We Need Heroes!
The lyrics of a song from a few years ago are:
Everybody needs a hero
Someone who always knows the way
Just when you’re sure you’ve really gone astray. . . By Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
What does it take to be a true hero? Usually a hero in this world is not some superman, endowed with mystical powers and great abilities and talents. It is an individual who over a period of time is willing deny the needs of themselves and focus on the needs of others. So what does it mean to be a true Christian hero? I is a person who is willing to believe God, commit themselves to God’s will, and devote themselves to God’s work.
The Bible gives us a simple message that reveals the basic tenants of what it means to be a Christian . . . so also a Christian hero and that is to believe in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior. I believe there are three main ideas as we look at what it means to be a hero in God’s kingdom.
1. Christian Heroes Believe God! The true Christian hero does not just give lip service to some concept, but has an understanding of what it means to truly worship and follow God’s leading! Throughout the Bible and church history the true Christian hero always believed God. The 11th chapter of Hebrews is full of the bibles heroes. In each story the first statement of faith was that they believed what God told them.
2. God’s Heroes are commitment to God’s will. Each day when we pray the Lord Prayer was are asking God to bring his Kingdom into our context. “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” That translates into a passionate commit-ment to do what God has called us to. The founder of our brand of church says it like this:
John Wesley is recorded as saying….. “Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I will shake the world. I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; and such alone will overthrow the kingdom of Satan and build up the kingdom of God on earth.”
3. God’s Heroes are devoted to God’s Work. Everything always depends on how hard we want to work. People of the United States are hard workers. People from Europe can’t understand the long hours we work. One of my Ukrainian friends would always talk about the long hours she had to work and how there was little time to just sit and talk to friends. But God does not want us to just work long hours he wants us to be productive. To be productive we need to have a clearly defined vision and goal to what God is asking us to accomplish.
So if we want to have an impact on our world, and maybe be a hero in the future we need to commit ourselves to living out God calling in our context. The world needs hero’s to lead the way to the Kingdom.
Plan to join us each Sunday at 9:30 am as we look at the heroes of the bible. A study of those heroes will show us how we to might have an impact on our world. Also be a true hero and invite some of your friends to join you.
Pastor Mark Gough