Hello, Mighty Men of God. Joe Martin here, man builder, award-winning speaker, author, and Tanya's

husband and Kendall and Faith's dad. Welcome to the Real Men Connect podcast where we help good men become

great men God's way. Every Wednesday, we interview some of the nation's most respected and

accomplished men of faith to find out what it really takes to become the kind of husband, father,

and spiritual leader God called and created us to be. Today is the real men check-in. The real men check-in is

just a quick way to help you start your week on the right foot in the right way. Every Monday,

I share personal insights, encouragement, and support that will move you beyond church to real change.

I keep it short, I make it fun, and then I'm done. So let's get

started. Real men are broken, but they don't break. One of my favorite Bible verses and one of my

memory verses is found in the book of James chapter four verses six through eight and it says

God opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

God opposes the proud. He resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Now, to understand this lesson, you don't have to go any further than the story of Samson found in the Old Testament. Samson is the epitome of what I believe, what makes strong men weak. And guess what is not just women. Now, if you want to find out more about Samson's story, just go to the book of judges found in the Old Testament, chapters 13 through 16. And you can find out for yourself, but I'll just give you the highlights and kind of unpack his story for you a little bit. See, Samson was dedicated to God at birth by his mother. And God had promised his mother that he would empower him through the Holy Spirit to deliver Israel from the Philistines who had been oppressing them. But Samson used

his strength from God to satisfy his own desires and exploit the Philistines instead. Now everything

God told Samson not to do, guess what? You got it. Samson did it. He ended up fall in love with

a Philistine woman named

Delilah and telling her the secret of his strength, which ended up costing him his life.

Now, I believe Samson Life reveals the paradox in the lives of most men, I think, today.

As men, we are aggressive at work, but guess what? We're passive at home.

As men, we're committed to our jobs, to our hobbies, our finances,

but not to our family, not to our children entirely in giving. As men, we tend to study stuff

and master things, but we don't study God's word enough or master our marriages and important

relationships. As men, we make time for our vices, but not time for God. And as man, we tend to be loyal to our employers, but not to our wives or our friends when it comes to being transparent and honest with each other. Like many of us, Samson has so much God-given potential, but he failed to live up to it. He was an incredibly strong man, that's without a doubt, but he had a weak will. Now, as much as we hate

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