Just This Once
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HAVE YOU EVER HAD A BAD HAIRCUT?
Believe it or not, i can still have a bad haircut.
TODAY WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE WORST HAIRCUT IN THE BIBLE
INTRO SAMSON
Samson is a very tragic figure in the Bible. It’s a big story of walking down the wrong path even though you had all the potential in the world. Seeing it all go down the drain after bad decision after bad decision.
SAMSON HAD SOME AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Took down 1,000 people with the jawbone of an ass
One time he got mad cause he was caught with a call girl, took the city gates that weighed 800lbs and threw them off a mountain. Pretty rad
Got mad, took several hundred foxes, lit their tails on fire and released them in a field so it would burn his enemies crops. Pretty baller. Points for creativity.
SAMSONS PARENTS DEDICATED HIM TO THE LORD
Called a Nazarite Vow
Set him apart for a great purpose
Samson's agenda was to help deliver the children of Israel from the hands of the Philistines
Number one, you couldn't touch anything that was dead. Number two, you couldn't drink or touch any grape products. It was H2O, not Merlot. Thank you for laughing. And number three, a razor could not touch your head. That's what Samson rolled with, and that showed people that he was dedicated, set apart for service to our great God.
In the New Testament and in today's world, we don't have the Nazarite vow anymore, but we are sanctified. As believers as saints, we're sanctified, meaning we're set apart for God's service and our plan is unique. It's one of a kind.
SAMSON HAD SOME ISSUES
And these issues kept him from seeing a lot of the greatness that God had in store for him.
TIMELINE ILLUSTRATION
But Samson, right at the end of his life opens up to let God do something through him.
GOD TOLD HIS PEOPLE NOT TO HANG AROUND WITH THE PHILISTINES. THESE WERE THE PEOPLE NOW INHABITING THE LAND THAT ISRAEL WAS SUPPOSED TO OWN.
Samson was a part of the tribe of dan. And they were supposed to be moving the philistines out. SAMSON was supposed to be leading the charge.
And God didn’t want them with them hanging with the philistines because he knew his people would start to worship their idols.
NOT EVERYONE CAN DO WHAT OTHERS CAN DO AND NOT SIN.
SAMSON IS A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR ALL OF US TODAY
1 One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye.
Philistine people, they were very sensual people, very sexual people, and we're to find out very sinister people. They worship a God called Dagon and Dagon was a God of fertility so there was a lot of prostitution and sexuality during worship. There was child sacrifice.
Samson WENT DOWN. Geographically. BUT WE GO DOWN SPIRITUALLY.
TEMNA-TATION
WHEN WE DO THINGS AGAINST GOD’S WILL IT ALWAYS LEADS US DOWN.
COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE GETS US IN TROUBLE
SO SAMSON — Takes a 4 mile journey to Timnah — FINDS A PHILISTINE PHILLY — AND LOOKS WHAT HAPPENS
2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”
3 His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.”
Samson probably said this phrase. I've said it before, so have you. When I've fallen into sin. "Just this once." "Just this once I'm going to go to Timnah because, after all, the girls in Timnah compared to these Jewish girls, come on.
Samson. We're going to find out got leveled by lust. What is lust? It's when a God-given desire goes haywire. It's not the first look. It's that second and third look, when the attraction leads to an illicit action. That's mental and then it becomes physical.
SAMSON GOES BACK AND FORTH TO TIMNAH — WEDDING PLANNING
One day he runs into a lion and kills it
Comes back and see’s bees — beehive — tries the honey
BROKE ONE OF THE LAWS IN THE NAZARITE VOW
JUST THIS ONCE.... — See how the one compromise has now led to another?
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE SAID “JUST THIS ONCE”
Ill click on the website
Ill have that conversation
Ill go to that place
Eventually “JUST THIS ONCE” turns into “JUST ONE MORE TIME”
WE END UP IN TIMNAH
Heres another questions: ARE YOU LEADING OTHERS AROUND YOU TO TIMNAH
SAMSON TAKES HONEY TO FAMILY, DOESN’T TELL THEM WHERE IT CAME FROM
Then, as this wedding began to come about, he had this drinking fest with a bunch of crazy Philistines. Obviously, he got drunk and drank wine. That's the second part of the Nazarite vow that he's broken.
SAMSON DOES SOME MORE WEIRD STUFF — wedding doesnt work out — DRINKS LOTS OF WINE 2nd Vow— she ends up marrying his best man… DRAMMMMMMMA
20 YEARS GO BY — SAMSON IS BEING A GOOD BOY
WHAT DOES SAMSON DO? HE GOES BACK TO TIMNAH
This time he finds the call girl — Philistines decide they are gonna get him — He evades them this is when he throws the city gates
THEN HE SEES DELILAH
Ohhhhhh mannnnn. He’s in love instantly. Delilah had some bad plans for Samson
She convinces him to tell her his secret. CUT HAIR = NO STRENGTH
19 Delilah lulled Samson 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.
21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.
ISN’T THIS STORY WILD?
FROM HERO TO ZERO ALL THIS POTENTIAL JUST SEEMINGLY THROWN AWAY
BUT THIS STORY RINGS TRUE TODAY AND I’VE FOUND THAT THERES TWO TYPES OF THINKING
I CAN’T DO TOO MUCH
I’VE DONE TOO MUCH
NO MATTER WHERE YOU FALL IN THIS THE DANGER IS THE SAME
YOU WILL MISS OUT ON GOD’S BEST FOR YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU GIVE INTO SIN
SIN WILL TAKE YOUR FURTHER THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO GO, KEEP YOU LONGER THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO STAY AND COST YOU MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO PAY
WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
REPENT
TURN THE OTHER WAY. TO CHANGE YOUR MIND.
22 But before long, his hair began to grow back.
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.