Made for Greatness Part 3

Made for Greatness

Psalms 139:14 (NKJV)

14I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

You were made for Greatness

Psalms 139:15-18 (NKJV)

15My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

God planned your life thousands of years ago

The Heroes of Faith

Hebrews 11:32 (NKJV)

32And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:

And Samson

The Story of Samson

‘a colorful character’

The Birth of a Vision

Judges 13:24 (NKJV)

24So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

Samson was born to deliver the Children of Israel from The Philistines

Judges 13:25 (NKJV)

25And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Greatness requires a Consecrated Life

Judges 13:3-5 (NKJV)

3And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.  4Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Both mother and son were to live a life set apart for God

Greatness for God requires Sacrifice

The Death of the Vision

Judges 16:21 (NKJV)

21Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

Samson lost the anointing because he lived a life of compromise

Truth ~ compromise will rob you of God’s Best!

The Fulfillment of the Vision

Judges 16:22 (NKJV)

22However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

One of the most powerful verses in the Bible

It is not over until God says it is over

Repentance is the Key

The Conclusion of Samson’s Life

Judges 16:30 (NKJV)

30Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

Truth ~ It is not the way people start in life, but they way they finish

Truth ~ Samson’s life should give us all Hope

Truth ~ God does not overlook our weakness, but make provision for them