Sermon Central
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Heading To The Finish Series
Contributed by Paul Decker on May 8, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus courageously completed His assigned mission.
HEADING TO THE FINISH
S: Celebrate Jesus
Th: Courage
Pr: JESUS COURAGEOUSLY COMPLETED HIS ASSIGNED MISSION.
?: How? How did He do it?
KW: Priorities
TS: We will find in Mark 1:1-25 three priorities that enabled
Jesus to courageously complete His assigned mission.
The ____ priority that enabled Jesus to complete His assigned mission is He had the courage to…
I. PERSEVERE (1-10)
II. PURIFY HIS HOUSE (11-19)
III. PLACE HIS CONFIDENCE IN GOD (20-25)
Inductive approach
RMBC 3/5/00 AM
Mt. Ararat 4/16/00 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. What motivates you?
ILL Notebook: Motivation (dog & rabbit)
There is a fable about a dog that loved to chase animals. He bragged about His great running skill and said he could catch anything. Well, it wasn’t long until his boastful claims were put to the test by a certain rabbit. With ease the little creature outran his barking pursuer. The other animals, watching with glee, began to laugh. The dog excused himself, however, by saying, “You forget, I was only running for fun. He was running for his life!”
Motivation certainly makes a difference, doesn’t it?
Motivation makes a difference in how we live.
But it does make me wonder: are you motivated to make a difference?
2. Does your life matter in the grand scheme of things?
Do you have a mission in life?
Jesus had a mission.
He knew what had to be done, and He had a sense on how it was to be accomplished.
For…
3. Jesus knew His priorities (Mark 8:31).
After Peter rightly identified Jesus, the gospel writer tells us that…
He [Jesus] then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
Jesus had a direction.
He had a compass.
And it was the cross!
But this was news that was hard for Peter to accept.
He frankly said to Jesus that He needed a new compass.
For Peter felt the scandal of the cross.
No one should go to a cross.
No one should die without a fight.
No one should yield his or her rights willingly.
No one should suffer innocently.
No one should be meekly used, abused or rejected.
Yet, the very thing that Peter tried to talk Jesus out of was about to happen!
OUR STUDY:
You see…
I. Jesus had a priority to PERSEVERE (1-10).
He went to Jerusalem with a focus on the cross…
(1) As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, (2) saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. (3) If anyone asks you, `Why are you doing this?’ tell him, `The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’" (4) They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, (5) some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" (6) They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. (7) When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. (8) Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. (9) Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (10) "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" “Hosanna in the highest!"
1. Jesus came to fulfill what was said in the past.
Jesus came to fulfill Messianic prophecy.
It was 500 years before that the prophet Zechariah had said that God’s King would enter the kingdom by riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.
And Jesus does this very thing.
But realize that this was no small feat.
These animals do not welcome such an experience!
Even at a year’s age, they are quite capable of dumping you along the wayside.
So here is an animal that no one had ever sat on.
But Jesus sat on him, and he was quiet, responsive, and obedient, and carried him through the streets of the city.
The people of Jerusalem were quite aware of the meaning of Jesus’ ride.
Many of them had been waiting for Jesus to make such a move.
They had an expectation that a king would deliver them.
There was an expectation that the coming King would smash the Roman oppressors and restore Israel to its rightful place in the sun.
