God's Hero

“God’s Hero”

July 28, 2012

Hebrews 11:32-39

“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.

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith...”

Revelation 22:1-5

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

God chooses to work through people. He doesn’t have to – He is God. He speaks worlds into being. He creates life. He calls the stars by name. Man is nothing but a vapor to Him. But for some reason God only knows, He loves us. He wants us to love Him in return. And for that we need a free will. We need the power and ability to make choices. So God chooses to work through man – His greatest creation.

God can not use just anyone. God needs a hero. We read about some of the great hero’s of the faith. We read about what they went through and what they had to give up. What would possess a person to live like that? The answer is – faith. They had a tremendous faith in God. They had a tremendous love for God. They were heroes in the true sense of the Word. The dictionary defines hero as: “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.”

Noble qualities means “exalted moral and mental character”. So a hero is someone who is distinguished by his morals and courage.

I believe God has his hero’s today. I believe some of those hero’s are you. I want to explain why I think that and I want to share three qualities of a true hero this morning.

First of all, a true hero is not fearless – he simply overcomes his fear. Moses was a hero in my book. He left Egypt running in fear for his life – but he returned in obedience to God to challenge the Pharoah. Listen to him facing his fear. God says:

“And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:9-11

“Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” Exodus 4:1

God had to convince Moses that he can do the impossible - with His help. Moses has a lot of doubts. He has a lot of fear. He has a lot of insecurities and feelings of inferiority.

Gideon is another reluctant hero. Listen to his calling to be God’s hero.

“The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”