Sermon Tone Analysis

VBS Review

I love VBS.

I love it when the church has the opportunity to minister to so many families.

We also get the opportunity to work alongside of people from other churches.

I’m talking about the youth that help - not just youth from HUMC, but I’m meeting youth from other churches.

VBS can be exhausting, so that youth energy is needed.

When I saw the theme of this one I knew I was going to love it.

I’ve never been to a comic book convention.

I’ve never got to dress up like batman or captain america.

I started planning last week’s wardrobe at least a month in advance.

This year I got to wear a cape and a cowl.

A pastor who wears such things to church could be deemed unfit for the ministry, but this year I had the perfect excuse: our theme was Hero Central.

On Monday we learned that God’s heroes have heart.

Tuesday: God’s heroes have courage.

Wednesday: God’s heroes have wisdom.

Thursday: God’s heroes have hope.

Friday: God’s heroes have power.

Sermon Introduction

This morning we look at the first characteristic of God’s heroes: God’s Heroes have heart.

This is the first thing God looks for when he’s choosing his servants for breathtaking mission.

I think the first thing we need to realize is that God calls us for ministry, not the other way around.

The people you see in the red shirts were not just volunteers who decided to take time out of their busy schedules to help with a program: they were people who answered God’s call.

When God chooses people for exciting ministry, God does so using his criteria, his qualifications, not ours.

He looks at the heart.

Today’s story is about King David: several weeks ago I preached about King Saul, Israel’s first king.

People had high expectations of him, and were terribly disappointed.

But

The Hope in God’s Choice

God’s choice of David to be king comes during depressing times.

Why are superheroes popular?

Entertain.

Emotional connections - don’t kill off the character.

Give hope.

Inspire in dark times.

Why are superheroes popular?

So entertaining.

Why are convention centers packed full of role playing superhero fans?

There are a lot of reasons, but one reason is that fans build strong emotional connections with superheroes, just like they do other characters in books, movies or television - (on NPR I heard about a study that demonstrated that tv viewers develop emotional connections with TV characters similar to the emotional connections they develop with actual people - tv is your friend); don’t kill off the character.

The only thing more popular than killing off a popular superhero is to have him turn to evil.

It’s interesting to watch how the comic book fanbase gets really upset when this happens.

It’s happened to so many of our heroes, including Superman.

(Truth, Justice and the American way - he takes a dark turn in some stories)

King Saul was a hero who had taken a dark turn.

He was the first king of Israel.

He was hailed as God’s hero.

He was a great rags to riches story.

God raised him up from the lowest of circumstances and made him king and gave him success.

Physically, he looked the part - we read that he literally stood head and shoulders above the rest.

But he had more faith in his own powers, disobeyed God and faced severe consequences for his choices.

His life went into a downward spiral until he died.

He spent his later years chasing down David, who would be his replacement.

While doing that, he also losing battles to his enemies.

He is killed in battle and his body is publically desecrated.

God’s chosen hero had fallen in a big way.

We read here that the prophet Samuel was really depressed over this.

But God chooses a new hero, and there is

That’s what heroes do: They give hope.

They inspire in dark times.

God’s hero brings hope in dark times.

Wisdom in God’s Choice

Some of our favorite superheroes are the ones who come from humble beginnings.

A normal person gets too much radiation or gets injected with a super serum suddenly goes from weakling to being very strong.

But for all superheroes, their abilities are easy to see and make them obvious candidates to be victorious warriors and the saviors of humanity.

Ever notice the conceptual drawings of superheroes?

Ever notice their bizarre physique?

How overly enhanced their muscles are?

There’s no such thing as a scrawny superhero, or an overweight superhero.

If an athlete looked like these, we would demand a blood test.

David’s brothers have the physique of a hero.

Samuel notices this, but God tells him to ignore the obvious indicators of a hero.

Samuel’s looking at the wrong thing.

Ever notice the conceptual drawings of superheroes?

Ever notice how perfect they look?

How overly enhanced their muscles are?

There’s no such thing as a scrawny superhero, or an overweight superhero.

If an athlete looked like these, we would demand a blood test.

This is God’s wisdom.

We can be superficial and miss what really matters.

(blind date; dr.

w/ burn victim daughter) We lack God’s wisdom.

We don’t make choices like God does, because God takes a deeper look at our hearts.

Which means, we will often be surprised by God’s choice.

How is this wise?

We can be superficial and miss what really matters.

(blind date - first thing we ask? great personality!)

Surprise in God’s Choice

Samuel looks at all of Samuel’s sons - they all look good but they do not match God’s criteria.

God looks at the heart.

Remember who the real hero is in the biblical stories?

God.

The main characters do not usually meet our expectations of a hero.