Becoming A Faith Action Hero Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• How many of you when you were children would dress up like a super hero or pretend you were some action hero?

• I never knew girls to do this but I know but many little boys at some point would come running out of the house in our underwear with some sort of cape flowing off our back with mom chasing us down the street trying to get us back in the house.

• How many of you put on the cape and jumped off the house? 

• I have a friend who used to be in a youth group I worked with that wanted to be a Ninja even in his teen years. He is a preacher now, I guess that is close. 

• Over the years there have been a lot of movies, television shows and comic books which featured some sort of super hero.

• Batman, Superman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Hulk are a few of the old school ones.

• There are a couple of newer movies, The Green Hornet and the Green Lantern.

• Then you have the whole “Action Hero” genre. Stallone, The Rock, Bruce Willis are but a few who star in those movies.

• There are many more. What is the appeal to these movies?

• These movies for the general public give us the opportunity to watch someone be what we would like to be. Many folks want to be heroes.

• They want to be the one who saves the earth from an asteroid that is about to destroy the world. We want to be that person who can stop evil in its tracks, who can make sure the bad guys pay for their crimes.

• Do you think folks would go see a movie where the hero both dies AND fails to accomplish the mission?

• I love the movie Armageddon. When Bruce Willis stays behind on the asteroid to set off the nuke, what a bummer if he failed and the earth was destroyed. I do not want to see that!

• A Hero is defined as follows- somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character. Somebody who is admired for outstanding qualities or achievements.

• WE all have the opportunity to become a faith action hero, one who is admired for living out the outstanding life that Jesus wants us to live.

• Living out the message we believe in may not keep an asteroid from hitting earth, but it can help keep someone else from spending an eternity separated from God when they see our example and want to follow it.

• SLIDE #2

• James 1:19–20 (NET)1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 1:20 For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

In order to become a Faith Action Hero we need to grasp:

I. The aura of a faith action hero.

• Every action hero or super hero has an aura about them.

• You know a characteristic or distinctive impression.

• What kind of aura do we need to present that will attract people to Jesus. What kind of demeanor should one who is guided by faith possess?

• When we are impacted by God’s word our demeanor will be different, but how?

• We will be known for three things found in verses 19-20

• SLIDE #4

• First we will be quick to listen!

• If we do not listen to God and His Word, we will end up pretending to follow His will because we have no idea what it is.

• The command to be quick to listen denotes an eagerness to hear and obey God’s message.

• Once we taste the wonderful blessing from God that flow down to us as a result of our obedience and His love for us, we should want to listen more and more!

• How many times have we been told something but did not hear it because we were so anxious to speak that we did not listen.

• It is interesting sometimes to listen to Christians discuss politics, economics or other matters. When you listen to these conversations, you can hear a lot of interesting human thoughts, but how often do we ask, “What would God’s Word have to say about this?” In order for us to be able to grow in Christ, we have to listen to God’s Word.

• Another characteristic we would be good to be known for is..

• SLIDE #5

• Slow to speak!

• Have you ever been around the person, who had all the answers, they would never let anyone else get a word in edgewise.