Verses
Trying to Underline
The Sign of Jonah – Superhero Sunday
Nope. This isn’t going to be a Sherlock Holmes The Sign of the Four (or Three, for you BBC fans). Sorry.
Tony Stark: JARVIS, have you heard the tale of Jonah?
Jarvis: I wouldn’t consider him a role model.
[Iron Man flies through a Leviathan]
-The Avengers
Have you heard of the sign of Jonah? In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”
Jesus was predicting his death and resurrection, and relating it back to Jonah. He was telling the Pharisees that this would be the sign that he would give them. (Matthew 12:38-39)
Jesus predicted his death and his resurrection. Don’t harden your heart like the Pharisees did. Believe.
Tell People:
It’s a Baby
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Psalm 139:16
• The first moment-the very first nanosecond-of your life determined whether you would be a boy or a girl.
• In the first hours of your life, your eye color, hair color, and other features were decided.
• When your heart began beating, you were so small you would have fit on your mother or dad’s fingernail-with room to spare!
• Before your mother even knew you were growing inside of her, you could hear and could even perform full flips inside her womb!
• About seven months before you were born, your fingers and toes looked much like they did at birth, though you were only two inches long!
• You started to grow hair in your fourth month of life (before birth) and may have even sucked your thumb!
• You first heard your mother’s voice-and began kicking and stretching-three or four months before you were born!
• In the final two months before your birth, your weight tripled, you began sleeping and waking, and you used four of your five senses: sight, sound, taste, and touch-all before your mother went into labor.
You were a baby when you were first conceived. It’s a baby.
“And yet our opponents tell us not to interfere with abortion. They tell us not to impose our morality on those who wish to allow or participate in the taking of the life of infants before birth. Yet no one calls it imposing morality to prohibit the taking of life after a child is born. We’re told about a woman’s right to control her own body. But doesn’t the unborn child have a higher right, and that is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
List taken from Josh.org’s youth devotional.
Tell People:
For God is not …
For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.
Hebrews 6:10
Tell People:
We’re a Time Bomb
I’ve never been good at spotting possible spoilers, so if you haven’t watched The Avengers, I would suggest that you don’t watch the video. Just to be on the safe side. 😉
When Dr. Banner (The Hulk) says that they’re a time bomb, it’s kind of like partnerships between believers and unbelievers. Everything may be fine, but, at some point, there’s going to be a clash. Or a KABOOM. One of those two. Either you’re going to be forced to sacrifice your beliefs and convictions, or your partnership is going to be ruined because of a disagreement about faith. Or both.
The partnership above doesn’t just refer to marriage or dating. Friendships, work relationships, and almost any other partnership with unbelievers also count. I’m not saying you should lock yourself in a room with Christians. Nope. You still need to reach out and love unbelievers. We need to show God’s love to them, just like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.
And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Learn more about pairing up with unbelievers with this great devotional from Josh McDowell.
Hi, guys! Please let me know if you liked this very first Superhero Sunday post! And, as a small disclaimer, I’ve only watched The Avengers and Captain America: The First Avenger, so I’m relatively new to the superhero world. I’ll mostly be using things from those two movies (or others if I watch them :D).
Tell People:
God’s Riches
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
Romans 11:33
Tell People:
Always Be Joyful
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Tell People:
The Shield of Faith
In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
-Ephesians 6:16
With our faith, we can block the flaming arrows of the enemy, like a shield. Paul was probably thinking about a Roman shield, kind of like this one:
Maybe. The Roman’s shields were made out of wood, but they were covered in leather so they wouldn’t catch on fire, which was a big part of their battles. (Thank you, Pastor Tim from Wayside!)
When we think of shields, we normally think of something more like this:
Sorry, I couldn’t help it… But, although this shield would definitely stand up pretty good to some flaming arrows (now there’s an idea, Marvel!), it doesn’t provide quite as much full-body protection. See what I mean?
The stronger your faith is, the better your shield will be, and the better you’ll be able to guard yourself against the devil’s flaming arrows of temptation. Which just might be mentioned in the next post.
(I can’t help it… which shield would you rather have? Why?)
Tell People:
God’s Delight
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Proverbs 15:8
God delights in the prayers of those who love Him and trust in Him. Remember that today.
Proverbs 31 Teen 