Invited To Live His Life Series

0600: Invited to Live His Life

24: A Day in the Life of Jesus

March 5, 2006

Welcome to “24: A Day in the Life of Jesus”! Just a minute while I set my stop watch. Starting “NOW”… I have 24 hours to finish this message! (Just kidding!). Seriously, do we have any ‘24’ fans here this morning? (show of hands) I honestly didn’t know much about the show, (and hadn’t really watched it) until the Vargas’ gave me 7 disk set of “Season 4” to preview. So as I’ve been ‘doing research’ for this message series by watching them, & I have to admit this morning… I’m a convert to the show! I wouldn’t have had the patience to watch it from week to week, because it’s so intense.

In case you’re ignorant (like I was) about “24”, it’s a 1-hour drama that centers around Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland), He’s an American intelligence agent for the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Bauer is America’s best and last hope against international terrorists, drug trafficking and just plain evil. Each episode covers 1-hour of real time and an entire season’s story takes place in one day. It’s a pretty unique format, and it allows us to follow the characters through a single momentous day that none of them will ever forget.

Jack Bauer is the ‘new’ James Bond. Here are a few facts about him…

· He never uses a bullet-proof vest. Instead, he relies on his mane of chest hair to stop any bullet that tries to penetrate his skin.

· If you wake up in the morning, it’s only because Jack Bauer spared your life.

· JB’s favorite color is sever, terror, alert red… his 2nd favorite color is violet… but only because it sounds like the word ‘violent’!

· J.B. lost his car keys once, and spent the next 3 hours torturing himself until he gave up the location.

· Superman wears J.B. pajamas

· J.B. doesn’t miss. If he didn’t hit you, it was because he was shooting at another terrorist 12 miles away.

· The only reason you’re conscious right now is because J.B. doesn’t feel like carrying you.

· Killing J.B. doesn’t make him dead… it just makes him mad.

· When life gave J.B. lemons, he used them to kill terrorists, ‘cause he hates lemonade.

· J.B doesn’t sleep. The only rest he needs is when he’s knocked out or is temporarily killed.

· J.B. could get off the ‘Lost’ island in 2 hours.

A lot of people would like to live a day in the life of Jack Bauer! Unfortunately that’ll probably never happen! But what CAN happen (and I want to challenge you to do during this series) is to live a day in the life of Jesus. In fact, I want to challenge you to live ALL of your days like Jesus Christ! In Mark 1:14-38, we’re given an example of 1-day in the life of Christ, and so each of the next four weeks, we’re going to cover an episode of Jesus’ 24 hour day! Now, even though Jesus didn’t fight terrorists (per se), he did deal with some threats of a much more serious nature. As a way of getting us acclimated, let’s read the entire passage this morning… (READ)

The 1st thing that happens in this 24-hour period of time is the calling of Jesus’ disciples. The timing is interesting to me, because it’s right on the heels of John the Baptist being put into prison. It’s almost like Johns imprisonment was the ‘checkered flag’ for Jesus to charge into the fast lane! And that’s what he did! God had been counting down to this very moment all through history…(dink, dink, dink, dink) and now the time had finally come for the rule of God to begin on earth! As Jesus leaps out of the starting blocks, he begins to tell people excitedly…“At last the time has come!”… “The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!” –Mark 1:15 (NLT) The word Jesus used for ‘good news’ was actually a word that meant, “the good news of victory!” It was like a messenger coming back from the battlefront and announcing that the battle had been won! And that’s what Jesus is telling us!

The battle with evil is won! Get excited!… and then get in line! Because the next thing he does is to begin recruiting volunteers who will not only help spread the message, but will live it out! And He’s still doing that! Jesus is in the business of recruiting believers who will not only talk the talk, but live the life! The kingdom of God is shown first in His life, and then in the lives of his followers.