PASTORAL MESSAGE: We Could Use A Hero

Pastor David Carothers
Lake Mead Baptist Church

Is this the season where we need a Hero in our country? Could you use a hero?
Leaders in every sector seem to have lost common sense. Evil is called good. Good is called evil. Those leaders seem to serve themselves, not act as the public servants they were assigned to be. Difficult seasons expose our powerlessness and need for a Hero.

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? Most of us remember where we were and the images on the TV of the Twin Towers imploding. Many of us have forgotten we were living in a day when as a culture America had no heroes. According to a Gallup poll, 70% of Americans had no hero. But, on that day firefighters, police, healthcare workers, and volunteers rose in stature in our minds. The change is recorded by the comic book industry which published a special edition called Heroes highlighting firefighters who ran into danger. We need heroes again 23 years later.

Christmas is about the world needing a Savior to save us from the consequences of our sins, to be transformed to live differently now and remember that the Savior is coming again.

Many believe Superman was based on Jesus. His parent’s planet was soon to explode so they sent him in a craft to a solar system six galaxies away from primitive Earth. He was discovered by farmers Jonathan & Martha Kent on their rural Kansas farm. They named him Clark and, on this planet, young Clark was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. When Clark was of age he traveled to the Arctic wilderness to commune with his father’s spirit, mirroring Jesus in the desert. Clark began his public mission at 30 the same age as Jesus.

Superman is make-believe! But Jesus is truly THE wonder child. He can walk on water. He is more powerful than evil. He rescues people from an eternity of meaninglessness and hell.

800 years before Jesus was born it was prophesied about the Messiah: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6.

One of Jesus’ disciples, who needed Jesus to be his hero, grew to trust His love and (John) called himself, “The one who Jesus loved.” He recorded God’s plan to come as our hero: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. …He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-3,10,14.

When Baby Jesus was born in a Bethlehem stable, he was more than he appeared to be. He was more than a good teacher or prophet: He was God in the flesh. It is no wonder that shepherds bowed to him and wise men brought valuable gifts to him. And, when stepdad and mom walked with Jesus from Bethlehem to the temple in Jerusalem two prophets simultaneously emerged declaring Jesus was the Messiah.

This Christmas will you bow down and make Jesus your Hero or renew your worship of Him? He came to give us the greatest gift to meet our greatest need.

Jesus said about Himself: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Let’s remember the true Hero who came Christmas 2000 years ago and lean on the hope that He is coming again.