Living Passionately,
One Month To Live Week Two
Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as should. – Psalm 90:12 (LB)
A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
– John 10:10 (Msg)
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord
- Romans 12:11
Life isn’t measured by the number of breathes we take but by the moments that take our breathe away. - Anonymous
LAST WEEK – we kicked off a message series that is already: re-focusing, renewing, re-energizing, impacting and changing the lives of some people in this very room ( are you one of them?)… UNDERSTAND - this new way of thinking, THIS - “What would I Do If I Only Had One Month To Live?” question is intended not only to enable us to number our days, BUT – to empower us to live a life full of moments that take our breathe away! A life that is real, and eternal, more and better than we’ve ever dreamed of…
THIS – past Tuesday morning as I sat down to begin reading this book I was pretty pumped up. AND – the reason I was so stoked was because I know that there are a bunch of people at SE who are: reading the same book; thinking the same thoughts and asking the same clarifying question (What would I do…).
YOU SEE – I know how God works… AND WHENEVER – He can get a group of His people to start thinking His thoughts all at the same time… LOOKOUT – because something HUGE and RADICAL is going to happen! TRANSFORMATION – is about to occur. LIVES – are going to be changed. WALLS - are coming down. THE WORLD -
THEN – I started thinking about the messages I would give… ABOUT - how I would put them together. ABOUT – how we could get more of His people at SE involved in this journey. AND THEN – I heard God kind of whisper to me, “Steve yeah that’s all fine and good… BUT - don’t forget I intend for these next few weeks to change you as well.” RIGHT – after this I wrote the following on some of the blank pages in the front of my book.
Father… I want to radically change the way I live. I want to be who you created me to be. I want to do what you created me to do… Help me Father to number my days and to begin living FULLY. Father, I want this to be about more than a campaign. I want to live new. I want to live fully! THE THIEF – has been very effective at: stealing, killing and destroying this new life (Your Son bought for me on a blood stained cross). Help me to defeat Him. Help me to fight him everyday for this life!
AND AFTER – I read chapter one… I decided to text as many people as I could with the question, ‘What would you do if you had only one month to live…” NOW - I wasn’t really looking for a reply, I just wanted to keep the question in front of myself and as many other people as I could. (That’s the reason for the reminder bands). HOWEVER – I did receive a few text replies to the question…”What would you…)
• Drop out of school! Seriously.
• I’m working on it.
• Sounds like a good sermon to me
• Live boldly
• I would quit school, find a good friend and spend my last month on the road tripping to visit all the places I want to see and the people I promised to visit.
• I would call instead of text
NOW – I really liked that last one… Even though I knew that my friend was kind of digging at me a little. SO – being the spiritual giant that I am, I quickly started to text him back, “then where’s my call…” BUT – before I could finish my text he called… HE – wanted to make sure that I knew he was just trying to be funny… HE – was. BUT – it was also true. Calling really is better.
YEAH – I’m glad he called. We had a good talk. HE & HIS FAMILY – have been going through some major challenges the last year or so. AND – it seems like God is beginning to unfold a plan to turn things around. It was good to talk. AND – not only did we have a chance to talk and catch up on our lives… BUT – we also had a chance to talk about this concept of ‘One Month To Live.’ I was able to clear up a little confusion he had about it. I was able to let him know that this ‘OMTL Thing’ is not really about dying at all. BUT RATHER – it’s about discovering the life we should already be living. AND – then living it… I really like what Kerry Shook wrote on day two of this OMTL journey…
Just as the roller-coaster ride passes in a flash, our lives on this earth are temporal and finite. It’s a natural part of being human; we’re born, and eventually our bodies die. Instead of finding this depressing or paralyzing, IF – you’re willing to face and own this truth about life – that it will end as we know it here… THEN – you can be truly free. Instead of limiting us, our mortality can consistently remind us to be all we were meant to be.
QUESTION…
• IF – you were to die this week would you have any regrets? GO – ahead and circle your answer (yes or no) in your notes…
• Are there things in your life that you know you need to do, but you’ve been putting it off (maybe for years), you know the I’ll get around to it ‘Someday’ Syndrome. AGAIN – circle your answer.
• Do feel that you are NOT living FULLY the more and better life that Jesus Christ longs to give you?
IF - you answered ‘yes’ to any of those questions then you are in the right place at the right time… AND ‘IF’ - you ‘allow’ them to, the next several weeks will begin to empower you, to do a 180 on each of those answers. I MEAN – wouldn’t you like to respond to those same questions – this way… IF – you were to die this week would you have any regrets? NO. Are there things in your life that you know you should do that you are putting off? NO. Do you feel that you are NOT living FULLY the more and better life… NO Way… I am living it baby…(full, real, eternal, more and better life than I ever dreamed of)!
BY – the way… There’s still time: There’s:
• Still time to join a Challenge Group
• Read this book
• Pick up a reminder band
• Share this concept with a friend, maybe invite them to church.
REMEMBER…
• What you do with your life, matters (you’re life is a gift from God)
• That as long as there is breathe in your body there is STILL TIME to turn your life around
• God intends for us to be live a life just like His Son lived when He wore human flesh.
We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
God wants us to grow up… like Christ in everything
In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus
Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing
THIS MORNING – we are going to begin looking at the 4 principles that Jesus our Savior King BOTH embraced and embodied as He lived His life to the full. Jesus: lived passionately, loved completely, learned humbly and left boldly.
QUESTION - when you think of the word passion, what do you think of? What pictures come to your mind? Let me give you a few pictures that come into my mind…
A Sports Fan;
NOW – sports fans can be a pretty passionate bunch. THEY - buy & wear their teams jerseys. THEY - hang flags on their homes and cars; THEY - paint their faces; THEY - go without shirts in freezing weather…(and with their buddies they paint the letters of their teams on their bellies, a lovely sight, I might add); THEY - wear Viking helmets, beads, and blocks of cheese on their hands… THEY - wave tomahawks and homer hankies…AND – this time of year with March madness in full swing, passionate sports fans are everywhere…
ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;
Someone Dating…
BACK – in the fall of 1996… when I was dating Laurie, I was pretty passionate… WE - talked on the phone one time (actually it was Tuesday Sept 18th, yeah I’m one of those weird guys who remembers dates) we talked from 10 pm – 6 am… I saw her every day. Thought of her ever minute. Sent her 2 or 3 I love you pages throughout the day… We ate lunch & dinner together all the time. YES – when it came to dating Laurie I had a huge hunk of cheese on my head… (in fact I think I still do at times…)
ANOTHER – picture that comes my mind when I think of passion is;
Someone who is intense about a hobby…
Whether it’s; hunting; fishing, golfing, hiking, video-gaming, gardening, boating OR biking.. When people are passionate about a hobby, they go FULL throttle.
YES – we all recognize passion when we see it (and when it’s lacking)… AND LISTEN – people who are passionate about something… HAVE CONCLUDED – that; cost, time, money, weather and comfort are all irrelevant. BECAUSE – if you are passionate about something you are willing to suffer for it. IN FACT – the word passion comes from the Latin word, ‘passeo’ - which means to suffer.
When I lived in Atlanta there were some people in my subdivision that were passionate about biking… I remember one Sunday morning heading out to church… THE - temperature was in the teens. THE - wind chill was approaching zero. A - steady freezing rain was coming down. AND – there they were. 10 guys passionate about bike riding in their spandex were heading down the road… I just smiled to myself, turned my heat up a notch and drove on…
YES PASSION – is an amazing, inspiring, motivating & powerful thing. AND LISTEN - nothing great ever happens without it. UNDERSTAND - the driving force behind all great art, all great music, all great literature, all great drama, all great architecture is passion. Passion is what makes things great.
Passion propels athletes to break records. Passion pushes scientists to discover new cures for diseases. Passion causes musicians to keep playing in smoke filled night clubs until they get that big break. Passion is what gives life. The kind of life you were made to live!
God created you to be a passionate person. UNDERSTAND - you were made with the capacity for passion because God is a passionate God (and you are made in His image). LISTEN - regardless of your personality, God made you to be a passionate person. YOU - may be an extrovert or an introvert, it doesn’t really matter. God made you to feel things deeply.
QUESTION – are you passionate about the life you are living right now? NOW – let me clarify that a little… I’m not asking if you are passionate about a: sports team, a hobby, a vacation spot, a relationship… I’M - asking are you passionate about ‘your’ life (the life you are living at this very moment? OR – are you (as we read on day three of our 30 journey) “simply going through the motions, listless and discontent, wondering if this is all life has to offer.”
AGAIN – God’s intention for your life and mine is that we live our likes just like Jesus lived His. Fully. Abundantly. Passionately.
THE – first point in your notes is;
The Portrait
OKAY – what I want to do here is to give you several snapshots of Jesus living passionately. AND LISTEN – one thing that is evident as you look at the life of Christ, IS THAT – He was not one who lived His life: “simply going through the motions, listless and discontent, wondering if this is all life has to offer.” NOW – there are so many snapshots that I could show you this morning of His Passion. IN FACT – there are not enough photo albums in the world to hold them all. SO WHAT – I want to do is to look at just 4 snapshots that I think kind of capture Jesus’ overall passion.
Snapshot #1 “The Father’s Word” – Joseph and Mary have just celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem. THEY - along with tens of thousands of other people are heading back home. A couple days into the journey they noticed that they left something back in Jerusalem… (Their 12 year old son, Jesus). SO – they hurry back to the city to find him (YEAH - I bet that was a fun trip). AND – you know since Jesus had 4 brothers and a couple of sisters I wonder if any of the younger siblings were traveling in the Grand Camel Van with them? (THAT – would have made the trip back even more fun). Three days later they find Him. (MAN – think about that parents. They had to be flipping out). LUKE – records these words…
The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt. His mother said, "Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you." He said, "Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?" - Luke 2:46-49
DO – you see Jesus’ passion in this snapshot? DO – you see His passion for His Father’s word. PICTURE – that scene at the Temple… PICTURE – a 12 year old boy sitting at the Temple with the leading teachers of the day. EAGERLY – listening and asking questions. PICTURE – Jesus on the edge of his seat at 12 firing off question after question and answering the tougher ones. DO – you see His passion for His Father’s word.
Snapshot #2 “The Father’s House” – Fast Forward about 18 years… Jesus is in the early stages of His ministry. It’s only a few days before the Jewish Passover. Once again Jerusalem is flooded with people flocking to the city to Celebrate the ‘great’ feast of deliverance. Jesus was in Capernaum (the city that He called His home during His ministry) along with His mother, His brothers and disciples. When it was almost time for the Passover Jesus went to Jerusalem. The Apostle John writes…
14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” - John 2:14-17 (NLT)
DO – you see His passion in this snapshot? DO – you see the fire in His eyes. CAN – you hear the thunder in his voice? WATCH – His passion overflow as he turns over table after table and cracks the air with the whip he just made. PASSION – for His father’s house (being what it was meant to be) consumes Him. NO - “simply going through the motions, listless and discontent, wondering if this is all life has to offer” - here.
Snapshot #3 “The Father’s Plan” - NOW – this snapshot is actually made up of three 3 images… kind of overlaid on top of each other…
IMAGE 1… Jesus has just fed the 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fish. Peter has just made that great confession as to who Jesus is, The Christ the Son of the Living God. AND THEN JESUS – turns to them and says;
"The Son of Man must (it’s got to happen, there is no other way, there is no turning back) suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
- Luke 9:22
IMAGE 2
(of the Father’s plan)… JESUS – has just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration. THE MOUNTAIN – where Peter, James and John saw Him transformed before their very eyes as He was praying. THE MOUNTAIN – where the heavens once again opened up and The Father spoke encouraging words to His Son… “This is My Son. My Chosen One. Listen to Him.” AFTER THIS – Jesus came down from the mountain, and Luke records these powerful words…
When the days drew near for him to be taken up (to suffer, to die, to rise again), he set his face (He resolved, He determined) to go to Jerusalem. – Luke 9:51
IMAGE 3
IT’S – late Thursday night in the garden. Jesus is praying. HE – knows exactly what the next few moments will bring. HE – knows that all of those prophecies and predictions about His suffering, death and separation from the Father are about to become reality. HE KNOWS – that his body will soon be beaten, His flesh torn, His blood shed, His friends scattered… HIS – hands, feet, brow and side pierced.
Father if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done not mine. – Luke 22:42
DO YOU SEE – His passion for His Father’s plan?
• It must happen
• There was no other way
• He couldn’t turn back
• His face was set.
• His path was chosen
• His Face was fixed
“Abba, Father – more than I want a path away from this suffering – I want your will to be done, your plan accomplished.
Snapshot #4 “The Father’s People” – NOW – this snapshot also consists of a couple of images…
IMAGE 1
God is wearing human flesh. HE – is just beginning His ministry and He as does He looks out at the crowd of people created in His image… AND – His heart breaks because things are not as they should be…
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. – Mt 9:36
IMAGE 2
IT’S – dark. THE – night air is still. His heart is racing. The time is short. The suffering is about to begin… AND – where is His focus? Who is he thinking of, himself? Hardly.
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
– John 14:1-3
DO YOU SEE – His passion for the Father’s people…? UNDERSTAND – ever since the garden, God could not wait to come near to His people. AND – when the Christ did show up 2000 years ago. He showed up in the flesh as one of us… CHRIST – did not come thundering on the top of a distant mountain.. he did not come issuing decrees from some ivory tower… He came near. He came as one of us. AND – everywhere you turn in the Gospel we see the Christ hanging out with people. HE – cared about their hurts. HE – cared about their hassles and His greatest desire was to be with them forever.
OKAY – that’s a brief portrait of Jesus living passionately. AND – did you notice that when you boil it all down… The focus of His passion and His Father and His father’s people. THE NEXT – point in your notes is…
The Power
QUESTION - what was the power… WHAT – was the fuel that both ignited and sustained the Passion of the Christ? How was he able to consistently live with such passion? REMEMBER – He wore the same flesh as you and me.
WELL - there are basically 2 things that keep the flames of His passion burning. THE FIRST ONE – takes us back once again to the upper room on the night of His arrest.
AND AS – I read these 2000 year old words written by the hand of John and breathed by the Holy Spirit, see if you can see anything in them that would keep Jesus’ passion burning.
JESUS – is in the upper room. THE – food is cooked. THE – room prepared. THE – disciples gathered. THE – table set. THE – candles lit. THE – the time is short. THE – betrayal is in motion. THE – devil is prompting. THE – arrest is imminent. YET… - the Christ is confident. THE – Christ is passionate. How? What is fueling His passion?
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; - John 13:1-3
SO – did you see it? Jesus Knew
Understand…
The Power Came From What He Knew
QUESTION - what did Jesus know?
• HE – knew who He was… The Christ the Son of the Living God
• HE – knew where he was going? Back home to the Father
• HE – knew His purpose (why He was here)… Jesus – had a vision for His life… To defeat sin, conquer the grave, fulfill God’s plan, finish His work and bring God’s people back home.
NOW THE SECOND – thing that kept the flames of Christ’s passion burning hot is found in these 8 words written from the pen of Luke… Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. – Luke 5:15,16
UNDERSTAND – the power to keep the flames of his passion burning came not only from what Jesus knew but what He did…
The Power Came From What He Did
QUESTION – what did Jesus do? HE – constantly maintained His connection to the Father. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. – Luke 5:15,16. AS – you flip through the pages of the Gospel… you see Jesus intentionally maintaining this connection… YOU SEE HIM – praying when:
He began His Ministry
He was attacked by the evil one (in the wilderness)
His schedule got demanding
Before making big decisions in His life
He was disappointed & broken hearted
He was worried about his friends
He was concerned about the unity of the church
He faced his ultimate challenge.
Luke 22:39 says, "Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives as usual."
THE – Portrait, THE – power… NOW – the Promise…
The Promise
QUESTION – what is the promise? THAT - we (that you & I) CAN live the same kind of life that Jesus lived… LISTEN – I’m going to keep hammering those 4 passages that we started off this series with last week… YEAH – I know they’re ‘really’ hard to believe and get our brains around, BUT – they’re true!
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. - Romans 8:29 (Msg)
God wants us to grow up… like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. – Ephesians 4:15 (Msg)
In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus. - Phil 2:5
LET – the truth and incredible promise of those passages ‘really’ sink in…
We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
God wants us to grow up… like Christ in everything
In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus
AND – the 4th passage that we read last week from John 14 ABSOLUTELY blows my mind. DO YOU – remember it?
I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
– John 14:12 (NLT)
SAY – what that? NOW – that’s crazy, I don’t care who you are... (me and you) the same. NO, greater things then Jesus did... BECAUSE – Jesus is going where? BACK – to the Father. AND – when He goes back to the Father he is going to send who? His Spirit. LISTEN – we have everything we need to live a life just like Jesus lived including Living Passionately. BECAUSE – those of us who are saved has His Spirit living inside of us.
LOOK UP – the potential for you & I really living this kind of life is real! BUT UNDERSTAND – this kind of life doesn’t come rolling in on a try. NO – we have to work at living passionately like Jesus. That’s why Paul wrote these words…
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord
- Romans 12:11
CIRCLE – the word “keep.” LISTEN – the reason Paul tells us we need to keep it is because passion is something that you can lose. You can lose your passion for the Lord. You can lose your passion for life. God created every one of us to be passionate people, but the problem is, life just tends to beat the passion right out of you. The problems, pressures, stresses and busyness of life sort of drain the passion right out of us.
SO – how do we keep it? THE – same way Jesus did…
The Power Comes From ‘Remembering’ What We Know
(Tim…) - like Jesus we also know some things… NOW – the thief is going to try to steal these things from us… That’s why we have to intentionally remember what we know!
We Know Who We Are… The Apostle John wrote some of the most amazing life changing and passion igniting words about who we are in the 3rd chapter of his first letter…
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! – 1 John 3:1
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Like Jesus
We Know Where We’re Going
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." - Rev 21:1-5
WE ARE GOING – to the world we have always dreamed of living in. AND – we’ll live forever. WHERE – are we going? “We’re going home” HOW LONG – will we live there? Forever!
Just like Jesus…
We Know Why We’re Here
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Eph 2:10 (NLT)
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. – John 17:18 (Msg)
WHY – are we here? TO DO - the good things God planned for us to do long before we were ever born. TO ACCOMPLISH – the mission He gave us in this world.
LISTEN - we are Part of something MUCH bigger then us… WE – are part of a story that has been going on longer before we were born and that will be STILL be going on long after we have left this earth.
A STORY – of a passionate God brining His people back home one life at a time. YOU ARE – the hands, feet, voice and heart of Almighty God in this world! THE – things you do have eternal implications. GOD – wants to use your life to bring Him Glory and to turn as many hearts as possible back to Him.
UNDERSTAND - God has a vision for your life. The Great I Am, the Creator of all we see, the alpha and omega – has plans, thoughts, intentions and dreams for you… THERE – are thing he created you to do… IT’S – what you are designed for… IT’S – who you are… YOU ARE – custom-made, carefully crafted, supernaturally shaped for a specific divine agenda. GOD’S – vision for your life are things that will your life impact that will echo throughout eternity.
IT’S VISION – that gives significance to the otherwise meaningless details of our lives. IT’S - not always about what we’re doing, BUT - rather why we are doing it. I MEAN – you take the minute details of this very day and drop them into the boiling pot of a God-ordained vision and begin stirring them around. AND BEFORE - you know it there is purpose! Meaning! Power! Passion!
VISION – is the difference between filling bags with dirt… OR - building a dike in order to save a town. NOW - there’s nothing glamorous or fulfilling about filling bags with dirt, BUT - saving a city is another thing altogether. Building a dike gives meaning to the chore of filling bags with dirt.
THE SAME - is true of vision. Too many times the routines of life begin to feel like shoveling dirt. ANYBODY – feel like their shoveling dirt out there? BUT - take those same routines, those same responsibilities, and view them through the lens of vision (that’s what Joseph and Paul did when in prison) and everything looks different.
WE KNOW – who we are. Why we are here. And where we are going…
AND – like Jesus the fuel for our passion comes from maintaining our connection with God…
The Power Comes From ‘Maintaining’ Our Connection With God
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful… Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:1-5
REALLY – all we need to live passionately is maintain our connection to God…
When we connect to God we realize that it is all about Him, not us. He is the great I Am. Our source of life. He’s all we need.
UNDERSTAND - there is incredible life giving power in maintaining our connection to I Am. You see, I AM becomes the naswer to everything!
(I had church say ’I Am’ after each thing I said. It was sweet)
I need help
I need hope
What works
What lasts
I need a fresh start
Nothing seems real anymore
I can’t hold on
I’m not sure why I’m here
I’m tired
I can’t
I’ve given all I have and it’s not enough
