Sermon Central
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Is Your Passion Christs Passion
Contributed by Jack Martin on Feb 28, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: It is an exhortation to seize the opportunity that the Lord has given us in the making of the Passion of the Christ.
Is your Passion Christs Passion
The Passion of Christ is the buzz of our time.
Nearly a year ago - When I first heard about the film / Before I understood anything about it. Something deep inside of me knew it was different.
As the weeks have passed my spirit has soared within me.
I don’t claim to understand fully what Im feeling but will rest on the Holy Spirit to witness whether it be of the Lord.
A. I know many here grew up being taught that the theatre was not a place that the Christian should go. Avoid the very appearance of evil.
B.But I want to put this out before you tonight.
Before his salvation Zaccheaus house was not a place that the followers of Christ should have made a hang out.
1.But when Jesus came to visit, it was right where they needed to be.
2.And let me be the first to say that the religious community ( the Pharisees) round about spoke out the loudest against it.
3.But it was there that salvation came to him and his band of thugs.
I. JESUS TOOK THE GOOD NEWS TO THE SINNER
1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a ’sinner.’ "
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
THE SAME IS SEEN IN THE CALLING OF MATTHEW
9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?"
a.Why is your church outside the movie theatre or worse yet inside it?
b.The Answer
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[1] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
c.Let me tell you wonderful things are happening in and outside movie theaters all over America this past week.
JESUS SAID IF I BE LIFTED UP I WILL DRAW ALL MEN TO ME
• I have seen and had a hand in folks getting saved.
• I have someone coming to counsel with me this week who saw it and wants to know what its all about. I expect to lead them to Christ
• Chick Filet involvment with ticket stubs
• Churches getting involved.
• Amazing price on the literature.
d.WHY – Because sinners need desperately to know Jesus.
e. And the Disciples need desperately to go with Jesus to them.
f.Statement a man in my church - The church failed to preach the gospel so God raised up a movie.
II. WE NEED TO RE-LEARN THE VALUE OF THE LOST
A. Jesus said every soul was precious!
1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3Then Jesus told them this parable: 4"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.