THE BRIDGE PART 3

I pray that they will all be one, just as You and I are one—as You are in Me, Father, and I am in You. And may they be in Us so that the world will believe You sent Me. "I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one.

"I have given them the glory You gave Me, so they may be one as We are one.

I am in them and You are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me.

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Southpointe, we have been in this series on the bridge for last couple of weeks and i want to continue on this subject. The Bridge.

The bridge of unity, is what we are going to be dealing with this morning. so it is palm Sunday and I want to deal with unity but to have unity many times we might have chaos before unity can come rushing in to the place.

We live in a society driven to "feel good" all the time. We take more time off work, more vacations, do more leisure activities than any other generation in order to "feel better".

We use more pills to "feel good," even at the smallest discomfort, we are geared around "feeling good" in everything we do.

It has come to the place that if we can't "feel good" we won't do it, and if it does "feel good" it doesn't matter if the Bible or anyone else says it is wrong, we do it anyway, as long as it "feels good."

Many times people will say: "I didn't' hurt anyone" or "no one was hurt."

1. This near sighted need to always "feel good" results in shallow character and commitment.

Even in the Church these days people want Church to make them "feel good" or they will find another Church that will!

To settle only for a good feeling in our walk with God will leave us spiritually shallow at best, and to settle for less than what we could have.

ILLUS: Some time ago some robbers stole a 14 foot bronze cross from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. This cross had stood at the entrance to this cemetery for more than 50 years.

Thieves apparently stole it more for money than art, they cut it off at the base and hauled it away, most likely cutting it up into small pieces. That way they could then sell them for 50 cents a pound.

The cross weighed about 900 pounds so it netting for them about $450. The cross's actual worth was $10,000 or in today's dollar about $50,000.

The thieves obviously didn't know the real value of the cross as an object, instead they settled for a much cheaper price for it as scrap metal.

This is still true for many today, they are willing to settle for the less important parts of Christianity like the feeling parts and fail to appreciate the deeper things of God that may not have an emotional base to them. They like the celebration, not the commitment.

This was precisely the message of Palm Sunday, the crowds loved the miracle working Jesus, but they didn't like the commitment calling Jesus!

The New International Version Chapter 12

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” u

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

You would think that the scene of Palm Sunday it was going to be an awesome times:

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet Him. They shouted, "Praise God! Blessings on the One who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!"

The crowds lined the streets to welcome Jesus into their lives - but the reasons they did so were less than spiritual. They had hoped for a king who would relieve them from Rome's pressures.

a. They had hoped for a king who would relieve them from Rome's pressures.

They wanted an easier lifestyle, not a call to righteousness. A king that can raise the dead could take care of all their needs.

This short sighted need to always "feel good" results in shallow character and commitment. Even in the Church these days people want Church to make them "feel good" or they will find another Church that will! To settle only for a good feeling in our walk with God will leave us spiritually shallow at best, and to settle for less than what we could have.

c. A king that can raise the dead could take care of all their needs.

took palm branches and went down the road to meet Him. They shouted, "Praise God! Blessings on the One who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!"

There would been nothing wrong with all the celebration if it had been followed up with a strong commitment to Christ.

a. To get blessings?

ILLUS: Some time ago some robbers stole a 14 foot bronze cross from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. This cross had stood at the entrance to this cemetery for more than 50 years. Thieves apparently stole it more for money than art, they cut it off at the base and hauled it away, most likely cutting it up into small pieces tha tthey could then sell for 50 cents a pound. The cross weighed about 900 pounds thus netting them about $450. The cross's actual worth was $10,000 or in today's dollar about $50,000. The thieves obviously didn't know the real value of the cross as an object, instead they settled for a much cheaper price for it as scrap metal. This is still true for many today, they are willing to settle for the less important parts of Christianity like the feeling parts and fail to appreciate the deeper things of God that may not have an emotional base to them. They like the celebration, not the commitment.

b. Or to be a blessing?

6. There would have been nothing wrong with all the celebration if it had been followed up with a strong commitment to Christ, the crowds were gone later when Jesus made it clear what He wanted from them!

If we are not careful in Christianity today, we can put too much emphasis on celebration in worship and not enough balance with a call to commitment to Christ!

This was precisely the message of Palm Sunday, the crowds loved the miracle working Jesus, but they didn't like the commitment calling Jesus!

2. When worship as celebration becomes more important than the Word we are out of balance!

It is not enough to come together and just celebrate, there is a time and place for this, but there must be more.

Jesus attempts to send them the right message when they lined the streets to celebrate His arrival:

A conquering king usually rode in on a horse, this signified his triumph over political rivals and other nations that would attempt to rule over them.

Jesus' choice of ride was of a donkey, and to ride in on a donkey spoke a message of "peace" and "humility" - not that of a political king.

In all their celebration Jesus sends them the right message with the donkey, but they were too busy celebrating to understand the message … and so they missed the message of commitment from Christ.

When we look at this scene this morning Jesus was speaking victory to them not in the physical but in the spiritual. They were to focus on the outward and did not want to deal with the inward.

Too many Christians today would rather celebrate God without the effort of defeating Satan in their lives … an unacceptable decision by God's standards!

ILLUS: In his book, Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes, "There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. "Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons, but the instructor wanted $5 a lesson. It was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate."

It was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate."

Too many Christians believe it's easier to pay the bully than learn how to defeat him.

3. While the crowds were willing to applaud Jesus the miracle worker, they were also ready to abandon Jesus the crucified one!

The day that Jesus came riding in declaring that He was Lord of all, you would think this was going to be a wonderful time.

The day that Jesus came riding in declaring that He was Lord of all, you would think this was going to be a wonderful time.

You see, when Jesus come into our lives, we declare victory, we are shouting Hosanna Hosanna but the battle just has begun.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

We think because we have cross over the bridge to freedom that we will never have a battle and that it will be perfect unity in the peace and goodwill toward all men.

But the problem with is just as the day that Jesus came riding in on that donkey, he wasn’t not coming to bring peace but He was bring a battle. this battle that would be inside of every human being.

The Battle of the flesh and the spirit.

sinful humanity, 4. The flesh which is the physical aspect of a person in distinction to the immaterial soul; often understood as the seat of sin and rebellion to God.

Then you have 5. The spirit, the faculty that can respond to God, the way of thinking, attitude, disposition.

The flesh and the Spirit are warring against each other.

We all will face crisis moments, conflicts and situations that demand our best to keep the unity – to forgive and heal. Jesus is the bridge to that unity.

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Jesus is the bridge of unity. We all will face other crisis moments, conflicts and situations that demand our best to keep the unity – to forgive and heal. Jesus is the bridge to that unity.

As Jesus was coming in that day, the battle had began they were want a earthly king, the flesh way of thinking and doing things.

but Jesus did not come to set up a earthly kingdom or to be the earthly king, the battle within the people was at the begin here.

You see, 6. Our biggest enemy to have the unity as the Father and the Son has is the flesh issue, if the flesh is not crucify then the flesh will rule.

And to do that you must cross the bridge, here on this side of the bridge is the flesh if we don’t make move to start headed to the spirit side then flesh will always win and we will not have that unity that Jesus was praying for that his disciples would have.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

We live at a time when SELF has become the modern god! Never before have we had such an era of so much self-indulgence.

The hardest thing to do is to give up self, it goes against the strongest drive of our being – self-preservation!

It is not an easy task to forget self, but it is the redemptive role we are called to!

4. It is not an easy task to forget self, but it is the redemptive role we are called to!

Our simply following rituals doesn’t do anything for God, only those things we do that involve real sacrifices make a difference!

The kinds of sacrifices Jesus is pleased with have nothing to do with sacrificing animals, it has to do with giving up self!

7. God isn’t interested in dead sacrifices, He wants living ones!

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

A sacrifice is something you give up! We are called upon as Christians to forget self, to offer up “self” as a real sacrifice!

a. A sacrifice is something you give up!

b. We are called upon as Christians to forget self, to offer up “self” as a real sacrifice!

This is pleasing to God and is our reasonable service to God; Paul says we are to do this!

8. The only problem with a “living sacrifice” however is that they have a tendency to crawl off the altar all the time when the heat is applied!

It won’t be an easy task to forget “self,” the mentality of the world is contrary to doing so; the pattern of this world is to think of “self” first!

So how do we hope to accomplish the task of forgetting self? It is going to take a transforming process of our thoughts!

b. It is going to take a transforming process of our thoughts!

Jesus’ example and the Word of God are the vehicles for transforming our thinking; the Holy Spirit is the power behind the process!

2. Jesus’ example and the Word of God are the vehicles for transforming our thinking; the Holy Spirit is the power behind the process!

Until we start thinking differently from this world our behavior won’t be any different!

9. Getting saved is a good start, but studying God’s Word is necessary to transforming our behavior!

Salvation is not an automatic cure for all our behavior issues; these become a part of the process of God’s Spirit renewing our minds and thus us over time!

10. Transformation is only possible where renewal of our minds takes place!

Once we think like Kingdom citizens we will act like them! We must cross the bridge from self, or flesh to the Spirit.

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

It can be quite powerful when we think like Jesus; it makes it easier to forget self when we think like Christ!

b. Jesus said it this way, “as a man thinks in his heart so is he!”

According to this passage , you will prove God’s will in your life if you learn to forget self!

You will accomplish God’s “perfect will” Notice that we “prove HIS will” ... not OUR WILL!

5. It can be quite powerful when we think like Jesus; it makes it easier to forget self when we think like Christ!

b. Notice that we “prove HIS will” ... not OUR WILL!

11. The only way to do HIS will is not to do OUR will! To do this requires us to forget our self!

The great irony of all this is that the more we forget our self the more fulfilled we find our self! 12. When self is empty God can fill it with HIMSELF!

You see, for us to be able to fulfill the pray the Jesus pray then we must understand that as Jesus comes riding in on that donkey in our lives, but realize that it is a donkey and not a stallion, He doesn’t force us because He is the King instead we have this self will.

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To cross the bridge from the flesh to the spirit, to have that unity as with the Father as the Father and Son had then we must be will to give up our self.

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Cross the bridge to Unity like the Father had with the Son and the Son has with the Father.

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· Hebrew 12:14

Main Points

1. Crisis and conflict in our lives is unavoidable

a. They take us away from what God has brought together

2. Jesus is the bridge to unity

a. We are able to forgive and be unified through Jesus

3. We must protect unity

a. We must forgive

b. We must work together

c. Jesus is so good

4. We have a strong desire to keep everyone together in unity

5. Love the people God has put in your church with you

6. Use wisdom to handle every situation

7. Bring peace between people

8. Be at peace with others

Response

Have the opportunity to give your life to Jesus at the end of the service.