EVERY SUPER BOWL NEEDS A GREAT BACK
“NO GREAT CHAMPION IS UNDEFEATED, IF THEY ARE UNDEFEATED THEY HAVEN’T BEEN FIGHTING LONG ENOUGH.” GREAT CHAMPIONS DO NOT SETTLE FOR DEFEAT BUT THEY ALL HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT.
STRUGGLE/FIGHT > SETBACK > BOUNCE BACK > COMEBACK
WHEN YOU’RE LOSING A FIGHT, IT’S A SETBACK.
IF YOU RALLY & WIN, THAT’S A BOUNCE BACK.
THERE ARE SOME SETBACKS THAT YOU CAN BOUNCE BACK FROM, AND SOME YOU CAN’T. THOSE REQUIRE A COMEBACK.
TO MAKE A COMEBACK REQUIRES ANOTHER FIGHT.
LOSING ONE FIGHT DOES NOT MAKE YOU A “LOSER”, IT MAKES YOU A CANDIDATE FOR A COMEBACK!
Moses & His Set back
THE SET BACK: MOSES FLEES TO MIDIAN
“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” – EXODUS 2:11-25
SETUP FOR THE COMEBACK: MOSES & THE BURNING BUSH
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[b] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” — EXODUS. 3:1-6
YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND A COMEBACK UNTIL YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH A SETBACK
MOSES WAS DESTINED TO BE A DELIVERER FOR ISRAEL
HE THOUGHT HE WAS HELPING SOMEONE, BUT HE WAS ACTUALLY DELAYING HIS OWN DESTINY
DEFINING A “SETBACK”
NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM THE POSSIBILITY OF A SET BACK
“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” — I COR. 10:12
“SETBACK”: TO SLOW THE PROGRESS OF PURPOSE, TO HINDER OR DELAY.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SETBACKS (SMALL AND LARGE)
THE COSTS OF A SETBACK MAY DIFFER
THE CAUSES OF A SETBACK MAY DIFFER (HEALTH, PANDEMIC, ECONOMY, CHOICES…)
THERE ARE VARIOUS REPERCUSSIONS OF A SETBACK
MOSES’ SETBACK DID NOT REMOVE HIM FROM HIS DESTINY, IT ONLY DELAYED IT
“And Moses feared, and said, ‘Surely this thing is known.’ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.” — EXODUS 2:14-15
“MIDIAN”: CONTENTION, DISCORD OR STRIFE
OUR SETBACKS HAVE A WAY OF SENDING US INTO THE LAND OF CONTENTION WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF CONTENTMENT.
MOSES ENDED UP WORKING FOR HIS FATHER IN LAW FOR 40 YEARS.
SOME COMEBACKS TAKE MORE TIME TO REBUILD, REPUTATION, CONFIDENCE…
“FAILURE IS ONLY THE OPPORTUNITY TO BEGIN AGAIN MORE INTELLIGENTLY” — HENRY FORD
KING DAVID & HIS BOUNCE BACK
DEFINING A BOUCE BACK
RESILIENT FAITH; THE ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK! WHEN YOU ARE STRETCHED BUT YOU DO NOT BREAK.
“RESILIENCE”: THE CAPABILITY OF SOMETHING STRAINED TO RECOVER ITS SHAPE, ESPECIALLY AFTER COMPRESSIVE STRESS. AN ABILITY TO RECOVER FROM MISFORTUNE.
RESILIENT PEOPLE CONTINUALLY SEEK TO REASSERT SOME COMMAND AND CONTROL OVER THEIR DESTINY RATHER THAN SEEING THEMSELVES AS PASSIVE VICTIMS
RESILIENT PEOPLE HAVE A LARGER THAN USUAL CAPACITY FOR MORAL COURAGE—REFUSING TO BETRAY THEIR VALUES.
RESILIENT PEOPLE FIND PURPOSE AND MEANING IN THEIR SUFFERING.
MICAH THE PROPHET
“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” — MICAH 7:8
“ARISE” – TO BOUNCE BACK AND CONTINUE
THE SET BACK: THE PASSING OF HIS BABY
The Bounce Back: He arose again
“Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.” — II SAM. 12:20
SIGNS OF A SETBACK THAT MAY NOT ALLOW A BOUNCE BACK:
PAIN YOU CAN NOT DESCRIBE
PRESENCE IS SOMETHING YOU LONG FOR
PURPOSE SEEMS TO BE IN PERIL
PROMISES SEEM TO PASS YOU BY
POSITION IS JEOPARDIZED
POWER IS LOST
Sampson & HIS Comeback
DEFINING A COMEBACK
COMEBACKS ARE DIFFERENT THAN BOUNCE BACKS
“SUCCESS IS NEVER FINAL AND FAILURE IS NEVER FATAL, IT IS COURAGE TO CONTINUE THAT COUNTS” — WINSTON CHURCHILL
“COMEBACK”: A RETURN TO A FORMER CONDITION OR POSITION OF FAVOR.
THE GREATEST ALLY TO YOUR COMEBACK IS GODS FAVOR
FOR MOSES IT WAS TEN PLAGUES AGAINST EGYPT, A RED SEA CROSSING, A GREAT COMEBACK
“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” — PS. 30:5
SAMPSON: “HIS HAIR BEGAN TO GROW AGAIN”
“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. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.” When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.”
While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars,
Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.” — JUDGES 16:21-31
“REMEMBER ME” – TO MARK OR MAKE MENTION
“STRENGTHEN ME” – TO REPAIR OR FORTIFY
“AVENGE” – TO STAND UP FOR OR VINDICATE
FINAL THOUGHTS
SOME HAVE SAID THAT SAMPSON WENT TO HELL, THAT HE WAS SELFISH AND UNFAITHFUL.
BUT, THIS VERSE TELLS US THAT SAMPSON WAS A MAN OF FAITH. A MAN WHO OVERCAME MANY STRUGGLES IN LIFE. HE WAS SET BACK, HE BOUNCED BACK, AND HE MADE A GLORIOUS COMEBACK… THROUGH FAITH.
“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” — HEBREWS 11:32-34
WHEN YOU’RE LOSING A FIGHT, IT’S A SETBACK.
IF YOU RALLY & WIN, THAT’S A BOUNCE BACK.
THERE ARE SOME SETBACKS THAT YOU CAN BOUNCE BACK FROM, AND SOME YOU CAN’T. THOSE REQUIRE A COMEBACK.
WHEN YOU’RE IN A FIGHT RIGHT NOW—A STRUGGLE—AND YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE STRENGTH TO PERSEVERE, KEEP YOUR SIGHT ON JESUS FOR HE WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH FOR YOUR BOUNCE BACK, OR YOUR COMEBACK!