Grace and peace to you through our redeeming, sacrificing, loving, Hero, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Gracious God, wonderful Lord, we praise your name for the blessings of living in a free country. Keep our country free, great, and prosperous, using the heroes in our nation to do your will. Lead citizens everywhere to acknowledge you as the only source of true freedom and the provider of all blessings. God bless America and bless us in Jesus, that greatest of heroes. Amen.

Who are our nation’s heroes? Who are the greatest Americans? Who are the people we look up to and strive to become? You would think obvious choices would be Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, John Glenn, and Billy Graham. In a recent list of the 100 Greatest Americans, these people I just mentioned made the list. But there are some others who made the list as well: Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Hefner, Dr. Phil McGraw, Michael Moore. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

When we see lists like this it makes us wonder "where have all the heroes gone?" Who are our heroes? Who are the people that we look up to? After September 11, real heroes like firefighters, emergency personnel, police officers, and military men and women finally begain receiving the honor that was due them. We finally began to see that athletes like Brett Favre or musical talents like Toby Keith or famous personalities like Martha Stewart may be cool or special or fun to watch or listen to, but they aren’t heroes. It took God allowing a tremendous tragedy for us to start getting our priorities straight about who the real heroes in life are. We finally learned that heroes are ordinary people who are called upon to do extraordinary things.

Where have all the heroes gone? We find true heroes in God’s Word. Let’s first of all look at a man named Gideon. Gideon was an ordinary man whom God called to do extraordinary things. Gideon went from being a zero to a hero, a servant to a soldier, a timid farmer to a mighty warrior.

Gideon isn’t too impressive when we first meet him. At the time of our text the Midianites and the Amalekites had entered Canaan, taken control of the Israelites and their land, and had made things pretty miserable for the Israelites. Gideon is a lone farmer, threshing his grain in a winepress, while hiding from his countrymen’s oppressors. That doesn’t sound much like a mighty warrior.

Yet, that is exactly what the angel of the Lord called Gideon. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." God was calling this hesitant man to become a hero and accomplish great things for him. Gideon gathered an army of 32,000 soldiers. But that was too many for God, so he narrowed that number down to 10,000 and later to only 300 men. Gideon’s army numbered 300. The Midianite army numbered 135,000. Gideon’s men were outnumbered 450 to 1!

With only 300 soldiers, we would expect that Gideon's army had the best weapons possible. We would expect that they would be armed to the hilt with swords, battle-axes, catapults, horses and chariots. But listen to what they had: "each man had a trumpet and an empty jar with a torch inside of it." Trumpets, jars and torches. Not exactly what you would expect to use to win a battle. But this wasn't any ordinary battle. God was letting Gideon and his army know that he was the one who was going to win this victory. 300 men with torches, jars, and trumpets should not be able to defeat 135,000-armed soldiers. God was making it very clear that he would provide the victory.

With their trumpets, jars and torches Gideon, and his men reached the camp of the Midianites. They went on the offensive. At the appointed time they blew their trumpets and smashed their jars. Holding the torches they shouted: "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon." The Midianites thought they were being attacked by a huge army with the sudden flash of lights and all the shouting. They saw their fellow soldiers trading places for guard duty and mistook all the movement as an attack. The confusion in the camp was so great that the Lord caused the Midianites to slash their swords at anything that moved. Those who survived being slaughtered by their own army then broke into a run. God had kept His promise. Against all odds, Gideon and his army were victorious.

Nine-year-old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School. "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Gideon behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to defeat the evil Midianite army. When he got outside their camp, he had his army open fire with their Uzi’s and bazookas. Then Gideon used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters and call in an air strike. They sent in bombers to blow up the camp and they wiped out the Midianites." "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mom, but if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!"

How could Gideon defeat the Midianite army? It wasn’t humanly possible. Gideon was able to accomplish this because the angel of the Lord (who is really the Son of God) had told him, "I will be with you." Gideon was able to accomplish great things for God only because God was with him, God was blessing him. God took Gideon from a zero and made him into a hero.

The people we are honoring with today’s service are really ordinary people. You are all zeroes on your own, but like Gideon, God has made you into heroes.

Where does a firefighter find the courage to enter a burning building to save a family trapped by fire? How does a soldier have the stamina to go three straight days without sleep and yet be prepared to take on the enemy? Where does the emergency personnel receive the knowledge to save lives? How does the police officer have the confidence to make even a simple traffic stop, knowing it could turn ugly? One word – God. God is with you mighty warriors.

But can non-Christians perform acts of heroism, too? Certainly. But not with the same power – they don’t have God’s power, like we have. Not with the same courage – they don’t have God’s promise "I will be with you always." Not with the same confidence – they don’t have the assurance that whether we live or die we will always be with our Lord.

We may be earthly warriors without God, but we are "mighty" warriors with God. We are all spiritual zeroes without faith in God. We are all heroes of faith with God. We are ordinary unbelievers without Christ Jesus in our life. We are extraordinary Christian soldiers with Jesus Christ at our side.

We honor you today as heroes. But we especially honor you as God’s heroes, just like Gideon. We thank you as people who serve our community and country, but we especially thank you that you are God’s servants doing everything to the glory of God. We thank God for you that he is accomplishing great things for our community, our country, and his eternal kingdom through you, his servants and our heroes.

No "Honor Our Heroes" worship service would be complete if we did not discuss our greatest hero, Jesus Christ. He became a zero, so he might become our greatest Hero.

Imagine a soldier seeing a fellow soldier and friend fall to ground behind enemy lines. This injured friend is almost dead. He is bleeding badly from his chest and head wounds. The soldier had watched his friend charge stupidly and recklessly into the enemy fire. Now here he was, almost dead, behind enemy lines and with the enemy soldiers closing in to take him as a prisoner of war. Something needed to be done. So the soldier takes off his gun, his knife and ammunition. He leaves the safety of the foxhole. He leaves it all behind. He crawls through the mud and muck with the enemy closing in.

He reaches his fallen friend, pulls him onto his back and begins crawling back to safety. Just as he is about to reach the safety of his foxhole, the enemy appears right behind him. With a great heave, the soldier throws his friend into the foxhole where his fellow soldiers catch him and give him the medical attention he needs to safe his life.

The selfless soldier, however, is shot, captured, thrown into prison, tormented, tortured, and eventually killed. He put himself in harm’s way to save a fallen friend.

Do you know the name of that soldier who gave his life to rescue the other? It was Jesus. The name of the fallen soldier? Insert your name.

Jesus went from extraordinary to the ordinary. He went from the glories of heaven to the mud and muck of this earth. In ways that we could never fully understand, Jesus went through hell for us. He saw us lying injured and helpless behind Satan’s enemy lines. He should have left us there, but he couldn’t. He had to do something to save us. He did the only thing. He became one of us. Here was the five star general of heaven and earth becoming a foot soldier, a lowly private. When he saw us bleeding, helpless and dying, he crawled through the mud and muck of the evil and sin of this world. He left everything behind to come after us. He left the angels, the saints, the glory, peace, and safety of heaven to enter our world. He came to do battle for us.

But he was captured. He was tortured. He had been beaten and brutalized. He was whipped and ridiculed. He died. He died to set us free. The angel of the Lord who appeared to Gideon, who was really the Son of God, Jesus Christ gave up everything so that we might receive everything. The Bible tells us: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9) "[Christ] died as a ransom to set them free from the sins." (Hebrews 9:15) "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." (1 John 3:16)

What does Jesus being our hero mean? It means a lot of things, but let me give you a couple of real life, concrete examples. This week we learned that three of our members are dealing with cancer. Al Mielke has cancer in his bladder. But he’s not scared, not nervous. He trusts that his loving God will get him through it. Kelly Martyn has ovarian cancer. Yet she sees God’s hand in orchestrating everything, her mother’s battle with cancer, her own early detection, and her upcoming surgery. Sharon Peterson has had her cancer spread to her brain. The doctors are only giving her a few weeks to live. Yet she and her husband, Bob, are grateful for their children, their grandchildren, their marriage, and especially what is awaiting Sharon in heaven. She may have to wait a while for Bob to get there, but they will see each other again.

That is what Jesus being our Hero means. It isn’t a pleasant platitude or a nice thing to say at a church picnic. It is real. Everything Jesus has done for us is real, necessary, and needed. Where would we be without him? The Bible tells us: "I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) The same strength, courage, confidence, and calmness that Al, Kelly, and Sharon have is the same strength, courage, confidence, and calmness we and all our heroes here today share – all because of our greatest Hero, Jesus Christ.

Gideon showed that at times he was timid, reluctant, and hesitant. We can be exactly the same way. But, be assured, that no matter how great the odds are against us, no matter how strong our opponents seem, no matter how scary our enemies are, no matter how timid or reluctant we may feel, God has promised us the victory. The Bible promises: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through [Christ] who loved us. (Romans 8:37) "For everyone born of God overcomes the world." (1 John 5:4) "The prince of this world will be driven out. The prince of this world now stands condemned." (John 12:31;16:11)Yes, you and I have the promise of victory. Where have all the heroes gone? We are God’s heroes. We have gone from zeroes to heroes through Jesus Christ who became a zero so that he might be our heavenly Hero. Amen.

The Son of God, the angel of the Lord gives us this confidence: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Amen.