His passion our passion the passion of Christ is is is a term that's often
referred to around Easter and I love the fact that as Rhonda was speaking the
word we don't have to wait to easter we don't have to wait till when we
celebrate Resurrection Day for the resurrection life of Christ to come as
she was speaking by the Holy Ghost today but typically when you hear the word
passion of Christ that's what we think of it has to do with His last days on
earth before His death burial and resurrection all the things that He went
through but the question that I have for us today is do we really understand the
Passion of Christ you know you might first hear the word passion of Christ
and and you might think it was something He was passionate about using just that
word passion as we know it we might think well that is true He was
passionate about fulfilling the will of the Father He was He was passionate
about winning the lost and seeing people healed and seeing the chains of sin and
death and bondage broken over people's lives yes He's passionate about
that but I think since the movie the passion that Mel Gibson did a number of
years ago there was lots of discussion and debate about the passion maybe you
saw it how many here have seen the movie the passion okay good a good number of
us have seen that and you'll remember a lot maybe if you've seen it even
recently the comments about the violence in the blood and the suffering I
remember when I watched it there were times that you almost had to turn away
because it was just so painful to watch and the horrible suffering and beating
and whipping that Jesus went through and many people have spoke about having to
close their eyes or turn away during those parts because it was just so
overwhelming but if we're not careful we can miss the significance of the blood
we can miss the significance of what He actually did by allowing himself to be
executed now we might get caught up in the you know the execution of an in
man we might get caught up in the in the murder of Jesus Christ by a group of
Jewish religious leaders who really thought that they were doing the the
will of God but what we cannot miss is that Jesus death was God's Way of
providing redemption for all of mankind that's what His death was all about to
provide redemption for mankind through His death Jesus paid the penalty for sin
through His death Jesus paid the penalty and defeated the devil He defeated the
bondage the grip that sin would have on our lives and that included sickness and
disease and poverty and lack He came and defeated all of that so let's define the
Passion of Christ because you probably thought I forgot about it injured the
passion the word passion is actually a Latin word and it comes from the word
suffering suffering so when we talk about the Passion of Christ we're not
talking about something He was passionate about which we know He is
He's passionate about the loss He's passionate about healing the sick He's
passionate about delivering I understand that but when we talk about the word
passion and when you hear someone say The Passion of Christ they're really
talking about the suffering of Christ lots of articles are out there on the
Passion of Christ the Catholic Church has some strangely enough the BBC has an
article on The Passion of Christ the BBC is a news outlet from over in Europe and
here's what they said they said The Passion of Christ is the story of Jesus
Christ's arrest trial and suffering it ends with His execution by crucifixion
but now here's something that the BBC said which I think is very interesting
why I'm quoting them is because it's a secular news organization they said the
passion is an episode in a longer story and cannot be properly understood
without the story of the resurrection so it's not just about
the suffering which is a big part which we want to talk about today but it's
also about the resurrection it's about that victory it's about Jesus coming in
with the resurrection life so we want to talk about the the suffering that Jesus
went through because it's very very important for us to understand but we
also understand it in the context of the resurrection amen
so many scholars if you study understand and believe that Jesus came that Jesus
was crucified that is crucifixion was a historical event it's recorded in the
writings that we have of Paul the Gospels we study that last month in our
in our School of the Bible and school of ministry and we talked about how many
copies of the New Testament there are there were 5000 copies that I was aware
of someone brought to my attention that there were over 20 something thousand
copies and portions of the New Testament so it's not something that was written
and is obscure it's not something that really can't be verified it can be
verified and there's a lot of people not only Paul in the Gospels Josephus a
Roman historian Tacitus and others all wrote about the crucifixion of Christ
now many debate the meaning of the crucifixion if you understand they don't
deny that it happened but many debate the meaning of what what was the
significance of this event there's lots of different debate on that but they
still understand that it happened a lot of times when it comes to the passion
and the suffering of Christ sometimes it depends on the church that you're from
or your background it begins with the events of the garden of gethsemane but
other denominations other celebrations of the last few days of life of Christ
on the earth and the passion in His suffering they include the Last Supper
some even begin the Passion Week with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem when
Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on donkey and so there's this varieties
that's why you might see different plays you might hear different musicals you
might read different things about The Passion of Christ and it may start in a
different place and sometimes that can vary but what it does is it shows us the
suffering that Jesus went through for this lost and dying world that we live
in that's what it was all about it reveals His coming as God manifest in
the flesh it reveals His sacrifice on the cross of Christ it reveals His
obedience to God a full obedience of laying down and giving His life so that
all the world could come into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ
and to know Him personally and not have to experience the the heaviness of shame
the heaviness of sin and the bondages of sin in our lives any longer so we can't
forget though the victory that He brings because that's what it all led up to
everything that the devil tried to do to kill to steal to destroy when Jesus
Christ came He undid what the devil did amen so now in Christ you can experience
victory in Christ you can experience the life that He desires for each and every
one of us to have but that brings us to the message title this morning his
passion our passion has Jesus suffering and sacrifice become our suffering and
sacrifice has Jesus suffering and sacrifice become our suffering and
sacrifice what do you mean by that pastor and I understand that we believe
and teach a lot of the the worship this morning the word from the Holy Spirit
this morning through Rhonda talking about the victory talking about
resurrection life again we believe in the blessing of victory we believe in it
we place a high emphasis on it because that's why Jesus came hHe came to give
life He came to bring us life in life more abundantly but we can't forget
about the suffering of Christ we can't forget about the sacrifice that Jesus
Christ made and inconvenience our selves from reaching out to those who don't yet
know Jesus see that's that's where we would say h=His passion our passion has
His sacrifice become our sacrifice in other words do I sacrifice Jesus isn't asking
you at this time to lay down your life for Him there may come a day when that
happens but I believe if that happens you'll have a grace to do that but He's
not asking us to do that right now we believe in victory we believe that we're
at the head and not the tail that we overcome that we're we're that he causes
us to triumph in every situation of life I understand that but what about the
sacrifice of reaching out those who don't yet know Jesus sometimes for us as
believers it's a little bit of an inconvenience to deviate out of our
routine and come across the path of someone who needs Christ in their life
is that a sacrifice it could be is that suffering maybe in talking about Jesus
in your family and talking about Jesus some where there's some persecution that
may come your way there's some people talk about you because you're a believer
in Christ I understand that that happens in our life so we have to ask ourselves
is his passion our passion coming this April is is one of our biggest
opportunities to reach our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ we this
will be the third year that we're putting on and ministering the passion
experience the passion experience celebrates what Jesus did from the
triumphal entry you can see Jesus ride in a donkey the whole thing started a
number of years ago I was I came across this article from group magazine and I
don't remember where it was but it talked about the
passion experience and they they had this event that churches could put on
and and you could buy the the outlines for the palm leaves so that when you
went into one small like Sunday School room you cut out the palm leaves and you
talk about Jesus coming in on a donkey and then you would go into another room
and and it was a small like Sunday school classroom and I talked about the
Last Supper and and and so on and into the garden scene they had a room that
had palm trees and rocks and it was a garden and they talked a little bit
about Jesus and they moved families in small groups from place to place so that
it wouldn't just be sitting in a chair or a pew watching a production but they
could actually take part and so my mind as I began to read that I thought well
why couldn't we use our entire building and why couldn't we have live animals
and and why couldn't we give an opportunity for people to experience you
know and when when you're right there next to someone who's singing or you're
just a few feet from Jesus when He's praying in the Garden of Gethsemane
you're not just standing somewhere watching Him on a stage you're right
next to Him when the choir and the singers are singing and they're standing
next to you when they're shouting crucify Him and hang Him on the cross
and and and just to be able to experience it rather than just watch it
and so we've done it a couple of years now we're making some additional
adjustments and tweaks because every year we try to do it better and better
and so this year we're doing it again and what a great opportunity for us to
reach out to our community to to have them come and experience the last few
days or the last week of Christ's life to where they can see Him ride in the
atrium on a donkey who does that we like that
I hope the camel comes this year we've had a camel when with the with the
animals that come goats and sheep and lamb
and the atrium smells like a a market scene it's awesome I love it people can
come in and and we have some food for them to eat and people are in costume
come over to my booth and see what I'm selling and it just kind of gets you
into the what happened that day is as far as you know we can
act it out and then they come in and they take part in the Last Supper and
they see Jesus administering the Last Supper and talking about his body being
broken and his blood being poured out and they're right there and they can
take communion they can celebrate the Last Supper with Jesus as the disciples
are and maybe even see the wonder and the questions and the and and and some
of the things they were going through the night of where Jesus was bit what's
He what's he talking about you know we we it's common for us because we've read
about it for years and years and years and it's been a part of the church for
2,000 years the celebration of Communion and the Last Supper and the significance
of Jesus body being broken in His blood being poured out on the representation
of the juice and the forgiveness of sin we understand all that but you don't
remember or we need to realize that those disciples that was the first time
they were seeing that in Him administering it I mean they celebrated
traditionally as Jewish men their lives their whole lives but now He's saying
I'm the bread now He's saying I will pour out my blood for you and it became
real to them then we can move over and we can see the garden when He travails
in prayer and we can be around Him and and we can be around those that are
singing and and then watch the crucifixion every time we've done the
crucifixion there's not a dry eye of watching the crucifixion the the
whipping the beating the what Jesus went through that we can demonstrate to a
small degree and to see Him hang upon a cross that friends is is something that
a lot of people crave but they really don't have someone to invite them they
don't know maybe they have questions about Jesus they have questions about it
so we're going to do that again this year and I want to start talking about
it now because Easter is coming in April now how many of you know that next week
is the time that we get to spring our clocks ahead already did you know that I
didn't know that Mike told me that this morning I had no I I forgot I mean I was
looking at the calendar on that part of my calendar to see daylight say and I'm
like are you kidding is here already hallelujah sunshine in the late
afternoon we love it so but then coming up now thankfully this year Easter is a
little bit further into April and so that gives us a little more time to
prepare amen so I think each ters April 16th if I'm not mistaken and it's out
there a little ways so I want us to turn would you turn with me in your Bibles to
John chapter one here's the opportunity that we have and here's our text because
every great achievement begins with a small step every great thing starts with
one small step one small step leads to another than to another and another and
then something big can happen for God life changed can happen people can
experience His love so I want you to see this in this passage of Scripture and
this passage this morning and then it's outlined I'm about to give you is
actually from Billy Graham's evangelistic association they call it
and I'll get to that in just a moment but it's called Operation Andrew and
you'll see why in just a moment so John chapter 1 verse 40 says this and one of
the two who heard John speak followed Him followed Jesus His name was Andrew
simon Peters brother so verse 41 he first found his own brother Simon and
said to him we have found the Messiah which is translated to Christ and he
brought him to Jesus now when Jesus looked at him he said you are Simon the
son of Jonah you shall be called Cephas which means or is translated a stone or
a rock the following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee He found are you noticing
some of these words I don't know if they're all highlighted
yep there they are they're highlighted there on the screens you'll be able to
see them so he found Philip and said to him follow me verse 44 now Philip was
from Bethsaida the city of Andrew and Peter Philip found Nathanael and said to
him we have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote
Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathanael Oh the son of Joseph and
Nathanael said can anything good come out of Nazareth Philip said come and see
now I want you to notice the progression and and the life change that is the
result of someone bringing someone else to Jesus and again I credit the Billy
Graham Association for this outline because they did a super job and I think
other places have also copied it or have come up with their own variation of
what's called Operation Andrew someone said this is the very first social
networking event in history I like that the very first social event networking
in history and so why is it called Operation Andrew because Andrew is seen
when he hears something about Jesus he's found telling and inviting and bringing
others to meet Jesus now I think for us today that's a great great encouragement
because I think this passage as it relates to us can relate to us reaching
our families it can relate to us reaching our friends our work associates
our neighbors it can really it can help us understand that we can bring the
message of God's love and forgiveness into the lives of those who may not yet
know Him so let's just go through it real quick John spoke to his friend
Andrew Andrew in turn went and found his brother Peter
and he brought Peter to Jesus now you know we read the part about Jesus
changing Peters name and we say He changed his name to a rock Peter this
rock gates of Hell will not prevail but he's talking about the kingdom of God
but Peter was a part of that foundation a part of the rock and so but it changed
his destiny be Peter came to Jesus he changed his name yeah he changed his
name but he changed his destiny he gave Peter a purpose for living he gave Peter
a destiny for his life so Jesus found Philip and Philip followed Jesus in
following Jesus his destiny was changed Philip found Nathanael and when
Nathanael resisted you might find some people resist anybody ever talked to
someone about Jesus and they resist a little bit well that happened with
Philip and Nathaniel Nathaniel said can anything could come out of Nazareth what
are you talking about what if Philip say he said come and see but sometimes we
try to get in these huge philosophical debates just just tell someone come and
see well I I don't necessarily believe in Jesus I don't necessarily believe in
there I'll come and see because when they get in the presence of God God can
do something in their life and change their destiny forever
come and see Philip says so we've got a whole lot of finding and inviting and
bringing and life change happening in this passage of Scripture in John
chapter 1 so let me give you five principles again these are from the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association we're going to I'm gonna explain a few
verses of Scripture that go with these and then we're gonna hand out a card for
you I'll get to that in just a moment okay so number one look around everybody
say look around look up look out look forward and look after okay
five points look around look up look out look forward
and look after alright so His passion our passion are we willing to sacrifice
and be inconvenienced a little bit in order to find someone and bring them to
an opportunity to meet Jesus alright so number one look around John chapter four
verse 35 here's what Jesus said He said you know the saying four months between
planting and harvest but I say wake up and look around the fields are already
ripe for harvest look around so what does look around mean look around means
where you live where you work where you go to school there are people that we
know that don't know Jesus on this we were on a cruise and so on this cruise
ship they have hot tubs and god I got to use him one time and these two guys got
in the hot tub and and they were there from the Netherlands one guy and his
wife and his mother-in-law and then it was a brother-in-law and somebody else
and so we started talking and and the one guy left to go get a beer and so I
left me and this other guy talking and so I said well what do you do and this
guy was a he owned a company that changes chemicals oils and stuff into
fuel so some kind of bio type of changing the fuel and all that I thought
wow that's fascinating he was telling me all about the places that he went so he
asked me what I did and I said well I'm a pastor and he kind of blinked and he
said I've never met a pastor before I was like really and so I tried to
explain well it's like you know what is the the main religion of the Netherlands
and he said well this Catholic and so I said well it'd be like a priest and and
but not the same we believe much of the same but we believe more in relationship
so I had an opportunity to share about relationship with Jesus versus religion
and just do's and don'ts and so the fields are white and ready to harvest so
we need to look around and be sensitive of time so here's what we want to do we
can make a list of names of individuals we're gonna do that in a little bit and
then commit to pray for them just start out by making a list say okay Lord who
is it that I can begin to pray for over the next few weeks that I can personally
invite to the Passion experience who can I begin to pray for okay so number two
is the prayer part look up Psalms 2:8 says only ask and I will give you the
nation's as your inheritance the whole earth as your possession so we can look
up why because God can change people through prayer it was a few weeks ago
when we were in prayer Les mentioned a guest that came I don't remember who
that who was that Les that came with pastor came pastor Miller was here and
he was driving him somewhere and he he Mark Buntain a missionary to Africa
right and and so India he was the missionary to India and and so mark the
story goes that Pastor Miller had mark in the car they passed some homeless guy
or some guy on the street and mark paused and began to pray for him and he
said that man will never be the same he said we were able to change his
destiny right there you don't know when you see someone and you begin to pray
for them we don't always see the result today we you know you pass someone on
the street and maybe God leads you to pray for them and so you pray for them
but it might not be till you get to heaven that you're gonna see you know
what you were part of praying to help that man help that woman help that young
person come into a relationship with Jesus because when you saw them and
started praying for them it gave God the opportunity to start working on their
heart amen he needs people to pray so we need to
look up so we're looking around the fields are white ready to harvest
looking up Lord it all begins with prayer Father we understand the power of
prayer we can pray for people now then we need to look out now this is the
place where we are building relationships with people what kinds of
common ground do you have with people in your notes you'll see first Corinthians
chapter 9 verse 19 to 23 we didn't print them all out but you can look these Paul
said even though I'm a free man with no Master I've become a slave to all people
to bring many to Christ when I was with the Jews I lived like a Jew to bring the
Jews to Christ when I was with those who follow the Jewish law I lived under that
law even though I'm not subject to that law I did this so I could bring to
Christ those who are under the law when I'm with the Gentiles who do not follow
the Jewish law I to live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ but I
do not ignore the law of God I obey the law of Christ when I'm with those who
are weak I share in their weakness for I want to bring the weak to Christ yes I
try to find common ground with everyone doing everything I can to save some I do
everything to spread the good news and share its blessing so that doesn't mean
you disobey the laws of God to build relationships with people in other words
you put yourself in in places well let's see if I go to the bar and I drink with
these folks and I can get to know them they're gonna open up and share I'm not
saying that I mean if you go to a bar I would recommend I know sometimes people
do that they would go to a bar with someone else they're not drinking
alcohol because they're gonna see you do the same thing they're doing and they're
gonna say well what's the difference between your life in my life
and it's not to try to put people down it's not to try to say I'm better than
you because I don't drink alcohol but there are things that that the world
does that Christians ought not to be doing amen
the Bible talks about living holy and living right and living pure there are
things that the world does so we're not talking about compromising your walk
with God the scripture says without holiness will not see God and there are
certain things that are unholy impure that that hinder our walk with God that
we don't need to take part in but we can still have a relationship with people in
the world amen we don't have to do all the things that they're doing but we can
have common ground we can find common ground so to do that though that may
here comes the sacrifice part that may be the suffering part well I
had other plans but here we are right here right now
do I need to not do what I was going to do and take time to minister to this
person build a relationship with them maybe it's inviting them to a dinner a
lunch sporting event just times where you're there and not preaching sometimes
I think we as believers we think the first thing we have to do is preach it
people find common ground with them listen to them hear what they're saying
and listen and watch for those doors of opportunity to plant seeds of the gospel
it doesn't have to be a preaching at every single person we meet but it has
to be a time that we're sensitive to the Spirit of God to an open door of sharing
what God has done in our life and that takes us to number four look forward all
right look forward be ready to share your
testimony what does Jesus done in your life
what is Jesus done in your life first Peter chapter 3 verse 15 and 16 says
instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life and if someone asks you
about your Christian hope always be ready to explain it but do this in a
gentle and respectful way keep your conscience clear then if people speak
against you they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live
because you belong to Christ so look forward and begin to talk with people
about what you can talk with them about events that are happening at the church
maybe guys you're part of the men's group and there's a men's event coming
hey why don't you come with me to this maybe you're talking about other stuff
and he says yeah I really would like to get to know some guys maybe somebody who
just moved into the neighborhood or someone who just moved into your
workplace what could it be that you could invite them to or you can invite
them just to lunch with you to get to know them a little better
or you can invite them to an event you can invite them to the passion
experience you can invite them to divorce care maybe you've heard about
the divorce care coming up you you know what maybe they're going through a
divorce they've gone through something horrendous in their life maybe there's
something happening right now at the church you say you know what our church
has right now that's meeting maybe you'd
like to go I'll go with you the first couple times if you want offer to do
that so there is a sacrifice of time there's a there's a setting aside of
some of the things that we may want to do in order to reach out to someone who
may not yet know Christ okay so that's look forward and then number five look
after everybody say look after look after Jesus came and told his disciples
Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 I've been given all authority in heaven and on
earth therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name
of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teach these new disciples to obey
all the commands I have given you and be sure of this I am with you always even
to the end of the age so what's our responsibility our responsibility is not
only to invite not only to share not only to see that life change that
happens but then follow up everybody say follow up follow up if they come to a
church service talk to him about what they experienced talk to him about their
their questions if they come to the passion experience follow up with them
and talk with them about what did you see what did you think have you ever
asked Jesus Christ to be the lord of your life you can you can take some of
those things and and as doors open be able to share so everybody say look
around who needs Jesus look up you can pray right look out find common ground
and be a friend look forward invite them to something there's lots of great
things that are happening we don't just have to wait six weeks or however many
weeks it is to Easter from now we can look forward to inviting them to other
things as well but especially we're focusing this time on the passion uh
sure would you get ready real quick we have a card I want to hand out to you
right now and it's just a very simple card H is passion our passion the
scriptures John chapter four but I tell you looking you will see that the fields
are wiping red ripe and ready to harvest so let's just get ready if you come on
down guys make sure pass one out to every single person and then you'll just
simply see it says I will pray for and then there's five lines and they're
blank they're blank because you to write in the names of five people you
can see them there up on the screens you get the right two names of five people
down that who you're gonna start praying for for the next few weeks and begin to
say okay how can I reach out into these lives and bring them to the passion how
can I bring them to hear the message of Jesus love of Jesus forgiveness of Jesus
grace of Jesus power what we experienced this morning people outside in the world
longed for the peace in the presence of God that comes when we're worshiping him
people in the world longed for the hope that comes of being able to pray for the
sick and see them receive healing people in the world longed for that because
their only hope is a doctor and what what happens when the doctor says
there's nothing else we can do but Jesus can change their life amen so well I
want you to think right now let's take a couple minutes as the ushers are passing
these out and even before you get one Charles and the worship team you can
come on back up excuse me and and you can be praying right now before I even
get one of these cards because you already know what it looks like
basically begin to pray father thank you so much for this opportunity that we
have to reach out into our community places where we live
places where we work places where we shop places that we hang out or we go
for recreation maybe it's our young people when they go to the the skate
park or the mall and they're meeting some of their friends or on the school
campuses or whatever they might be elementary school middle school high
school college campuses father so many opportunities helped us this week to
look around and see that the fields are white or as the scripture says ripe and
ready for harvest father oh we thank you so much for leading us and guiding us
and directing us that we may be a part of bringing multitudes to
Jesus this season of life that we're in father oh that together we'll be praying
will be talking will be inviting people to come to experience Jesus last week on
this earth Father we pray for those who'll take part in the Passion
experience those that are are already preparing and being contacted are those
who will be signing up for this and that to help in the various areas Lord that
our hearts will be prepared and anointed that our lives and the whole the whole
the evenings of ministry would glorify you and there would be a supernatural
anointing and a supernatural moving of your spirit in the hearts of those who
will come Lord we're not just interested in inviting Christians from other
churches we want to invite those who don't yet know you and so we pray we
pray for those you'll bring across our paths in the next few days and weeks to
come s o that they might come to know you and the life you bring through Jesus Christ Amen
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