His Passion For The Cross
The Passion Of The Christ – pt 3
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23
YOU KNOW – most of the times both victory & defeat are easy to recognize… Last Monday night in San Antonio – it was easy to recognize that it was Uconn that got the win and GT was the one who was defeated. Back in February in Houston, when the lights were flashing, confetti falling, when the hats and t-shirts were being put on it was easy to tell that The New England Patriots won Super Bowl 38 and that the Carolina Panthers were defeated.
YES – in sports, in business, in war, in political elections, in life – most of the time victory and defeat are easy to recognize… BUT – not always… FOR YOU SEE – sometimes (not often, but sometimes) in life what looks like a sure defeat turns out to be a great victory…
In 1948 Harry S Truman ran for re-lection as the 33rd President of the United States. It actually was Truman’s first time to run for president. YOU SEE – he became president when FDR died 83 days into his 4th term as president. Truman was running against Thomas Dewey and every public opinion poll predicated that Dewey would win by a landslide.
Newsweek Magazine polled 50 top political experts throughout the country and they gave Dewey 366 electoral votes, 100 more then he needed to win. The Ft. Lauderdale Daily News predicted that Dewey would get at least 62% of the vote. Life Magazine featured a full page picture of Dewey with the caption, “The New President travels by ferryboat across the broad waters of San Francisco Bay.”
The Kiplinger Letter already on the desks of the leading business men of the day, described the economic policies of the new Dewey administration. The Manchester Guardian’s final election report was called – ‘Harry S Truman, Study of a Failure. AND – the Chicago Tribune had already published as their headline story, Dewey Defeats Truman.”
On election night while Dewey was in new York working out the final bugs of his acceptance speech, Harry Truman was in Excelsior Springs Mo, taking a Turkish bath, eating a ham sandwich and drinking a glass of milk listening to the election returns. He said, “At 6 O’clock I was defeated I was defeated at 10 O’clock, At midnight I heard the report that I was 1,200,000 votes ahead but was still undoubtedly beaten.”
Truman went to bed and was awakened at 4 am by a secret service man who told him that eh 2,000,000 votes, but the commentators continued to say he couldn’t see how Truman could be elected. HOWEVER – despite all the commentators, newspapers and all the polls that said he was defeated, that said he didn’t even have a chance of winning, Harry S Truman was still the elected choice of the people as their President. WHAT – looked like a defeat tuned out to be a great victory…
TODAY – is week 3… In our message series, ‘The Passion Of Christ..’ FRIENDS – Jesus Christ was the most passionate man who ever walked the face of this earth. In week one we talked about Christ’s passion for you… How everything that he did, everything that he endured was because he loved you.. and because he wanted to be with you…
LAST WEEK – we talked about Christ passion for the hurting… We said that His passion for the hurting was natural, needed & near…
It was natural because of who he was and because of why he came… UNDERSTAND – Christ was God in the flesh and God has ALWAYS heard the cries, seen the hurt and been concerned about the pain of his people… “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Ps 56:8
Christ passion for the hurting is needed because the world is full of hurting people… and because hurting people are not always treated so good by the world…
AND FINALLY – we saw that Christ’s passion for the hurting was near… UNDERSTAND – the Christ got close to hurting people, close even to touch them… “The LORD is closed to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit…” Ps 34:18 (NLT) The Passion Of The Christ – is amazing! AND – this morning we get to talk about the highpoint, the pinnacle of the passion of the Christ… His Passion For The Cross…
The Passion Of The Cross
I have seen the movie, The Passion Of The Christ, 3 times. It is the most important movie ever made as far as the church is concerned. The movie allows us to experience the passion of Christ… to experience those last 12 hours of the earthly life of Jesus in a way that people have not been able to do for 2,000 years. Life’s in and out of the church are being changed as we see & feel the impact of what the Christ did for each of us.
NOW - there are many powerful scenes in the movie (in fact it is really just one powerful scene after another), one scene that I didn’t really catch until the 3rd time I saw it. Occurs just as Christ, along with 2 thieves is given his cross to carry.
You see one thief struggle with the soldiers as they tie his arms to the cross beam. THEN – the thief looks over at Christ, as the cross is lowered on his beaten body. AND – this thief see a strange sight - He sees Jesus almost hug His cross and says to him, “Why do you embrace your cross?”
YOU KNOW - I am not particularly fond of this thief… BUT – I really do understand his question. I MEAN – if I were there (even if I didn’t ask the question out loud), I would have wondered the same thing; Jesus why do you embrace your cross? Why do you do this willingly? Why don’t you fight back? Jesus, why do you embrace an instrument that is going to take your life? Why & How, can you embrace something that looks only like defeat? AND – to all eyes that Friday, Christ cross spelled only two things; death and defeat.
UNDERSTAND – as people viewed what transpired on that ‘not so good Friday’ 2,000 years ago. The opinion polls and commentators were saying that Jesus was defeated, THAT – he had lost and that the Jewish leaders had won.
YES – I have no doubts that as Jesus was hanging on the cross, that his opponents were planning their victory parties and writing their victory speeches. AND – the headline of the Jerusalem Constitution was already in print… “Jesus defeated at Calvary!”
LISTEN – the signal that seemed to be coming through the dense fog of those events was that it was finished. It was over. Jesus had lost. YES - the fog that hung over Jerusalem and the world on that Friday, was dark. It was thick. AND – it looked like anything but victory.
JESUS – was in the upper room with the 11 (Judas had already left to perform his deed of betrayal) AND – right before Jesus lead from the room to the garden of Gethsemane, he said;
28Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, because now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. 29I have told you these things before they happen so that you will believe when they do happen. 30"I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, 31but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going. John 14
The prince of this world, satan was coming for Jesus. Coming to attack our Lord with all he had… AND AS - Jesus walked with the 11 to the garden he used what little time he had left to teach them… As – they walked that Thursday night He taught them about many things… AND – I can sense his passion to make things clear to them (much like parents who are going out of town giving their final instructions to their kids) UNDERSTAND – there were things that they needed to know and to remember… AND – I am sure of all the lessons Jesus had taught these guys over the last 3 years… These last few lessons punctuated by the cross were the ones most engrained din their heart and minds…
About the vine and the branches… and how if the were to bear fruit they needed to stay connected to Him. He reminded them of what the most important thing was…
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:12-14
HE – also taught them that they would be hated because of Him…
"When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. - John 15:18,19
THEN – he tells them that after He is gone the Holy Sprit would come to comfort, empower and guide them… AND – the following were some of his final words as he descended the Mount of Olives and arrived at the garden.
20Truly, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy when you see me again. 21It will be like a woman experiencing the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives place to joy because she has brought a new person into the world. 22You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy… 32But the time is coming--in fact, it is already here--when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. 33I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:20-33
AND NOW – Jesus is in the garden. IT – is here that the battle begins and it ends with the evil one… REMEMBER – back in the beginning of His ministry, where Jesus was taken – out into the desert for 40 days and was tempted by satan? ALL – of the evil ones attempts failed and Luke 4:13 reads; “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time (right time, proper time, favorable time)”
AND LISTEN – this right and most favorable moment… was that Thursday night 2,000 years ago in the garden…(The Movie, the passion of the Christ… does a powerful job showing us this battle)…
AND IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT – it is only fitting that this battle take place in garden. AFTER ALL – it was in a garden that man first gave into the evil one and sinned disobeying God’s word… AND KNOW – thousands of years later in another garden Jesus fights the ultimate battle with satan. BUT – this time the serpent would be crushed, disarmed and defeated. As Jesus chooses to be obedient to God…
WHEN – Jesus entered the garden he left the 11 ( scripture says), just a stones throw away… Saying to them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death, Stay here and watch with me..”
Jesus fell to his knees and prayed to the Father. He was overcome with emotions. He through himself face down and cried out to his Father with such intensity that drops of blood poured from his face…
YOU SEE – Jesus knew the cup he must soon drink of.. The cup of God’s wrath, the cup of God’s judgment of sin, the cup that when he drank it would for a time separate him from the Father… as Jesus bore the sins of the world… and the Father would have to turn away form the Son…
UNDERSTAND…
• WHEN – the dark clouds, hovered over the garden.
• WHEN – Jesus was praying in such deep sorrow (drops of blood pouring from his brow)
• WHEN – the disciples feel asleep just a few feet away, unable to support Him
• WHEN – Judas plants that kiss of betrayal
• WHEN – the temple guards come and bind Jesus
• WHEN – the disciples flee into the Judean night
WHEN – all of those events happened; it looked like anything but a victory… UNDERSTAND - the dark forces of both this world and the invisible world were confident that victory would soon be theirs…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
WHEN – Peter was warming his hands in the fire. Peter the one who had spoken such words of confidence (though everyone else may run away and leave you, I never will). WHEN – the rooster crowed for the 3rd time… WHEN – Peter denied even knowing Jesus. WHEN – Jesus, at that very moment of denial, (beaten and bleeding) looks straight into the eyes of Peter. WHEN – Peter, one of Jesus strongest followers flees weak, broken, weeping into the dark Judean night it did not look anything like a victory…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
THEN – came to mocking and the beatings…. The temple guards put a blindfold on Jesus, and took turns beating Jesus with their fists… WHEN - the blood poured out from Jesus nose and mouth… WHEN – the temple guards hit the blindfolded Christ, and said, “Come on, Jesus, if you are really a prophet tell us who is hitting you..” WHEN – they ripped out his beard by the hand full… NO – one looking at this scene would have thought that Jesus was the one winning…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
LATER – they would tie Jesus to a Roman scourging post… Stretching the skin on his back tight. AND – then 39 times a Roman scourge; it’s 9 strands embedded, with glad, lead and broken pieces of pottery The lead severely bruising His body and the glass ripping hunks of skin, flesh and muscle… AND UNDERSTAND – the men doing this job.. were both proficient and cruel… They could bring a men ‘this close’ to death – but not all the way so their victim would suffer longer
AS JESUS – lay there… hands bond and shaking from the pain… blood pouring from his body… They ground wet with his blood and littered with pieces of his body…
AS – the guards (after this) call out a whole battalion (600 men) to mock Jesus. They stripped Jesus, wrapped around him a scarlet robe, pressed a crown of thorns into his brow, place a stick in his right for a scepter… then bowed before him, “hail King of the Jews!”
AT – this moment the Romans and Jewish leaders may have thought that they were in control, that they had won… That they finally had Jesus taking the path that they had wanted…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
AND WHEN – the crowd… who less than a week ago had shouted “Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord…” as Jesus rode in to Jerusalem.. WHEN – those same people… look at Jesus, beaten, a man barley alive… WHEN – Pilate asks what shall I do with Jesus… and they shout “crucify Him!, crucify Him!... It did not look like a victory…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
AND – as they led Jesus carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem.. Up & down those winding roads. The soldiers purposely taking the longest route. (so all could see what happens to anyone who dares to defy Rome).
THE STREETS – are lined with thousands of people.. REMEMBER – this happened during the Passover feast… a time when the city swelled to over 1 million people.
AS – Jesus (beaten, bleeding… gasping for every breathe and struggling for each step under the weight of His cross) walked by those he had healed, and as they each in turned looked the other way… It did not look like victory….
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
AND WHEN – Jesus our Lord and Savior, God in the flesh… WHEN – Jesus was stripped naked and nailed to a cross… (with every breathe; pushing against those spikes in His feet… pulling up on those spikes in his wrist and scarping his shredded back, and exposed vital organs against that rugged cross of wood…) AS – hundreds stood around him; laughing, mocking, insulting and ridiculing him… AS JESUS – hung suspended between heaven & earth… Blood pouring from his wounds, blood streams down his face and his body forming huge puddles in the Judean sand…
AS JESUS – cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"–which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
WHEN – he raised up for the last time and said it is finished,,, AS – he hung his thorn crowned head and died… AS – the dark clouds swallowed Jerusalem… NO ONE – standing thought that they had just witnessed a great victory…at least not by Jesus.
AND – I am sure that on that dark Friday celebrations were taking place… all over the city as Pharisees, teachers of the law, Sadducees and the corrupted priesthood… celebrated the death of Jesus… AND FRIENDS – there can be no doubt that the rulers of the dark & invisible world were celebrating as well…
BUT – that was Friday and Sunday was coming…
YES WHEN – you see the movie the passion of the Christ… YOU – will see many scenes that do not look like victory… YOU – will see many scenes that will hurt you… You’ll find yourself; closing your eyes, turning your head, & weeping – just wanting it all to stop.
YOU – will see many scenes that will make you want to ask Jesus the same question, the thief did… “Jesus, why do you embrace your cross?”
FRIENDS THE ANSWER – to that question is, the very last scene in the movie…
After Christ dies… the screen goes blank… and stays blank for a few moments…. Then the darkness is broken by the light and the sound of a tomb opening up… Then you see the burial clothes suddenly become empty… THEN – just the profile of the Christ…
AND – He is no longer bloody… It is beautiful… Powerful… He stands – you hear the sounds of drums beating in the background.. AND – as the Christ walks out of the tomb… you see the hole in his hand….
YES – sometimes it’s hard to know whether… an event was a victory… or a defeat… BUT LISTEN – Friday was not the final word… FRIENDS – Sunday came… and both victory and that Friday has been redefined for all time!!!
Jesus is Alive!!!
The Power Of The Cross…
PERHAPS – the most powerful & heart wrenching scene in the POTC (it is to me)… Is a scene that takes place as Jesus is carrying the cross through the streets of Jerusalem.. Mary sees Him in the distance and she tells John, “get me close to him…”
John takes her through back streets… and she finally makes it to Jesus – he is only a short distance away down a narrow alley way. AND – right when Mary sees him Jesus falls and the cross comes crashing down on Him…
AS – Mary runs to him… Her mind flashes back to a time when Jesus was just a small boy ( 3 or 4 years old) and he falls down.. AND – Mary runs out to him…. AN – unbelievably powerful scene…. WHEN – Mary reaches Jesus he is on his knees embracing the cross and he says, “mother I am making all things new!”
QUESTION – why did the Christ embrace the cross…? ANSWER - because of the cross makes all things new!!! HOW – can the cross do that…? BECAUSE – the cross is powerful…
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor 1:18
Circle – it is the power of God
Max Lucado shares in one of his books about a time when he was sitting and having coffee with a Canadian college student named Ian. Ian had grow up in church and had taken courses on theology and wanted to go into the ministry – but he quit because something just didn’t click…He had become disappointed and disillusioned with the church. He asked Max, “What really matters? What really counts? Don’t give me religion, give me what really matters..”
Max goes on the say the following….
In your bible of over 1,000 pages what matters? Among all the do’s and don’ts and shoulds and shouldn’ts, what is essential?
What would you have said to Ian? Would you have spoken of the evil of the world or maybe the eminence of heaven? Would you have quoted Jn 3:16 or Acts 2:38 or maybe 1 Cor 13? What really matters?
You’ve probably wrestled with this question. Maybe you’ve gone through the acts of religion and faith and yet found yourself more often than not as dry as a well…
Is this all there is? Sunday school attendance, pretty songs, faithful tithing. Golden crosses. Three piece suits. Bible choirs. Leather bibles. It’s nice and all but where is the heart of it?
Max at the time was unable to give Ian an answer….If he had another chance he said that he knows what he would share with him, it’s found in 1 Cor 15;
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ DIED for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was BURIED that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” 1 Cor 15:3
What is it that matters? What is it that is of first importance? – The cross…. AND WHY – does the cross matter so much? BECAUSE – of it’s power.
The Cross Has The Power - To Cancel Your The Debt
UNDERSTAND – all of us, every man and woman who has ever lived has owed a debt that they could never pay. SCRIPURE – teaches that all of us fall short of living the way that God wants us to live. The penalty for this is death (separation from God forever). AND – to make matters worse there was nothing we can do to fix… - that’s the bad news… THE – good news is that Christ hung on the cross to pay your debt and mine…
[Tim...] – there was a moment on that Friday when Christ pushed up on those nails… took a deep breathe and spoke these words, “It is Finished!”
AND LISTEN – that was not a cry of defeat but a cry of victory. YOU SEE – that phrase is actually one word in Greek and it means ‘paid in FULL!”
AND FRIENDS – when a debt is paid in full; that there is no payment of any kind left to make… WHY – did Christ embrace his cross? BECAUSE – the cross has the power to cancel your debt!
CHECKOUT – what Paul wrote about this power of the cross…
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col 2:13-15
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people--free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!
Eph 1:7 (Msg)
NEXT – Christ embraced the cross… BECAUSE…
The Cross Has The Power – To Remove The Distance
QUESTION – have you ever had to be separated from a loved one? It’s not easy is it? AND – do you remember how awesome you felt when the distance was removed? I MEAN – now you are holding and hugging them…
UNDERSTAND – God knows exactly what it’s like to be separated from the one he loves. YOU SEE – man’s sin, our sin – separates us from God… IT – creates a barrier, a wall, a chasm, a distance… It – prevented God from having the relationship with us that He wanted…
NO – it was not easy for God to be separated from the one he loves (and he love you)… AND – nothing could bridge this distance… NOT – our effort, and not the blood of bulls and goats…
That’s why Christ embraced the cross… BECAUSE – the cross has the power to remove the distance…between us and God…
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Eph 2:13
God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Col 1:19-22 (NLT)
AND – let me tell you it feels so good to God, to have that distance removed… to be able to fully embrace you and me.
WHY – did Jesus embrace the cross, BECAUSE…
The Cross Has The Power – To Take Away Your Guilt
QUESTION – do you know what guilt is? (I think you do…and I don’t think you enjoy it all that much…) HAVE – you done something you feel ashamed of? DO – you have a secret that is eating your soul?
MAN – guilt stinks…. AND UNDERSTAND – that guilt was not part of God’s original plan for us… THAT – is why Christ embrace the cross… YOU SEE – the cross has the power to take away your guilt!
LISTEN – through the cross, Christ offers COMPLETE not partial forgiveness… AND YOU KNOW – He could not have made it any clearer then… WHEN FROM – the cross (and the POTC shows this in a powerful way!)
AS – they were driving 7’ spikes through his body
AS – they High priest mocks him…
CHRIST – cries out… “father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing…”
[Tim…] – the cross has taken away your guilt… NOT – just some of it ALL of it.. NOT – just partial forgiveness… COMPLETE forgiveness….
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 8:1
NOW – the majority of people in this room are Christians. AND – I want to direct a question to you… DO you – or - ARE you, struggling with guilt…?
UNDERSTAND – the cross has the power to take that guilt away… I want you to checkout this passage that Paul wrote to some people who needed to be reminded of the cross and it’s power to make them right with God.
“Oh, foolish Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. 2Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain, was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away?” - Gal (NLT)
DON’T – throw the power of the cross away… UNDERSTAND – it was not, is not and will always be not – your own effort that makes you right, that makes you perfect before God… BUT – the cross…
For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross.
The Cross has The Power – To Bring People Together
UNDERSTAND – the world in Jesus’ day was a divided world… (Jews-gentiles, Romans-Greeks, rich-poor, slave-free).. AGAIN – not part of God’s original design for His children to be divided (parents I think you can relate)…
LISTEN – Christ embrace the cross because of the power it has to bring people together…
QUESTION – what was he main concern in the garden?
"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. 21My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. "I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are-- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.
John 17:20-23
IN – Ephesians chapter 2 Paul talks about the power of the cross to bring us together…
He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Eph 2:15,16 (Msg)
CIRCLE - Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross
UNDERSTAND – to bring together divided people, IS – some serious power… NO –wonder the Christ embraced it…
So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians--you are one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26-28 (NLT)
THE CROSS – has the power to bring people together… Despite;
• Race
• Culture
• Economics
• Education
•
AND LISTEN – if we ever forget this power of the cross to bring people together OR – if we ever find ourselves NOT TOGETHER… ONE – ‘serious’ trip to the foot of the cross and we will be together again…
[guys it’s real hard to be petty at the foot of the cross…]
NEXT – Christ embrace the cross… BECAUSE -
The Cross Has The Power – To Give You New Life
AND – if we are honest we’d have to admit that the old one was not so good…
CHECKOUT – these passages that speak to this new life…
But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. Col 1:22 (CEV)
CIRCLE - put your lives together, whole
“For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate.” Gal 6:14 (Msg)
CIRCLE - set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate
LISTEN – this new life that is available to you & me, BECAUSE – the Christ embraced the cross is awesome!!!
• Debt paid
• Guilt removed
• Brought near to God & together with people
AND – not only that… BUT;
• Free from worry
• Free from thirst
• Full of peace
• Free from trying to win the world’s approval & acceptance (after all you are already accepted by the one who matters most)
IN – this new life image is NOTHING and Christ is everything!!!!
AND LAST – Christ embraced the cross… BECAUSE
The Cross Has The Power – To Guarantee Your Future
It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately--at the end of the ages--become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God. 1 Peter 1:18-21 (Msg)
CIRCLE - It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, that you know you have a future in God…
GUYS – the cross guarantees your future with God… AND – that future is going to rock!!! HOW – could it not rock, since it is with God…. (for more details on your future be sure to be here on May 2nd)
WHY – did Christ embrace the cross with such passion?
BECAUSE – the cross has the power to:
• Pay your debt
• Take away your guilt
• Remove the distance
• Bring people together
• Give you new life
• Guarantee your future
NOW – the last point in your notes…. Is one how we have concluded each message in this series…
Your Response To His Passion – E or C
AND – there are 2 responses to make in regards to Christ’s passion for the cross… AND – Christ is longing for you everyone in this room to make one of them…
FOR - some of you Christ is looking for you to
Embrace the cross…
Come to it for salvation, freedom & new life today…
Carry It…
Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. 35If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. Mark 8:34,35 (NLT)
LISTEN CHRIST – is waiting for you… and I – He is waiting for his church for Central to really do this… WILL YOU?
CHRIST – was passion about the cross…. He embraced it because of it’s power… Oh the wonderful cross….
Years ago when Edward 1 was king of England, His wife Queen Eleanor died in northern England. King Edward made the long journey back to London with her body. The trip was long and they made many stops on the way, and each morning before the left the king would erect a cross. Finally he reached London and took her body to the west end and erected his last cross. It is called the Charring (chairing) cross.
Many years later a little girl wandered away from home and got lost. A policeman found her sobbing and attempted to find out where she lived. He named a number of famous places hoping her home would be near one of them…finally he named the Charring Cross. The little girl’s eyes lit up, “O yes, yes, I know where the charring cross is. Mister take me to the cross and I can find my way home…
