Lighter Trick

So today, you guys talked all about Gideon. Gideon has a great story right? Can someone recap what happens in Gideon’s story real quick? Right, so Gideon was hiding from the Midianites instead of fighting them. Talk about heroes! Gideon was the lowest of the low. He was hiding from his enemies in a winepress. I’m pretty sure that at some point, you guys were scared too like this. Maybe you did something bad at home and your parent or whoever was coming after you to get you. Maybe you did something bad at school and it was only a matter of time until the teacher found out. Or maybe you just have some deep fear of something, like heights, the dark, or spiders. That feeling is fear. That feeling of fear was the same feeling that Gideon had. Gideon was afraid, and I mean he was REALLY afraid. It’s kind of weird talking about Gideon since the theme for the week is superheroes because NOTHING about him sounds like a hero at all. What kind of a hero is afraid to fight bad guys? Heroes don’t hide from their problems; they deal with them. Gideon doesn’t go from zero to hero, he just stays a zero. But we see that God chooses him, a scared guy, to be the hero to lead the Israelites and to crush the evil Midianites. Gideon hears God tell him this, but he’s still not sure that he, a scared guy, would be able to lead the Israelites into battle. He asks for some signs from God to see if he’s really supposed to go fight these Midianites. And when he does go, God only lets him take an army of three hundred men to destroy the Midianites with their massive army. But yet again, God was awesome and he helped Israel defeat their enemy. Once again, God’s power is what saved Israel.

The weird thing here is that Gideon doesn’t seem like much of a hero, yet God chooses him. I thought our theme for this week was superheroes. What kind of hero is afraid for like the whole story? That’s what makes this so interesting because today’s superhero is actually kind of the opposite of Gideon. Whereas Gideon was afraid, this superhero is known for never being afraid. He has a ring on his finger. He’s green. He’s the emerald guardian, the Green Lantern. If you don’t know who Green Lantern is, that’s all right. He’s a little less known than the other superheroes we will talk about this week, but he’s still super cool. Does any one here know what Green Lantern can do? What’s his superpower? He can make green constructs with his mind. Do you know the origin story of Green Lantern? There once was a man named Hal Jordan. His dad was a test pilot and what he wanted more than anything was to be a test pilot like his dad. When he was finally old enough, he finally became a test pilot, flying planes and testing new planes and jets to see how well they would fly. But Hal Jordan was considered reckless by some people because he wasn’t afraid of anything. New plane that had never been tested before? No problem, it didn’t scare him. It was possible that something could go wrong and he could die in a fiery explosion? Of course, he didn’t want to die, but even death couldn’t scare him. One day, a dying purple alien crash landed on earth with a mysterious green power ring and battery. The alien green lantern was going to die, but before he did, he had to find a replacement Green Lantern. With his remaining few hours, he sent his ring to search all over Earth, looking for someone who would be worthy of becoming a Green Lantern! Because Hal Jordan was not afraid of anything, the ring chose him, seeing him as worthy to become a superhero. The ring brought Hal back to the crash site and he sees the dying alien Green Lantern. With his last few breaths, the dying alien hands Hal a green glowing lantern and tells him to speak the oath into the lantern to receive great power. Hal Jordan spoke the oath, “In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!” Suddenly, Hal was clothed with a brilliant green uniform with a green lantern on his chest. Anything that he could think of the ring could make a green construct of. He could also fly and the ring protected him in outer space, allowing him to travel across the galaxies. Wherever there were extraterrestrial threats, Green Lantern would be there to fight the threats and protect life. But that wasn’t all. Th universe was split into 3600 sectors, with a different Green Lantern protecting them all. They were basically like a universal police force, fighting for truth and justice everywhere. Hal Jordan became friends with the other Green Lanterns, together keeping the universe safe from harm.

Green Lantern is a really cool superhero. Like I said, he can create constructs with his ring. Who wouldn’t want that power? Anything he can think of, he can create. He wants a waterslide, he’s got a waterslide. He wants a brick wall, he’s got a brick wall. He wants to make a boxing glove with his hands, he makes boxing gloves! The only limit is his imagination. His ring is powered by his own willpower, meaning that if he wills it, he can make it. And that also means that the only thing that can stop him is fear. If he’s unsure if he’s able to win or if he worries that he will fail, his ring doesn’t work. To the Green Lanterns, the color yellow represents fear. The Yellow Lanterns are the opposite of the Green Lanterns. Where the green lanterns are powered by willpower, the yellow lanterns are powered by fear. The more afraid people are of the yellow lanterns and their power, the stronger they are. The yellow lanterns and the green lanterns are the opposite of each other, and they are bitter enemies. Whenever Green Lanterns are afraid, they can’t do much of anything. They can’t make constructs and they can’t stop bad guys like they should. But when a Green Lantern recites their oath, they remember who they are, a Green Lantern, chosen for their willpower and grit! They remember that they cannot have fear in them, because their will is too strong. The oath goes like this, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evils might, beware my power, green Lantern’s light!” The oath is the ultimate reminder to Green Lanterns that that they are supposed to be without fear so that they can be the heroes they were chosen for.

I brought a little something here, where is it, ah yes, here it is. Who knows what this is? Right it’s a lighter. Now I promise that I’m not carrying this around because I’m a smoker. I don’t smoke. But I have this here for an illustration. I need a volunteer. Alright, I want you to stick your hand over the lighter (don’t light). See, you don’t need to be afraid because it can’t hurt you. Alright, now I want you to put your hand over the lighter (lights it) Actually don’t, but what were you thinking when I said that? Maybe a little afraid, right? Alright how about now? (Moves closer toward the kid but not touching them with the flame). See I bet you’re afraid because you don’t want to get burned. And you should be afraid of a flame. At some point in your life, you touched something hot and your brain taught you to not to do that anymore because it hurt. But check this out (moves hands quickly through flame to not get burned). When you know what you’re doing, you don’t need to be afraid.

I also want to talk about another awesome Bible hero who’s known to be not afraid in the midst of danger. You have probably heard of Daniel in the lions’ den before. Daniel gets thrown into the lions’ den for refusing to stop worshipping God. The king is actually tricked into throwing Daniel into the lions’ den. He doesn’t want Daniel to get hurt. But what happens to Daniel? Does he get eaten? No, he just chills with the lions for the night. They probably actually liked Daniel. The next morning the king sees Daniel alive! And he throws those tricksters into the lions’ den as their punishment. You see, Daniel wasn’t afraid of what would happen to him. He really should have been afraid of what would happen to him. But he knew that with everything that had happened, him worshipping God, being tricked, and being thrown into the lions’ den, he had no regrets. He continued to love God and love others, and that got him thrown into the lions’ den. But he wouldn’t take back his time with God for a second. He knew that he could be afraid, but his God was the master of fear. So, what was really there to be afraid of anyway? No matter what happened, Daniel still did what was right in God’s eyes, and that’s all that mattered.

So let’s look back at Gideon again, that sort-of-but-not-really hero. What does Gideon have to teach us when Green Lantern and Daniel seem to teach us a lot more about fear? Gideon was afraid to fight and he was afraid to lead people into battle. But eventually, God got a hold of his life and Gideon learned to trust God. God doesn’t need us to all be like Hal Jordan with no fear of anything. In fact, it’s probably best that we learn to be afraid of some things, like fire. He was able to use Gideon, and he’s able to use us too. Isn’t it so much cooler that God used a scared, afraid, weak man like Gideon to defeat the Midianites in the story and not some big, strong, unafraid man like Green Lantern? It just goes to show that God can use anyone, no matter what’s holding them back. One of the things that we hear all throughout the Bible is that God tells people “do not be afraid.” What God really desires from us is to learn to trust him with our fears. God is the God who takes away every fear. That means that sometimes we have fears but it also means that God can take them away. Like this lighter (do the trick again) all we have to do is know how to do it right. And the right way to deal with our fears is for us is to trust God with our fears so that he can take them away. Only God can make us fearless and become true heroes.

So as we close, I want each one of you to think about your fears. What is it that you are afraid of? And I’m not talking about spiders or snakes or clowns or the dark. What are you really afraid of? Maybe, you’re afraid of being alone. Maybe you’re afraid that you’re not good enough. Or maybe you’re afraid of not being in control. For those who are afraid of being alone, God says that you’ll never be alone. For those that are afraid of not being good enough, God says that you’re good enough for me. For those that are afraid of losing control, God’s offering to be the control in your life. Whatever the fear is, God’s got it covered. The only thing that you have to do is turn your fears over to God. Trust me, you won’t regret it, not even for a second.