What Could Have Been

Hey man, such an awesome reminder.

Lord, I need you. And that's a that's an everyday

truth. Maybe we don't pray that every

day, but it's an everyday truth that we need the Lord so told

the graduates. Well, one, let me just let you

know they're not here because I told them they could leave

because they've already heard me.

So that's why they slipped out. They had permission.

But we are glad to be able to honor them today.

And one of the things I was pointing out in the first

service is that graduation is such a big milestone for us and

our society, One, because it it's sort of marks this

transition when you leave grade school into what's next, then

all sudden you're kind of adulting.

You're making more decisions, you're responsible for more

decisions. You have more expectations.

You also have more freedoms, you have more opportunities.

And so it's a very, it's a cool time in life, but there's a lot

that all of a sudden you, this, this world opens up to you.

And so most graduates get this these questions every year their

senior year. And I tried to encourage seniors

early in the fall. I'm like, just have an answer.

People aren't trying to make you feel pressure.

People aren't trying to be a bully.

They just want to have conversation.

They're really being supportive. But people will generally ask a

senior in high school, So what are you doing?

Where are you going? What are you going to do?

Where are you going? What are you going to do?

I mean, and it, it's this constant questions that come to

you after graduation. Like people just want to know

the plan. And so there's this, there's

this question that's looming even with this new freedom,

these new opportunities, this looming question that can weigh

on a graduate. Like, where am I headed to right

now? Like it's just like, which way

do I go in life? Like, what am I supposed to do?

And you know, they're not going to have all the answers.

And I'll try to encourage them. Like you're not, no one expects

you to know your whole life when you're 18 and how that's going

to play out. And so, but that's still like

you're just wondering like, what do I, where, where am I headed?

Like, where am I going? What is life got for me?

And you know what? It's not just graduates is, is

it man? There are so many different

transition moments that come in life.

Some of some are planned and some are unexpected.

And we asked that question again, like where?

Where am I headed? Which way do I go?

And I love that Scripture gives us good guidance, like the best

guidance. And I love that early Christians

were not originally called Christians.

Not, not right. At first, people didn't know

what to call them. Like these are people who most

of them used to be Jews, but not all of them used to be Jews.

But they're all following Jesus. But he died, but he rose again.

And so this is, this is a whole new movement.

And so at 1st, and you can look at this in Acts, they were

called followers of the way and they were following Jesus's way.

They were followers of the way. Such a cool name.

I think for, for, for Christians, because that's what

we're doing. Like we the way to go is Jesus

and we are following that path according to how he leads us and

guides us. Psalms is is is full of of, you

know, such awesome chaters of Psalms.

I always tell people, if you're new to scripture, one of the

books you may want to start in the Psalms because one, they're

short chapters. So if you're just starting, it's

easy to kind of get into the rhythm.

And two, it will hit you where you are there.

There are some Psalms that will hit you right where you are

right then, often, more often than you would expect.

One Psalm, the really long 1 Psalm 119 is over and over again

showing the worth and value of Scripture.

But one of the things that it says, it talks about direction a

good bit. But one of the more famous

verses from that chapter says your word is a lamp unto my feet

and a light unto my path. And so the word of God lighting

the way for us, so we know which way to go.

What's the way? Well, and that's all well and

good, but sometimes we still have things that try to derail

us. Sometimes we still need

guardrails that are on the sides of the road so we can keep it

between the lines, so we can keep moving forward in the

direction we're supposed to go. Oftentimes the Bible talks about

the following in faith as a narrow path, and even in

Proverbs, it talks about not letting your foot swerve to the

to the left or to the right. So there's this moving forward

along a path that God has laid out the way the God that the

Bible gives us. And but I also want to point to

you to one of those, one of those curbs, one of those

guardrails that keeps us in in line where we're supposed to be.

And so that's going to be in first John chapter one.

I'm going to be in. First John chapter 1, I mean,

1 John 1 · chapter mention

sorry, first John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17.

1 John 2:15–17

It says this do not love the world or the things in the

world. If anyone loves the world, the

love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world.

And here's three big potholes when you got we have to watch

out for all the things in the world.

The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the

pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires.

But whoever does the will of God abides forever keeping us on the

the right path, the right way. Let me pray.

God, thank you so much for your word.

Thank you for the wisdom we can glean from it.

Thank you for the confidence we can have in doing life from it.

Lord, help us to be wise enough to understand the direction you

lead us to be wise enough to heed the warnings that you give

us and not allow our lives to swerve or waver from the

direction that you want us to go.

We love you very much and it's in Jesus name I pray.

Amen. So in your notes, you'll notice,

I don't think there's a slab in your notes.

You notice a couple of weird things.

One, there's the title, What could have been?

We'll get into that in a second. There's also some some

dichotomies here, some some comparisons.

Man is selfish. God is just.

Man takes, God provides. Man is undisciplined.

God is faithful. Man gets trapped.

God frees. Man marked by flaws.

God gives more grace, man gets trapped, God frees.

Oh, that's wrong there twice. And and so this, this comparison

between God and man, it's not a man versus God.

It's just more of a comparison because this is what happens in

life. Man does it.

Man will go and swerve off the path, but God is very, very

fateful, very steady in how he responds and even the direction

he's still guiding and leading us.

And so that's one that's in there as we speak today, as we

talk about our main person we're going to talk about, I just

wanted to pay attention to how many times those those come into

play as we look in scripture. So we also like, you know, along

this journey of life, we like to hear great stories, stories of

greatness, great accomplishments, great men,

things that that keep our attention, draw us in, make us

wonder. We are filled, given this, this

capacity for imagination and wonder.

And we we hear things and sometimes wonder, is it real?

Could it really happen? Scripture tickles that part of

our imagination in our mind very much.

And what's amazing always is that it's true.

But there's, there's also people even in our era now that we

wonder about one such person. His name is Vincent.

That and Vincent was a troubled child.

He was one of like 10 kids. He was mean, I mean mean mean he

was a bully. He was stronger than the other

kids. He was faster than the other

kids and and he didn't have a whole lot.

So he would beat up people, threaten them to take their

money so he could eat lunch. He would do, he was just

ordering. He playing, playing with

friends. He didn't have a lot of respect

for for people. And so one time they were

playing a game where they're tagging each other with rocks.

That's now that is, that is a country game right there.

They're tagging each other with rocks.

The game was over. He didn't think the game was

over just because the other kid went inside and he chunked the

rock through the door and hit the kid in the kitchen.

So, I mean, he was just, he was a problem.

There's all kinds of things about his childhood he was an

issue. Well, then he gets into middle

school and high school and there's, there's a Ave. that

people steered him toward and come to find out he all that

meanness, he was really, really good at sports.

And, and I'm talking freakishly good at sports.

So they channelled that aggression and that and that

temper and, and that energy towards sports.

And he was able to shift and be not the worst kid in your

classroom if you're a teacher, but be one that you're like, oh,

look what's happening here. And so he got, he gets to be a

senior in high school. We don't know, we hear stories

of his accolades in in school, but here's some things.

His senior in high school this phenomenal athlete he rushed for

well over 1100 yards in less games that are played now for

high school he averaged over 10 yards per carry as a running

back which that's a lot if you don't know football in his

baseball season his senior year there were 25 games and in 25

games each he hit twenty home runs.

His batting average was over 500 and in track, which he really

loved and excelled at, he was faster than most.

He could jump higher, longer, further than than most.

He set records in triple jump, long jump, high jump, and the

decathlon that they ran. Then in high school, he was so

far ahead his junior and senior year that he didn't he didn't

like to do long distance and that's the last event and so

he's like, can I just opt out of it?

And he was so far ahead points wise that no one was going to

catch him. So he won the decathlon by only

doing 9 events because he was that dominant.

Now, this is a kid who went to a high school that didn't have a

track, didn't know what a pole vault was until he showed up to

the track meet, watched another kid do it and just said, hey,

can I borrow that? And they're like, yeah, but this

pole is only rated for like, 150 lbs.

Oh, by the way, he still holds a high jump record for indoor high

jump in Alabama. And he did all this weighing

over 200 lbs Freakishly athletic.

You should not be able to do these things.

But this wild kid, they called him a wild boar, but that boar

got shortened to Bo. And he we know him as Bo

Jackson. The rest of his stuff, have fun

on YouTube and look him up. You can see what he did at

Auburn. You can see what he did in his

professional career as a baseball player and a football

player. But one of the things about Bo

Jackson is you look in Marvel and go, wow, he just did that.

But then you look at his whole story and there's this big

question mark that's on the story of Bo Jackson, at least

from a sports fan, because he was injured early and that

injury ended his career. This hip injury that actually

it's a hip injury that only Bo could have sustained because

most people that have a £300 man on their leg will fall down.

He had the muscle to just keep going and it popped his hip out

of socket. So he, he, he was just an

amazing athlete. But there's this question of

what could have been, what could have been, if Bo Jackson's

career had had not been stalled by or Hanford by that.

Well, there's a the guy in the Bible who is actually stronger,

more impressive than Bo Jackson. His physical proudness and, and

feats are more legendary and that he's just as real and it's

the man Samson. Now Samson is a story that you

may know about. You may remember coloring sheets

if you grew up in Church of a guy pushing some columns or

something like that. And he always had long hair.

There's a reason for that. And and so you may remember some

of that. But there's some pieces of

Samson's story story today that I may not that I may get to

share that you're not familiar with.

And so I hope that may be the case.

But Samson, Samson was someone that I mean, God had a direction

for him, but the way was hard for him.

Staying on the way was hard for him.

And so let's look at his story real as briefly as we can.

The scripts or references that I have there in your in your

worship guide, those are those are those specific references

are there because those are the time that Scripture clearly

indicates that there was God and Samson working, whether it's

through prayer or the Spirit coming on to Samson.

And I'm going to try to fill in the blanks quickly as I can.

So Samson is born in a time of it's this is one of the darkest

ages in the history of Israel. Pastors is preaching the sermon

series on Ruth. It happens during that this

time, but it's a it is a dark time in the history of Israel.

People, God's people continually go and do their own thing and

turn away from God. And that's how we start chapter

13 of Judges, if you will look with me.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight

of the Lord. By the time you get to chapter

13 of Judges, you're like, come on, people like it's AI mean.

It's the same pattern. So the people of Israel again

did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And so Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40

years. There was a certain man of Zora

of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his

wife was barren and had no children.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said

to her, Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but

you shall conceive and bear a son.

Therefore be careful to drink no wine or strong, strong drink,

and eat nothing unclean, For behold, you shall conceive and

bear a son. No razor shall come upon his

head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb,

and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the

Philistines. Skip to the bottom the end of

chapter 13. 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

mana. Muhammad Dan between Zora and

Eshtel. This is one of those stories

like this is one of those amazing birth stories.

This happens in Scripture. We've seen this before.

If you read your Bible, it happens in several places, Old

and New Testament. There is a couple, no kid,

heavenly messenger comes and says, guess what?

You're going to have a kid. He's going to do great things

and this is how his life is going to be marked.

I mean, we've got people like Abraham and and Sarah and their

special son Isaac that was born to them in their old age when

they should they had no business having kids and they're and

God's like here you go. And so, you know, look at

Samuel, the birth of Samuel, the prophet that comes after Samson

here. His mother cried and prayed,

wanting to bear a son and she gave him over to the Lord and he

is born and he's the king anointer and God does great

things through him. Look forward to the New

Testament. You've got the birth of Jesus

where a birth that shouldn't have happened in circumstances.

So be so bizarre. A virgin giving birth to

someone, but God said this one's going to be special and you'll

be blessed and sure enough, thankfully that was all true.

John the Baptist, a couple in their old age and the Angel

appears and says you're going to give birth to a son.

And John was like like Samson and and Samuel.

He was good to be a Nazarite from birth.

That meant that he was set apart for the service of God.

He was set apart to be holy and different than everyone else.

Now a Nazarite vow was something that anyone could participate

in. You can see that in the law, but

it was usually a chosen a chosen commitment for a certain time.

But there are these rare circumstances where it's someone

from from the womb that God's going to do something very

special in. And the end of that chapter

wraps up with that reminder of that special guidance from the

Lord, the way of Samson, because he was supposed to help deliver

the people from the Philistines. And at the end of chapter 13,

there is in the spirit of the Lord begin to stir him.

Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.

His purpose was to go and help deliver Israel, begin to deliver

Israel from the oppression of the Philistines to get them

right on track back to God and and free in the land that God

had promised them. And God stirred Samson.

And I am convinced now this is a little bit of Jason, but I'm

convinced that stirring is God saying, here's the path.

Here's where you need to go. You need to do the hard things

that I'm leading you to do, but you need to be about it and do

it. I've equipped you.

I've gifted you. You have all that you need.

And he was stirred. And yet it seems like Samson was

just like, yeah, no, I don't want to do that.

And it's like, oh, come on. Like this is supposed to be one

of those great birth stories and, and legendary and like,

really, really. And he's just like, Nah, I'm not

into that. And so Samson grows.

The next thing we see is Samson is not the the leader that we

hoped that he was going to be and said he's pretty, he's

pretty self absorbed. He's kind of doing his own thing

and, and it's just, it's wrecking him.

He had a way and he chose detours.

And you're going to see real quick that how in those in those

detours, he serves up unwanted drama and and heartache and hurt

in his life, unnecessary things that had he stayed the course

that God had laid out for him. I can't help but think that

things have been a little bit different for him personally.

And yet even though he was trying to detour, God's purposes

were still right. God's purposes and directive was

still good. And God was even using Samson's

knuckleheadness to accomplish his will.

And so let's look at a few of those incidents real quick.

In chapter 14 of the book of Judges, we see that one of

those, one of those three things that first John warned us about

the lust of the eye is the desire of the eye catches Samson

and he sees a girl. He sees a girl and he thinks,

man, God did right when he made that one.

And so he is all about this girl and she, he can't get her out of

his mind. He is, he is.

Here's the thing though, she is not from his people.

She is one of the Philistines. And and so 1, he shouldn't even

be looking that way, but he is. He's obsessed.

He's whooped. He tells his, he tells his folks

and they're like, can you not find any decent girl in all of

Israel? Like look around here, there's

all these kind of girls. I'm sure they suggested some

names and he's like, Nah, this one mom, this is the one she I

got to have her. And so he convinces his parents.

Only child. He convinces at this point.

At this point, he does have brothers.

We find out later. But I guess, I guess he's still

the only child at this one. I don't know.

He convinces his parents to go to Timna to meet this girl, to

set up the arrangement that they did in that time for a wedding.

And so he's going and then we can pick up this weird incident

that happens where God still is not even though Samson is doing

his thing and he is, he is detouring, he is deviating.

He is not listening to the guardrails or heeding the

warnings. God still hasn't let go of him,

so look in chapter 14, verses 6:00 and 7:00.

Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timna, and

they came to the vineyards of Timna, and behold, a young lion

came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord

rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore

the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.

But he did not tell his father and or his mother what he had

done. Then he went down and talked

with a woman, because she was right in Samson's eyes.

There it is again. It was in previous scriptures

that she was right in his eyes. And again, it's like his eyes

are just filled. His eyes like he sees something

and his desire, his desire is, is is overcoming what God has

told him to do, the sustainability of walking right

with God. And he's like, I don't care.

I got to have that thing that I see, that person that I see.

And so he's letting it feel his decisions.

So he goes on. The drama happens like crazy

after this. He gets there and Samson is not,

he's not just a big guy with a small hat.

You know what's the praise? Big shirt, small hat.

He's not one of those guys. Like he's not just a big muscle

guy with no brains. He, he shows us some of his wits

and some of his, his brilliance. He goes to the wedding, he's

meeting all the people. They're doing the ceremonies as

his custom in that area. There's like a party going on

and he's bringing all these people in and he offers them up

a Riddle. Because after, after the lion

had died, after some time, he had gone back.

He had picked up some honey out of the carcass of the lion,

which by the way, he wasn't supposed to touch drapes.

He's in a vineyard. He shouldn't have been there to

begin with. In fact, he may not have even

encountered the lion if he had been where he was supposed to

be. Well, then in the crisscrossing

back and forth during this time, he goes back and there's been

enough time that the bees have made a hive in the carcass of

the lion. There's honey there.

The lust of the flesh kicks in. He's like, oh, honey, I'm hungry

and that looks good. I want it.

And so he goes and grabs it. He's not supposed to touch dead

things. So he's once again in a vineyard

and once, and now he's touching dead things and he's eating from

it. I like honey a lot.

I don't know if I could do that. So this is all happening.

He even gives some to his mom and dad, but he did not tell him

where he got the honey from. And then he gives this Riddle

about involving the lion and the honey.

He says, if you can solve my Riddle, then I'll give you some

some prizes, 30 new garments for each of you, or a garment for

each of you. There's 30 guys there, he said.

But if you can't get my Riddle, then you owe me 30 garments.

And so it's just why competition?

But they're doing it well, they can't solve the Riddle.

They convince his fiance to tell, they find out the answer

and she's like, and they're threatening her.

They're like, we're going to burn you up.

We're going to burn your house down and your father's house

down and you if you don't tell us.

And so she finds out the answer from Samson.

He is, they tell him the answer, the answer, he's bad.

And then we have this occasion where because he owes 30

garments to these guys now. Chapter 1419 and 20.

And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and he went down

to Ashkelon and struck down 30 men of the town and took their

spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the Riddle.

In hot anger. He went back to his father's

house and Samson's wife was given to his companion who had

been his best man. Again, drama that he did not

want. And so all this is going on.

The way it's happening is ugly, it's sloppy, and Samson's paying

the price for it. But what is happening is what

God wanted him to do the whole time.

He wanted him to be a judge in Israel and to and to go after

the Philistines. He was to conquer them.

He was to be someone who stood in the gap between them and the

and the Israelites so that their oppression would end and so the

Israel would be free in their land, but also ultimately in

tune and in line with God again. So it's it's happening kind of

funny, but the Lord is still using Sampson to begin this

attack, this task. Sampson finally has his

attention on the Philistines in a way to go after them.

Well, that happens. Sampson decides he's going to

come back. He cools off.

He was mad. He did not know that they had

given his bride to his best man. So he comes back and he's like,

where's my wife? And they're like, we thought

that was over and well, how about her better looking little

sister? Way to go, Dad.

Well, that didn't that didn't work out too good.

The Philistines then burn his wife and her father because

Samson had burnt all their crops up.

And so it is. I'm telling you, it's drama.

God's still using him because in Sampson burning up all his crops

and he just crippled their entire economy for at least a

year or so, that was it. Hit the Philistines in a hard

blow. But all this Revs up to this

climactic moment where he's like, OK, I've gotten you back.

Well, the Philistines aren't aren't having it.

Sampson's off by himself pouting.

And this Philistines coming to Israel to take Sampson, and

there's 1000 or more of them there.

And the Judeans are and the Israelites are like, what have

you done? Like what have you done?

They're coming in here after us. And he's like, what are you

going to do to me? He's like, well, we're going to

tie you up and take you to them. He's like, OK, just don't fight

me. You can tie me up and take them

to me. Take them, take me to them.

He goes. And then we see in in chapter

15, they're at Lee, they're at Lehigh.

And when he came to Lehigh, the Philistines came shouting to

meet him. He's tied up the spirit of the

Lord rushed upon him and the ropes that were on his arms

became as flax that has caught fire and his bonds melted off

his hands. He found fresh jawbone of a

donkey, took out his hand, took it and struck down 1000 men.

After you whoop 1000 of a of a people with a jawbone of a farm

animal, they're going to leave you alone and that's what they

did. So he stayed in Israel.

He had, he had, he had done something that God was directing

to do earlier in a different way, but he had done that and he

judged Israel for 20 years. In the next passage I gave you,

he's super thirsty. And we see one of the only times

he prays to the Lord and he's complaining like God, I just did

this thing and now I'm super thirsty.

I'm going to die off thirst out here.

And God actually graciously opens up some waters for him to

drink. But he judged the Philistines.

He does. He was a judge in Israel in the

days of the Philistines for 20 years. 20 years is a long time.

He actually was on the right path.

He derailed for a while and he came back and he is the judge

for 20 years. Long time.

I our graduates, I was telling them like y'all haven't even

been alive for 20 years yet and they were, they're already

thinking their life is pretty full.

But 20 years, he did this and we don't have a lot about that 20

years because sometimes when you're doing what you're

supposed to do, there's no need for the fanfare.

There's no need for extra. It's just like, well, you're

doing what you're supposed to do.

This is your expectation and it's OK.

It's OK to fulfill your expectation, to fulfill your

mission, to fulfill the continue in the way that God has shaped

and molded and gifted you. That's OK.

In fact, the next time we see him, it's when he deviates from

the way. Again, this is the familiar

story of Delilah. The eyes he get, he gets he gets

distracted, he gets maybe, I don't know, bored.

He gets, I don't know what his motivation was, but he decides

that he's going to have he's going to leave the Israel Israel

again. He's going to be looking at the

at the ladies over in Philistines and he finds Delilah

and he is smitten with her three times.

She tries to get him to tell her what the source of his strength

is. And he's he tricks them every

time. He whoops up some Philistines

and he just have a has a great old time with it.

But at this point, he has conquered people.

He has he has set himself up as a threat, like the Philistines

won't come into Israel at all. As long as Samson's there,

things are good. He look what I've done.

And that pride of life has crept in.

And so in the biggest, boldest pride, this moment of his life,

he tells Lila, if you cut my hair.

Because remember the three things.

And that's right. Don't touch that things.

Don't he anything from the vine or drink and then don't cut your

hair. He's already struck out like

there's been two strikes against him and this is the third

strike. He's like, just go and cut my

hair, thinking that nothing else is going to change.

He's going to be able to break bonds.

He's going to be able to whoop up on the Philistines.

And of course, if you know the story, his hair gets cut.

That outer marking, that the last step that set him apart as

a man of God in the eyes of the whole society was removed.

They time up, they gouge out his eyes.

They make him a spectacle, a trophy to mock and to entertain

them. They're his torture is their

entertainment. They have this big festival to

their fake fish God Dagon, and there are 3000 plus there in

this temple and they bring Samson.

They bring Samson out as a this is our victory that Dagon has

given us. Look at this.

Look at this poor excuse, pathetic man.

And so he's sitting there in the middle.

He's entertaining them with his blindness, his suffering, and he

cries out to God another time. This is in chapter 16 at the end

he says. Then Samson called to the Lord

and said, Oh Lord God, Please remember me and please

strengthen me only this once, Oh God, that I may be avenged on

the Philistines from my two eyes.

And Samson grasped the 2 middle pillars on which the house

rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on

the one and his left on the other.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

And he bowed with all his strength.

And the house fell upon the Lords and upon all the people

who were in it. So the dead whom he killed and

his death were more than those he killed in his during his

life. Then his brothers and family

came, took him, and buried him with his father.

And again, it reminds us that he had judged Israel for 20 years

now at at that point. And what's crazy is there's 4

chapters and judges about this guy.

He has a miraculous birth, all this set up and his and

scripture is pretty silent on Samson after this.

There's just not a lot. There's not a lot of reference

to him. There's not a lot of, of

remember the days of. I mean, there's, it's just, it

happened. And maybe it's it's because we

look at it and there's just like, man, what could have been

man, if Samson had just stayed on the path, If he just stayed

on the way, would he have been the judge that completely

annihilated the Philistines? Would he have been the one that

completely removed that oppression that the children of

Israel were facing? What could have been if Samson

would have just stayed on the way?

We see it that way. As spectators, that's our

privilege to look and cast a judgement like that.

But get personal for a second. What about your path?

How many detours have you taken? How many times do you know that

the last something, something you saw all of a sudden was more

important than what God wanted in your life and you went after

it? Or some urge you felt was more

important than what God's designed for you is?

And you, you, you pursued that urge or that you're just, you're

just, your nose was up so, so high.

You were so proud of yourself. You thought you were untouchable

and you proceeded anyway and you detoured off of the way that God

had designed for you. So that's what happened to

Samson because it so it could be easy for someone else looking

and observing you and me to say, man, what could have been, man,

if you'd just done this, what, what would have been the story

what what could have been? But that's not the whole story.

Here's the part that's frustrating.

I don't know what is, but I know that God is gracious.

And there was more to Samson than just a disappointment and

great strength. Yes, he conquered.

He did what God had intended him to do.

He did it in a way that was kicking and screaming the whole

way. Except there was those 20 years,

right? There was the acknowledgement of

God working in him. Even the author of of Judges

makes clear that the Spirit rushed upon Samson and these

many of these deeds were done because of God's hand in his

life. He was intelligent, He was

strong, he was artistic, he wrote poetry.

We see that in this story too. But the redeeming factor that we

can have some some solace in and encouragement is in found in

Hebrews Hebrews Chapter 11 is known as the Hall of Fame of

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

faith. The writer of Hebrews is telling

us that look at all these people that have followed the Lord and

done it. And now as followers of Christ,

we can be faithful, we can follow the Lord too.

We have this this cloud of witness.

We have these people that have gone before us that have done

this. It is possible.

It's encouragement, this encouragement to to go forth do

great things for the Lord stay on the path he has for you is

gifted you stay the course and see what he does in your life.

It will have heavenly and forever impact.

And in Hebrews 11 this knucklehead is mentioned.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell

of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jepfa of David and Samuel and the

prophets. And he goes on from there.

There's more to him than just a very great, what could have been

story. Yes, he messed up, but this

gives us a little glimpse of how God sees us too.

We, we, you've messed up. I've messed up.

That's easy. Like that's a, that's a Gimme.

There's times that you have veered off the course that the

Lord has laid out for you. Some of you are in the ditch

right now. God can still he has purpose in

your life though. And God is still encouraging us

to stay the course, stay the path and stay on the path.

Repent, turn away from what has lured you away and get right

back on the path of the Lord. At the end, what you have done

for him is what matters at the end it Samson's faithfulness.

The times that he he had faithfulness in the Lord, the

time that his faith was used, exercised, That's what's matter.

That's why he's listed in this list.

This great man who did God did great things through what could

have been. I don't know, maybe scratch that

out. Maybe put what's going to be So

no matter where you are, maybe you're one of those people

that's in the ditch right now. You've swerved, you've chased

after something and you may not feel like you can get out of it.

God, God can work in that. God can work in your life.

It takes some humility. It takes some admitting that

you're wrong, but God can straighten that out and put you

back on the path. Early Christians were called

followers of the way. There's a today's Star Wars day.

I don't know if y'all knew that, but as a big Star Wars fan, it's

May the 4th and so May the fourth be with you.

And I thought I was going to do something about Star Wars this

whole time. I was excited.

Oh, senior Sunday is the Star Wars day.

I'm going to do something about Star Wars the whole time.

And God did not let me do that. Probably because it would have

been some pride of life kicking in.

But I will talk about one Star Wars thing because I don't want,

I don't want you to think life is hopeless if you've messed up

once, twice, 10 times. There's a, there's a character

in an offshoots Star Wars show called The Mandalorian.

And he follows this ideal, but he calls it the way.

And so when he makes decisions hard, a lot of times the hard

decisions come up. It's like, well, this is the

way. And I like that simplicity of

that, of that character. And then tying that with what

early Christians were called, I'm reminded that you know what?

We are human. We are gifted by God.

If you are a blood vault St. of the Lord, if you confess Christ

as your savior and Lord, you've been gifted.

You've been supernaturally gifted.

Samson was supernaturally gifted.

You have been super supernaturally gifted with a

gift set that is necessary and needed in our church.

But maybe you swear from it. Maybe there's times you're

having a hard time saying on the path, this is the way seek the

Lord, be repentant, know and trust his word and talk to him

often. Say in his presence and you will

continue to move forward in the right way.

I gave the students a Lantern. See if it works.

I gave him this Lantern because it looks like it has a little

flame inside of it. And as a believer each of us has

been given the the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul tells his protege Timothy and second Timothy 1/6.

He says, for this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the

gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my

hands. As believers, we get to fan into

flame, seek out the Lord, read his word, trust and pray to him.

We get to fan the flame that's within us and allow that fire to

not be destructive, but be useful to forge things in our

lives and the lives of others. To be a light on our own path,

but also a light to others to to make a difference, to be a

brilliant, a brilliant beacon in a very dark time.

And so we have that opportunity and that blessing to stay on the

path, follow the Lord and to fan in the flame, accepting all that

he has for us in the way that he wants to to to do it.

So I encourage you today, if you don't know the Lord as your

personal Lord and Savior, I'd love to talk to you about that.

Pastor Kyle would love to talk to you about that.

We have several in here that would love to to help you come

to a saving knowledge of the Lord and be gifted by the Holy

Spirit in your own life. If you're a believer that just

needs to confess some things, come to this altar, come pray,

just get right, get get right back on on the path repents and

get going again. God is gracious and what he

remembers is not the what it could have been, but look what

you did and when we see him in glory.

So if you'll stand, we'll pray. God, we love you.

Thank you so much for today. God pray your will be done in

our lives. I pray that we will be faithful

to follow you along the the the path that you have designed for

us. You've equipped us far.

You've gifted us far. God keep us from the lust of the

flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

Lord, help us to to heed the warnings of those guardrails and

not to fall into those pits, but to continue forward Lord, so

that we can look forward and see all that you're doing and going

to do. We love you and Jesus name we

pray, Amen.