sang praises unto god until the prisoners heard them i come to tell somebody today yeah when you find yourself in the same

situation as your unlocked or your lost loved ones your unsafe friends and co-workers they look at you and say well what's this church boy gonna do now what this church girl gonna do now they've lost their job they've lost their health their child's in jail in trouble their spouse walked out on them they're in the same situation i'm in where the bible says sometimes the rain falls on the just and the unjust even if you find yourself it looks like in a prison make sure they hear you doing what praying and singing praise is unto god what a mighty god we serve amen god is a good god they need to know in the midst of my situation i should know that god is good but the key i believe to paul and silas deliverance that they did not just pray but they prayed and sang praises unto god now let me explain something to you here prayer is the first step in building a relationship with god the bible says that god inhabits the praises of his people so god inhabits our praise the fact of the matter is if we had to pick we would rather god inhabit our prayers and not our praise because my prayer is about

what i want let's just be frank if you have a problem and i have a problem you want to talk about your problem not my problem you don't care about my problem you care about your problem and we want god to become to be concerned about our problem so we could pick where god should live we said guess what god living my prayers living in my needs living my wants living my desires god said no no honey i don't live there i live in your praise and so but understand something here you cannot praise god without praying first see some of you hearing that god inhabits your praise you turn to a smooth talking 16 year old boy trying to rap to a girl and put some lines on god oh i love you so much god said well show me you love me if you love me then keep my commandments your praise is meaningless without a prayer life now i get done preaching today and you come up to me and say brother stewart i love you you know i appreciate that but it's not going to mean that much to me when this beautiful woman here in the second row says to me i love you that means something cause we've been married for 30 years

i know what i didn't put her through the better for worse the sickness in hell's you know riches and poor so when she says i love you it means something this relationship that's wrapped around that love and it means something and so you've got to first pray so i'm not trying to minimize the importance of prayer because prayer is what builds the relationship with god but it's easier to pray in a situation than it is to praise because prayer you tell god about your problems but in praise you bless them in spite of your problems in prayer you tell them what you need but in praise you give god what he needs prayer is all about you but praise is all about him so you got to learn how to praise god you see one day i was writing down the road listening to my favorite song at the time it was a song by mary mary that said very simply take the shackles off my feet so i can dance and i love that song so much i turned the volume as far as it would go and listening to my jam but sometimes god has a way to mess your jam up because god spoke to me and said if you're going to be a child of god sometimes

you can't wait for the shackles to come off to praise me if you're going to be a child of god you got to learn to praise me sometimes with the shackles still on your feet you got to learn to praise me before you get the healing before you get the victory before you get the testimony learn to praise me with a shackle sitting on your feet look at paul and silas they were in the inner prison their feet was in the stock and they praised god if they had waited for the shackles to come off their feet that that jailer would have had a sword in this hand and a key in this hand it was too late to praise god with the shackles off their feet because their head would have been chopped off they had to praise god at the midnight hour with their feet fast in the stock and they're missing a situation they said god i'm gonna pray first but i'm also going to praise you and let's go to the next verse 26 let's see what happened this is what we're missing sometimes in god's escape room because here's paul and silas praising god at midnight locked in stocks descendants over their head you know the worst thing

you could say sometimes going through a problem well it can't get any worse yes it can the phone just ran guess what it got worse all you can say is the same god that brought me through is going to take me all the way through because look at paul and silas they're praising god look at the first thing happened in verse 26 there was a great earthquake that shook the foundation of the prison wait a minute god i'm being faithful i'm praising you i'm tied up in the stocks i can't move a muscle and now i got bricks falling on top of me now i got the wall caving in on me now i got the ground moving under my feet now i'm dodging two by fours god what's going on i'm seeing a praise of you at midnight and the only thing i have for all of my praise and my prayers is now i'm going through an earthquake i come to tell somebody when god gets ready to deliver you he's going to destroy the foundation of the prison that has bound you he's going to take out generational curses he's going to take out addictions he's going to take out habits you see the problem with some of you is that god has brought you

through before but the prison walls were still standing and the enemy was able to come back and put your marriage where it used to be put your finances where it used to be put your life where it used to be and bring back that old addiction but god says when you praise me in the midst of your situation when you trust me with the shackles still on your feet i will destroy the foundations of the very things that have bound you and kept you from where i'm trying to take you so i mean new converse you wonder why it looks like when you come to god all hell breaks luffy in your life you don't have a friend a family member no one to turn to everything has turned against you everything you touch has fallen apart there's an earthquake experience that god has to take you through to destroy the foundations of the very thing that bound you in acts 12 they prayed and peter got out of prison but prison walls were still standing this time nobody's going back to this prison ever again because when paul and silas get free the very foundations of the prison are going to be destroyed and you can never go

back to who and what you used to be because when god destroys the foundation of what the enemy used to use to bind you through the earthquake experience guess what doubt is gone fear is gone god can cast out that depression that negativity that old habit it's all gonna be taken away because this time god says i'm taking out the prison that used to bind you look what happened next in that verse it gets even stranger everybody survived the earthquake the next verse says immediately all the doors were open all paul and silas wanted was one door one window to get out but guess what open door here open door here all the way open the open open door here look at all these open doors but one problem their feet are still in the stocks see the first thing that we would have done was untie them but now there's open doors all around them and they can't move a muscle to get there it's a frustrating place to be to finally see a way out of your situation but you can't get there yet you feel like you got a call to the ministry but a pastor don't see it yet but like you should be leading praise and worship

we're not invited to the practice for that yet you feel like i see what i need to do i i finally honey i see a way out of our situation we're not going to lose the car we're not going to lose the house we're not going to lose our marriage i see a way out but i just can't get to that door there's an open door and i can see it but i'm still stuck right here in this situation my whole life i've been a day late and a dollar short and look like it's going to happen to me again but it's in those situations that god begins to build your faith it's in those situations that god begins to build your trust because when god opens the door no man can shut it but sometimes you're not quite ready yet to walk through the door the god is open and god says honey i'm not gonna let you go until i know you're gonna walk through that door and never come back to this prison again and you go through a time where you see an open door you just can't get to it like david said my feet well and i slip when i saw the prosperity of the wicked amen and why was that looking everybody else was getting blessed and he

was not getting blessed i come to tell somebody be happy when people are blessed because it shows that god is still in the blessing business maybe he didn't call your number yet but when god's still blessing you that me my turn is going to come and thank god for an open door because no one can shut the door the god is open and sometime in this process the devil lies are some of you i tell you that you really have not changed because some of the old thoughts and temptations that god delivered you from when you were saved sometimes still come back to your mind let me explain something to you temptation is not sin everybody has temptation amen if you think of that temptation long enough you can turn into sin but that thought by itself did not sin well you must understand that like an air traffic controller that sits there watching a screen all he sees is a blip on the screen and when a plane gets lost all he knows is the last time i saw the plane this is where it was so search and rescue go look here when the blood of christ was applied to your life and baptism you came off the devil's

screen so he doesn't know who you are now he doesn't know where you are now when he brings that old thought that old desire back to you don't let that condemn you to say you haven't changed say get thee behind me satan you think that's me that is not me anymore i'm not that person i don't do that i don't go there i don't live like that no more i have been set free there's an open door that god has set before me the guy's preparing me to walk through but in part of your christian walk sometimes you find yourself with an open door that you can't get to yet but the third thing that happened in that verse the last thing that we thought should have been first only after surviving the earthquake only after seeing an open door that they could not get to that finally their pens get loosed but not just paul and silas everyone's bands were lost the murderer the thief the criminals the whole prison i come to tell somebody we learn to praise god in the midst of your situation now when you learn to trust god all the way through the earthquakes of life when you still keep your faith in god with an

open door that you can't get to uh when god gets ready for the final stage of your escape and come unlock you he's gonna take your lost loved ones with you he's gonna bring your co-workers along he's gonna bring your neighbors with you you're gonna have a testimony they're gonna see what you've been through and god that brought you through and not only will there be an open door for you there will also be an open door for them because that's what god does in the escape room but god says you trust me you follow me i will make a wave escaper and come through the earthquake come through the waiting times come through the wilderness but the day's going to come when i'm going to unlock you and you're going to say weeping may endure for the night but joy will come in the morning you'll see some of you find it easier to change jobs than it is change churches change spouses then it's a change yourself but god wants to change you see paul and silas wanted god to change the prison but god says you know i got to work some things out in you first there's some things in you uh you're still in the

stocks but i'm working in you i'm doing something i'm building i'm taking you through the earthquake i'm letting you see an open door but you just can't get to but i'm doing some changes in you and some of you have lived your life fighting the changes that god is trying to make in you and god is saying you're never going to get your deliverance and the escape i have for you until you trust me for the earthquake until you trust me to open the door until you trust me that the time's going to come right and you will be loose and you will walk and you will live because we serve a guy that has promised to make a way to escape reading samson book of joseph chapter six we read about samson now samson we know was probably the strongest man that ever lived but i propose you today he was probably also the dumbest man that ever lived and that took quite a bit been a lot of us dumb men he was probably the dumbest why i say that is because his family everybody wanted samson stay away from these philistine women they're no good for you time after time he found himself with someone he shouldn't be

with but delilah came along and at some point in time samson should have figured out delilah was not his friend because we look at samsung sometimes we think he was a big 8 foot tall guy with muscles but the bible says people looked at him and said where does the strength lie if sam's had a lot of muscles people would know that he was a big guy i think sampson was four foot eight and weighed eighty pounds soaking wet twenty little guy but his strength was in his hair i was wondering why did god put a strength in his hair that's the most fragile part of the body look at the top of my head you know i got a little bit less hair than what i used to have um brother willow for you maybe the same maybe possibly have a little bit less hair you know i'm not sure amen but delilah came along says samson where's your great strength he said by me with green wits i'll be like other men she bound them with green wits caller phillips signs in his bedroom samson she's not your friend she took your secret and called the enemy she came back again he said buy me with new ropes i'll be like other men he

woke up philistines in his bedroom new ropes around his hands samson by now the second time you should figure out she's not your friend third time you should keep playing with the enemy you get closer to the truth said weave my hair like seven locks she did it the third time and then then she called the philistines samson by now figure out she's taking your secret and calling the enemy but she pressed him daily until finally he told her the truth if you shave my head i'll be like other men and this time she knew she said philosophers come get them look at verse 21 on the screen of judges 16 what's the enemy do they took them and they first they blinded him the first thing the devil does is take your eyes out you have no vision he don't want you to see he's destroying your life destroying your future then they pound him with fetters of brass brass that samson used to break he was bound now he had no hope then they put him in a prison house to grind here was great sampson down the prison house blinded with no can't see bound with fetters of brass and just grinding every day his life was

now just grinding some of you live your life that way your marriage has become a grind or we just stay together for the kids you know when they're old enough i'll be out of here your job is a grind coming to church as a grind just you know used to have dreams and goals of great things to do in life you know great things you're doing but now your life is just grinding trying to survive just just holding on just grinding every day it's just a grind of samson now grinding i believe everybody's helped us out they're like sam how stupid are you three times the lie like you should have known she your parents told you she was no good for you and you stayed with her and she you know she told you about the you you totally agreeing with you told her the ropes you told her we you should have figured out samson you're so dumb and every day samson sat there grinding i believe he would rub that bald head and it was a symbol of his shame every day he would rub that head was a symbol of his shame put verse 22 up there for me but one day as i read this scripture like the lord spoke to me and said the

reason why i put samson's strength in his hair not in his arms and not in his legs because the center strength was in his arms or his legs and they cut off his arms or legs it'd be over for samson but even dumb samson there had to be a way to escape the reason why god put the strength of something in his hair because guess what the hair will grow again even after he let delilah trick him set him up bind him pluck out his eyes but verse 20 tell me what happened one day since they went to rub that ball head and muscle samson's surprise he felt a little tingle he felt a little stubble he felt a little something and day after day he would rub that bald head a little bit more here a little bit wasn't the full glory of god flowing down his back like it used to be but every day he felt a little something as he rubbed what used to be his shame and some of you today you don't feel god like you used to feel god you should come into the house of god and freedom and liberty and worshiping god and now you come to god you just feel a little something say preacher i don't understand why i don't feel

god like i used to feel god like i used to pray like i used to pray you know why god lets you feel that little something he wants you to know there's a way back for you there's a way of escape for you i still got a plan for your life i still got a purpose for you samson you got to know even after you were so stupid even after the lionel tricks you even after you've been blinded and bound your hair is going to grow again after it was shaven there must be a way to escape no matter who you are no matter what you've done i doubt any of us were as dumb as samson was with delilah and even for him god said your hair is going to grow again i come to tell you go through the earthquake trust god with the open door don't worry about the shackles when it's going to come off if god had a way back for samson then god has a way back for you because there must be a way to escape no matter what you're going through no matter what you're bearing god has a plan for you just like god had a plan for simpson as we stand in verse 30.

i believe that sanchez hair got long enough to a little boy he said take me to the house of the lord of the philistines and the bible says that in samson's death he killed more philistines in one act in his entire life after delighted tricked him and he was shaving and blinded and bound samson thought it was over and his best days were behind him guess what his best days were still in front of him his best days were still to come apc i thank god for your heritage i thank god for your testimony but your best days are yet to come your biggest offerings are yet to be given your biggest revivals are yet to be seen the most souls to be baptized have yet to be baptized i come to tell you that we serve a god who will make a way for escape for the senses around us we serve a god that says i don't care who ostracized you who paralyze you who demonize you there's a way to escape for every one of you every married couple in here god's got a plan for your marriage a plan for your finance every minister a plan for your future there must be a way to escape in the very dna of god he's playing the wake

to escape and as you give this year to cfc just remember you're helping god build escape rooms across north america but his altar is open right now some couples need to hold hands to just come forward and say we're here because god's going to give us a weight to us to get some young people we're struggling with some things in the comfort and say god i need a way to escape out of this amen the devil wants to bind you like he bound samson with shame and sin and addiction but god is here to say i've got to wait to escape for you if you're here today whatever you're going through health problems financial problems life problems just know that god promise there's a way out there's a way out there's a plan for your life come forward right now just hold hands marry couples come forward young people everybody hold up everybody come forward and say god just i think that way he preached about i'll go through the earthquake god i'll wait for the open door god i'm trusting you god i'll praise you with a shackle still on you're going to make a way i'm not going to make a way but there's got to be

a way to escape well that's what god promised us in jesus name