Sermon Central
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Price Of Haircut @ Devil's Barbershop
Contributed by John Gaston on Jul 11, 2016 (message contributor)
Summary: Satan wants to "cut" the devotion of every spiritual Nazarite. He does it by severing your prayer life, devotional time, by some sin, etc. There's hope though. Samson's hair grew again and he was restored to his mission You can too!
THE PRICE OF A HAIRCUT IN THE DEVIL’S BARBERSHOP
Judges 16:15,17,19
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: MISSING HIS LOVED ONE (ONLY IN TEXAS)
1. Husband: “My wife is missing. She went shopping yesterday and hasn’t come home.
2. Sergeant: What’s her height? H: “Gee, I’m not sure. A little over 5 feet tall.”
3. Sergeant: “Weight?” H: “Don’t know. Not slim, but not real fat.”
4. Sergeant: “Color of eyes?” H: “Sort of brown, I think. I never really noticed.”
5. Sergeant: “Color of hair?” Husband: It changes a couple of times a year. Maybe dark brown, I can’t remember.”
6. Sergeant: “What was she wearing?” Husband: “Could have been pants, or shorts. I don’t know exactly.”
7. Sergeant: “What kind of truck did she go in?” H: “She went in my truck.” Sergeant: “What kind of truck was it?”
8. Husband: “A 2016 Ford F150, King Ranch 4x4 with eco-boost 5.0 L V8 engine special ordered with manual transmission and climate controlled air conditioning. It has a custom matching white cover for the bed, which has matching aftermarket bed liner. Custom leather 6-way seats and “Bubba” floor mats. Trail ring package with gold hitch and special wiring hookups, DVD with full GPS navigation, satellite radio receiver, 23 channel CB radio, six cup holders, a USB port, and four power outlets. I added special alloy wheels and off-road Michelins. It has custom running boards and indirect wheel well lighting.” At this point, the husband started choking up.
9. Sergeant: “Don’t worry buddy, we’ll find your truck!”
B. THE DEVIL HAS MANY OCCUPATIONS
A lot of people don’t know the devil has a number of different trades. Here’s 7 of them:
1. He’s an Excavator – he digs the ground out from under people and makes them fall into pits.
2. He’s a Salesman/ Marketer – he’s always trying to sell you his evil products.
3. He’s a Metallurgist – testing the metal you’re made of.
4. He’s a Prosecuting Attorney – always accusing people before the Father.
5. He’s a Mob Boss – He’s always trying to get people to break the Law, to trespass.
6. He’s a Cinematographer – He shows you movies you shouldn’t see in the theater of your mind.
7. But the devil has one more unusual job: he’s a Barber and he has his own barber shop. He is in the business of cutting hair, but he’s not interested in cutting just anybody’s hair. He wants to cut the hair of spiritual Nazarites.
C. TEXT
15 Then [Delilah] said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” 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. And his strength left him. Judges 16:15,17,19.
D. THESIS & TITLE
1. Delilah acted as the cosmetologist assistant in this story.
2. We’re looking at the life of a mighty man of God, who delivered God’s people for a generation. We’ll see his fall and his restoration.
3. The title of this message is “The Price of a Haircut in the Devil’s Barber Shop.”
I. A MAN WHO LOST TOUCH WITH GOD
A. HE NEVER INTENDED TO LOSE TOUCH
1. Samson had a miraculous beginning. Samson’s parents were old and childless. They’d given up on having any children.
2. An angel appeared to his parents, telling them they would have a son who would be consecrated to God all his life and would deliver Israel from the Philistines.
3. When he was born, his little body was dedicated to be God’s possession all his life as a Nazarite. From an early age Samson was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit began to manifest great strength in him.
4. Early in his life he had a passion for God – a sense of mission. He allowed the Holy Spirit to move in his life so powerfully that he alone put whole armies into retreat.
5. But over time he got cold and hardened his heart. He got distracted from God and began to toy with sin. Then Samson got even more reckless, sleeping with prostitutes.
5. Yet he still thought God would never abandon him. That’s why, when his hair had been cut off, he “shook” himself. But he was deceived.
6. Satan used many tactics to “cut off” Samson’s relationship with God.
