A People Of Passion.

1. Psalm 42 verses 1-2 says this

1       As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.

2       My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Introduction

Passion is a bit of a dirty word in the Evangelical churches today; we frown on any excessive show of emotionalism and people who shed tears as they pray we disdain and call ‘gushy’; and yet Godly passion is at the other end of the spectrum to human or worldly passion.  We associate worldly passion with sexual love and so condemn it as dangerous.

But in the church on the fifth Sunday of Lent we celebrate Passion Sunday and the church has a book called ‘The Passional’ which is a book of the sufferings of saints and martyrs.  Passion does mean exhibiting strong feelings and emotions such as love or anger, so is it wrong to be passionate?

William Booth the revivalist and founder of the Salvation Army had this to say about passion:

‘God loves, with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.’

Here is a man who was around during the Azusa Street Revival in America and the great Welsh Revival of 1904 who is famously also quoted as saying about evangelism:

‘Go for the sinners, and go for the worst ones.’

William Booth knew that those who were forgiven much would love much and have ‘passion’ for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We live in the days of the lukewarm Laodecean church of the book of Revelation and Jesus stated that He desired us to be only one of two things ‘hot’, denoting passion or ‘cold’ indicating spiritually dead or carnal, meaning worldly.  So there is a right passion and a wrong passion!

Jesus was a passionate man!

2. In Matthew 5 verse 6 Jesus taught…

6       Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

3. And in John 2 verses 13-17 says this…

13     Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14     And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.

15     When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.

16     And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"

17     Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."

This passage shows Jesus as Zealous; fervent; passionate; about His Fathers honour and glory.

How passionate are we today for the house and people of the Lord?

4. Luke 22 verse 44 says this…

44     And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

We see Jesus passionate in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He pleaded with the Father passionately to not insist that Christ drink the bitter cup of sin and death; and yet submitted to it because it was the will of God.

How many of us pray with passion today; crying out to God to save the lost and lonely and dying of this damaged world?

5. Romans 12 verse 11 says this…

11     not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

And this indicates that fervency of Spirit equates with passion!

6. 1 Peter 4 verses 7-8 says this…

7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

8  And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."

‘And above all things….’  Be passionate about and for one another with an agape love striving together for the faith.

7. Zechariah 4 verse 6 says this…

6  So he answered and said to me: " This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ' Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.

This indicates that only the Holy Spirit can truly and divinely inspire a Godly passion.  And passion produces!  To cry out, plead, beg, opportune God to be a passionate prayer warrior intercessor, petitioner is a cry for God’s presence; His purpose and His power!!

8. In Acts 4 verses 23-31 we see passion producing boldness amongst the disciples, it says here…

23     And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

24     So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

25     who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ' Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?

26     The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.'

27     "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together

28     to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

29     Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,

30     by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."

31     And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

God is passionate about His children, His people and so He not only looks for passionate people, but is also prepared to produce those who hunger and thirst for passion as well.

9. Titus 2 verses 11-14 says this…

11       For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

12       teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13       looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14       who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Passion has a purpose, and the purpose of passion is to be zealous for good works, zeal for the house of the Lord and for the good news of the kingdom.

10. Our penultimate passage of scripture is found in Philippians 3 verses 12-16 where it says…

12       Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

13       Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

14       I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15       Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

16       Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

And this indicates that we all need to press in for more; can we ever have too much passion for prayer; for holiness; for souls; for His presence?

I don’t think so!

11. Jeremiah 29 verses 11-13 says this…

11       For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12       Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13       And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

God wants a people of passion; let us strive to be like Jesus a passionate man, who laid down His life for love of the Father.

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