FOLLOW-THROUGH: Character Quality # 27

PALM SUNDAY to GOOD FRIDAY

John 12:12-15

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

"Hosanna!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"

Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written, "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt." 

John 12:17-19

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.  Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.  So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"

          Who is our character to teach us the character of follow-through?  It is the crowd.  Can you pick out individuals from the crowd who were there at the Palm Parade but didn’t follow-through during that week?  Who were they and what did they do or not do that shows they had poor follow through?

          So then, who from the crowd did follow through that week?  And how?

Two Scriptures on Follow Through:

Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Colossians 3:23-24

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

How does Jesus want us to follow through?  Find your answer in the scripture below that serves as the central text for this coming Sunday.

Luke 9:23-26

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

From the Heart,
Pastor Jeff Cooper