James White
Crossroads New Life Tabernacle
www.crnlt.org
Heb 12:1-2
12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
KJV
I want to bring your attention to the first three words in verse 2. Looking unto Jesus!
Jesusmania
As a young boy I use to visit my grandma’s and grandpa’s house every Sunday morning to watch WWF. They would have this grand event called Wrestle Mania where the best of the best would come to the wring and put on a spectacular show.
Wrestle Mania was put on pay per view as a money making event because it was the event of all events for wrestling fans. The fans would pay big money for tickets to this grand event because they were so consumed with it.
If you have ever met a real wrestling fan, then you know why they call in Wrestle Mania. Don’t dare tell a wrestling fan, that what’s happening in that ring is not real, because they will begin to get this crazed look in their eyes and say something like, “YES IT IS!”
The wrestling fans are consumed with Wrestle Mania.
The word Mania comes from the word passion. Visuworks an online graphical dictionary says “to have warm affection or devotion to and to have an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action”. If you have ever met a real wrestling fan you will know why they called it Wrestle Mania.
When I put the word passion into the graphical dictionary, it gave me words like
• Pyromania – an uncontrollable desire to set fire to things
• Egomania – an intense and irresistible love for yourself and concern for your own needs
• Dipsomania – an intense persistent desire to drink alchoholic beverages to excess
• WrestleMania – Intense desire to watch guys act like they are beating each other up.
You can have all of these manias and so I thought for a moment that out of our passion for Jesus it would make sense that we could have what I want to call Jesusmania!
Jesusmania – an intense desire to be like Jesus!
Years ago I began a youth Rally called Youthmania and we had a slogn that was put on t-shirts. It was “Maniacs for Jesus.”
A Maniac is a person who has an obsession with or excessive enthusiasm for something.
Tonight I have come to preach that we must be like Jesus… Are there any Jesusmaniacs in the house!
If we want to make the race, and win the race that we have been running as Christians, we can not do it half-hearted. It can’t be with anything less that an intense desire. If we plan to win, then we must LOOK TO JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith!
The author of Hebrews was telling the church you can run the race. You can lay down everything that gets you off balance. You can win, but it won’t be without an intense desire to see Jesus.
Prayermania – Intense desire to pray.
You can’t be a prayermaniac until you become a Jesusmaniac. We pray because we know that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think…
James 5:16-17
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
KJV
I am a firm believer that if we are going to be like Jesus, then we must have the passion of prayer…
The apostles were continuously praying…Elias was a man with the same passions that the Apostles had…Pray and see the Miracles of God..
If Elias can shut up the heavens with prayer, then we can open up heaven with prayer. We need some prayermania going on around Crossroads New Life Tabernacle.
If you want to see the power….Prayermania
If you want to see the supernatural…Prayermania
If you want to see the glory…Prayermania
If you want to see the strongholds broken in your life…Prayermania
If you want to see deliverance in your family…Prayermania
I have come tonight to preach that we must have prayermania going on around her to see the things of God in our lives, our church, and our homes.
Fastmania – irrational but irresistible desire to change something through sacrifice.
We must push back from the table to be like Jesus. Prayer and fasting are in our arsenal and if we never use them together, then we are fighting a battle unequipped.
Esther had the looks. She had to body. She had the hair. She had the right dress. She had everything there was needed to catch the eye of the king, but when the time came for her to put her life on the line. She did not rely on her dress, her hair, her looks, her abilities, but she fasted and called her people to fast.
We are going into too many battles without the proper tools…
If you want to win, get the right tools. Traditional values will not win it. Legacy’s will not win it. The right songs will not win it. The right sermon will not win it. The right suit or dress will not win it…
If you want to win, then you must get the tools that will get the attention of the King of Glory by being consumed with Him…
God is not concerned with what you are for or against in the church, he is concerned with what you are doing to know Him…. He’s concerned with what you are doing to change your life to reflect His life.
Witnessmania – An intense desire to show the Glory of God.
John 4:47-48
47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
KJV
If church attendance could save, then our community has enough churches that everybody would be going to heaven. There are Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Church of God, Pentecostal, Non-Denomination.
Our community is not going to be saved through church attendance. Our community will not believe in dead religion. Our community will not have faith in traditional church…
Just like those that followed Jesus looking for signs and wonders, this world is looking for a church that has signs and wonders…
***Where the signs and wonders are, there is the glory of God!***
Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18.They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
KJV
Do you believe? Where’s the signs?
This didn’t go away when Jesus died, in fact the Apostles preached Jesus and did many miracles, signs, and wonders.
Acts 2:22
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
KJV
Peter was preaching Jesus…He was preaching about the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus did. That’s how he convinced them that there was more for them.
How are we convincing people today if there are no miracles, signs and wonders.
What made Pentecost so popular was not our doctrine of do’s and don’ts, but it became popular through the demonstration of the Holy Ghost.
Our world is not wanting a religious movement, our world is wanting someone that will be like Jesus!
Our world wants to know Jesus, but they need someone to show them the Jesus.
Conclusion
A group of salesmen went to a sales convention in Chicago. They assured their wives that they would be home in time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of the salesmen accidently kicked over a table that held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for boarding.
In that group of salesmen one man paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.
He told his buddies to go on without him and waved good-bye. He told one of them to call his wife when they arrived and explain why he took a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did, because there was a sixteen-year-old girl in charge of the display of apples was totally blind. She was crying softly, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time blindly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her. No one had stopped to help her-no one seemed to care.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table, and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of the apples had become bruised and these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “here, please take this $40 for the damage we did, Are you okay?” She nodded through the tears. He continued, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister….”
Still walking away he turned to look back into the girls blind eyes. She continued, “Are You Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride. The slowly he made his way to catch a later flight with the blind girl’s question burning in his soul: “Are You Jesus?”
I people mistake you for Jesus? Our calling is to be so much like Jesus and people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love and grace.
This world will not see Jesus, unless you show them Jesus!
Sir…Mam…Are You Jesus?
Is there anybody here tonight that wants to change the way you’ve been serving Him.
Is there anybody here tonight that wants to change the way you’ve been seeking Him.
Is there anybody here tonight that wants to change the way you’ve been following Him.
We need some changes in our lives. We need some changes in our ministries.
