Passion - Week 2 Perfect Love

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Shout Out !

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pEppER: Let’s sing “Happy Birthday Everyone”

Scripture Reading by Lady Pepper (Show Slide)

(Show Slide) Thank you Lady Pepper for the announcements and the reading of God’s Word.

Video: It Wasn’t the Nails

Let's put everything aside and watch the movie

Big Idea: Sometimes it’s hard to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. But, we must never grow tired of following Christ because He is the one who perfects our faith. It was this joy that caused Him to endure the cross without giving up. He knew his death would give us new life.

Prayer: “Lord, I admit that I have looked for love in many different places and I have often been let down. I am weary from the search. Please help me today to have complete trust and faith in your perfect love for me. Please help me to remain in your love through all the ups and downs of life.”

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Thess. 5:17; John 16:33; Romans 8:17; John 14:16

Introduction

Today we are going to be in week 2 of our Passion series, which happens to be Palm Sunday.

And last week we learned Jesus was and is the humble King who serves a world in desperate need.

Jesus’ actions were fueled by a humble love, and as we’ll discuss further today, a perfect love… focused on the joy set before Him.

STORY:

When I was in junior high school I signed up for the track team. It was during that time I to train my body to endure hardship.

It took a lot of preparation and dedication. I started my training by running around a city block five times at 5:30 AM every morning.

When I got to school the coach had us doing a barrage of training exercises to help condition us for the upcoming track season.

Push-ups, jumping jacks, running the 50 and 100 yard dash. All of this took a lot of preparation and dedication.

Until I crossed the finish line In the track and field competition I couldn’t afford to lose my focus.

In running terms, Jesus ran a perfect race while here on earth, and His race took Him to His death on a cross. Today, we hope to learn more about the perfect love that fueled Jesus on His journey.

Let's get started

If you have a Bible with you, I want you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9 where the Apostle Paul has some profound things to say about self-discipline and training;

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-26

1 Corinthians 9:24–26

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

As I just said, Jesus ran a perfect race. And we know from the gospels that He was very disciplined with His time, He was intentional. He was neither running aimlessly nor boxing the air. He had an eternal crown in mind, a specific mission and calling.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…”

We are all called to run a similar race. While running through life, it’s important that we do so with endurance. Endurance requires commitment to the cause. It invites us to never give up hope of crossing the finish line.

But today, I want us to talk a little bit about Jesus as the perfecter of our faith while we run the race. God is able to refine us as we run the race with endurance. But how does this happen? What is required from us in order to experience this?

I. Keep Your Eyes on the Cross

We already discussed how Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins. It was His passion for humanity that held Him there.

I believe, if we want to experience that same passion, if we want to experience Jesus Christ personally day by day, we must be willing to fix our eyes upon the cross.

As humans we experience this ongoing conflict between where we fix our gaze versus where we glance.

For some of you here today, maybe you have felt empty recently. You have felt as if you do not have much to give, and today you’re here seemingly out of obligation.

Maybe it’s because you’re glancing at God while gazing at the world. I want to challenge you to make a switch today.

I want to invite you to spend time gazing at God and beholding Him. Gazing at God invites us to spend time with Him constantly. Paul talks about this in his letter to the Thessalonians:

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:17

1 Thessalonians 5:17

17 pray continually,

3. Fixing our gaze upon Christ means praying when we are in the car, when we are in a coffee shop, when we drop our kids off at school, when we are getting groceries, everywhere. We have to train our minds to focus on Christ and stop focusing on all the other things that seek to occupy our time.

a. There is no limit to the amount of time we can spend with God in numerous different ways. All of the time we spend with God is meant to direct our focus back to the cross.

b. It is where our hope lies in every season of life while running the race. As we direct our focus to the cross, God is able to refine and perfect our faith.

c. He is able to take us deeper in prayer and deeper in His word.

However, allowing God to perfect our faith does not just include gazing at the cross.

It ...

II. Endure Whatever the Race Brings

The Bible makes it clear there will be hard times we face while running the race. We will have to learn how to endure frustration, pain, and hardship.

In John 16:33 Jesus tells us, “in this life you will have trouble.” And James 1:2 reminds us we should, “count it all joy when we face trials of various kinds.”

And these are just a couple of passages that reiterate a consistent message you’ll find throughout the Bible. Even Jesus had to endure trouble, persecution, pain, and suffering.

Last week we talked briefly about the anguish He felt just before being arrested. He prayed and asked God to, “let this cup pass from me.”

However, He was ultimately willing to endure the cross, as Hebrews says, for the joy set before Him. For the sake of you and me experiencing new life.

If we want our faith to be refined and perfected, chances are we will have to go through the fire. Here is what Paul says elsewhere…

Read Romans 8:17

Romans 8:17

17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.

There’s something beautiful about seasons of suffering in our lives.

ILLUSTRATION:

Several years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, at the time of the diagnosis it was a small tumor in my prostate. Since it wasn't aggressive I waited for two years before I made the decision to have the operation.

During the operation the doctor encountered scar tissue from a car accident that I had years before. While trying to get around the scar tissue he had cut my intestines.

He decided to finish the prostate operation and go back and look for wound in my intestines. Needless to say he did not do the repair, and it caused me to be in excruciating pain and suffering for a whole year.

Finally after a year another doctor took on the job of repairing the wound in my intestines that was causing fluids to enter in to the area of my body outside my intestines.

After the operation the doctor explained to Pepper that I was going to experience the most painful pain I ever had in my life. Normally I really don't show that I'm hurting when I'm in pain. But this pain took me to the brink of not wanting to go on.

2. When we feel like we are at the most difficult points in our lives, that is when God is able to shine His light the brightest.

a. Maybe God has you in the season you are in right now so that He can shape and mold you into the person He wants you to be. This may not feel comfortable. However, the Bible promises we can still have joy in the midst of the suffering.

3. The decision that Jesus Christ made to endure the cross was, in the eyes of the world, foolish.

a. Culturally, this was a death tool that illustrated shame. It was for criminals to be punished.

b. And yet, Jesus was willing to die that way. Why? For the joy set before Him.

c. “Wait, so that means that Jesus was joyful in reconciling sinners like us to God?”

Yes! And additionally, I wonder if maybe we are called to take a similar posture in our endurance.

4. Does it bring you joy to think about those in your life that don’t know Christ coming to faith in Him?

a. What if God is trying to use you to plant the Gospel seeds? Even through sharing Christ, He will perfect your faith.

b. Keep your eyes fixed on the cross, endure whatever the race brings, and remember that you are not alone in the race.

III. Remember You Are Not Alone

All throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, He was reminding people that He was not alone. God the Father was directing His steps.

Jesus was finding moments, even in the Garden of Gethsemane, to spend one-on-one time with His Father.

He models for us what it means to be fully reliant on God’s strength and God’s plans. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in.

When we realize what it means that we are never alone, we are willing to allow God to lead us through difficult things.

STORY:

In the beginning of our marriage over 33 years ago, after the honeymoon phase began to wear off, pepper and I realized that we had different opinions on how marriage is supposed to work.

It was a very difficult season in our lives that would either make or break our marriage. It was during that time we were attending church on the way in Van Nuys California with Pastor Jackie Hayford.

I began attending men's Fellowship Classes on Saturdays Mornings to learn how to treat my wife. It was in those sessions that Pastor Jack taught the men how to rely on the word of God and lean not unto our own understanding.

Pepper and I loved one another but we had a very difficult time communicating to one another. It was at that time I began put into practice what I had been taught from Pastor Jack in the men's Saturday meetings.

It was at that time that I learned how to say what the word had to say concerning my situation. So every time we had a misunderstanding I would quote "the word of God.

I begin to call those things that were not as though they were. This went on for a period of time that I began to say what God’s word said regarding my marriage, and not allow negative words to shape our relationship. It didn't happen overnight but as I begin the focus on the fact that I wasn't alone throughout this process God began to teach me that he would never leave me nor forsake me.

Through experiences like this, I have witnessed Jesus perfecting and refining my faith.

It happens when we are solely relaying on God’s ability and willingness to lead us through life.

We must learn to trust Him, learn to have faith, and learn to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

Read John 14:16

John 14:16

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever,

Jesus himself says that the Holy Spirit will never leave us. Whether you are enduring a tough season right now,

or one that is producing much fruit, give glory to God for His faithfulness in never leaving or forsaking us and for giving us the Holy Spirit! We are truly never alone in the journey.

Conclusion

The perfect love of Christ for His church is an amazing gift and encouragement.

And it’s worth remembering that Christ learned perfect love,

He received perfect love directly from His heavenly Father.

I brought this up last week too, but it’s worth remembering here;

In John 15:9 Jesus reminds us, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

Jesus, the Savior of mankind, is asking you to remain in His perfect love. Don’t go looking for it anywhere else, stay… remain…and learn to abide in the love of Christ.

Let me just say, you’re not going to find the unconditional all-powerful love of Christ from some counterfeit god, or vocation, or hobby, or worldly relationship.

But if that’s you, and you’ve been looking for perfect love everywhere else but Christ let me invite you back to Him today.

Or maybe you’re never given your life wholly into the ever capable hands of Christ.

Let me invite you there today. Receive the perfect love of Christ.

He will never leave you, He will never forsake you, and He will remain faithful to you until the very end of time. (Matthew 28:20

Matthew 28:20

20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10:13

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you’d would like to receive Jesus today, please pray this prayer with all of us:

Lord I believe that Jesus is the son of God, and that He died On the cross for my sins and His resurrection from the dead gives me eternal life. I ask forgiveness of my sins, and I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Amen.

PastorDoc@FaithVision.org

Church Office: 909-922-8090

And I will send you a Bible & a Free Book on how to begin your first 21 steps with Jesus (show the book)

(Show Slide)

***Leave slide up until Pepper gets in position***

Lady Pepper Please Join Me

Let us pray (P/P)

Lord we believe that you are Jehovah Rapha “The God that heals”

Matthew 9:35

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.

I pray for - Trina - Family/peace & comfort

Sharon (Coop girl) Healing from eye surgery

Lee - Healing

Our niece Vadrea- Healing

Ray - Healing

Tanya & Marietta - Healing

Ariel - In hospital - Pray for healing

Please continue to pray for the Ministry of Faith Vision

Please invite your family and friends to join us as we continue “A Study in the Book of Revelation”

Faith Vision Christian Ministries

10950 Arrow Rte - P.O. Box 3662

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91729

Office: 909-922-8090

PastorDoc@FaithVision.org

www.FaithVision.org

Proverbs 4:7

7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

2 Corinthians 5:7

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Signing off:

This is Pastor Doc & 1st Lady Pepper

With Faith Vision Christian Ministries

We are: Loving God, Loving People, and Living by Faith

See you next Sunday @ 10:55 on Facebook Live!!

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