SERMON - Bloody Important Hero. By Rev. Dennis Dafoe.
INTRODUCTION:--------------- Do you remember the Air Florida’s Flight 90 crash - The plane had Failed to clear the 14th Street Bridge, and it fell into the frigid waters of the Potomac. A few passengers who had managed to get out before the plane sank were in the icy river, crying for help. Lenny Skutnik saw the plane go down . . . he heard the cries of the passengers in the water . . . and he jumped into the river to try to help. He actually managed to save the life of a woman who otherwise would have almost surely died in the Potomac that night. A couple of weeks later, during President Reagan’s State of the Union address, Lenny Skutnik, everyday guy, was introduced as a real American hero on national television by the President of the United States.In a few moments of courage and self-sacrifice, a man did something that suddenly gave his life greater significance. He became a rescuer – and a hero. That’s how an everyday Christian becomes a hero – by becoming a rescuer of someone who is spiritually dying. -------------- TRANSITIONAL STATEMENT: But there is one big difference - For Christians it is not only our choice but its our Commission, our Command and our Responsibility to be that hero!------------ 1.ETERNAL HERO ------------- A rescuer is what God commanded Moses to be - and It’s the same for you. We read about the day God announced that Moses would be a hero – a rescuer in------EX 3:7 “The Lord said, ‘I have seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out . . . I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.’------------God, the ultimate Rescuer, hears the cries of enslaved and hurting people. That’s why He sent Moses to the Jews. It’s why He sent His “one and only Son”, Jesus to a world He so loves, to sin-slaves like us who, in the Bible’s words, were “without hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12).------- Now we are rescued and God nags us to share with those who are without hope! Any restlessness you have is a holy discontentment, planted in our heart by God Himself. You and I have, According to Ecclesiastes 3:11, "eternity in our hearts." There’s a dimension of you that cannot be fulfilled by anything that will end. God has made you restless for more because He wants to eternalize your life - to make it count for that which will last forever.-----------Daniel 12:3 - “Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.” ---------- There it is – the destiny for which your heart is hungry – leading many to righteousness! In other words, God wants you to take people to heaven with you! To join Jesus in the rescue mission for which He died –- Luke 19:10. “to seek and to save what was lost” There is nothing more eternal you can do with your life and your influence than to help someone be with you forever in heaven – because you committed yourself to telling the people in your world about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You’ve been called to greatness, to be an eternal hero, by Jesus Christ - and you know you’re supposed to make a bigger difference with the rest of your life than you’ve made until now. As full as your life is, it will not be as fulfilling - even though you’re loving Jesus and trying to live for Him.------------- Ez3:18 When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it...I will make you responsible for his blood. ---------------- 2. A Hell of a thing not to say!--------- I’m sure Moses was excited about God coming down to rescue His people – until he heard those shocking words that would change his life forever – “So now go. I am sending you.” God was planning an incredible rescue mission, and He was summoning Moses to join Him in it. The Lord was asking Moses – and He’s asking you – to do what an everyday guy named Lenny did by the River the day of that awful crash, to hear the cries of dying people, abandon your personal safety, and rescue people who will die if you stay where you are. ----------------- Why is this desire put in us by God? Why does God command those who have been rescued to now be rescuers? Because of heaven's only option ! Jesus said it soberly,----------- Lu 12:4 ...I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. ----------- Hell, the only option to heaven, has many different titles. In english translations you get the word hell but it could mean any one of these: Hades (N.T) / Sheol (O.T) - Place of the dead or grave. Tartarus (Once in 2Peter) - Place of darkness, lostness and imprisoment. Gehenna (Gospels) - Referring to a burning place for trash near Jerusalem, was also a site for human sacrifice in O.T.--------- These are all references to describing hell, and finally this----- Rev 20:14 " Then death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second Death". ---------Hell is described as a place of lostness - Seperation from God. A place of outer darkness - blackness, so thick you could feel it. A place of Gnashing of teeth - pain, torment. Lake of fire - yet without light! The worst part - hopeless, for the worm dies not - day and night forever and ever, eternally dying, it never ends! ---- God is love but also Holy and Just. But it is because of His love that anyone may end up in hell, because God will not force anyone to heaven! So the message is yours to deliver; to be the hero God has called you to be! The trick is many don't think they need a hero, all the more to warn and help! -------- Jude 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. This talks of aggressive witnessing to rough people, but "...God would that none should perish, but all would come to repentance"2Pe 3:9. -------- Everyone deserves the same opportunity to salvation as you have! Don't fool yourself out of this calling. Its the most important message in the universe. Mt 27:24 ...Pilate ...took water, and washed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person..." Didn't work for Pilate, won't work for you... before God. God demands we warn! --------They need the Good news of Jesus, the SAVIOR. But He cannot be their savior if we don't tell them! And thats a hell of a thing not to say!! It’s a sobering picture of the crossroads at which you are standing. The Lord has heard the cries of people around you who are trying to make life work without a Savior. He has seen their lostness. He knows the awful eternity awaiting them without Christ. And He has come down to rescue them. But God will rescue the people in your personal world through a personal representative – through His “Moses.” Through you. Your not responsible to save them, your responsible to offer the rope. ------------ They choose, but they need the rope! Your words of the gospel. ---------His promises to you are the same as they were to Moses - “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12) . . . “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:12). ------- When you rescue a dying person, your life takes on a greater significance than you could have ever imagined. And God is commanding you by name, like Moses of old. He has heard the cries of the dying people near you. He wants them warned, offered salvation. ---------- Ez3:18 When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it...I will make you responsible for his blood.----- ------- Ex 3:10 “So now, go . . . I am sending you.” Will you listen to His call? Will you be that hero?
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