"Poured Out" Series

TITLE: “Poured Out”

#2 in the SERIES: “Empty”

MAIN TEXT: Mark 14:22-26

Good Morning! Today, we are going to continue following the life of Jesus in His last few days before the Crucifixion, from the Gospel of Mark… In doing so, I want to give you another PICTURE of what EMPTY looks like in a person’s life. To see another facet in the “gemstone” of EMPTY if you will.

Now, remember my goal with this series… It is similar to what John the Baptist made as his own personal goal. John 3:30 recalls it, “He must become greater; I must become less.” I want to propose to each of you that this needs to be a goal for each of us as well! Because it’s all about being EMPTY, so you can be filled with the fullness of Christ! The only problem is that WE have to choose to EMPTY ourselves, of self, so that we can make room for Christ to fill us back up. And I want you to know that Christ is EAGER to fill us up with Himself if we would only make ourselves available to Him!

That AVAILABILITY is what I want to deal with today

as we consider how Christ made Himself AVAILABLE to us.

In fact, Jesus POURED HIMSELF OUT for you and me!

TITLE: “POURED OUT”

Our goal: To Fill Us With His Fullness!

Mark 14:22-26, While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is POURED OUT for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” After singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives.

PRAYER:

INTRODUCTION:

Now, if I were to ask you this morning if you believe God has the power to do great things, I believe all of you would raise your hands in agreement! Then, if I were to tell you that I believe God wants to do something special in your life; most, if not all of you, would still agree with me. But in order for God to do something great in our lives, we have to be AVAILABLE to Him every day! Amen?!

Now…that is a rather obvious statement to make. Yet, it is probably one of the most neglected thoughts in our life. I say that because we DO expect God to do things. Actually, we want God to do things – even great things! BUT! We have to admit that we are, many times, too busy or pre-occupied to give Him the opportunity to do something through our lives. So, our AVAILABILITY is not always there…

ILLUSTRATION:

Maybe this story will help you understand it a little better. The Fable of the Chicken and the Pig goes something like is… The Chicken and the Pig are walking down the road one day. The Chicken says, “Hey Pig, I was thinking we should open a restaurant!” The Pig replies, “Hmm, maybe… What would we call it?” The Chicken responds: “How about ‘ham-n-eggs’?” The Pig thinks for a moment and says, “No thanks. You might be involved, but I would have to be totally committed!”

That is the struggle for a lot of us. We don’t mind being INVOLVED, but COMMITMENT is another story. So we aren’t always as AVAILABLE as we should be to God!

But let me ask you these questions today about your AVAILABILITY to God. Are you more like the Chicken or the Pig??? Will you be around some of the time? Or are you fully committed to this thing? The Bible tells us in Mark 8:34, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” I think it comes down to how AVAILABLE we have made ourselves to the Lord. It’s about how much of US we have POURED OUT for Him!

Our Scripture text today, brings this element of AVAILABILITY to light for us to consider… Mark 14:12-26 is the story of The Last Supper. In it, Jesus is instituting the ordinance of Holy Communion. And He is actually revealing to the Disciples what His sacrifice entails.

Now, it’s Thursday, the day before Jesus would go to the Cross on what we know as Good Friday. So, we know that this would be a night, and then day, of intense suffering coming up very quickly for Jesus. But, before Jesus would begin this final piece of His earthly life, He wants to share in some final moments of fellowship with His twelve Disciples. Before all the final events of Jesus’ life ensues, He wants to POUR INTO THEM!