Dare to Pursue
“Pursuing Passion”
September 17, 2006
Introduction: Passion is an interesting topic for a Sunday morning. One of the reasons it is so interesting is that we sometimes aren’t really sure how to define it. Right now on your listening guide, write down a two or three word definition of passion. While you do that, let me tell you about one of my passions.
One of my passions is the University of Tennessee. Man, last night was an incredible night. It is one of the highlight games of the football season when Florida goes into Knoxville to play the Vols. But I love UT football. I have a bunch of little things in my office that have been given to me by people over the years as gifts.
** Show UT stuff. Have Smokey play Rocky Top.
Tennessee football is great. I love it. Now other people are passionate about other teams. Some of you in here actually like Florida. Shane is all about LSU. I mean, people are passionate about all kinds of things.
Some people here are passionate about cars. They aren’t really crazy about just any car, it has to be a certain type car.
Show picture of Dave Vealey’s GTO.
Some people here are really into their animals.
Show picture of Mary Vealey’s Llama’s
Show picture of Lee Libardoni’s puppies.
Really quick, write down on your listening guide what you are passionate about.
Now, have you ever thought, “There must be more to life than this?”
I mean as much as I love Tennessee football, there has to be a bigger purpose and a bigger plan for my life. There has to be something that I can be passionate about that has more value and more significance than football.
Now, let me give you a definition of passion.
Passion is defined as a powerful emotion.
That is only one definition, and we are going to look at some others aspects of it, but in our common everyday view of life we see passion as a powerful emotion evoking either a pleasurable or painful response.
Passion is what causes us to yell at the TV during a game. It is what causes us to sacrifice what could be our own time to care for an animal. It is what consumes a lot of life and energy.
What if we could take our passion and turn it toward our relationship with God? I don’t mean just emotion or some experience, but what if we redefined passion to fit what God has in mind in for our relationship with him?
A God-view definition of passion is a continual pursuing.
For the sake of our conversation today, what if we defined passion as our continual pursuing of God in order to help us understand the deeper spiritual life God has called us to live?
Today we want to look at a scripture passage that helps us to see passion for God lived out in the life of David.
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (NIV)
David is writing this psalm literally in the Judean wilderness. He is there when he is running at one of two times in his life. It is either when he is a relatively young man who is escaping the tyrant King Saul who is trying to kill him; or it is when he is an older man who has been king and is escaping form his son Absalom who is trying to kill him. Either way, David is in a barren wilderness trying to stay alive.
It is at this point that David realizes that his only source of nourishment or comfort is not going to come form some temporary supply of food or water. It is at this point in his life that David is realizing that what his soul needs is to connect with God.
David is longing for God because he knows there has to be more in his life than just surviving. David is at a point where he just desperately needs to know that God is still God.
Circumstances help us to put life in its proper context.
There are times when the essentials in life overpower the things that I am passionate about. I have never taken my child to an emergency room and been concerned about Tennessee football. The wilderness places have a way of re-focusing our passions.
Let me give you a couple of quick facts about this passage that may help you get what David is really saying.
1) David uses the proper name for God.
This is not just some cry of, “If there is a god would you please answer me?” David calls God, by two names actually, Elohim which signifies the bigness and the totality of God. And he uses the term Yahweh which means LORD. David is calling out to the specific God of the Hebrews.
This is the same word that Jesus uses when he is on the cross and calls out to His Father.
2) When David says that “earnestly I seek you,” he is speaking of on-going desire.
Some versions of the bible translate this verse to say “early I seek you.” The implication is not that we should only desire God in the morning or that we should meet with God at a specific time, but that our desire for God should be on-going and continual.
3) David’s desire for God consumes him.
The word soul used here means “being” or everything that you are. It is the very depth or essence of your life. Notice he is not calling out to God to rescue him or to deliver him or to give him provision. David is saying, “God, I need to be close to you.”
C.S. Lewis notes in his book “Reflections on the Psalms” that David had an
appetite for God.
It is also important to note that David is in a desert place. It is not just that David realizes that he is in a desert place in geography; it is that he realizes he is in a desert place in his soul.
Let’s look at the times that David may have been writing and the circumstances that would have led to the desert place of the soul.
If David wrote this while he is running from Saul, think of the circumstances he is in. He has become a national hero for defeating Goliath. Saul brings him into his palace to serve and David becomes best friends with Saul’s son. David is married to Saul’s daughter and is leading a group of soldiers fighting in Saul’s army. Saul has, at various times brought David in to play music for him to ease his spirit and also thrown spears at David to try and kill him.
“And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.” 1 Samuel 23:8 (NIV)
Do you think that David would have had massive conflict going on in his life about the circumstances that he finds himself in?
Think about if he is running from Absalom. He has gone through the issues in his life with Bathsheeba. He has ruled the nation as a glorious king, but because of his sin, his own family has been torn apart. Now his son, the next king is trying to kill him.
How would you feel to have your son trying to kill you?
David is in a desert place in his soul. Are you? Have you been torn apart by the circumstances of life and are you beat up and broken?
Do you look at what things you are really investing in and think, “Is this all there is?” Is life really all about my football team winning or my status at work or the great party with my friends? Is life really about getting plastered on the weekend and then trying the rest of the week to forgive myself for the mistakes I made?
Do you find yourself saying, “I need to pursue something of value?”
I would say that if you do, there is hope. Today you can begin a pursuit of God that changes your focus. You can pursue dreams, visions and goals that are bigger then you can imagine and you can develop a passion for God that waters the desert places of your soul.
How do we find passion?
1) We connect with God.
The best way to connect with God is through reading his word and discovering his plac and his purpose for your life. It is in discovering his character that we can learn to trust him in the desert places.
“Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread." Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth." Matthew 4:1-4 (The Message)
2) We connect with community.
One way to develop a passion for God is to be connected with people who are passionate about God. It is no fun to watch a football game by yourself. It is much better to watch it with other people who share your passion. The same is true with our life with God. It is much better when it is joined with others.
“Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.” Galatians 6:10 (The Message)
3) We make right choices.
This may sound like a reach, but let me show you what scripture says aobut how making right choices develops our faith.
“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
Romans 6:13 (NIV)
Making right choices in one area of our lives can help us to learn to make right choices in all areas of our lives.
How is your passion for God? Mark where you are on your journey of pursuing a passion for God:
____ My passion for God is based on my circumstances in life.
____ My passion for God is all about my emotions at the moment.
____ My passion for God is a continual pursuit to be more connected to him.
Wherever you are in the process of developing passion, there is something you can do. You can begin to make small changes to your life that will help feed your spiritual appetite.
Some suggestions:
Read your bible five minutes a day
Pray for five minutes a day
Get involved in a small group
Avoid places and people that lead you after earthly passions
I have recognized a step in my own life that I need to take. I need to put more of God’s word into my mind. I am going to begin memorizing scripture. I have asked my small group to hold me accountable to memorize one verse a week. I have written them out on note cards and taped them on the wall above my desk.
Take a second and jot down one thing that you can begin doing this week.
What step are you willing to take to develop a deeper passion for God?
When we begin to take a step, any step, God begins to do amazing things in our lives. He begins to make things new in our lives.
Today, we are going to close a little differently. We are going to take our offering but we want you to watch the video screens to help you think about the work of God in our lives when we make him our passion.
*** Show video
Now, what are you going to do?
