We Are a Family of Supers – Part 7

Review

• Real superhero work is turning other people into superheroes.
• We do this by helping people obey Jesus.
• You become a superhero when Jesus, the most powerful superhero, lives in you.
• No one’s strong enough to be a superhero alone. We also need the power of Jesus in other people to stop the devil.
• The enemy’s biggest threat is not an individual superhero, but a family of supers.
• God’s mission is to expand His superhero family, which takes us back full circle to our mission as superheroes.
• As superheroes, we are part of two worlds:
• Our home world is heaven, but we live on the earth.
• Our status in heaven is as citizens.
• Our status on earth has two dimensions:

1. We are sojourners (immigrants, temporary residents)
2. We are ambassadors (representatives of one country to another)

• As ambassadors, our obligation is to live by the laws of our home county, heaven.
• However, as representatives of the Kingdom, we are compelled to respond to the needs of people in the earth, our temporary home.
• So we asked these questions: How do you respond to this world’s needs without violating the principles of our home world? How committed can we be to a world that is passing away?
• We’ve been using the racial questions raised in the Black Panther movie as our test case for these questions.
• What is the church’s responsibility to responding to racial injustice?

Notes

Here’s what we said:

• Speak the truth, but walk in the spirit.
• Challenge injustice, but leave vengeance to God.
• Call out wickedness, but have mercy on the wicked.
• In sum, fight in a way that protects your human enemy.
• As ambassadors, our key role is to help people be reconciled to God.
• When we call out wickedness, our goal is for the wicked to repent, not for them to be punished.
• Our chief interest is in the spiritual well-being of the wicked, not in paying people back for their wrongs. This is why we pray for our enemies.
• In prayer, we call upon the power of the Spirit, our spiritual vibranium.
• The power that Jesus gives us by the Spirit allows us to protect our human enemies while we fight our real enemy, the devil.
• Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, when we are led by Him, we are drawn to the truth, even if the truth hurts.

Notes

“We had to maintain the lie”

John 16: 12-13

Matthew 5:4

II Corinthians 1:3-5

The Outpouring of the Spirit on All Flesh

Acts 2:17-18, Joel 2:28-29

Acts 10:45-46

I Corinthians 1:25-29

• As ambassadors, we hold to seemingly positions:
• On the one hand we acknowledge the colonizer’s crimes against , address their personal effects on our lives, and hold the colonizer accountable for repentance.
• On the other hand, we address the colonizer, not as a , but as a .
• In Christ, you’re a and must see the colonizer amongst the people you are to .
• In Christ, God sees you as a superhero, a rescuer empowered by the .
• Past does not alter this.

Notes

“I Accept Your Challenge”

Genesis 27:41

Hebrews 12:15-17

Lamentations 5:7

“Is This Your King?!”

Deuteronomy 32:35

Romans 12:17-19

Serve or Save?

Nehemiah 4:15-18

“Well, look at what I have done”

Ephesians 6:4

Hebrews 3:7-11

“The Sun will never set on the Wakandan Empire”

Matthew 5:5

Luke 9:51-56

I Corinthians 12:3

John 18:10-11, Luke 22:49-51

“He is a Monster of Our Own Making”

Ephesians 6:4

Lamentations 5:7

“As you can see, I am not dead”

Acts 5:33-39

“The King is Coming”

Revelation 19:11-21

“Maybe We Can Still Heal You”

Revelation 9:18-21

Revelation 16:8-11

“Who Are You?”

Acts 8:18-24

Acts 2:37-41

Our Superhero Strategy

• God.
• People.
• Problems.
• the Gospel.
• Here is the irony of being a kingdom ambassador:
• We’ve come to bring the Kingdom of God to (Matthew 6:10).
• This is a project, but we are of a different spirit.
• We don’t steal. We .
• We don’t kill. We give.
• We don’t destroy. We .
• Until Jesus comes back physically to make the complete, we’ll give people of Kingdom life (Mark 16:15-18).

Notes