Passion: The Match For Your Fuse

What good is a fuse without the match? What good is the engine without the fuel? What good is life without the passion that motivates it?

3 Truths About Passion:

• Nothing significant is ever done in life without passion.

• Most winners in life are just ex-losers who finally got passionate.

• The worst bankruptcy in the world is the person who has lost passion.

I bring this month to a close by pulling all the thoughts together that were preached and now light the match that hopefully will ignite the passion in order for us to be the cure for the common church!

Passion makes all the difference if we are going to show compassion to the hurting, stand unashamed of biblical truth, develop relationships and enhance worship to God! Passion will put our legs into action, help us think like Christ and see with eyes wide open.

If I were to get your most trusted friends or family members together and ask them if you are a passionate person in life, a passionate person for God, what do you think they would say?

Do you think you are passionate about God being in your life? Do you think you are passionate about the Bible?

What is passion? “A strong feeling, a great devotion and intense conviction which fuels or motivates us toward compelling action.”

For the most part, much of America is really struggling to be passionate about life!

4 out of 5 Americans feel that they lack passion in their lives. - Harris Poll, 2007

That means only 20% of Americans woke up today saying, “Come on, let’s go for it!”

George Gallop did a survey of 13,000 people in 130 countries. It was a survey of people who used to go to church but no longer do. There were a number of questions in the survey, but one of the questions asked, “What would need to happen for you to return to church?” The number one answer was “See passion in the lives of the members and leaders.”

People want to see a fire, zeal, enthusiasm among Christians that makes going to church meaningful. This is what made Jesus ministry so affective! He lived passionately for others, and He died passionately for us!

As Christians, I’m convinced that passion is commanded of each of us…

Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…”

John 10:10 “…My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” NLT

Romans 12:11 “Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. NIV

Ephesians 6:6 “…Do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm.” NLT

May I ask, who was the person or what was the event in life that stopped you from being passionate about life?

The sad part of this is – most of us think we can’t live out passion through life’s journey! Maybe you feel this way today – well let’s drop that thinking and begin develop a mindset that says, “I can live a passionate life for God!”

I love what Albert Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

Let’s Discover Together:

1. The Problems With Passion.

a. It Can Be Distracted.

Romans 10:2 “I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.”

My days of riding and training horses passionately consumed me to the point that my passion had turned into an idol!

Dan Kimball in his book, “They Like Jesus, But Not The Church” writes, “It’s as if we have all fallen off a ship, and some of us, through God’s grace, found a lifeboat, but instead of helping others get out of the water, we ignore their screams. We don’t want to get in the cold water, and so we sit around, happy and warm, listening to our CD’s on our iPods and complaining that people outside the boat are making too much noise. Instead, we should be desperately paddling around trying to help others into the boat, where they too can experience warmth, community, and safety.”

LIFEPOINT: Instead of devoted passion for God, too many of us have diversified passion – a little passion here and a little passion there! Before long we are left with diluted passion.

What really fires you up? What ministry do you really feel passionate about? Then devote your passion to what God has called you to and go for it!

b. It Can Be Destructive.

Philippians 3:6 “And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.”

How many have heard of the passion of cultic power over its members! Scientology is now being investigated because of its destructiveness.