Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Romans 12:11

When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  Luke 7:37-38

Passion - Good vs. Evil:

Passion and desire - not words you might expect to see at the beginning of a study of God's Word.  For many, these very words evoke immoral, fleshy, and sensuous thoughts of a somewhat seamy origin.  But God created passion as good; He doesn't create filth.  And He made it distinctly different than emotion; passion goes much deeper than that.  By His design, He places varying amounts of passion in each one of us, with a myriad of avenues through which it may be manifested.  So we can see on one hand, passion is something precious and beautiful; but the reflection in a mirror darkly stained with the filth of a fallen world turns true 'beauty' into an ugly and wicked counterfeit:  A lovely young girl vs. a high profit hooker.  Freedom of speech vs. unashamed profanity.  Religious liberty vs. anti-Christian bigotry.  Financial blessings vs. selfish & wasteful spending.  Oh, the never-ending see-saw struggle of God vs. Satan!

The Apostle Paul was passionate extraordinaire!  He began as a pharisaical Christian-hating zealot and was transformed into a completely selfless apostle, evangelist, and missionary for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  His passion eventually cost him his life.  What are we without passion?  A boiling pot or a tepid kettle?  The Laodicean church, by Jesus' definition, fits the description of the latter.

Revelation 3:14-16  "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  To be sure, without Jesus-inspired passion, we are not pleasing to our Lord.  As A. W. Tozer phrased it:  "The Bible was written in tears, and to tears it will yield it's best treasures.  It was to Moses, a trembling man, that God spoke to on the mount, and that same man later saved a nation when he threw himself before God with his offer to have himself blotted out for Israel's sake," (Ref. Exodus 32:30-34).

What Is God Looking For?:

Jeremiah 7:22-23.  For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

Is God looking for someone to blindly follow directions? No!  Through the prophet Jeremiah, God is pleading with us to go beyond legalism and mere ritual.  His desire today is for us obey His commands with a passion and a love like the saints of old.

Job:

Despite the hardships that Job endured, he never stopped loving and worshipping God.  His passion is so tangible, we can grasp it with our fingers.  The power of his passion was remarkable!

Job 13:14-16.  Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands? Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.  Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him!

Job 19:25-27.  I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Shish Kabob a la Phinehas:

While in the wilderness and in the care of Moses, the Israelite men became enamored with Moabite women.  One of the results was that they began to adopt their customs - such as Baal worship.  One of these Israelites - a fellow named Zimri, flaunted his rebellion in the very presence of Moses and his leaders.  As Moses and some others were weeping in front of the tent of meeting, wondering what to do about the deadly plague that was sweeping through the camp like wildfire, the brazen Zimri and his female companion defiantly paraded past them all and into Zimri's tent.  When Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, witnessed this act, his Godly passion was aroused to the boiling point and righteous anger overtook him.  Read on . . .

Numbers 25:6-9.  Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them--through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.  Can one read these stories of passion and not be changed?!

Ezekiel's B-B-Q & Isaiah's New Suit:

God's prophet Ezekiel was always obedient in delivering God's message to His people Israel.  God once gave him an assignment to lie on his side(s) for a total of 430 continuous days!  While doing so, He was to cook his food in a special way - and it was not hickory smoked!

Ezekiel 4:4-15.  "Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel." The LORD said, "In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them." Then I said, "Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth." "Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."

Isaiah was told by God to go without clothes for 3 YEARS as a way to communicate His displeasure to all who trusted in Cush (Ethiopia) and Egypt, but not in Him.

Isaiah 20:2-4.  At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared--to Egypt's shame."

Did God's prophet's just follow directions, or was there more in their actions than simple obedience?

Have You Been With Jesus?:

Peter and John began the early formation of the Christian church against daunting odds.  On one occasion, they were imprisoned merely for speaking freely about their beliefs.  Upon their release, they spoke with Holy Spirit passion to their tormentors.  Acts 4:13, 18-20.  When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. . . . Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Passion!  Could it have something to do with Jesus?  Can people look at you and take note that you have been with Jesus?

The Passion Of God:

Jesus' passion and righteous anger were certainly aroused when He cleared out the temple. Matthew 21:12-13. Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"

Paul and Silas, while in Philippi, were severely treated for exercising their faith.  While in prison, God responded mightily to their simple but significant act of worship.  These men utilized no special prayers, no binding, loosing, casting, rebuking, no taking authority - they simply sought the Lord and worshipped Him with joy in their hearts!  They worshipped God with PASSION!

Acts 16:22-26.  The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.

A parent delights in seeing their children obey them out of a desire to please, rather than 'because they have too.'  A child longing for approval searches the eyes of mom and dad to find it.  Passion to please can be found in the soul and spirit of such a child.  We need to live our lives with passion, zeal and knowledge (Proverbs 19:2, Romans 10:2)!  Let a Christ-like passion so grip you that others will know that YOU too have been with Jesus!

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Passion

An Awesome Journey Through Scripture

The Goodsoil Discipleship Ministry

By Bro. Andy Madonio

July 22, 1997

Introduction:

Personally, most of my passion flows down my arm and fingers and onto paper.  At least the 'good' and 'useful' passion does.  Occasionally, anger boils over, and I make a complete fool of myself.  That's why I'd prefer to be labeled as somewhat boring and sedate in person as opposed to a raving maniac.

Passion, however, is still passion, whether evinced with word, pen or sword.  Of particular interest to disciples should be the passion of our Lord, and the passion (in various guises) of His saints for Him.

God knows if you're truly passionate about Him.  The passion He sees resides in your spirit.  It travels into the natural world for viewing along many different paths; I described mine above.  Where is your passion centered?  Upon who, or what?  This story depicts what happens when it bursts forth for all to see.  It is remarkable!