He was a Man..... Just like us!

Judges 13:1-5“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines

for forty years.

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said,

“You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it

that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be

touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in

delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

He was a Man..... Just like us!

James 5:16-18“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and

effective.Elijah was a man, just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three

and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”

They were all Men..... Just like us!

Judges 13:1-5“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines

for forty years.

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said,

“You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it

that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be

touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in

delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

A “colorful”

Life!

Judges 14:1-3“Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. 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.” His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives

or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

Judges 14:6-9“The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him

so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.....

Some time later ….he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees

and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey

from the lion’s carcass.”

Judges 14:19“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.”Judges 15:4-5

“he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a

torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.

He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.”

Judges 15:14-16“As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came

toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his

hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Then Samson said,

“With a donkey’s jawboneI have made donkeys of them.

With a donkey’s jawboneI have killed a thousand men.”

Judges 16:1-2“One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw

a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. The people of Gaza were told,

“Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the

city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

Judges 16:4“Some time later, he fell in love with a woman

in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

He was a Man..... Just like us!

Hebrews 11:1ff“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and

assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life,

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark”

Hebrews 11:14ff“All these people were still living by faith when

they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a

distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their

own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be

called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 11:17ff“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.”

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau”

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons”

“By faith Joseph ...spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.”

“By faith Moses’ parents hid him ”

Hebrews 11:24ff“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to

be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God

rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he

left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would

not touch the firstborn of Israel”

Hebrews 11:29ff“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea ”

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell”

“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Hebrews 11:32ff“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”

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

He was a Man..... Just like us!

James 5:16-18“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and

effective.Elijah was a man, just like us. He prayed earnestly

that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the

heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”

They were all Men..... Just like us!

What's my Point?

Romans 6:1-4“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that

grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were

therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead

through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Here is my Point?

Hebrews 12:1-3“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that

hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,

scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such

opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

If Samson made it into the

“Hall of Faith”

So Can You!

1 John 1:5-9“This is the message we have heard from him and

declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet

walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his

Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful

and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Hebrews 10:23-25“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging

one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”