Rise Up 2026 Session 1

Can we just honor and thank our next Young Adults Worship Team for leading us so well. Man, tonight's going to be incredible. It's just going to be so incredible. And I just want to pray and just welcome the Spirit of God here and acknowledge that He has been here before any of us walked into the room tonight. He has been preparing the way. And so Jesus, we love you. We worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we want to be full of you. So we pray that you would empty us even now of anything that does not bring you glory. Lord, we ask that you would remove even now anything that does not bring you honor, anything that we have put on a shelf, Lord, or put in your place on the throne of our life as an idol. God, we lay it down at your altar today. And we ask for you to do what only you can do. And God, there are so many people in this room right now from all over the arena of faith. Lord, we acknowledge that there are people in the room who don't even know you yet. Lord, we know that there are people who are following and chasing hard after you. And we know that there are people everywhere in between. And God, you have a word for every single person tonight. And God, so we ask, Holy Spirit, you to have your way. Lord, rise up in this conference, in this weekend. It's about one thing and one thing alone. And that is us drawing closer to you. And God, it is what you have done from day one and that is you bring dead things to life. So we know that that is what your intentions are. And Lord, we want to tell you that we are here to partner with what you want to do. Jesus, we love you. Lord, the stage is yours.

The altar is yours. Our hearts are yours. We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Man, I'm so excited. I know God is going to do some big things. I want you to go find your seat right now. Go find your seat. And as you do, I want to tell you about a couple of things. Tonight is going to be an incredible night. And we have something extremely special and a huge surprise for you afterwards tonight. And you'll hear about that a little bit more in just a little bit. But right now, I'm so excited because I know what God has in store for us. And we are getting to hear and kick off this conference with an incredible man of God, an incredible leader. And you know, next year will be 15 years of ministry at Momentum Church, 15 years of God bringing dead things to life, of radical life change. And this year we'll see, get this, this year we'll see our 7,000th person cross the line of faith. Isn't that incredible? Come on. Isn't that incredible? And so tonight we're going to hear from someone who none of this would be possible, none of that, all of this is because of your faithfulness, Pastor Tim and Pastor Stephanie and your faithfulness to say yes to start this whole thing 15 years ago and 7,000 people later and we're just getting started. And so it is my honor. It is my privilege, Momentum Church, YTH, Nalgen, get to your feet and welcome our senior pastor, Pastor Tim Payne.

Let's go. I love you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. What is going on? Rise up. Who is ready to rise up? I'm just curious. Come on. God wants every person. Stay standing for a second. God wants every person. I want to ask God for one thing. And that one thing is for you. Not you as a whole, not you as a section, not you as a high school area or college student, young adult, middle schooler, no, no, this is for every single one of you. And this isn't just for the young people it's also for the youth leaders that are here it's for every one of us and that prayer is simply god would you cause me to rise up that's what this is all about it's not just a a weekend of hype although we're gonna have so much fun i'm telling you how many are you excited man how many already having fun come on how many already having a blast come on if it ended right now what about the worship are you kidding me my goodness production team thank you we can't see we can't hear we can't read the words or remember the words without you guys so here's what i want you to do i want you to raise one hand and i want you to put the other hand on your heart so if whatever handed you are if you're right-handed maybe you want to put your right hand on your heart maybe you want to lift your left hand if you're left-handed you may want to put your left hand on your heart raise your right hand you do whatever feels but this is you and this is your prayer to god tonight you with me so let's pray god would you help us start with me help me to rise up in jesus name amen amen how many know that jesus loves to

answer prayer he loves to answer prayer man come on i don't know what you love to do but jesus loves to answer prayer and i'll take you one more step jesus loves to answer your prayers not just prayer but your prayers that's what he does so let's stay standing i want to read the verse the key verse for our text tonight really sets us up it's judges one verse and we're going to read some verses but this is the key verse for a key character in the bible he was a judge this is a crazy time where god was like i'm going to raise up judges so that my people will come back to me there there was a cycle and the cycle was sin judgment repentance you're in one of those three you're either in sin or you're in an area where like god's judging you for that and when i say judging i mean correcting i don't mean god dissing you i don't mean god looking down on you i mean god directing you and i know in my life god redirecting me and god loves us god will god will god will correct us correction is a sign of affection correction is a sign of affection if if you push back when someone corrects you you don't understand their affection for you i feel like preaching tonight i'm ready i'm ready to go there don't don't confuse that oh they're correcting me they don't love me no no no no correction is affection for whom the lord loves he corrects and so israel israel's doing their own thing and they're getting in sin and then there's judgment and then there's repentance and god is bringing judges to lead his people back to him they didn't have a youth conference they didn't have electric guitars they didn't have led screens they had a judge and god raised up this one judge his name is samson let's go judges 13 verse 5 judges 13 verse 5 and in judges you'll read about samson from 13 all the way through 16 samson here's the key verse you will become now he's talking to samson's parents specifically here to the mom his mama thank god for mama yeah you better say amen you will become pregnant and give birth to a son and his hair must never be cut no one preached on this verse when i was growing up everybody was like your hair is too long your hair is too long your hair is too long no one preached on this verse i'm like well what about samson you will become pregnant Mama, you're going to give birth to a son and his hair must never be cut for he will be dedicated to God. How many remember in church a couple of weeks ago, maybe two months ago, but I talked about, I talked about dedication.

How many remember that? Samson dedicated before he was ever born and he will be dedicated to who? To God as a Nazirite from where? Birth. To be a Nazirite, it could be for a season or a lifetime. And his parents accepted this calling. So now it was stewardship. For Samson to be a Nazirite, to take a vow, not for a season, not for a month, not through his teenage years, but for his entire life, his parents chose, his parents responded to what God was saying. And here, here it is right here. He will begin to rescue Israel from who? The Philistines. You may be seated. Samson, a couple of key things about him. We're going to jump into it. Samson, Samson, I mean, this is really cool. Israel kind of announces this and, and the Lord is saying, Hey, I got somebody is coming. I got somebody is coming and you're going to be pregnant. And this is not just going to be a normal pregnancy. This is going to be incredible because I have a purpose for this person. I want to tell you today, look here, let me see your eyes. Look here. God has a purpose for every one of you. God has a purpose. God has a purpose. How many have ever lacked purpose? Raise your hand. How many have ever questioned your purpose? Raise your hand.

How many ever like wondered, like, when am I going to understand? When am I going to know my purpose? I'm not sure anyone ever been there. My hands in the air. God never does anything where it's not on purpose. He's a purpose driven God. God does everything on purpose. In other words, you're not a mistake. God makes everyone on purpose, watch this, for a purpose. So here's the good news tonight. If you're breathing and y'all are, and y'all sounded so good, I love that worship, man. I love to watch y'all go after Jesus. That's one of my hobbies. So watch you chase after God. As long as you have breath, you have purpose. Did you know that? As long as you have breath, you have purpose. And Samson, Samson was special because God set him apart. In the New Testament, it's a big Bible word. It's called sanctified, set apart. God wants you to be set apart for his special purpose. But sometimes being set apart doesn't feel cool because when you're different than everybody, you know what I'm talking about? When you don't go to the parties, we don't do everything that they're doing at the parties. We like, no, I'm not going to do that. No, I'm not going to smoke that. No, I'm not going to, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not. Then it's so easy for other people. Well, what are you? A goody two-shoe and they look at you and they judge you.

And then all of a sudden you can be isolated. But I want to tell you something, God, sometimes when you feel isolated like that because you're not doing what everybody else is doing, I want to tell you something tonight, you're not the only one. God is raising up a generation. Listen to me. You're not the only seventh grader or sixth grader or eighth grader. You're not the only freshman or sophomore or junior or senior that says, you know what? I'm going to take a stand for God. What I'm saying is God made you on purpose for a purpose. And Samson was special. He was made on purpose. Samson had a special kind of strength because God would come upon him. And as God came upon him, he could do things nobody could do. And he was a jokester. Any jokesters here? One hand? I don't believe it. I know y'all better than this. How many of y'all are like jokesters? Come on. Hold it. How many of you are like pranksters? How many of you? Hold that hand up. Come on. Hey, you're never too old to be a prankster. Our financial director here at the church, she's been in my life for 30 plus years. And I love scaring her. How many know Mama Gail?

How many know what I'm talking about? I love getting Mama Gail. So I came in Thursday and she was, she was, you know, serious, having a conversation and a staff person was talking to her and I snuck up behind and I was like, like this, like, don't stare at me. Don't mess this up. And so Mama Gail's right there and she's talking and there weren't many people in the office and it's quiet. And I went, ah, and I got it, boom, just like that. She just jumped out of her skin. Then she started chasing me. Pastor Jim, she started chasing me. I was laughing so hard. I was laughing, I was crying. Samson was kind of a prankster, kind of a jokester. Samson was a mighty warrior. He was a mighty warrior. He was so strong, he killed a lion with his bare hands. He was so strong, one time he picked up a gate, an iron gate, you know, we call it pumping iron. He took a gate, a massive gate. I don't think any of us could come out to the chain link fence and pull the little gate up out of the ground. He took a massive gate and just, boom, pulled it out of the ground. And then he carried it and set it a long ways away. He was strong, man. God would come upon him. And he was looked up to, he was influential.

He had the influence, he had the likes. He had people that were blown away by who he was, but his strength came from the Lord. His strength came from the Lord, a warrior, powerful, famous, dedicated to God from birth. I'm just curious, anybody here, were you dedicated to God from birth, anybody at all? Raise your hand if that was you. I wanna see these hands. How many, maybe it wasn't at birth, but then later down the road at church, you know your parents dedicated you, raise your hands. Come on, look at the, don't be, hey, don't do this. Don't feel bad about it, this is a good thing. Put the hand up here, let me see it. Come on, how many know that you've been dedicated for God's purpose? That's what I'm talking about. My hands in the air, this is who Samson was. And his parents said, yes, Lord. And his parents raised him to love him, to love God. He took a vow, he was separated to God, and here was the vow, the Nazarite vow. You couldn't do three things. You couldn't, number one, he couldn't have his hair cut. What's another one? Who knows another one out of three? He couldn't have his hair cut. What's another one? Couldn't touch a dead body.

Uh-huh, and what was the third one? No alcohol, no alcohol for him. He was from birth, God's like, these three things, and that was a Nazarite vow. And some people would say, I wanna be dedicated to God for a season, but I'm thankful for people that are dedicated for a lifetime. You don't have to say, well, one day when I get older, I'll serve God, that'll be my season. And by the way, if you've blown a season, don't let that be the reason you don't live for Jesus now. You don't live for Jesus next week, next month, and next year. He was something kind of special. There were Philistines, and the Philistines were their enemies, and it started with Samson, and it went to David. So when you read the Bible, how many remember King David? Right, and so you, before he was king, right, he was a little scrawny thing maybe, and he seized Goliath, and God comes upon him, and man, God, through David, kills Goliath. The Philistines hated Israel. They were their major enemy. They were always a threat to the Israelites. They were always trying to kill the Israelites. So kinda what we see in the Middle East, where there's always war, there's always killings, there's always murder, this was how it was with the Philistines and Israel.

They were fierce, the Philistines were fierce warriors, and they had a secret. Their secret was that the Israelites, they had weapons made of bronze, but the Philistines said, no, we're gonna make our weapons out of iron, and they were better, and they were stronger. They were more, the Philistines were more tactical. They had a bigger number. They had everything going for them, except for the one thing they really needed, and that was that God was on Israel's side. I wanna tell you something. The one thing that you need, you already have. If God be for you, who can be against you? God is for you, and it doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done, God loves you, and he made you on purpose, and he has a purpose for your life, God is for you. And so these Philistines, they hated him, and there's this going back and forth, and Samson, Samson had a real issue, and his issue was women. His eyes were always looking at the ladies. Now when the wrong thing for him to like the ladies, but the issue was God was like, no, no, no, no. You're over here with your people, the Israelites, and don't fall in love with other people outside of your people. And here's why, because they've got gods and you fall in love with her. She's a Philistine.

Then you're going to end up, your heart is going to go after other gods and, and no other idols, no other gods before me. Are you with me? And so you know what he did? He kept pushing the limit. I don't know if you ever do that or not, but where God says no, and you just get as close to the edge as you can. Samson just kept getting as close to the edge as he could. And he kept just messing around. God, God made Samson on purpose for a purpose. But here's the second thing I want you to know. He wasted it. There's nothing more sad to a coach than an athlete who wastes their potential. There's nothing more sad to a parent than to have a child who has incredible potential, but they waste it. And we all at different moments, we kind of wasted our potential at different times. Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about. Also, you cannot just waste your potential, you can fulfill your potential. You can live for God. You can love people. You can realize the gifts that God gave you and you can begin to use them for the Lord. How many know what I'm talking about? How many say, man, I'm kind of, I feel like I'm in that season right now, Pastor Tim. I'm like, like, I'm, I'm realizing, hey, I can waste it or I can walk in it. And Samson just kind of wasted it. He, he knew that God had big plans for him. And yet he allowed his eyes and the lust of his heart to go after other women and just literally waste it. Let's look at this passage of scripture real quick. Let's, we'll put it up on the screen, Judges 13, 16, excuse me, 16.

Let's read 17 through 21. Finally, Samson shared his secret. Now, what are we talking about? Well, he kept the secret. What's the secret? His strength came from his hair and, and God coming upon him, but he couldn't cut his hair. And now there've been one woman, two women, three, and now all of a sudden it's Delilah. Delilah is in his life and she caught his attention, caught his heart. And he was mesmerized by this woman who did not love God. And I want to tell you something. I'd be so careful. I'd be so careful in who you date because watch, watch this now. I just, I would be so careful. I would make sure number one, they're a Christian. That's non-negotiable. Make sure they're a Christian. And you're like, well, I really like them. I like them a whole lot, Pastor Tim, but they're not a Christian. Well, it doesn't mean you can't date them one day, just not today. And I know what some of you are thinking, like, you know, like you can lead a handsome guy to Jesus, but you can't get a guy that loves Jesus as ugly, handsome. Like we just kind of, we just there, like what do we do about that? I watch a lot of people make the wrong move here. Listen to me, you can mess your whole entire life up in the person you decide. There are consequences for our choices. The cool thing about growing up is you get to pick your choices. How many like that? The freedom, you get a little old, you're like, oh man, I got a car, I got a license, I can do this. You know, we can all pick our choices.

We can choose what we want to do. We can make our choices, but we cannot choose our consequences. And I, I'm telling you, I, I, I, I'm telling you from, from my own family. I've got a wonderful aunt, lives in Kansas, and she fell in love with a guy that didn't want anything to do with God, Aunt Rita. She fell in love with a guy, here, watch this now, watch, watch, watch. Every date's a potential mate. And she knew better, and she loved Jesus, but she just, I don't know, just one more date. That's just one more date. Just one more date, and she fell in love, she got married, and I'm telling you, without spending too long here, it was the worst thing ever happened to her. You know what? For the last 50 years, she's been away from God. Delilah, we're going to read about this in a second, but Delilah became his downfall. And I wonder how many of you have a Delilah? I wonder what your Delilah, I wonder who your Delilah is. You're like, but he's so cute, and she's so freaking hot. Is she a Christian? I don't know. Well, that's the first problem. No, no, no, no, they're not, but you know, it's okay. No, no, no, no, no. My aunt woke up in the middle of the night with her house on fire and her husband had poured gas around the house, lit the thing, went out and blew his head off. He was trying to take him out and he was trying to kill her. They could never have children. And here was someone who was supposed to, here's someone who did love God, who went after God, but then she got around someone who didn't care anything. Listen to me, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, your friends will make or break you.

And as important as that lesson is, your boyfriend and girlfriend, they're going to lead you the right way or they're going to lead you the wrong way. Be careful who you tell your heart to. Be careful who you get close to. Be careful. Samson would tell us that if he was here. Look at this. He told her his secret. Now here she is and here's the context. The context is, she keeps nagging him and, Samson, what is, what is it, come on, you're so strong, baby. And he's like, yeah, yeah, what are you talking about, baby, I mean, you know, I'm just, yeah, tell me more. No, please, come on, come on, tell me more. And she, she was just like, oh baby, you're so strong, you're so, oh my goodness, come on baby, just tell me, come on, I won't tell anyone. I won't tell anyone. Day after day, day after day, she's begging him and nagging him, tell me your secret because you got something no one else has. And you know what he should have done? He should have said, it's the Lord God Almighty is my secret. He should have told her about the Lord his God. That's what he should have done, but he didn't. And so instead of, instead of him leading her, she persuaded him. Look at it, it says this, my hair's never been cut. Here he is. And he's kind of, kind of flirting with her the first couple times. You can read in chapter 16, if you take my hair in seven and put it, and then finally, my hair's never been cut, he confessed. Before that, he had lied to her a couple times, teasing her.

She had tried, he would go, and then she would do it, and then she would say, Samson, Samson, the Philistines are on you, and he would wake up, and she did what he said, and he would wake up, and of course, they weren't coming out just yet. He would wake up, and here he is, he's still strong, he still has it. But there came a day where sin caught up with him. His lust caught up with him. His playing around with sin bit him. And now he said, my hair's never been cut. He confessed, for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me. So the first time he tells her, do this to my hair, second time, and now he's telling her this is the real truth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I'd become as weak as anyone else. Delilah realized, he finally told her the truth. For she sent for the Philistine rulers, and she said to them, come back one more time. What's in it for her? Payday. Payday. You want to talk about one of the biggest betrayals in the Bible? Right here, she's a traitor. And she loved him long enough for him to believe that she truly loved him, but she had a bigger lust than Samson, and that was her payday. And now, she tells the Philistine warriors, we got him. I'm telling you, I promise you, I know you're tired, I know you think I'm like, I promise you this time, it's the real deal. Come on back. He finally told me his secret. So they returned with the what? The money.

Verse 18, in their hands. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep. What's your Delilah? What's the sin that you're messing with that has the potential to keep you from your potential? That has the potential to lull you to sleep? She puts him to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way, she began to bring him down and his strength left him. And then she cried out like before, Samson, Samson, Samson, the Philistines, they've come. come to capture you. When he woke up, he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free. Notice what he said here, his focus on himself. He said, I will do as before and I will shake myself free. He forgot where his power came from. He forgot the purpose of his power. It wasn't for him, the purpose of his life was to rescue Israel from the Philistines and now he's flirting with one, it starts there. And then he's dating one, then he's falling in love with Delilah and now Delilah just wants the payday and he's like, no big deal in his mind. He's like, man, I'm just gonna, no big problem. I'm gonna do as I've done before. I'm gonna shake myself free. But here's one of the saddest verses in all the Bible. Look at it right here. The rest of verse 20,

but he didn't realize the Lord had left him. I thought about titling this message, Wasted Potential. Wasted Potential. You know why? Well, look what happened, read the next verse. So the Philistines captured him and they gouged out his eyes. The thing that got him in trouble, he could never again look at a woman and be like, she's beautiful. The lust of the eyes, the Bible talks about. His eyes got him in trouble. They captured him. They gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in this prison. Couple interesting things here. They took his eyesight. I think I have a picture. Can we go to that picture? I just want y'all to see this. This is Israel. And so what we have here is Canaan, the promised land. You have the Mediterranean Sea. You have Canaan right here. And he was from right up here north, right up here. In fact, they're gonna, later on, they'll bury him. They're in the valley of Sorek. But now they've captured him up north and they've taken him all the way down to the bottom.

Sin will always take you to the bottom. They take his eyes. He's already lost his strength. And then they don't put him in iron cuffs. Remember, they made everything out of iron. No, this was a mockery because, oh, you are lesser than us. You are weaker than us. We're gonna put bronze chains on you to remind you that you're an Israelite and that we are superior to you. And you only have the strength to break out of these bronze chains. We have iron, but we're not even gonna use the iron on you. That'd be a waste. We're just gonna kind of mock you. The mocker is now being mocked. It makes me think of this verse where it says, don't be deceived, for God is not mocked, for you reap what you sow. I thought this was about Rise Up. It is. Like that music, let's go. But the music wasn't playing for Samson anymore. And you know what they did? They took him and they made him do a woman's job. Now, we're all about equality here, right? We're like, we live in a different day and age and there's a different level here. But back then, guys didn't do what women did and women didn't do what guys did.

So to mock him, they chained him and then he went to grinding grain and he couldn't see anything. He's reminded, they're like, oh yeah, these are bronze, big guy. It'd be easier to break out of them, but you don't have any strength. And then he was doing a woman's job and they were mocking him and laughing at him and mocking him and laughing at him. And he just wasted his God-given potential. I would say this from my heart, listen. This weekend, I pray with everything that you guys will say, God, I wanna fulfill the potential that you've given me. God, I wanna live the life that you have for me to live. I want to walk in the way that you want me to walk. God, like hear my Lord, like use me, send me, whatever you want. Like I don't wanna waste my potential. I hope when you go into college this next season, maybe you're going from a senior to a freshman in college. You're going from middle school to high school. I hope that that whether it's in the classroom or on the ball field I hope that you don't waste your potential Because every one of you have incredible potential Incredible if you even knew What god sees when he looks at you If you even had a clue how much potential is in you, but but when we're younger, we don't And when we're younger sometimes We doubt it

We doubt our potential we let other people Direct us away from our potential I just want to tell you man, if if if we could just talk one-on-one i'd look at you and i'd Tell you you have so much potential and I would ask you about like what are you passionate about? And i'd ask you what are you gifted at? And i'd say you know what god's already written his will for your life in your heart god has Because he gave you gifts and he gave you abilities and he gave you purpose. He gave you passion. He already put it in there You know what you could be the best mechanic for jesus You'd be the best player ball player for jesus some of you like there's more in you, but you're not You're not Doing your best you're not giving your all and and maybe god has You here and this is your potential but you're kind of wasting your potential i'm telling you today if you'll get serious And say god, I just use me and you know what god i'm gonna do my best And i'm gonna do right I'm telling you man. God would take you places. You could not even ever imagine the devil's oldest lie Is god doesn't want you to have fun. God's holding back from you And I wonder if that's what samson thought and he thought it would never cost him, but it did cost him It cost him his eyes Cost him his strength It cost him being around his family his friends and delilah Betrayed him. She got the payday And he was left with nothing but but But The bible does say that his hair began to grow back That's the next verse But I love that phrase where he said i'll do as before and i'll shake myself free this this represents potential Right here. This represents potential right here this balloon And so

So It has potential for capacity I used to do this game when I was a kids pastor and we do a rally We would do like the offering and I have them take the offering and then at the very end They run laps around they come up here and they'd have to pick up a balloon They'd have to blow up the balloon and some sundays they'd have to blow it up to it popped You ever blown up a balloon? Where it pops right in front of your face or they tie a knot sit on it and pop it And that was always funny because these little elementary kids trying to pop the balloon and they're going all over the place But here's what samson did samson thought this samson. He thought this he thought you know what I got it in me Samson thought i'm big and strong I i'm gonna I got it. Here we go So But you know what samson fell found out he found out When you make a habit of doing something The sad part Is you just kind of fall in the hole that you dug for yourself? And he was wasting his potential And wasting it not taking god's purpose For real and he thought it was actually what was in him So Can I get that balloon back, thank you Some of you know what i'm talking about because that's what your life has been doing And here here's the cool thing The cool thing that if you just say god breathe on me It it's it's it's not You've given me gifts and abilities, but lord if I don't take it for you know if I don't if I just take it for granted and I don't take it serious and I I don't Seek you the bible says if you seek god you'll find him But I don't know who to date seek god

I don't know But to do with my life see God, I don't know where to go to college see God I don't know if I should play this year not see God. Have you asked him? Have you started there because without God leading you listen, we we don't have just like in our own strength But everyone has potential and and Samson the Bible says and I'm almost through the the Bible says that his hair get ready now. This is awesome But before long his hair began to grow back so instead of preaching about wasted potential I want to preach on one more time Look at Judges 16 23 through 31 Now sudden they're having this big party. Here we go. Verse 23 the Philistine rulers. They held a great festival offering sacrifices Where did they learn that? In Praising their God, where did they learn about praising God? This was all a mockery And they're praising their God day gone. They said watch this here. It is highest mockery they said our God has given us a victory over our enemy Samson and Samson knew there's only one true God and Samson knew that the one eternal True God who is God and beside him is no other that that God his God the God of the Israelites Was the God who was able to give victory? But now they've got Israel's mightiest warrior and he's blind and he's weak and he's a clown He's a clown and so Anytime that the people would see Samson they would praise their God little G saying our God has delivered our enemy to us The one who killed so many of us is now in our power Half drunk by now the people demanded bring out Samson so he can amuse us So he was brought from prison to amuse them and they had him stand between pillars supporting the roof Samson said to the young servant who was leading him a young person was leading him out and here's Samson and he can't see But he knows his hairs began to grow again I

Want to tell you something? He's the God of the second chance He's the God of the third chance and the fourth chance and the fifth chance. He's the God of a hundred chances and more Even when you mess up you can choose you can make your decisions You don't get to choose your consequences. The Lord allowed him to pay for his own stupid Choices but the Lord also didn't leave him alone and maybe you're here and you know part of rising up is realizing That God can do it again Maybe you're here and you're like I messed up and we had camp It was so amazing a couple weeks ago, and I've already kind of gone back down the wrong path but he's the God that can do it again one more time and Here is Samson and a young person is leading him out Bring him out so he can amuse us they said so they brought him out from prison to amuse them and they had him stand between the pillars supporting this roof and Young servant leads him out and here's what Samson said place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple I want to rest against them Now the temple was completely filled with people all the Philistine rulers were there and there were about 3,000 men and women 3,000 that's a lot of people 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them Then Samson prayed to the Lord, I hope you'd underline that I hope you'd highlight that I put it bold in my notes Then Samson prayed to the Lord see here's the thing in order to rise up you must look up You You you you you never rise up in and of yourself and stay up I Mean you Other people like man, they got it all together But without God Without God's anointing and God's breath on us and in us It's just this it's just wasted

wasted but now Samson is out there and he realizes wait a second if I'm gonna rise back up I've got a first look up so what does he do he prays this prayer sovereign Lord sovereign means God is all-powerful he is in control he is God alone and so he he is acknowledging that God is still God even though Samson had made wrong decisions even though Samson had changed even though Samson had failed even though time and time again Samson resisted the Spirit of God he realized that God doesn't change that God is still the same yesterday today and forever and here's what Samson realized I may have messed up so much I may have wasted my potential so much but he remembered a God who made him on purpose for a purpose and and that was number one number two is he wasted his purpose but he remembered number three Samson remembered God's purpose never changed from my life judges 13 5 before I was ever born I was dedicated and God himself said he will begin to deliver my people from the Philistines he will take out the enemy he will be a warrior but he didn't feel like a warrior he didn't even maybe look like a warrior he looked like a wimp he looked like he was weak he looked like a wuss and he is being made fun of and at his lowest moment he remembered to look up you'll never rise up without looking up you may rise up but you won't stay up without looking up he prayed to God he prayed to God they said God sovereign Lord sovereign Lord remember me again sovereign Lord just just just remember me again God you you know how you used me when I took a job out of a donkey it killed a thousand Philistines you remember that use use me again I think I poked a hole in it there we go use me again God God you remember when I caught all the foxes I tied their tails put fire in between them and burn all the Philistines crops Lord remember me again remember me again God and you know what happened look read on here's the here's the rest of the text it says this God please strengthen me just one more time with one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple pushing them with both hands and he prayed one more time let me die with the Philistines and the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people so

he killed more people when he died than he had in his entire lifetime he remembered that his purpose never changed and now he wasn't trying to rise up in his own strength that was the first balloon he's like I just get back up I'm gonna rise up I'm gonna shake it off I'm strong I'm tough I got this that represents the flesh this represents the Spirit of God and if you think I can be everything that I'm supposed to be without the Spirit of God you may get big but you but if you say God I need your breath in my lungs God I need your spirit in me God I don't want to waste my potential anymore God I want to mess around anymore I want to flirt with the devil I want to flirt with sin I really want to rise up for your kingdom for your renown for your glory for your purpose you know what happened you'll rise up because it's not what's inside of you it's inside of God where'd it go let's go it's hiding I wonder how many y'all been hiding your purpose I don't wonder how many y'all been hiding from your potential because the truth is you're scared because you know God has big plans for your life I think Samson is big and strong as he was I think honestly he had some inner fears same fears that we have what if I let people down what if I let God down what if they know the truth about me and you know he had the presence of God but you can have the presence of God around you and still be withering on the inside of you God wants to fill you God wants to anoint you you'll rise up only if you first look up I love this and we're through I love that he came to the end of his life he had wasted so much and then he remembered to look up one more time and he prayed and you keep reading he prayed a selfish prayer it kind of still was about him let me avenge my enemies let me get him back God revenge but God's purpose always prevails God made him on purpose for a purpose he kind of wasted that purpose but God's purpose never changed and I wonder if you know that God made you on purpose for a purpose I wonder if you know and I believe you do whether you're moving in a direction that's wasting your potential or if you're moving in a direction that's fulfilling your potential in other words I had a five-star general retired had breakfast with him one time I was asking

talking about different areas decisions in my life I didn't know which direction to go and he said something so genius he said he said are your feet pointed in the direction you want to go are you're not he wouldn't ask him about his feet because his feet pointed him in a direction that led him to be a five-star general he was asking me you got this idea and this idea he said but are your feet actually pointed in the direction you want to go would you stand to your feet and would you raise your hands if you say honestly pastor Tim like I want to go in God's direction I do want to rise up hey some of you guys y'all middle school where's the middle school is that we got any middle schoolers here hold your hand up I see you big dog I see you all right all right hey let me look look look let me tell you something you can rise up as a middle schooler you don't got to wait till you're a senior God can use you in mighty ways in middle school where's freshman at we're a freshman in high school sophomores raise your hands sophomores come on we're juniors we're seniors where's the college students let's go look on the couches let's go come on young adults God said this I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord and their plans to give you a future his future his purpose David said where does my strength come from does it come from the mountains no no no no he said I look up my strength comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth James 4 10 tells us that if you and I will surrender to God and humble ourselves before God he will lift you up you want to rise up and stay up so one way is Jesus would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes I'm gonna say pastor Tim so just be honest with you and Holy Spirit do your work now Lord I preach the message that you gave me and I ask you God to continue to do the work in hearts can we just be real just for a few minutes how many of you it's just be honest and you'd say pastor Tim here's the deal man like I do believe like God made me on purpose. I don't know if my feet is really pointed in that direction. I kind of tend to just do what I want to do. I kind of tend to just make the decisions that feel good. I kind of do the things that, you know, and just kind of, just be honest with you Pastor Tim, I'm kind of paying more

attention to like myself and my wants more than like, God, what do you want? And, and I don't want to live below my purpose. I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to be low when God's asking me to rise up. I just be honest with you today. Like I, I just want to say, yes, God, I'll answer the call. Like, here's the question. Will you, not your neighbor, but you, individually, will you, will you, will you rise up? Got to look up to rise up. How many say, I want, I want that. You're talking, I'm a, you're saying, I'm a Christian, Pastor Tim, and I want to. I keep rising up. And I'm telling you, man, God's got big plans for you. I'm telling you, if you'll just stay on track, here's the cool thing. Following God is awesome. And continuing to follow God is even better. We've got adults in here. They've been following God for a long time. And they could tell you story after story. How many young people say, you know what? I kind of been making some wrong decisions, kind of wasting potential, but I want to rise up and I'm willing. And I want to, and if that's you, just put your hand in the air, hold it up. I see your hand and your hand and your hand, your hand. I see your hand and your hand, your hand. And I see your hand. I see your hand. That's all on one side. I see your hand just went up. I see your hand over there. I want this section, my right, your left. I want this section right here. Look at me. This section right here. Look at me. This section right over here, right here. I want y'all to look at me. Y'all keep your heads bowed and eyes closed real quick. I want you guys to look up at me. Don't waste your potential. God's given you so much potential. Use it for his glory. God's gift to you is him giving you breath in your lungs, giving you length of days. Your gift back to him is figuring out why he made you and walking in it. And I pray over you that you'll do it. Everybody look up here. You can put your hands down. If you're here tonight and you're not a Jesus follower, you're not a Christian yet. The Bible says today or tonight is the night of salvation. Like you don't have to leave here. And like, I just went to a church event, you know, and still not know for sure in your heart that Jesus is your Lord and savior. I'd love to help you make a decision to say, Jesus, I'm trusting you. I'm asking you to save me from my sin. We had 13 men. They were, some of them were gang members in the prison this week, flying their own colors. We had 13 men out of a hundred. When we were there, I preached, gave the gospel at the end. We already had 30 men sign up for baptism and 13 men said, I just been playing a game or hadn't been playing a game, man. I don't want Jesus, but today I'm ready. I'm not going to waste any more time. 13 men.

And it's really cool. Cause you know, in God's economy, he'll leave the 99 for the one. And we had exactly a hundred and 13 gave the life to Christ. 30 got baptized. You know, if there was just one person here tonight that gave you life to Christ, this whole conference would be worth it for just the one. Cause he's the God of the one. So I want to ask you, I want to ask you if you're not a Christian, or if you're not even sure you like, you, you like, I don't know if I'm a Christian or not. Let's just find out, like, let's just, let's just put a stake in tonight and say, you know what? No, tonight I'm going to, I'm going to put my faith and trust in Christ. And maybe I've been doubting over here, but after tonight, I'm going to know that tonight, tonight was the night I became a Christian. I became a child of God. How do I do it? Well, here's the gospel. We're all sinners. God made everything perfect, beautiful, holy, and then sin by a choice messed everything up and death came into this world because sin opened the door. And so Jesus, Jesus left heaven and he came to earth and he who is holy and sinless came to this earth to die for our sins. And, and the holy one became. sinner He absorbed all the sin of the entire world. They crucified him on the cross. He shed his blood being the Lamb of God He shed his blood in the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can wash away sins Not going to church not your good works not mom and daddy. No, no, I go to momentum. None of that gets you in heaven Do you understand this you only get to heaven because the blood has been applied You only get to heaven because the blood has washed away your sins You'll get to heaven because you're on this hype thing You'll get to heaven because you go to YTH or you showed up at rise up conference You get to heaven because you said I'm a sinner. I need a Savior You bled and you died for me and I'm gonna accept that gift. Thank you very much I need you to do for me what I could never do for myself. So here I am Lord save me You know what God would do he'll save you Just like that. And if that's what you need tonight, don't leave without it Make that decision right now and that decision will have amazing consequences that will echo through all of eternity Let's bow. Would you real quick? Let's pray. Would you just repeat after me not praying to me praying to Jesus? Would you say Jesus I?

Confess to you that I'm a sinner and I need you to be my Savior Thank you for loving me Bleeding for me Dying for me. I believe you rose again So right now I declare Jesus as Lord and I give you my life and I receive your life Now teach me how to live in Jesus name Amen. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, I'm gonna ask you to be bold I'm gonna ask you to be bold. I'm gonna ask you to be courageous I'm gonna ask you to hold the hand up and here's what we're gonna do We're all gonna clap and we are gonna clap like that's the greatest thing in the world Here's why because that's the greatest thing in the world We're gonna clap like you just escaped hell because you just escaped hell So on the count of three if that's you if it's just one person, I want you to put the hand up in the air Don't be shy don't hesitate procrastinate. I want you to hold that hold that hand up high I did that tonight pastor Tim and we're gonna clap for you. We're gonna celebrate you On the count of three hold it up one two Three anybody at all? anybody at all I love that. I'm gonna ask the leaders to come down front. I'm gonna ask the leaders to come down front