Do You Like Mushrooms? Part 1 of 2
Hebrews 11:35-40
Pastor Ryan Akers
(Inspiration for this message came from Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way)
Me- Cell Phone- never wanted one- always got annoyed with people who drove with them. Now I can’t live without it.
VH1 TV Show- I love the whatever (70’s,80’s,90’s)? Show different pics of products that have gone from beginning to now. From this to this pics
Have items on hand- cell phone, ipod, mini hard drive, video games- Atari to Nintendo DS.
In just the last 50 years there has been incredible innovation in technology. We have so many items in our home that we take for granted that really make our lives easier. TV remotes, microwaves, refrigerators, garage doors.
All of these things had to be invented by somebody. Some of the greatest inventors have been considered crazy.
Edison tried 50,000 times before he perfected the light bulb.
George Washington Carver- development of the peanut- over 300 uses from axel grease, to peanut butter.
Men and women who achieved what everyone else thought was impossible. Through all their adversity they stayed true to accomplishing their task. They were willing to risk failure because they knew that eventually they would discover the answer and when they did they were no longer seen as crazy but as genius. And without their drive and passion for innovation, their willingness to take risk we may not have hundreds of the amenities that we do today.
We- Maybe you have never invented something that could help all of man kind but I think all of us have at one time or another dreamed of doing something or becoming something that would help with the greater good. Everyone wants to be known for something and to at least once in our lives stand out in the crowd. We want to be noticed for doing something special. To do something that nobody else has done.
And unfortunately most people usually have the attitude, “Well I’m just one person, what am I supposed to do that is so great? How am I supposed to stand out with everyone else? I’ll just let someone else do it and then I’ll follow them. ?”
But I want to try to prove to you today that the people who have stood out the most in history, those who have made the greatest impact are those people who you’ve never heard about.
You see we enjoy some great things around us but if it wasn’t for people like Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby we wouldn’t be able to function on a day to day basis. They invented the microchip which is in every piece of technology imaginable. Or how about tim burners lee who along with a group of others invented the internet. Or Martin Cooper who invented the cell phone.
There are so many great men and women of innovation that we don’t know about yet we are influenced by their work on a daily basis. And what these people have done is great but the truth is that what they invented will one day be replaced with something better. Technology is always changing and someday they will be totally forgotten.
These men and women were amazing innovators but their innovations and desire to take risk when nobody else would doesn’t hold a candle to those people that the bible calls the others.
God’s word is also full of stories of people who weren’t innovators in the sense that they created something. The innovators and risk takers that we read about are the ones that were willing to risk anything just because God asked them to obey. When everyone else thought they were crazy and ridiculed them they obeyed.
Noah- big boat
David- Goliath
Moses- Staff and miracles
Abraham- kill his son
Disciples- left everything for Jesus
Jesus- believed he was God
We read about these people all the time but the ones we read about are far out numbered by the people we don’t know. These are the others. These are the people who were willing to go against the status quo of society and stand up for what they believed about God and about Christ.
They put their lives on the line so that you and I can have this word so you and I can know what it means to have salvation. Their lives are different from these men and women who have created technology because 2 thousands years later we are still talking about them. We don’t even know the man’s name that invented the cell phone 30 years ago.
If we want to leave a lasting impact on this world then don’t think it has to be done by inventing something. Our impact will be left by being willing to obey God till the end. Those are the true innovators those are the ones that will be talked about for hundreds or thousands of years. And most people won’t even know their names. They will be the others.
God- Hebrews 11:35-40
First 34 vss- not the rule but the exception to the rule. This is a very short list of extraordinary individuals.
The Others far out number the great characters. These people had the faith to believe that God would give them what was promised. The promise is that Christ would one day establish His Kingdom again on this earth.
They were willing to go against tradition of Jewish leaders- risked everything for a promise.
You- So what is holding you back from taking risk in your life? Are you worried what people will think of you? Are you worried that people will call you crazy or that you might fail? All of that is a possibility but if we want to be stand out we have to take that leap of faith. We have to be willing to fall on our face and take risk for God. We have to be willing to change who we are and be willing to get out of our comfort zone. If we do what we’ve always done then we’ll get what we’ve always got. God has so much more planned for you in your life but you have to be willing to take that leap and say God’s I don’t know where I’ll land but I’m willing to jump if you want. I’m willing to look at where I need to change or what I need to change about me.
We- So what is up with the title of this message? I want to close by reading a story out of a book that has greatly challenged me in my walk with Christ. The Barbarian Way is all about becoming an innovator and a life changer through obedience to Christ. Erwin McManus tells a great story that I will let speak for itself.
The Barbarian Way- Pgs. 49-53
How do you like mushrooms? I don’t know about you, but I want to be a mushroom eater. I want to take risk in my life that may cause me to face ridicule or even failure, but when we take that risk for Christ we can have the assurance like the others that our work would not be in vain. You can never be wrong when you are living in God’s will. When your willing to eat the mushroom and not just follow the crowd. When your willing to risk everything for the hope of a promise. That is who God is looking for and that is what God wants you and me to be.
