Origin Story

In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains.  (Wikipedia)  When it comes to movies it seems like everyone has jumped on the prequel bandwagon.  The earliest example I remember is Star Wars.  The characters probably aren’t considered superheroes but they seemed to start a trend where already existing megahits get a chance to extend their stay in the spotlight.  When I was a kid Star Wars 4, 5, and 6 came out.  It wasn’t until about 25 years later that they came out with episodes 1, 2 and 3.  Then you began to see other movies do the same, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, to say a few.  Even Dumb and Dumber has a prequel.  But I guess I don’t consider Harry and Lloyd to be superheroes anyway.  Chuck Norris isn’t in any movies that have prequels because he existed for millions of years before prequels came into existence. 

As I was thinking about this idea of “Origin Story” it made me think about my own story.  I began to think about what I was like before Jesus forgave me and gave me His Holy Spirit.  In 2 Corinthians 5:16 Paul said, “ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”  When I encountered Christ He changed the way I viewed other people and changed the way I viewed Him.  So, what was my life like before Christ?

Power Source

Welcome! This week we continue our series, “Superheroes through Christ.” This is the third week of this series. John Farmer opened the series two weeks ago by referring to John 14:12, where Jesus says that whoever believes in Him would do the works He was doing and would do even greater things than these. Hard as it is to believe, these are Jesus’ own words. John went on to talk about our mission, how it includes things such as going and making disciples, obeying Christ’s commands, and much more, but how at a basic level it really all comes down to believing God. As it says in Hebrews 11:6, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” The last passage quoted in this message was Mark 9:23, which says, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Do you truly believe He exists? Do you truly believe that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him?

Last week we first spent some time really exploring the depth of God’s love for us. He made us in His image, and He loves us “just because,” not because of our works. He loved us before we did anything, and He continues to love us even after we fail and reject Him. He doesn’t just love us at a distance, either; He desires to walk with us, to be intimately involved in relationship with us. We are God’s poiema, His masterpiece, His love poem, and He puts us on display for all to see.

Under the Cape

Welcome to Week 2 in our series Superheroes through Christ! Our title today, “Under the Cape,” is a play on words from the phrase “Under the Hood,” referring to how you lift up the hood of a car to look at the engine, to see the part that matters most, the engine. Going with this analogy that we are somehow like superheroes, the question for today is, “What is really in us? What matters most? Who and what are we?”

Now, I happen to really like superhero stories – I guess that isn’t a great surprise given that we have tied this whole series to the superhero ideal. What about these stories do I like? There are probably many things, but I think I especially like to see how a superhero sometimes has to struggle to do the right thing, that it isn’t easy, but yet he still chooses to do what is right. I also like to see that even superheroes aren’t perfect; they aren’t good at everything, and sometimes things just don’t go their way. Yet they continue; yet they go on.

Your Misson

We’re starting a new series today.  I am pretty charged up about this whole series.  I was excited when I found out I would get the opening message for the series.  I’ve been accumulating ideas for weeks and months really.  The topic you already know.  We are going to talk about how we are, how we can be, superheroes through Christ.

I want to introduce you to a new hero of mine.  Here’s his picture:

His name is Zach Zehnder.  He’s a pastor from Florida.  He just set a world record for the longest speech marathon (i.e.-sermon).  His sermon was 53 hours and 18 minutes!  He had 200 pages of notes and 600 power point slides!  The focus of the effort was to raise money for a local drug treatment center.  He taught the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation!