David Hughes - The Hero Training Academy

And as you heard, the nice announcement people talk about this is the weekend we do our big We go from one Sunday night and one Saturday night service to doubling up that. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. We go from one Sunday night service to the next week. But here's the second safe place for those kids to come and dress up and have a great experience right here in God's house. I come out and just teach one brief biblical idea to entice them to come back, to entice them to come back. And I'll tell you this, if you have those friends, it's a theme park level experience in the room. What the creative team did this year is the best ever. It is. People gasp. It's fun. It's playful. It is so creative. It will not be boring. Like we're never boring. We have so much fun. So glad you're here today. So take your Bibles and go to one or two places. Go to Acts chapter four, Acts chapter four. Say it with me. Acts chapter. Loud. Acts chapter four. There you go. Acts chapter four. And then if you want to double up second Corinthians chapter five, we're going to balance a couple of places in the study. And again, let me, if you're newer around here, explain our rhetoric why we go to all the extra time, trouble, creativity. And by the way, this is what it looks like. I'm going to give just a little hint and taste because the theme is the hero training academy this year. And so this is not everything on this stage, but part of this stage as we teach and have these fun shenanigans. But here are the main reasons why we do this. And I know some churches would not do this and that's fine. I really believe it takes all different kinds of churches to reach all different kinds of people. But you're not happy about that. I love different churches. I love churches that do ministry with a similar methodology to us. I love churches that do it very unlike us. They're going to reach some people we can never, ever reach. So it takes all different kinds of churches. But here is the two reasons why we do these things you might perceive as extreme and to be honest, sometimes even get criticized for is two main reasons. Here's number one. I know and love some people who don't know Jesus. I have some people in my life. They are not yet Christian people. I'm praying for them. I'm hoping they're pre-Christian people right now. But they don't yet know Jesus and I want them so badly to come to know Jesus. So number one, I know and love. I got people in my family who are extended to them who don't know Jesus. Anybody know someone Christian person who does not know Christ? So Mr. raise your hands. See, when you're a Christian for a long time and you hang out and socialize at the church, which is great, sometimes you look around at your circle of friends and they're all believers. And we want to have friends who are not believers always sharing the gospel, loving people far from Christ.

So number one, yeah, I have some people in my life who are not Christians. And number two, I believe the Bible's telling the truth when it talks about heaven and hell. I believe in eternity that God made you to live somewhere forever. And God wants you to live forever with him in heaven. But I believe what the Bible says when it talks about heaven and when it talks about hell. So just doing the math on that, if I love some people right now who are not bound for heaven but bound for hell, I will do anything in my power to help connect them. I will do things you might deem unorthodox, a little crazy, hyper-creative, maybe edgy. I will do whatever it takes because people need what Jesus brings. They need salvation. I just think if you logically look at me, you really believe those two things. We'll do whatever it takes. All possible means. That's kind of a reason. And this is kind of fun too because who doesn't like a good hero story? Who doesn't like a good hero story? I love a good hero story. In fact, doing some research for today's gathering, I started researching movies. I have new movie fans. Where are my movie fans? Make some noise movie fans. Alright, a lot of movie fans. So many successful movie franchises over the years. I started doing some research. What are the best ones as far as making money? Most of those box office receipts. I found number two is Star Wars. All the Star Wars movies worldwide over the years, they have grossed over $10 billion. That's a lot of money. Second most popular franchise of all time. Number three would be the Harry Potter, Harry Potter, somewhere around 9.6. I have a Harry Potter fan back there, charming movies. one's way back in the 60's, but far and away the biggest money makers of all the movie franchises. I was shocked. I thought it'd be Star Wars. Star Wars is a distant second. It is the Marvel cinematic universe, it's those Marvel heroes and he fans and he fans, I love Marvel movies, I love DC movies too, but they have made over the course of their span $35 billion more than two to one than anything else, so the incredible success.

Why? Because people love hero stories. So a few years ago I'm in Southern California, I'm in San Diego, I'm there white, my hobby, my hobby is to fish and they got some cool fish in Southern California. I'm going to fly fish for Mako Sharks, they got really big sharks in Southern California and my best bad pastor rolls there with me on this fishing trip, we fish all day long, we caught some fish, I will not put up pictures, we caught some fish and we're having dinner like this outdoor cafe, if you ever been to San Diego, the climate is amazing, the temperatures are beautiful all the time, so we're enjoying the climate, the vibe, we're in that old historic downtown area just enjoying the dinner and me and my buddy together and all of a sudden I look up, Wonder Woman walks by, I don't make a kid in a costume or growing up in a t-shirt, no I mean like full on the head to toe, legit Wonder Woman gear, this lady walks by, it's just Wonder Woman, that's so weird but it is California, California, it's a little weird sometimes, you know, it's California, all of a sudden like Batman and Robin walk by, Batman and Robin, there are all of a sudden just a moment I have Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, what, they don't even go together, they're walking by, they're going, it's not Halloween by the way, what in the world is going, then three brothers all dressed up as Spider-Man and one of these brothers should never be wearing spandex, I'm just saying, just not a good look for him, right there, man, all I'm like what, we stumbled on something called Comic Con, we heard a Comic Con, oh I got a couple of hit, Comic Con, Comic Con is events all around the country and the world actually but the biggest one is in San Diego and it's almost like a quarter of a million fans of comic books and superheroes they show up, I actually did a series years ago called Hero Wars, I went there and interviewed these people and they're awesome, they are so into their superheroes, they are so loyal and they're incredible, so man, it's this giant thing that people love the heroes, the superheroes, heroes are fascinating, I love me a good Marvel movie right now, I got a big one coming up here in a few months, why are heroes so fascinating, what are the qualities of heroes, heroes are courageous, heroes tend to be very unselfish, they have powers or gifts, super powers sometime, I like that my favorite heroes are the humble, not all are, but some are humble, right, humble, see God wants you to be confident but not self-confident,

right, not prideful, prideful, you think too much of yourself, now being lacking confidence, you think less of yourself, I think what God wants you to just think about yourself less to a different thing, humble, they see the powerful, the courageous, oh they show up, I loved at the end of in-game when Captain America is going to fight all by himself, beat up, kind of sad, he's going to take on Thanos and Thanos evil horde at the end and all of a sudden he hears, on your left, that give it away for somebody, it's a six year old movie, anyways, anyways and also in all the other heroes, they reappear, they show up, they show up, by the way, thank you for showing up today, thank you for being in the house, give it up to the person next to you, thank you for being here, I know weekends are busy, your schedules are crazy, the weather was slightly raining today, I do laugh when Christian people don't come to church because it rains on Sunday, because you go to work on Monday, don't you, every single time you want your kids to go to school on Monday, man the things that God are more invaluable than anything else in life, so thank you for showing up. In fact, in fact, part of the reason we do this food tax is we reach families, we don't reach any other time, but they show up with their kids and they show up with the candy, we want them to come back and show up because our kids ministry is fabulous every single week, and what happens here for our teenagers in the wave ministry happens right on this campus on Wednesday night, by the way, if you're not sure about our kids ministry, take your phone and just tap that little tag on the seat in front of you, take it to the Instagram account, what they do is so good, I grew up in church and church was great and I learned about Jesus and it was real creative, we had like flannel boards and stuff that took nothing away, what happens now, it is so engaging and listen to his parents, we need allies. and high school, we need people in their lives to say the right things, to hold up biblical values, parents to have your back. If I can take off my pastor hat and put on my dad hat, guys, guys, I'm telling you the advantage. I know you care about your kids' academics and athletics, and that's awesome, but that's a spiritual foundation is the most important part of life. Make sure you attended that, and the church becomes such an incredible ally. So heroes, heroes, what do we say?

They're strong, they're courageous, they have gifts, they show up at the right time, they show up, and how many heroes stories, the hero goes through a profound change. Goes through a major change. Now, when I asked the kids last night to shout a word, "Oh my goodness," especially if I shout them, shout, "Boys," and then, "Girls," they shout, "So pretend like you're my kids." When I say three, church, shout the word, "Change." One, two, three, good job, good back there, late, but good back there, change, change. Or actually, if we even used the biblical word, "transformation," say the word, "transformation." One, two, three, think how many of the superheroes, not all of them, like Superman always had in eight powers, he's an alien right, they were just dormant, had to be discovered, but most of the best superhero mythology is that hero goes through a change. Miles Morales or Peter Parker, you know, bit by that radioactive spider and their change transformed into Spiderman, or, "Oh, how about the incredible hawk, the, oh, the Benjamin doc, if you let Benjamin go in there, one of our, a little bit of gamma rays, and what happened to Benjamin there, doc? Oh my goodness, oh my goodness." Anyways, gamma rays, a little transformation. I love Captain America, Steve Rogers, volunteers to go through the protocol and receive the super soldier serum, and he has transformed, transformed. How many hero stories are all about, man, we probably should change him back at some point. Doc, can you, can you maybe change him back? Can you just stop and think, "Thank you to our video people, of the church, our production people, wait for it, wait for it." I'm telling you, invite your friends with kids. It's really, really good. That's just one thing that happens. They do such, I work with technical, professional geniuses. They're so good at what they do. But change, question, grownups, is there some part of your life you'd like to change? Is there some habit that holds you up? Is there something you did in the past that you feel still a guilt and shame that God's forgiven it, you know, can eat your lunch, anxiety, to get nervous and anxious, have a hard time sleeping, have a hard time attacking new things. I think we all have something we'd like to change. So how do you change? Well, you make a decision, right? You will up your resolve, you bring willpower to the table. If you're really sure it's about change, community, you get people around you, you share, you're accountable, they encourage you, right? Communities, vital, good psychologists, biblical psychology is a great way. All those are amazing things. But there's a change cheat code. I think maybe God's

favorite thing to do is to change people. It's to change people. I told you, I got two passages, you say in Acts chapter 4 about Levita says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17. I've highlighted one word, the apostle Paul writes, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ," stop. If you are a Christian person, if you stepped across the line of faith at some point in your personal, spiritual history, if you haven't done so, you can do so today in about 12 minutes. So prayer partners will be the edge of the stage and they love helping people navigate their decision for Christ. You can give yourself by faith to Christ today at this church. Well, anyways, if you do that, if you're in Christ, what happens? Well, you're forgiven and you're freed and you're qualified for heaven and you're adopted into God's royal family. But on top of all those great things, he says, "Therefore, anyone is in Christ." Get ready. He is a new creature. What's that word? Loudly. What is that word? A new creature and just explain the old things, those old things, they guilt, that shame, that frustration, that anxiety. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. But I want you to see just the extreme language. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not making bad people a little better. It's not a spiritual resurfacing or no, no, no, no, no, You know, it is -- it's God bringing dead people back to life. When you're in Christ, you mutate in a powerful way. If you don't believe me, let me give you an example by any appraisal of the historical text, the transformation or the change in the 11 apostles after the resurrection, incredible. If you don't know the story of those famous apostles, we name our kids after, you know, James, John, Peter. You read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, those biblical biographies about their lives. When they follow Jesus, they mean well, and they try, but they're always saying and doing the wrong thing, right? I mean, they blow it every term. Even if they get it right, their motives are compromised, right? There's almost kind of comical how bad they are during the three years they follow Jesus.

In fact, I'm thinking about the Lord's Supper, that last Passover seder that Jesus enjoyed, right? Before he's arrested with his disciples. In fact, we're gonna do a Lord's Supper celebration next month at our church. It's a great way to worship it. Remember what Jesus did for us. Anyways, that tradition began way, way back. When it's the end of Jesus ministry, he's having his third and final Passover saver with his disciples. He reinterprets all the symbolism and the substance. This is my body. This is my blood, give them for you. And they're kind of confused. And then he says during the course of supper, he says, "One of you will deny me and one will betray me." And they're all freaked out, they're all freaked out in there. And they all promised, "No Lord." And then Peter says, "Lord, I would die for you." But guess what? The other 10 said the same thing, "We would die for you, we'll be loyal unto death." Then they finished the Supper. They go to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying. They're praying and they're tired. And all of a sudden, who shows up? The soldiers show up and the guards show up. And they arrest Jesus and all these bozos

who promise loyalty unto death. What do they do? Matthew 26 verse 25 on the screen right now says, then all the disciples left him and like two hours before, they promised, "We would die for you. "We'll go to jail for you." They all bail. Ever a friend like that, don't ever a friend? Ever a friend like that just makes you promises. They run away. They're cowards. Where's their spine? Where's their biblical backbone? And Jesus, of course, arrested, he's condemned. He's executed, he dies on a cross, but three days later. Three days later. So just looking at the record about the disciples after the report of the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning, they are changed. These one-time cowards, these guys that fled and ran away, they are amazing. Check out the book of Acts. They saw something that made them very different. They're transformation by any objective appraisal is so radical and holistic. I'll give you a couple examples. If you go to Acts 4, Acts 4, what's happened is, Peter and John go to the temple. There's a man there who's paralyzed.

They heal him in the name of Jesus. It creates a stir and a crowd because everybody sees us. Miracle take place, it's physical miracle. And they take the opportunity and they say, I happen, we didn't do this. It's not our superpower. It's in the name of Jesus, he was healed. And they get arrested for it, right? Right, get arrested by the authorities. And they end up in front of the same high court that executed Jesus just a few weeks before. These guys had complete autonomy. They could put you in prison and confiscate your property. Have you beaten or have you murdered? Have you executed? They had killed Jesus. And so they asked them to give testimony. Acts 4, verse 10, here's what Peter says boldly. Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, it's a large court, all these judges that by the name of Jesus Christ like this, comma, whom you crucified. Whom God raised in the dead by this name, this man stands before you, healed in good health. You hear this saying, hey, he said, hey, high court, you've been looking for Messiah for all these years and he shows up and you kill him. Good job, geniuses. Then he doubles down, verse 12, verse 12. And there is no one else and no other name under heaven

which has been given among men may be saved. And then they threaten him, they threaten him. Don't you speak his name, don't you preach anymore? You know, we can throw you in prison. We can have you crucified, verse 18. And when they summon them to disciples, they command them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said, whether it's right in the side of God, to give heed to you rather than the God you. about what we have seen and heard." Oh my goodness. What happened to the 12? In fact, just for fun, little bonus, little bonus. I didn't cover all this last night, but you guys are my advanced class. If you go to chapter 5, chapter 5, so they go back to the church. The release, you go back to the church first, chapter 4, and they pray. That is a great note. If you've been threatened with imprisonment or beating or execution, not to preach the name of Jesus, what do you pray? You're probably praying, "Hey, God, protect us. God, God, keep us safe." You're probably going to preach very discreetly and quietly knowing the other... They prayed for boldness. They prayed for boldness. And it says, and they said, "Amen." That the building was shaken like an earthquake. Then in chapter 5, they go back to the temple courtyard. That's the most public space in all of Israel. They're not looking for discretion or quiet. It's not some secret society. They go where there are tens of thousands of people and they preach the name of Jesus and they get arrested again. And this time, the high court is curious. They want to kill them, but a wise old rabbi named Gamelah stands up and says, "Pump the breaks. Pump the breaks. There has been a miracle. Is it kind of early? I know you want to kill them. Let's not kill them yet." And what happens at the end of the trial, it says, verse 40, chapter 5 now, "And this rabbi speech, it persuaded them, they called the apostles and had them...had them flogged and ordered them not to speak the name of Jesus. Had them flogged." I highlight that one little word because there's so much embedded in that word. I know in some places around the world right now, corporal punishment

is still a thing. Even for adults in certain countries, the little cane you or something, how horrible would that be? How barbaric. Back in this day, to be flogged, they would take a whip. But not a typical whip, a cat of nine tails, had nine leather strands. Then the Romans would put a little piece of glass or sharp bone in the strands. So every time it would strike you, it would just remove all the flesh from your body. Now the Romans had a law, they could only beat you 39 times. 'Cause in the 40th time you probably died, the Jews had no such law. So it is sad back there. It's very sad what happened. The disciples are beaten within inches of their life. What would your response be? I'm like, "Hey, Lord, I'm going to be a little quieter about this. Lord, keep me safe. Lord, go get them. Look what happens in the next verse on the screen right now. The apostles left the Sanhedrin in that court rejoicing because they have been kind of worthy to suffer disgrace in the name of Jesus. Then day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching. Y'all, I believe the resurrection of Jesus really happened. I believe in the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. We're going to start a series in November called Who Is Jesus? Who Is Jesus? We're going to take a hard, just critical look on who is this person that two billion people believe is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, and what sets apart the Christian faith from the other great world religions is it stands and falls on the historicity of the resurrection, that Jesus really beat death on the third day the way He promised. And the Bible says, if it didn't happen, go home. If it didn't happen, none of it's true. But if it did happen, it did happen. So I'm going to show you there's so much evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is the promised Messiah, is the hope of the world, and what's nothing more than a relationship with you that will last forever. He wants to take you to heaven and to change you. But one of the greatest evidence there is objectively, the disciples saw something. These cowards, these idiots, these self-centered, they saw something that changed them, that all but one end up dying as martyrs, horrific deaths, and all they had to do was save the life was say it didn't happen. All they had to say to the Romans was it didn't happen. We're wrong, Jesus is still dead, but all were willing to die and the one that survived was tortured and died in exile. Every single one stayed consistent. There's no other explanation for the change in the transformation in the disciples except they had encountered the resurrected Christ.

It's something the greatest evidence there is. Who dies for a lie? So God loves to change people. It's still his favorite thing to do. If any man be in Christ, he's a new, a new what? Think about all the different creatures that God made. he makes every kind of species there is, every kind of fish of the sea, the birds of the air, all the different animals that you got insects, and you got amphibians and reptiles or a plethora of different mammals, you got subsets with them all, all these incredible animals, everyone made by God, but every single animal behaves differently, doesn't it? Some are prey, some are predators, some are aggressive, some use speed or stealth, they all have different behavior, why? They all have different natures. Every different creature has its own unique nature, and that nature drives behavior. See, I wanna change my behavior. Why don't I wanna change my behavior? 'Cause, well, individual behavior creates habits, and habits and disciplines, what? They drive your character, and I think character is the biggest factor in your destiny, and God wants you to be a man or woman of divine destiny. So, I back it up, but I want God's future, his purpose of my destiny, I gotta think about my habits and disciplines, different by my, if I lost you, my behaviors, my behaviors are driven by my nature,

and my nature's embedded in the kind of creature I am. But God has made me, Christian, made you a new creature, and every creature has its own, I feel like I've lost you on this. Let me see if I can break this down. Let's think about one of these subsets, one of these beautiful species, we think about the great apes, or the plains animals, or, oh, what, felines, felines. Any cat people in the house, any cat people in the house. I confess I pick on cat people sometime, but cat people are great, right? Cats, God made, by the way, all different kinds of cats. God made the Florida Panther, not the hockey players, but I mean the real Florida Panthers. He made jaguars and cheetahs and bobcats, and, oh, yes, lions and tigers, a tiger might be the most beautiful animal God ever made. Tigers are majestic, and beautiful, and powerful, and their nature is what? Fierce, a tiger is a dangerous ant. There's only a couple of mammals that will actively hunt people, polar bears and tigers. Don't miss a tiger that, the creature, the creature, if I lost you, the tiger, a cat, with a dangerous, dangerous nature. Now, I know some people don't like, when I use a live animal for an illustration, I get mad and email me, and you feel better, and I don't read it, it's okay.

Go ahead. But I have a wild animal I want to bring out right now. A wild animal, member of the cat family. Okay, Briana, would you please, if you're in the front row and you're phobic, a wild animal, it's just Zach Beaker. Briana, would you please bring out this dangerous, wild animal? Everybody okay, everybody okay? Everybody okay, is this dangerous animal? Is that Remy? Remy is here with her brothers. Oh hello Remy, how are you? How are you Remy? Am I frightened? Am I worried? Am I frightened? Not frightened? They're a member of the same family. The biologists say that the tiger and the house cat have over 96% of the same exact DNA. It's like three and a half percent different genetic code makes this, oh yes, makes this cat this, and that cat that. I'm gonna give her back to you, Bri. (audience applauding) Isn't it funny? But if I walked out here with an uncaged tiger, no one's good, oh. (audience laughing)

They're different creatures. Everyone's so slightly, but radically different natures. When you come to Christ, he changes you like that. And the devil tries to deceive you thinking, oh it's the same old you. Same old pattern, same old behavior, same old shame, same old you. You're different. You're different. You're a new spiritual species. So yes, God wants to change you from hell bound to heaven bound. That's why we do all this stuff. That's why I drive him a claret out on stage and have the internet blow up and say, oh my gosh, the pastor owns a million dollar, not my car dummies. (audience laughing) But man, I got some car guys to come to church. I've been inviting him for years. I'm being dead on inside of Chris. Chris, I've been inviting Chris to Christmas and Easter for three long years. And Chris, he lives so close to first Baptist, I can walk, he never comes. He was a car guy, he came. He came to see the McLaren. I really believe that people we love need Jesus.

And there's a real place called heaven and a real place called hell. That's what we do it, that's what we do it. And if we get misunderstood, criticize. (audience applauding) Who cares? God wants to change you. The prayer partners will be here Again, if you know anybody the invite cards are out in the lobby I think they look like superhero trading cards with families and kids feel free to invite them tonight come back tonight What they do on the stage? It is a Disney level themed show is so good, but it's to reach one more person My God loved you. He made you wants to make you a new creation look we did for Peter John James fearful fearful afraid selfish No vision fearless goal world-changers So God wants to do you're a new creature Christian new creature live like it Father God We thank you. You are the God of heaven and the God of earth. We are the God of Monday morning transformation - I Believe you're gonna change marriages. I believe you're gonna change families I think you're gonna change people's finances I think you're gonna change addictions right now because we're gonna believe where the Bible declares to be authentic and true if Anyone is in Christ. They're a new creature The old things have passed away and behold all things have become blessed all things have become divine all things have become powerful I pray for the heroes in the room that Jesus you let us know we can change in your name We pray amen amen