His Passion For You Series

His Passion For You

The Passion Of The Christ – part one

(Also if you can get it, play the 3rd day song ’love Song From A Savior...’ the main chorus is "just to be with you" and it talks about all that Christ did just to be with us...)

Show Movie Trailer of the passion…

THIS MORNING – we kick off a brand new series, we are calling, “The Passion Of The Christ.” ON FEBRUARY 25th, Mil Gibson’s movie hit theatres. AND – I hesitate to even call it a movie. IT – is more of an event, an experience. Mel Gibson’s, ‘The Passion foil The Christ,’ have forever intensified and changed how I see in my mind, what Jesus did for me… AND – I think it is SO awesome that a movie about Jesus; about our Lord, our Savior and our friend - is setting all kinds of records. I’ve seen the movie several times. We rented out a theatre at the Mall of Ga. on March the 6th and experienced it together.

LISTEN - the last 12 hours of the earthly life of Jesus, THE CROSS is the pinnacle, the highpoint, the culmination of the passion of the Christ. BUT UNDESTAND – the passion of the Christ, did not start there NOR did it end there. YOU SEE – Christ was the most passionate man that ever walked the face of the earth. AND – over the next 6 weeks we are going to talk about;

• His passion for YOU

• His passion for the HURTING

• His passion for the CROSS

• His passion for HIS PEOPLE

• His passion for CHANGE

• His passion for YOUR FUTURE

AND – to be honest, of all the messages I have preached over the last 13 years, NO SERIES - has both excited me and intimidated me like this one. I’m excited, because I know that the passion of the Christ has the power to change; hearts, lives & this church (it has done so for 2,000 years). I MEAN – what better way to keep the fires of the NYR raging THEN, the passion of the Christ.

BUT – this 6 week series also scares me to death. BECAUSE – I want this series to honor, lift up and bring glory to the Christ. I want it to draw people to Him, to cause people to stand in awe of Him… AND – I feel a bit inadequate for the task…

BUT - as I wrote in my Tuesday Reflections e-mail… I’m not leaving this to chance. INSTEAD – I have put it into the hands of God by asking people to pray for me… Each week, and e-mail when they do.

AGAIN – today’s message is called His passion for you… AND – my objective is really simple… I want every person who walks out of those doors today UNDERSTANDING how passionate Christ is for them…

When you think of the word passion, what do you think of? What pictures come to you mind? Let me give you a few pictures that come into my mind…

A Sports Fan;

NOW – sports fans can be a pretty passionate bunch. They but & wear their teams jerseys. They hang flags on their homes and their cars; they paint their faces; they go without shirts in freezing weather…(and with their buddies they paint the letters of their teams on their bellies, a lovely sight, I might add); They wear Viking helmets, beads, and blocks of cheese on their hands; they wave tomahawks and homer hankies…

AND – this time of year with March madness in full swing, passionate sports fans are everywhere… AND – right now there is probably not a more passionate sports fan around than Ryckie Fernandez. I MEAN – the guy is going crazy with his Tech boys in the elite 8. IN FACT – he said that if they win the championship that he is going run somewhere clothed… WELL – for more details you go ask him.

ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;

Someone Dating…

BACK – in the fall of 1996… when I was dating Laurie, I was pretty passionate… WE - talked on the phone one time (actually it was Tuesday Sept 18th) from 10 pm – 6 am… I saw her every day. Thought of her ever minute. Send her 2 or 3 I love you pages throughout the day… We ate lunch & dinner together all the time. YES – when it came to dating Laurie I had a huge hunk of cheese on my head… (in fact I think I still do…)

ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;

Someone who is intense about a hobby…