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Strong Man- Part 4

Weak Men Become Strong

Samson was an incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will.

Judges 16:21 “Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.’

Weak men become strong when they finally realize…

1. I am not strong enough to overcome the power of the enemy

John 10:10 “the thief comes to steal kill and destroy.”

I Peter 5:8 “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I Corinthians 10:12 “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”

You may not be strong enough
but you can be smart enough.

2 Corinthians 2:11 “We are not ignorant of the devils schemes.”

So how do I fight smarter? Predetermine the boundaries.

2. The enemy is not strong enough to overcome the power of God

Judges 16:23-25 “The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us is now in our power!” 25 Half drunk by now, the people demanded, “Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof.”

Romans 8:11 “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”


3. God is strong enough to overcome the power of my failure

Judges 16:25-30
“So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof. 26 Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand, “Place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to rest against them.” 27 Now the temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30 he prayed, “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 during his entire lifetime.


Judges 13:7 ‘You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.’”

Romans 11:29 “the gifts and callings of God are without repentance.”

Romans 11:20 NLT “ For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.”

So what do I do?

Judges 16:28 “Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time.”

1. Pray:

2. Push ahead:

Philippians 3:13 “Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead I press on.”

Judges 16:29 “Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands.”

Colossians 1:23 “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

Strong Man- Part 3

Strong Man
Part 3
Small Steps Toward Big Destruction

Judges 15:19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,[c] and it is still there in Lehi. 20 Samson led[d] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Key thought: Men don’t ruin his life all at once, they ruined it one step at a time.

Judges 16:1 “One day Samson went to Gaza.”

3 steps that Samson takes on the pathway to destruction.

  1. Samson was involved with the wrong people.

Judges 16:1 “One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.”

Verse 4 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

I Corinthians 15:33
“Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Proverbs 13:20 “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

2. Samson fell in love with the wrong things.

Judges 16:4 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

Matthew 6:21 MSG “It’s obvious isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be and end up being.”

James 4:4 MSG “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.


Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[

Deuteronomy 6:3
“Fear the Lord and serve Him only”

Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

3. Samson ignored the warnings

Judges 16:4-6 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Proverbs 22:3 NCV “The wise see danger ahead and avoid it, but fools keep going and get into trouble.”

verse 20 “Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.”

verse 19 “ After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And his strength left him.”

verse 20-21 “Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

Verse 22 “But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

Strong Man Weekend

Strong Man Weekend

Matthew 12:29 “how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.”

Key thought:  Strong men become weak when they are tied up with the wrong things. 

Judges 16:21 “Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.”

I John 2:14 “I write to you, dear children,     because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers,     because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,     because you are strong,     and the word of God lives in you,     and you have overcome the evil one.

Verse 15 “Do not love the world, men, or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Verse 16 “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Satan’s 3 fold plan of attack.

1. Lust of Flesh
2. Lust of the Eyes
3. Pride of Life

Example: King David.
Example: Adam and Eve
Example: Jesus
Example: Samson 

1. Lust of the Flesh

2. Lust of the Eyes

Judges 14:1 “Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

Judges 16:1 “One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.

Judges 16:4 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah"

3. Pride of life

Judges 16:21 “Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.”

1. Lust of the flesh:  Samson ended a slave, in a prison yard, grinding grain.

2. Lust of the eyes:   Samson’s eyes were gouged out.

3. Pride of life:  
Samson end up void of all his strength in a colosseum surrounded by thousands of Philistines laughing and ridiculing him. 

I John 2:15-16 NLT “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

Galatians 5:16-17 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

You are a 3 part being. Body Soul and Spirit.

Galatians 5:24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Strong Man- Part 2

Strong Man Part 2
Emotion Driven or Spirit Led?

Samson was an incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will.

Romans 7:18-19
“I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”

Galatians 5:16-17 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Judges 14:14 “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”

verse 18 “So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”

Verse 18b “Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”

2 emotions that bring this Strong Men down.

  1. Anger

Verse 19 “Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.”

verse 20 “Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

James 1:19-20 “take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

Proverbs 14:17 “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly”

Proverbs 19:3 “A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.”

2. Pride

Judges 15:15 “ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.”


Judges 15:16 “Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them.[a]
With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.”

Judges 15:18-19 “When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone…18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived.

I Peter 5:6-7 “humble yourself under his mighty hand.”

Strong Man- Part 1

Strong Man
Part 1
When Strong Men are Weak

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

The Nazarite Vow:

1. Don’t drink alcohol
2. Don’t touch anything dead
3. Don’t cut your hair

Samson was an incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will.

3 attitudes that make strong men weak.

1. Lust = I want it.

Judges 14:1-2 “One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. 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.”

2. Entitlement = I deserve it.

Judges 14:8 “Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
3. Pride = I can handle it
Judges 14:10
“Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.”

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace.”

Satan loves to make strong men weak, but God loves to make weak men strong.

3 attitudes that make weak men strong.

  1. I want God

2. I deserve death

3. I can’t handle anything without God

2 Corinthians 12:9-11 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”