This week we’re starting a new series called One Prayer.  What would our one prayer for this church be?  How about to just unite us as one church?  Or perhaps it should be to make us holy.  Well today I’d like to suggest that it be to make us passionate. 

“Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You … Now this is eternal life:  that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” (John 17:1-3)

What the above passage is encouraging is for us to know God.  This passage is calling for us to be passionate about our relationship in God and if we are…

1.    YOUR PASSION WILL TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE.

When you become passionate about God, it’ll transform your life.  As an example, look at the life of Paul…

“But whatever was to my profit…I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection…sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil. 3:7-11)

Paul set everything aside so that he would share in Jesus’ sufferings.  When Paul fell so much in love with Christ, he put everything aside that might stand between himself and knowing Jesus.  Instead of focusing on the things of this world…

2.    SET YOUR PASSION ON AN INFINITE AND INDESCRIBABLE GOD.

Sometimes we forget.  We don’t realize how great our God is and we take Him for granted.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” (Ps: 19-1-2)

How do you know just how big our God is?  Just look out at the sky at night; see how the stars twinkle.  They don’t twinkle because of twinkle, twinkle little star.  They are a testament to His greatness.

“To whom will you compare Me?  Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One.  Lift up your  eyes and look to the heavens:   Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.  Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Is. 40:25-26 NIV)

I want to take you on a tour of our universe (courtesy of the Hubble telescope.)  We live in the Milky Way Galaxy which is comprised of somewhere between 200-400 billion stars.  It is a 100,000 light years long and 1,000 light years deep.  Just to review what a light year is…it is the distance that light travels in a year.  Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.  If you multiply that speed by the number of seconds in a minute and the number of minutes in an hour, and the number of hours in a day, and the number of days there are in a year, you will see that light travels 5.88 trillion miles/year.  And that’s the distance light travels in one year.  As I mentioned, our galaxy is 100,000 light years long.

There are also hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe.

On a slightly different note, the star in our solar system – the sun – burns at a temperature of 10,000 degrees Farenheit.   That power is equivalent to billions of atomic explosions occurring simultaneously.  And, the earth is 93 million miles away from the sun.  In fact, thank God that we aren’t one mile closer or we may all burn to a crisp.

The sun is equivalent to 960,000 earths, but even more amazing is the fact that our sun is a small star.  There are much bigger stars in our universe like Betelguese.  Betelguess is equivalent to 262 billion earths, and if the earth was the size of a golf ball, Betelguese would be equivalent to filling up the SuperDome 3,000 times with golf balls.  There’s also an even bigger star:  Canis Major.  It would take seven quadrillion earths to fill in; that would be equivalent to covering the state of Texas 22 inches deep in golf balls.

That’s a big star, in a big universe, made by a big God!

If you look at some of the images from the Hubble telescope, you would see how awesome, amazing, and expansive our universe is – all created by our God according to His size and imagination, not ours.   We cannot even wrap our brain around how large He is.  He is so large and powerful, so why do we spend our lifetime questioning or trying to advise Him?

3.    THE SAME GOD WHO FASHIONED THE UNIVERSE HAS PROMISED TO HOLD YOU TOGETHER.

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth…and in Him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:16-17)

God knows exactly what He’s doing in the universe.  He knows exactly how many stars there are and He knows each of them by name.  Let’s resize God.  Let’s give Him the recognition He deserves.  He is an amazing God!

We look at the images from the Hubble telescope and realize that God is so big – and we’re really small.  I remember when Apollo 17 sent back these images of earth.  You can see the outlines of continents but you don’t see the people, the wars, and the conflicts.  

We see how big God is and how tiny we are, yet He created each and every one of us.  He knows each and every one of us by name and He knows the exact number of hairs on each of our heads. 

We have been fearfully and wonderfully made.  You can’t tell me that the 75 trillion cells that make up each of our individual bodies happened to come together by luck.  Every second, 50,000 of the 75 trillion cells in our bodies die, and 50,000 new cells take their place.  Miracles are taking place in our bodies all the time!  (No wonder why we’re so tired all the time!)

Some ask, “Is there a God out there?”…Long before we messed up, God had set a cross over us.  In the center of the Whirlpool Galaxy which sits directly above the earth, there is [an image of] a cross:

Similarly, God gave us a microscopic protein called laminin which is found in each of our bodies.   There are 10,000-60,000 proteins that we know of and each has a specific purpose.  According to scientists, the assignment or purpose for laminin is cell adhesion; it’s like rebar for cement, it holds the world together.  Well if you take a good close-up look at laminin, it looks like a cross.  It holds our skin together, our organs together, our whole body together.

How do you know that He will hold you together?  He put a cross over you and crosses in you!  Before you ever knew what you were going to do about God, God knew what He was going to do for you.

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God…He will not grow tired or weary…He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired…and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  (Is. 40:28-31 NIV)

God is the creator of the universe.  He has enough power to get you through one more day.  For those who are waiting upon the Lord – standing upon His promises – God will help you take another step…another breath…How do I know this?  Because of the cross over us and the millions of crosses in us.

When you understand the greatness of our God, how can you not be passionate about Him?  Your passion will transform your life.  Set your passion on an infinite and indescribable God.  And remember that the same God who fashioned the universe has promised to hold you together if you will just trust in Him.

“Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God”

Excerpt from song “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      What does it mean to be passionate about something?

2.      Name something that you’re passionate about and how does that passion affect you?

3.      How can you demonstrate your passion for God and Jesus Christ?

4.      How would you describe God?  Why is He described as “infinite” and “indescribable”?

5.      Do you believe that God can hold you together through anything?  What makes you believe that?