16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

I grew up with a father who loved the comic books and knew almost everything you needed to know about the superheroes. Knowing about Clark Kent (aka Superman) was no exception. My dad still has this picture of Superman he drew from when he was a kid, and to this day, I still think it has solidified him as one of the best artist I know. I’ll often reference it to people that I care about to brag about my dad. I know he doesn’t view the photo as anything special, but, in my eyes it’s representative of how I view him. He has always been a superhero to me, and that hasn’t changed. 

When I think about love, I think of my dad first. When my mom passed away,I was twelve and I decided to take a sharp left in life. I stopped caring, I stopped thinking, I just simply reacted to whatever I thought was a good idea. Yet, through all the stupidity and bad decision making, do you know who was there to catch me? Who was there to lead me? Who was the one who never left me out? My dad. Maybe that’s why I think of him as a superhero. He never left me. He never let me down. He corrected me. He made me think. He loved me… all while I hurt him. He loved me and gave me a freedom to grow that I didn’t realize, until later in life. 

My dad has always worn the “S” on his chest. 

Jesus also wore, and still wears, an “S” on his chest.  His “S” doesn’t stand for superman. His stands for savior. Can you imagine a mission, a commission by your father with the end goal  ofyou dyingon a cross? It doesn’t stop there. The death was going to be for every single person who took a left turn, right turn, u turn, and any kind of turn you could imagine in life, and not just for then, but for all time. That’s a lot of people, and a lot of bad directions. 

But that’s what makes His grace and love so good. 

God knew we needed more. God knew we needed someone to be able to take all the pressure for every bad decision that was going to be made. Every single one of my bad decisions was taken and every single one of your bad decisions was already forgiven. 

Then it became even better… 

Jesus can’t wear the “S” for savior and just die for sins. If Jesus just die for sins, then it doesn’t make Him any different than anyone else who died and had sin in their life. See, for Jesus to make Himself different, He would have to conquer that death and the only way to conquer that death is to rise and live again. That’s exactly what Jesus did. At the cross Jesus cried, “it is finished,” He absorbed every single sin, sickness, disease, and wrongdoing you could think of. Finished meant that we don’t have to live life full of fear of being overwhelmed by never having enough, or always being sick or death. Finished was the word that still speaks to you and I today, that we stand at the finish line of our problems and even as we go through the fire, we can trust and know God is brining us through to the other side of that problem, because of Jesus love and sacrifice at the cross. 

He knew we couldn’t do it ourselves; He knew we couldn’t continue to keep trying to climb the mountain of life without falling down it. We never would reach the top. So instead of watching us struggle to climb this mountain, he picked us up and put us down on top of it instead. He placed us in a position of love, and said your sins are forgiven, your diseases have been taken, and IF YOU CHOOSE to allow me to take and keep what I did on the cross, I will. When Jesus cried out “finished” it was a battle cry that said, I took it all, and I’ll keep it all that tries to destroy you, for you. 

If we choose.  The choice is this: are you willing to allow that single action of the “Savior” to take place in your life? He saved you before you ever had the cancer. He saved you ever before you looked at that pornography. At the cross, He saw you and He said, I’m here to be your savior. Ill wear the “S” on my chest for you, and Ill stand in your place when you feel like that building is falling on you, I’ll come in and sweep you out when you feel like your falling off the cliff, because I love you, I saw you, and I knew you would need saving. 

“But Stephen, you don’t understand, I’ve lost people, I’ve hurt people.” 

“But Stephen, I’ve got this disease I can’t get rid of, and the doctor told me they can’t either.” 

Me too. I’ve seen it. And I’ve also seen the deliverance. Part of this life is going through the battlefield of life. The Bible says, “no weapon formed against you shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:7). It didn’t say there wouldn’t be a weapon formed against you. We would go through battles, and God knew that, but that’s why He sent Jesus… because He is WILLING to swoop in to deliver you, to give you the freedom you need. 

Psalm 103:1-5

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3 He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4 He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5 He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Father, I thank You for Your love, I thank You for the blood of Jesus that covers every sin past, present, and future. Father I thank You for the person reading this right now, that You fill their heart of Your love, Your love that sent Jesus to the cross and the same love that raised Him from the dead. The love that You knew we truly needed, and Father I ask right now to heal them right where they are, heal the very thing that is holding them back from the destiny You have for them. I command every evil to stand down, in Jesus name, and for love to fill this person right now, in Jesus’ name, amen.