You can learn alot From Samson (Giving yourself too much credit).

Objective:

To teach each brother and sister, that in all we do we must do all to the glory of God. To understand that most of our problems are symptoms that we have brought on ourselves. Lastly to recognize that God is responsible for the strength we have as believers.

Diagnosis: We as believers rely on our intellect, strength, materials, resources, and self-will. Without ever giving true glory to the God of the universe. We fail to give God glory and yet we blame him for our demise. In most cases our situations of misfortune and grief are caused by our own actions. Lastly, it is true that God never runs out of grace, mercy, or love; but God will leave you to your own demise if you continue to live in rebellion.

Sermon: We don’t know much about Samson, media has given us a false sense of who he was. For example: We don’t know if he is big, short , tall, black, fair skinned, all we know is that he was a Jew and he was a judge and he was incredibly strong; in fact it might be save to say that he was our first super hero. In addition, we she that Samson suffer from what I call the core four of downfall. As we go through the study tonight I will identify each one. Samson was the Last Judge who at the end brought God great glory, but his story is one that we need not to ignore. We will be reading from two pieces of scripture. Judges 13: 21-25 and Judges 16: 18-22 . These two verse passages are the most important passages in this entire chapter.

Judges 13:21-25 The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 16: 18-22 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

If you read this story in context it is one of the most remarkable stories in the bible.

Samson was predestined by God. In addition, God himself came to deliver the news about what Samson is supposed to do. The first thing you see in this story, is purpose. I truly believe weather good or bad all people have V.P.P value, purpose, and potential

Next thing I want you to see is that God gave his mother a command. And that command was supposed to passed on to her Son. Although, he had sin Samson was born pure or the closet thing to pure.

Now Before we get to the core illustration of the text, I want us to pay attention to the core four of downfall. Each one is a gateway to another one, and if anyone is girded about you, it most likely ends in a disaster or it blinds you from who it is that you need to be redeem. 1. Power + Ignorance = Pride. The first sin that we see that Samson suffered from was that of Pride, Samson was prideful he purposely rebelled against God he broke a numerous amount of the 10 commandments, he vow was from birth (explain), but his vow wasn’t suppose to end until the end of his life, and he broke every stipulation that was laid out before him 2. Lust: Samson wanted who he wanted and when he wanted them ( explain 14: 3-4) now although, God used Samson’s thinking and unsavory lifestyle for his own purposes. None the less Delilah show’s that he struggled with lust. 3. Sober-minded 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Not only can you be drunk from wine, but you can be drunk from lust, power, money, and many other things. The chapter doesn’t say that he drunk any wine, but it does allude to it some what. 4. Lastly, the downfall of Idolatry. Samson, never gave thanks to God, and all that he did he believed that it was the vow and himself that keep him safe. In all reality, this is what leads to the main idea of this passage, in which each downfall points to idolatry, whereas I love something way more than I love God or we say we want God, but we really don’t

What is even more amazing is Samson did all that he did, and he believed that his strength came from his hair . However, it was stated from the beginning were his strength came from. Samson never even noticed that the power of God left him and departed from him. You can’t keep doing what you want to do and believe that God will continue to show you favor, if you are living in sin and there is no consequences, but just blessing then those aren’t coming from God.