Heroes of Faith

31 Jul Heroes of Faith

As you’ll find out later in this week’s Team Talk, in the book of Hebrews Chapter 11, there is a “Hall of Faith” dedicated to remarkable men and women whose stories stand out to encourage and challenge our own faith. They lived incredible lives, trusted God and because of this they are often called the HEROES OF FAITH.

There are quite a few people who make it into this “Hall of Faith” and some of these include Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson and David. I’d like to look at the life of Noah.

Noah is the third hero named in the Hall of Faith. The Bible says this about him:

Did you know there was so much evil in the world during Noah’s life that God said he actually regretted creating mankind? It must have been pretty bad. But Noah and his family stood out to God. This doesn’t mean he was perfect, Noah was flawed just like you and me. But what got God’s attention about Noah was his love for Him. He was fully committed to obedience and doing what God said. It’s pretty amazing to think that when God told Noah to build the Ark for his family (because of the floods and rain that were coming) that it had never ever rained before on the earth. Noah hadn’t seen rain, hadn’t a clue what it was BUT he obeyed God anyway. Imagine the people that would have mocked him and made fun of him building this big boat. But Noah didn’t care. He was a HERO OF FAITH and as a result, saved his family and the animals from being destroyed. His unshakable faith in the midst of a faithless society has much to teach us today. Here’s more of his story.

The rainbow was actually first a sign of God’s promises to us long before it became a symbol for the LGBT, Pride, NHS or any other movement.

Although they may not all be walking by faith, there are now an estimated 2.5 billion Christians in the world today. Wow. And how many have there been since the Hall of Faith was written? I don’t know but I reckon a lot! And so it goes without saying that there’s probably been millions more HEROES OF FAITH since the bible was written

That’s why I wanted to look at the history of the church and choose another HERO OF FAITH– William Wilberforce, born August 24, 1759, in Hull, Yorkshire, England—died July 29, 1833,

He was a committed Christian and during the 18^th/19^th century when he lived, slavery was legal. People made a lot of money off the slave trade so when Wilberforce tried to see the law changed he faced a huge amount of opposition. But despite setback after setback he spent his entire life fighting for what was right and believing that God would help him. He kept believing and during the week of his death, the law was changed in favour of abolishing slavery. Isn’t that amazing? Here’s a trailer of the film Amazing Grace which was made about his life.

Did you also know that all these years later, police forces who are dealing with the modern day slave trade as a result of human trafficking, use quotes from William Wilberforce to inspire others?

William Wilberforce was a man who loved God and did what he believed God was telling him to do, no matter what society believed-he was a HERO OF FAITH.

I think God has wired us in such a way that we not only need heroes to look up to but also to imitate. Hence the success of films based on the Marvel and Justice League superheroes.

Here’s a compilation of clips from the Justice League films that remind us that A-They’re not real and B-They make mistakes-just like us!

But we’re definitely real and made in God’s image. As children of God follow the ultimate HERO OF FAITH-JESUS.

Right then, our Team Talk presenter this week is…-Naomi!

Here’s a summary of Naomi’s Team Talk-great advice- I thought it was so good I even sent this image to a friend.

FRIDAY NIGHT YOUTH ONLINE Our next Zoom meeting will be TONIGHT July 31^st at 7:30 pm. If you need more details regarding the Zoom invite contact the church office.

VCC YOUTH-THE BIG CHALLENGE-Discover your hidden talents!

We’ve watched clips of the Great Sandwich Making Challenge (way to go Grace Lee!) at our last meeting and heard the Crazy Stories starting from A-finishing with Z.

We even saw James C performing a live challenge where he was filmed going around his house as fast as he could can touching every light switch-it was a quick time! Please tune into the meeting on the 31^st to find out what Jon’s next LIVE challenges will be!

Here’s another fun clip from Hillsong Youth-I posted Episode 2 on the Blog last week-so here’s Episode 3 of Believe Iosefa! 

I mentioned last week that God has great plans for your lives-spend time with Him to find out more about them. Could you be a HERO OF FAITH?

Have a great week everyone-keep enjoying your summer holidays!

Claire and the VCC Youth Team