Good morning,
Praise the Lord for Tuesday of the Holy Week. It is going to be one of the ten best days. May the Lord provoke us to glorify Him today and to enjoy His presence, enjoy His promises to us, and enjoy His power for us. May we join the manifold witness that sings praises to Him.
According the Gospel of Mark, the events and teachings that are recorded in Mark 11:20 ff - 13:1-37 occur on Tuesday of the Holy Week. One day a man walked up to Jesus and he said, "Lord, what is the most important thing in the Bible?" Jesus responded by reminding him of the Great Commandment. Jesus said, "I want you to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Nothing matters more than that. That’s the number one thing in life. I want you to love Me passionately." (paraphrased) Nothing else matters in life if you do not love God passionately. God does not desire that we love Him half-heartedly. He wants us to love Him "with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength."
I love the paraphrase of Mark 12:30, from "The Message". Jesus said, ’Love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy." That word, passion, in Greek, is the word "heart." In the words of Rick Warren, "God is saying I want you to put some muscle into it, put some energy, put some emotion into your relationship with Me. Don’t be a wimp about your relationship with Me. Don’t be namby-pamby. Don’t be half-hearted. Give it all you’ve got. Jesus is saying, "If you’re going to follow Me, you’ve got to go it with passion. You’ve got to give it some oomph, some spark, some zip, some enthusiasm, some zest. I want you to live passionately."
This truth is found throughout the Bible. The Bible tells us that we are to seek God passionately. We are to love God passionately. We are to serve and obey God passionately. We are to trust God passionately. In Colossians 3:23 it says, "Whatever you do, do it with all of your heart as unto the Lord and not unto men." He wants us to do everything passionately when it comes to loving Christ, serving Him, and living for Him.
Romans 12:1, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor." We are being asked to keep the fires going in our lives. Passion is not automatic, but it is a choice. It is a discipline, something that must be maintained. It is not by nature that we become passionate about God. We must choose to do keep the fires going. It’s a discipline. It’s not automatic.
Life conspires to keep us from being passionate. The daily routines of life dissipate our energy. Life consists of a series of seasons, according to the Bible. There is a season for everything. When Jesus reigns in our life, He is Lord in every season. He is the Lord of all seasons. When we have discovered the Lord's purpose for our lives on earth we become passionate about it. Passion and purpose go together. When we have clear purpose it helps to ignite our passion. When we are live only for ourselves, we have a pretty pathetic purpose. It will not make us very passionate. "I’m living for me" is a personal philosophy that will barely give most of us the energy to get out of bed in the morning! We need a cause greater than ourselves. That gives life significance and meaning. The more we understand God’s purposes for our lives and the more we live out those purposes the more passionate we are going to be.
John Hobbs wrote this about passion, saying, "Passion is waking up in the morning wherever you are and bounding out of bed because you know there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that God made you for and you’re good at, something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again. It’s something that you’d rather be doing than anything else and you wouldn’t give it up for money because it means more to you than money."
In fact, the suffering of Jesus on the cross is called His Passion. Acts 1:3 says, "Jesus showed Himself alive to them [the disciples] after His passion by many demonstrations: for forty days He continued to appear to them and tell them all about the kingdom of God."
One of the worst sins for a Christian as written in Revelation 3 is to be lukewarm. That indicates a lack of passion. Jesus said, "I’d rather have you hot or cold. Lukewarmness makes Me sick to my stomach."
C. S. Lewis put it in these terms, "The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important." Moderately important! If Jesus is God and He gave Himself for us in life, in death, and in His Risen Life, that means we owe Him the rest of our lives,every spare minute of them. As Isaac Watts composed:
I love the paraphrase of Mark 12:30, from "The Message". Jesus said, ’Love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy." That word, passion, in Greek, is the word "heart." In the words of Rick Warren, "God is saying I want you to put some muscle into it, put some energy, put some emotion into your relationship with Me. Don’t be a wimp about your relationship with Me. Don’t be namby-pamby. Don’t be half-hearted. Give it all you’ve got. Jesus is saying, "If you’re going to follow Me, you’ve got to go it with passion. You’ve got to give it some oomph, some spark, some zip, some enthusiasm, some zest. I want you to live passionately."
This truth is found throughout the Bible. The Bible tells us that we are to seek God passionately. We are to love God passionately. We are to serve and obey God passionately. We are to trust God passionately. In Colossians 3:23 it says, "Whatever you do, do it with all of your heart as unto the Lord and not unto men." He wants us to do everything passionately when it comes to loving Christ, serving Him, and living for Him.
Romans 12:1, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor." We are being asked to keep the fires going in our lives. Passion is not automatic, but it is a choice. It is a discipline, something that must be maintained. It is not by nature that we become passionate about God. We must choose to do keep the fires going. It’s a discipline. It’s not automatic.
Life conspires to keep us from being passionate. The daily routines of life dissipate our energy. Life consists of a series of seasons, according to the Bible. There is a season for everything. When Jesus reigns in our life, He is Lord in every season. He is the Lord of all seasons. When we have discovered the Lord's purpose for our lives on earth we become passionate about it. Passion and purpose go together. When we have clear purpose it helps to ignite our passion. When we are live only for ourselves, we have a pretty pathetic purpose. It will not make us very passionate. "I’m living for me" is a personal philosophy that will barely give most of us the energy to get out of bed in the morning! We need a cause greater than ourselves. That gives life significance and meaning. The more we understand God’s purposes for our lives and the more we live out those purposes the more passionate we are going to be.
John Hobbs wrote this about passion, saying, "Passion is waking up in the morning wherever you are and bounding out of bed because you know there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that God made you for and you’re good at, something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again. It’s something that you’d rather be doing than anything else and you wouldn’t give it up for money because it means more to you than money."
In fact, the suffering of Jesus on the cross is called His Passion. Acts 1:3 says, "Jesus showed Himself alive to them [the disciples] after His passion by many demonstrations: for forty days He continued to appear to them and tell them all about the kingdom of God."
One of the worst sins for a Christian as written in Revelation 3 is to be lukewarm. That indicates a lack of passion. Jesus said, "I’d rather have you hot or cold. Lukewarmness makes Me sick to my stomach."
C. S. Lewis put it in these terms, "The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important." Moderately important! If Jesus is God and He gave Himself for us in life, in death, and in His Risen Life, that means we owe Him the rest of our lives,every spare minute of them. As Isaac Watts composed:
- When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride. - Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood. - See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown? - Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
In Christ,
Brown
Join us for our weekly television outreach On Good Friday, April 6, 2012 on Time Warner Cable Channel 4, at 7 PM.
Saturday Evening Worship Service:
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center United Methodist Church
Time: 6:00 PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Date: Saturday, April 7, 2012
This will be a very special Easter Eve celebration, held at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. The service of worship and praise will include Hymns and songs both classic and contemporary. We are blessed to have Aric Phinney at the Grand Piano, and Yancey Moore at the Pipe Organ, with Dave Berry as the song leader and soloist, along with special musicians Winnie Allen, Jack Nelson, and Emma Brunson. Come, Share, and Rejoice.
APRIL 5 at 6:30 PM there will be a Maundy Thursday foot washing and communion service. We will gather in the Fellowship Hall for this special service.
APRIL 6 at 6:30 PM there will be a Good Friday Service at Union Center UMC –
"Simon Peter" will be presented by our brother Jim Geer and the team. Join us for this very special presentation on the life and witness of Simon Peter.
APRIL 7 at 6:30 PM will be the Evening of Song at First UMC, Endicott
APRIL 6 at 6:30 PM there will be a Good Friday Service at Union Center UMC –
"Simon Peter" will be presented by our brother Jim Geer and the team. Join us for this very special presentation on the life and witness of Simon Peter.
APRIL 7 at 6:30 PM will be the Evening of Song at First UMC, Endicott
APRIL 8 at 6:30 AM A Sunrise service will be held at the pavilion at Union Center
Christian Church, 950 Boswell Hill Road. Rev. Marshall Sorber will be preaching. We will have special music. Mr. Katchudurian will be presenting special Easter Music on his trumpet.
Christian Church, 950 Boswell Hill Road. Rev. Marshall Sorber will be preaching. We will have special music. Mr. Katchudurian will be presenting special Easter Music on his trumpet.
Following the sunrise service all are welcome back to the Union Center United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall for a special Easter Morning breakfast prepared and served by Jim Holmes and the team.
We will gather for Special Easter Celebrations and worship at 8:30 and 11:00 AM
at the Union Center UMC. The Youth and children will be presenting a very special song for Easter morning at both services. The Adult Choir will also be singing at both services. Sunday School will meet at 9:50 AM. We will gather for Easter Morning Worship At Wesley at 9:30 AM. We have so much to celebrate. We have so much to sing about. We have so much to rejoice in. It is all About Jesus, who came, who saw, and who conquered. He is upon the Throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment