TITLE: HEROES OF GOD
TEXT: HEBREWS 11:6-7
INTRO: In the 1980’s there was a popular song that said “I need a hero” if there was ever a day and time that this world needed a hero it is now. The commercial for cheese had the world falling apart and underdog under a table eating a block of cheese. The people we have looked to as hero’s cannot help us.
We have a unique view of what makes a hero today. Men like Michael Jordan because he can jump higher than others and put a ball through a hoop; Tiger Woods because he takes a little ball and puts it in a hole.
But this world is filled with all kinds of true heroes; heroes of faith, individuals that live a life that brings glory to God on a daily bases.
What is a hero? In my opinion a hero is just AN AVERAGE PERSON THAT DOES ABOVE AVERAGE THINGS.
A Texan was giving a tour of the Alamo to a group of people from Boston when the Texan looked at one man and said “I guess you have never heard of so many heroes before being from Boston.” The man from Boston replied “I guess you never heard of Paul Revere?” “Sure I have” said the Texan, he is the fellow that ran for help”
A giant being champion is not heroic but an average boy taking out that giant with nothing but a rock, that’s heroic. A king building an idol to himself and making everyone worship him is nothing above average but three young men refusing to bow to this idol, that is heroic.
What makes someone a hero for God?
I. Integrity (Noah)
- Noah was the only man in all the world with his integrity still intact
- While others were lieing; cheating, stealing giving themselves to all sorts of immoral and ungodly acts; Noah stood and delivered the unpopular message of God
- It doesn’t take a man to give in
- A man with integrity stands for what is right when no one else will
- But we have lost the idea of integrity in the world today
ILL. $20 bill illustration: ask, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Then crumple it up, step on it, roll it around and then hold it up again and ask, “Who still wants this $20 bill?” The value remains no matter what the item looks like on the outside – no matter how scarred, bruised or beaten, the value is still the same. That is integrity.
- Becoming a person of integrity means:
"Deciding to integrate my heart’s value into my daily actions" ~ John Maxwell
- Job 4:6 - “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
- Hope for what? Hope that some day when I stand before God I will not be ashamed of how I lived and what He will say to me.
- Hope that I will be commended and not rebuked for my lifestyle and the testimony that I had while alive.
ILL. In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric hordes to the north; so they built the great Chinese wall. It was so high they knew no one could climb over it and so thick that nothing could break it down. They settled back to enjoy their security. During the first hundred years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded three times. Not once did the barbaric hordes break down the wall or climb over the top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right through the gates. The Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.
- A need people of integrity to stand up in this nation and be hero’s
II. Commitment (Abraham)
- Abraham was committed to God
- His love was so deep that he was willing to do whatever God asked of him
• Leave your home land
• you family
• everything that you have ever known
• Offer your son
• the one you love more than life
• the one you waited on for almost 100 years
- Commitment means to be a Giver / men and women that sacrifice
- People that have been remembered, not for what they got, but for what they gave. They were the responsible ones. They sacrificed their standard of living for their standard of giving. They are hero’s.
- The "me generation" through which we are passing does not possess the attitude of heroes.
- This generation needs some real heroes
Pat Tillman was a football player for the Arizona Cardinals. On the day of the 911 attacks, he walked into the Cardinals’ media room to watch the news coverage. Later, he told his girlfriend, "I want to join the army. My great grandpa’s been overseas. Other people in my family have been in the military. And I haven’t done a darn thing. It’s time for me to do something for my country. I really believe that this is something I’m supposed to do."
And so he got married to his girlfriend. And they went on a nice honeymoon in Bora Bora. After they got back, he turned down a $3.6 million dollar contract extension from the Cardinals. And he joined the Army. And he went to Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. Last April, Pat was killed in the line of duty. The following week, they had a nationally televised memorial service for Pat in Arizona. "The Vice President of the Cardinals got up and said, "In sports, we have a tendency to overuse terms like "courage," "bravery" and "heroes." Then someone special like Pat Tillman comes along and reminds us what those terms really mean."
III. Victories (Gideon) vs 32
- Battles
- Before there are victories there must be battles
- A hero will face battles
- Gideon faced battles in his life
- His nation was in hiding / fear from enemy
- His family were idol worshippers
- Enemy of thousands Gideon and 300 men – average people under the direction of God doing above average thing and hero’s are born
And I think about Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry. Who went to Afghanistan as humanitarian workers. And they were put into prison by the Taliban for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with other Afghanis. And even while they were in the prison, with the possibility of death hanging over their heads, they kept preaching the gospel! They loved Jesus so much that as long as they were alive, nothing was going to shut them up!
- Testimonies
- After battles are won there will be testimonies
Conclusion: Hero’s right here today. Tim and Colleen Cartwright – Faced a giant of diese in there grandchild’s life would not give up but kept praying. The doctors said there was no hope, but they kept praying and there was a VICTORY.
I could go on about men that were more than fathers but are dad’s living lives that are lives of hero’s.
Women in this place that have shined in the face of adversity with a faith in God so deep that nothing was going to hold them back.
