"This is a ‘Claw & Fang’ word I gave to the men at the Union Gospel Mission chapel service.

Samson was a Nazarite from birth(Judges 13:5), part of that consecration prohibited tasting or consuming grapes and wine and touching dead things (Numbers 6:6-7).

Samson disregarded his consecration and meandered through a vineyard on his way to check out a Philistine lady he was interested in marrying (also a forbidden choice: Deut. 7:3).

He was the right man in the wrong place and was attacked by a lion (Judges 14:5-6,8-9).

“…at that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands.” -Judges 14:6

The power of the Holy Spirit enabled him to slay what was trying to kill him. 

God empowered his own hands to claim a mighty victory. 

But Samson was a compromising man who chose to run through life on the thin line edges between life and death. 

Even still God used him for his purposes.

His delusion was that consecration wasn’t necessary because he was chosen by God. 

He gave himself to doing great things for God, 

while neglecting a life of communion with God. 

Great acts without deep relationship always lead to deception and devastation.

“Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, 

he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. 

And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 

9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. 

He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. 

But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.”

There are too many men eating honey out of carcasses. 

Addictions are honey out of lions that defile our souls and bodies. 

Our lust for the honey of the dead lead us to not only defile ourselves 

but we often end up harming those who are closest to us too. 

We deceive our friends and loved ones by our uncleanness.

There is a lion stalking us all.

1 Peter 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. 

He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

Half the battle against Lions is staying out of the places where Lions lurk. 

Flee the vineyards!

The other half is faithfully maintaining our covenant and consecration through communion with the Lord Jesus. 

Such a posture of life prepares us to fight through the power of the Spirit and Word.

The Lion’s claw and fang are very real battles that can’t be overcome in our own strength. Christ’s defeat of death and the devil are the basis for our hope over everything that seeks to devour us. 

God has a victory that he wants to complete through our very own hands because Jesus has overcome and we can prevail through Him.

You are destined to rip some jaws apart!" 

Pastor Eric.