March 25th, 2018 The Triumphal Entry / What draws you to Jesus?     John 12:9 – 19

John 12:12-19  “The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A huge crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hail to the King of Israel!”   Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid, people of Israel. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”   His disciples didn’t realize at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered that these Scriptures had come true before their eyes.  Those in the crowd who had seen Jesus call Lazarus back to life were telling others all about it.  That was the main reason so many went out to meet him — because they had heard about this mighty miracle.  Then the Pharisees said to each other, “We’ve lost. Look, the whole world has gone after him!”   NLT

  1. I spent a fair amount of time this week pondering the term “attraction”
    1. What draws us to other people or things
      1. Culture or Background or history
      2. Smells, visuals, etc.
      3. Chocolate Milk
      4. Proximity – They’ll do. “its what I got”
      5. Other personal issues – Personal choices/ideals
  1. What draws you to Jesus?
    1. The excitement of the crowd? People or Preachers
    2. The thought that He will take over as your political king?
      1. Many misunderstood Christs purpose
    3. The miracles you heard about?
      1. Valid. Jesus tended to meet physical needs first
        1. Heal the blind, the lame, the broken
      2. Hoping to get something for yourself?
        1. The woman fighting the crowd to touch His Robe
      3. Looking to see if your power\value were going to be hurt?
      4. Because the Holy Spirit of God called you to Him?
        1. How does this work? Through the Gospel
        2. Romans 10:13-15 “For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”    NLT
          1. Who are you attracting to Christ?
          2. Who are you telling the Gospel?
        3. Why is this important to know what attracts you to Jesus?
          1. Because in our scripture today MANY were drawn for the WRONG REASONS with the WRONG HEART
            1. In few days they will be crying out for His DEATH!
            2. “Fair Weather” followers (when the following gets tough, the weak stop following)
  • What raises up a spirit of rebellion in us?
    1. Cold, Rain, Athletics, Games, late nights
  1. Because what drew you to Jesus is what keeps you with Jesus
    1. Excitement wains and politics change
    2. Miracles become old or EXPECTED
    3. You may not feel you got what YOU wanted
    4. You find you need/want something else
    5. You begin to fear what has power over you
  1. The Holy Spirit dwells within you always and cares for all the other issues of life (John 16)
    1. Calls You AND Reminds you
    2. Comforts you AND Guides you
    3. What about because God WANTS you to be saved?
  2. How about “attraction” – can we LEARN from the magnet?
    1. Magnet to plastic – NO attraction – doesn’t look magnetic
    2. Magnet to aluminum – looks and sounds metal but NO attraction
      1. Looks the part but FAKE
    3. Magnet to steel hammer – STRONG attraction
      1. Put growing number of papers between magnet and hammer
        1. The more that gets between these two the weaker the attraction
      2. The more of the world that we allow to get between us and God the weaker our attraction to Him is
        1. God doesn’t change
        2. We allow the world to change us