Sermon Central
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Superhero:forgiveness Series
Contributed by Jasper Rains on Mar 13, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: No mater what the world says, there was only one Superhero and there are three things he did no one else ever could do.
Superhero:
Three Things Only Jesus Could Do
Week One
I am glad you are here this week because we are starting a new series called, Superhero: Three things only Jesus could do. I prayed a lot about what we needed to talk about as we lead up to Easter and I felt like God was telling me that we needed to discuss three important days in the week of Easter and how they proved that Jesus is a Superhero like none other.
Our society seems to be obsessed with superheroes. The Sipderman movies are among the top grossing films of all time. The Batman series is also very successful and the X-men series was such a hit that individual X-men characters are getting their own movies made. I personally am a bit stoked for the Wolverine movie.
But why do we get so much excitement out of watching these fictional heroes? I think it is because in everyone of us there is the need to be rescued. We want someone in the world who we know will always be able to fight for what is right and win. As I sit through superhero movies, I may not always know how they are going to prevail but I do know that they will.
When I was a kid there was a Saturday morning program called, the Shazam/Isis hour. It was a live action superhero show I would never miss. My hero became Captain Marvel. For those of you who don’t know Captain Marvel is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a youth who works as a radio news reporter and was chosen to be a champion of good by the wizard Shazam. Whenever Billy speaks the wizard’s name, he is instantly struck by a magic lightning bolt that transforms him into an adult superhero empowered with the abilities of six mythical figures.
S for the wisdom of Solomon As Captain Marvel, Billy has instant access to a vast amount of scholarly knowledge, including most known languages, sciences, and forms of magic. The wisdom of Solomon also provides him with counsel and advice in times of need. In early Captain Marvel stories, Solomon’s power also gave Marvel the ability to hypnotize people. (Note that Solomon is the only figure in the list not taken from Greco-Roman mythology.) H for the strength of Hercules* Hercules’ power gives Captain Marvel incredible amounts of super strength; he is able to easily bend steel, punch through walls, and lift massive objects. Marvel’s strength is on the same level as Superman. A for the stamina of Atlas Using Atlas’ endurance, Captain Marvel can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults. Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe and can survive unaided in space when in Captain Marvel form. Z for the power of Zeus Zeus’ power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Captain Marvel, also enhances Marvel’s other physical and mental abilities, grants magic resistance against all magic spells and attacks. Marvel can use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The magical lightning has many uses, including creating apparatus, restoring damage done to Marvel, or acting as fuel for magical spells. A for the courage of Achilles Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological, and gives Marvel superhuman amounts of inner strength on which to draw. M for the speed of Mercury By channeling Mercury’s speed, Captain Marvel can move at greater than supersonic speeds. This also enables him to fly.
I would run around my house yelling Shazam! Every chance I got. Not only did I wan to have a superhero in my life who could do anything, I wanted to BE that superhero. So yeah, basically I was a big loser but I really, really loved watching Captain Marvel.
No matter who your favorite super hero is I think that all superheroes have three things in common. I think that this video shows those three things.
The hero that stands above the rest is Jesus
You see all the superheroes can say, hey we match Jesus Christ! We have people who worship us! We have amazing abilities like no other but Jesus Christ is the one and only person in the history of the world who stands above all other heroes. He has no weakness. He is so much more than a superhero. And you know what the biggest thing that Jesus has over all these other guys is? HE IS REAL. I wan t you to write that in the margin of your worship guide right now. We love to read and watch things about superheroes but we all know in our minds that they are just made up, imaginary things. People who have been created to entertain us but Jesus Christ is real and he is living today. Over the next few weeks we are going to look into three things that Jesus did that no one else could do.
