WHERE HAVE ALL THE HEROES GONE?
We honor our fallen soldiers today
Joh 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Many soldiers have a calling from an early age to be a soldier. An inner love country and duty.
I. America Loves the Concept of a Hero
A. Soldiers
B. Sports personalities
C. Celebrities
D. My childhood heroes:
- Vida Blue of the Oakland A's
- Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts
- John Wayne as Sgt John M Stryker in Sand of Iwo Jima or Col Mike Kirby in The Green Berets - Capt Rockwel Torrey in
Harm's Way
II. America's Heroes have become tarnished
A. Move heroes are dark, flawed, and weak In real life.
B. Some sports heroes are juicers, liars, criminals, greedy for an extra million.
C. Some of our superstar preachers have fallen.
D. Even our soldiers are being made to look like villains.
D. The result is a creeping disillusionment
E. No higher call to honor, duty, and righteousness.
F. This produces hopelessness
THIS SEEMS LIKE REASON TO BE DISCOURAGED
BUT IT IS NOT.
IT IS A FOUNDATION FOR REVIVAL!
III. Rome is a Case Study In What Happens When A society Becomes disillusioned
A. America is hurting & confused
B. America is ripe for a new reformation.
C. We are in the same place as ancient Rome once was.
1. Disillusioned with it's political leaders
2. Their religions were empty & of no real daily value
(Temples lined the streets - but it was void of truth
3. Morality was at all time low - hedonism & looking for something to fill an empty void in their hearts.
(It was at this time that Jesus became flesh & died for the sins of man)
Ga 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,
4. The message of the Gospel was real & fresh - had life.
5. People were not convince by the words - but by the lives of
Christians.
D. They watched how they lived, and how they died.
1. Christians were tortured and executed
2. They were made to be entertainment in the coliseum
3. The Romans watched, and finally said:
THIS IS REAL! Millions were saved
The only thing that will fill that void of emptiness and disillusionment is a real Jesus
IV. God is Looking for Some Last Days Heroes Who Will Fill That Void With Something Real
A. Jesus went looking for some heroes
Mr 1:16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
B. What did Jesus See in these men?
#1. They didn't have to be normal
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Peculiar: special, valuable - different than the rest
- Apostles were willing to walk upstream when everyone else was going with the current.
- Different values - different treasures
People who make a difference walk to the beat of a different drummer.
They didn't care if people snickered at them, do you?
- Are you willing to be different?
- Do you have to be normal?
Are we willing to rise above mediocre?
D. Many people have a middle of the road philosophy.
The word mediocre is a Latin word that means: half way up the hill
THE MEN THAT JESUS CALLED DID NOT LIVE MEDIOCRE LIVES - WE SHOULDN'T EITHER
#2. They were willing to be equipped
a.) There serving of God was based upon their ability.
b.) It was based upon the fact that God would give them what they needed to do His work.
- Jesus gives His disciple final instructions before He leaves.
Ac 1:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 ¶ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
- They knew they didn't have the ability to reach the whole world with the Gospel.
- They believed that God would give them what they needed to do it.
- I've been to Madras India - where Thomas founded a church.
b.) They were willing to let the Holy Spirit equip them.
Question is not: Is it something I can do?
Question is: Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit equip me?
#3. People that make a difference have hearts that resonate with the voice of Jesus
a.) That voice of Jesus spoke to those early disciples deep within
Jesus said:
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
After Jesus death two disciple were walking along:
Lu 24:13 ¶ Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. 17 And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" 18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?"
Jesus explained what had happened to them………
Lu 24:30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
b.) People who make a difference hear the voice of Jesus burn
within them.
V. God Is Calling Us to Be Ready And Willing To Fill The Void Left By The Empty Claims of the World, The Flesh, and The Devil
In 1258, the fate of Islam hung by a thread. The great Mongol empire — led by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan — stretched from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In 1266, Kublai Khan sent word through Marco Polo for the Christian church in Rome to send 100 men to teach Christianity in his court. But it was 28 years later before one, not 100, reached the great court. By that time Khan’s interest had waned. “It is too late,” he said. “I have grown too old in my idolatry.”
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After WWII General Douglas MacArthur asked for a 1000 missionaries to go to Japan during the time of its reconstruction. With the defeat of their forces, MacArthur saw an opportunity to introduce the gospel. The call went mostly unheeded, as only 95 Protestant missionaries were sent to Japan. Today Christianity is a very small percentage.
These opportunities and calls of God were unheeded.