Great Escapes

GREAT ESCAPES

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Ruby Bonner said that when her daughter-in-law was pregnant, her son went with her to doctor appointments.

2. The day the doctor checked the babies heartbeat for the first time, he handed the stethoscope to the father to listen. The doctor said, "Sounds like a washing machine, doesn't it?" The young husband agreed.

3. On the way home the Young husband was very quiet, then said, "If it's a boy, we can name him Kenmore. If it's a girl, we could call her Maytag!"

B. GREAT MOVIE ESCAPES

1. Some of the most exciting stories of all time involve escape scenes. The original movie The Great Escape was about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II. It featured Steve McQueen who uses a motorcycle to jump over a tall fence.

2. Then there’s the movie, The Fugitive. Only Harrison Ford could escape a horrific train wreck and still have the energy to elude Tommy Lee Jones and solve his wife's murder.

3. In Star Wars, Han Solo & Luke Skywalker help Princess Leia escape the clutches of Darth Vader.

4. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes made an impossible escape from Château d'If, an island prison to which he had been unjustly condemned.

5. The movie, 2012, is a series of escape scenes – with Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) & family escaping from the collapse of the Pacific Coast into the ocean; the explosion of the Yellowstone volcanic basin, and the inundation of the Himalayas Mtns by rising Indian Ocean.

6. Needless to say, people love escape scenes.

C. THESIS

1. The Bible also has many TRUE great escapes – past, present, and future. We’re going to look at some of them.

2. But not everything can be escaped from: especially 3 things. Lastly, there are 5 great escapes WE all must make.

3. The title of this message is, “Great Escapes.”

I. EXCITING GREAT ESCAPES IN BIBLE

A. LOT & FAMILY Genesis 19

1. Angels assisted the last minute escape of Lot and his family. They weren’t trapped there by assailants, but were enslaved by their own compromise & desires.

2. Running across the plains, they barely reached the outskirts of the blast zone when fire and brimstone fell from heaven.

B. THE 2 SPIES Joshua 2:1,4

1. In an espionage case reminiscent of 007, we see the King of Jericho's men searching the house of Rahab, with their swords drawn.

2. No Israelites were found in the house or on the roof, just a pile of flax. Underneath it were the two men, who she let down the wall of the City with a rope at nighttime.

C. SAMSON Judges 16:3. O.T. Superhero, like Hulk

1. One time Samson spent the night in Gaza. The Philistines decided to kill/ arrest Samson, so they locked and guarded the gate so he couldn't get out.

2. In the middle of the night Samson arose and finding the gates locked, he picked up the gates and the posts – weighing tons – and carried them 38 miles to the top of the hill.

D. DAVID 1 Samuel 23:26

1. David was pursued by Saul. The pursuit got so close that David and his men were on one side of a mountain and Saul and his men were coming around the other side of the mountain.

2. Henry Ford said, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

E. PETER Acts 12:10

King Herod captured the apostle James and put him to death. Next Herod captured Peter, intending to kill him also after the Passover.

2. Peter was in maximum security with 16 guards guarding him. Even in his sleep, Peter was chained to four soldiers, who were evidently lying with him on the floor.

3. But an angel appeared in the prison and escorted Peter out while the guards were kept asleep. When Peter

went to John Mark's house where the believers were holding an all-night prayer meeting, he encountered Rhoda the servant girl.

4. She left him at the door and went in to tell the people of faith and power that Peter had been released from prison. Instead of believing Rhoda, they thought she was delusional or else she was seeing Peter’s ghost.

5. But it was true, Peter had escaped.

F. PAUL – When he was a basket case

1. Paul was in Damascus when he was converted. He began boldly preaching that Jesus was the son of God. The Jews pressured the King, Aretas, to arrest Paul.

2. The city was surrounded with troops on the wall, and house to house searches were made for Paul.

3. Unable to escape through any of the gates, Paul was let down in a basket in the wall and so escaped.