Vineyard Church of Knox County
Breakthrough of the Passion
Sermon Audio from Sunday, April 9, 2006 — We have arrived on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter that is traditionally the Sunday on which we recognize Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the final week of his life. But in our BreakThrough series, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem two weeks ago and we've been learning about the kingdom in the last week of Jesus' life.
Last week we learned about the Last Supper, that Jesus had foreseen his crucifixion and taught the disciples about his broken body and shed blood in the upper room during the Passover meal. After the evening meal, Jesus takes his disciples out the Mount of Olives, to a garden called Gethsemane. The Passion begins in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you've seen the movie The Passion of the Christ the first scene is in the Garden as Jesus is praying. Soon a band of thugs comes to arrest Jesus as Judas betrays his leader. The disciples scatter, while Peter hangs low in the shadows watching from a distance as Jesus is pulled to court. It seems that after three years of ministry in Galilee, the wheels of Jesus' life and ministry are falling off. Everything seems to be falling apart. He's in real trouble, it seems. Today we see the Breakthrough of the Passion, the suffering and death of Jesus, the Messiah. Three important nuggets of truth come from this last day in Jesus' life.
