His Passion For His People

His Passion For His People

The Passion Of The Christ – part 4

SHOW – the DVD of the passion…

The Passion of the Christ. I don’t know about you BUT – I never grow tired of seeing, hearing or reflecting about Christ’s passion… Without any doubt whatsoever… Jesus Christ was the most passionate man who ever walked the face of this earth.

AND - His passion; not only blows me away, BUT IT - comforts inspires, motivates, challenges, assures, stokes and energizes me!

TO KNOW – that Christ, that God the Son, that the KING of kings and LORD of lords loves me so much, wants to be with me so bad that… THAT - He left all the glories of heaven, put on flesh, and endured all the pain and suffering of the cross, just so that we can be together - gets me jazzed! Christ IS – passionate about me! AND – Christ is passionate about you…

CHRIST - loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. LISTEN - there is no price that Christ would not, and did not pay, just to with you…

AND – not only is Christ passionate about being with me, BUT – He is also passionate about my hurts… AND - when I hurt, when I am in pain… His passion for me is natural (because His God and I am his child) and it is near…

AND – let me tell you, nothing pumps me up more OR puts my life in perspective quicker, THEN - what we talked about last week… UNDERSTAND – Christ embraced the cross and the suffering that went with it because the cross has the power; to pay your debt, remove the distance, take away your guilt, bring people together, give you new life and guarantee your future.

Christ’s passion; for YOU, for the HURTING & for the CROSS… that’s where we’ve been the last 3 weeks… TODAY – we are going to talk about Christ’s passion for His people.

BUT – before we do, we need to answer this question first, who are Christ’s people?

LET ME – read a few passages and as I do, see if you can figure out who God’s people are.

To the church in Thessalonica…We know that God loves you, dear brothers and sisters, and that he chose you to be his own people. 1 Thess 1:1,4 (NLT)

You are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. "Once you were not a people;

now you are the people of God. Once you received none of God’s mercy; now you have received his mercy." 1 Peter 2:9,10 (NLT)

WHO – are God’s people? The CHURCH! Christians….

Pray…

His Passion For His People – Is Intense

QUESTION – is there anything that you are intense about?

INTENSE – is me looking for; my keys, my cell phone, my checkbook or debit card… (in drawers, under beds, digging through garbage…

YES – intense people are easy to recognize. Some people are intense about; a job, a hobby. Their school work, the weekend, food or making sure everything is neat and in it’s right place…

CHRIST – is intense about His Church…

THERE – are 4 snapshots from Scripture that UNDERSCORE the intensity that Christ has for His people, for the church… THE FIRST….

“I Will Build My Church”

QUESTION - have you ever been involved in a project that was so important, that matter so much to you (you want it done and you want it done right), THAT – you just had to roll up your sleeves and jump in there (with great intensity) to do it yourself

I MEAN – it was far to meaningful and important for you to risk it not being done right…

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… Matthew 16:13-18 (NLT)

CIRCLE - upon this rock

QUESTION – what is the rock that Jesus is referring to?

IT – is not Peter, AND – it not just the statement of who Jesus is. RATHER – it is people; men-women, young-old, rich-poor… believing in who Jesus is. UNDERSTAND – what Jesus is saying here, is that; the foundation, the walls, the roof… HE’S – saying that all the material He will ever need to build his church is people believing that is not just a great (man, teacher or prophet) BUT – the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!