Passionate Pursuit (2)
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Passion is the catalyst that launches all of our ambitions and goals.
It drives us to, not only start, but to also finish.
definition of passion:
intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction
ardent affection : LOVE (Ardent=characterized by warmth of feeling typically expressed in eager zealous support or activity
an object of desire or deep interest
Quote: someone once said
Once something is a passion, the motivation is there. (Michael Schumacher)
Hungering after the things of God
Hungering after the things of God
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
what an awesome example of passion, drive and commitment.
most of us won’t deny ourselves food when we are hungry....but yet we deny our spiritual man…if we don’t feed our spiritual man it will invariably begin to die...
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
what does it mean to hunger and thirst??
Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:6 were especially meaningful in the desert country that British soldiers where familiar with.
British troops learned this Bible lesson on hunger and thirst during WWI as they fought their way across the Holy Land.
“Our heads ached and our eyes became bloodshot and dim in the blinding glare. . . . Our tongues began to swell . . . our lips commenced to swell; they turned a purplish black and burst. . . .
Some of the men went temporarily blind from the glare of the sun, the sand, and the lack of water, a few fell out by the wayside, and these we never saw again. . . .
We all knew of the wells Sheria contained, and that, unless we captured the place before nightfall, many of us would die of thirst. . . . We fought that day as men fight for their lives. . . .
We entered Sheria Station practically on the heels of the retreating Turks. The first objects which met our view were the great stone cisterns full of cold, clear drinking water. . . .
It took four hours before the last man had his drink of water. . . .
I believe that we all learned our first real Bible lesson on that march from Beersheba to the Sheria wells” (Gilbert 1923, 90–93).
It is that kind of thirst for God and for righteousness that will result in a necessary passion in our lives
If we have any hopes of being successful in this fight, we as Christian Must Remain Continually Hungry and Thirsty
Not for natural food and water but:
A hunger for the things of God
Hungry for the spirit of God
Hungry for the word of God
Hungry in prayer
and a passion to see souls won to the kingdom....to see lives changed and transformed.
As Christians, we must remain continually Hungry and Thirsty
1. Moses
18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
2. David
1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God?
1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, My flesh longeth for thee In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
3. Paul
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
“To be hungry is not enough. I must be really starving to know what is in [God’s] heart toward me. So in the gospel, when the prodigal son was hungry, he went to feed on the husks, but when he was starving, he went to his father” (Darby 1868, 66).
This kind of passion is the kind that leads to a passion for souls.
After his conversion, Paul became a passionate crusader for the gospel message.
14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
the word of God is to be shared and preached in power, conviction and passion.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
Passion drives us to action
Passion drives us to action
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
George W. Cecil published the following advertisement for the International Correspondence Schools in the March 1923 American Magazine:
“On the Plains of Hesitation bleach the ones of countless millions who, at the Dawn of Victory, sat down to wait, and waiting—died” (Bartleby.com).
when we seemingly loose that passion we once had and the drive and excitement that filled our hearts....we begin the process of slow death.
we ask in wonder, How can fires that once burned with passion burn down to nothing more than a flicker?
It’s because that, somewhere along the way we lost the passion…we allowed the fire that once burned so bright in our hearts, to slowly go out
5. sometimes, we must allow the Holy Spirit, once again, to blow on the embers of our life and begin to rekindle the fire we once had.
or just to simply, stoke the fire....stir up that gift that is within us.
6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
when we talk about revival....What we truly need is a revival of passion.
A renewed passion in service to God.
A renewed passion for the truth of God’s Word.
a renewing for a deeper more passionate walk with our God.
A renewed passion for lost souls.
“There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: ‘I wish you would explain to me something.’
‘Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.’
‘What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.’
Macready’s answer was this: ‘This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction’” (Morgan 1980, 36).
this is what can happens when a witness loses his passion and zeal for truth..
unfortunately, similarly to King Jehoash…we as Christians lack the passion necessary to bring revival to fruition.
the lack of revival sometimes is the reflection of a lack of the fire and passion necessary for revival to be realized.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.