The Thrill is Gone

Intro

I was in Clarksville a while back, and I connected with my old church elder, who is more like an uncle to me. In fact I call him Uncle Tony.

It’s one of the most memorable stories.

While spending time with Uncle Tony, as usual, we talked about everything under the sun. One particular conversation we had was about the collecting sports cards.

In this conversation I discovered that Uncle Tony had several boxes of basketball and football cards. Now Uncle Tony wasn’t a card collector by definition. He wasn’t a person who would run to the store and by a pack of cards.

A hero

You see, Uncle Tony is a retired soldier and when he was stationed in Germany, he saw an opportunity. A man was selling these cards in bulk for next to nothing, and my uncle thought why not. So he bought a few.

Now when I was a kid, I was into collecting. Going through those boxes was so nostalgic for me. I would look at a card and remember the day I bought it the excitement I felt, and how I couldn’t wait to show my other collecting buddies.

I didn’t keep up with those cards, mainly because my family wasn’t into sports much....not like i am today.

If you’re into comics, or know someone who is, the last 5 years could be labelled as some of the best years ever!

Hollywood has been pushing out movies of comic heroes left and right, bringing a sense of nostalgic to viewers.

My family on my dad’s side, including myself are huge comic books readers. So much so that I have an uncle who’s an illustrator… drawing comics for a living.

If you surveyed the men in my family, asking why we loved comic so much, the consensus would be that comic books launches our imagination into a world where everything is possible.

A world with heroes with incredible strength defeating villains and arch nemesis’.

Every dollar i had as a kid went to comics.

And when I bought them, I would ride my bike back home as fast as I could to read:

How Batman out-witted Joker

How Spiderman tangled Dr Doom

Or how the Avengers protected earth from destruction.

But one day, I remember I saw the comic of comic books....

The title brought me to an emotional place...

It read…DOOMSDAY

The picture was a tombstone that said ”Here lies the Man of Steel” “Superman’s dead” draped by that iconic cape with the “S”.

I couldn’t believe it.

I couldn’t believe, that an unstoppable hero was defeated.

Even if you weren’t a comic book reader or collector, you knew that Superman was faster then a speeding bullet, stronger then a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

And in this issue, something was faster, something was stronger, something was able to leap higher and further.

And this something defeated Superman.

As a kid, I was confused...

How was that possible?

More then 30 years later, the movie is finally made, and as I watched the movie, I learned that Superman died, because the villain was made of the his weakness.

I think growing up reading comic has caused me to read my bible in living color.

While reading I have a vivid imagination of the stories.

I sense the emotion the people are going through

I celebrate when they win.

And sympathize when they fail.

The story of Samson is a very familiar story of a hero with incredible strength.

And when we read though the testimony we find a moment when Samson is defeated.

And just as I did as kid about Superman, you ask the question, how?

How was it possible that Samson lost his strength?

How was he able to bound by the Philistines?

Some will say that it was because he told Delilah that the secret to his strength.

That he couldn’t shave off his locks of braids.

Some would say that although that was true, the exegetical idea is that Samson failed to trust God, and was led by his lust.

But I’d like for us to focus on what I think is the most scariest text in the bible.

[READ - MSG]

Almost 30 years later,

For the next few minute, I’d like for us to reflect on the possibility of provoking God to remove His presence without being aware of it.

Samson was the last judge of Israel. Meaning he was the nation’s last warrior; their last deliver appointed by God in the Judges Cycle.

In the book of Judges, we never see Samson in a throne, never heading a court. Vastly different from his predecessors.

Samson’s beginnings starts with revelation from an Angel to both his parents.

His parents made a vow

So his upbringing was a more focused preparation.

He was fed the right foods

He was taught the right things

His hair was kept the way the Angel instructed.

The Bible says that the Lord blessed Samson, and the Spirit stirred him.

This means that the Samson’s success was enabled by the power of God.

So it becomes clear that reason Samson was defeated was because the Spirit that gave him his success and strength was now gone.

The reason I said that verse 20 was one of the scariest verses is because it reveals a reality:

If we’re not walking Christ intentionally, many will lose favor with God, and not even know it. Which means that by our actions, we can provoke God to withdraw His Spirit from us.

And all the success, all the blessings, all the strength and wisdom that came by the spirit can be removed unknowingly.

Jesus prophesied this.

On the mountain side, Jesus gave the greatest sermon, teaching us the foundational principle of Christian living.

By the seventh chapter, Jesus tells us how entering the kingdom required focused living.

That the focus living would produce fruits

But not all fruit was the right fruit.

Jesus said that at the last days there would be people crying out to Him, “Lord, lord; didn’t we prophesy in your name?”

Didn’t we eat the right foods

Didn’t we learn the right stuff

Didn’t we perform miracles in your name?

But the King of kings would reply, depart from me you who works iniquity, for I never knew.

What is iniquity?

iniquity is the act of living lawless.

it’s deciding to be a bible believing follower of Christ Sabbath, but when the sunsets you live according to a different set of rules.

It’s where your living suggests that you have a different set of intentions.

It’s where the fruit you produce Sunday through Friday, doesn’t match the fruit you force to produce Sabbath.

In , Paul wrote:

“And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God; God delivered them to a corrupt mind.”

Some translations say a debased mind; that is a mind incapable of moral or ethical discernment.

Remember in Noah’s day.

The Bible teaches that evil thoughts and actions were continual.

People was waking up in the morning salty, petty, thinking about how to get back as someone, how they can’t stand someone, how they can hurt someone. And because of it God had to flood the earth.

But the more harsh reality is that Jesus said in , “But as in the days of Noah, so shall also the Coming of the son of man be”

We will be so focused on ourselves, that Christ’s return will be a surprise to us.

We will be so caught up in everything else that the Spirit of God that’s in us would starve.

Intentional Christian living goes beyond reading the Bible and making to church.

By His example, Jesus proved that the power of the Holy Spirit increases in us as we live out loud.

Showing a hurting and dying world that there is a savior who loves them.

Leading them to One who is preparing a new world for those who believe.

So what difference does it make?

Reflect on this just for a little moment...

Nothing new...

Just a refresher...

Jesus talked about 10 virgins

five were wise / five were foolish.

All 10 had oil.... but only five had enough.

I don’t want to just have enough, and you shouldn’t to.

i’ll close with this quote. A theologian wrote:

The Pulpit Commentary: Judges Chapter 16

There are men whom God has forsaken. No man is utterly forsaken by God; our continued existence is an evidence of the continued presence of him in whom we live and move and have our being. But the fuller presence of God, that which secures strength and blessing, may depart. 2. His departure is the greatest curse which can fall upon a man. The consequences of it are weakness, shame, ruin. The conscious realisation of it is hell. 3. The cause of this departure of God is in the conduct of men, not in the will of God. Samson forsook God before God forsook him. God does not visit his people casually, and only for seasons; he abides, and will never leave them (Isa. 41:17) till they wilfully depart from him.

Although a fictional character died, the story is so for Samson, thus it isn’t so for us.

Bec

As long as there’s breath in our bodies, God will still transform us, because He loves us.

My appeal is this:

“If you’re willing to intentionally walk with Jesus and want to stay filled with the Holy Spirit…Stand with me as I pray.”