Sustaining Zeal Towards God's Calling

Well, we want to say thank you very much. Beautiful praise. Thank you very much to Ingrid and to Sharon for sharing that, sending that up to God, and we're able to hear and appreciate it as well. I want to say hello to all of those that might be tied into the webcast today. For those of you that may not be aware, we have been webcasting now for about the last two to three months out of the Los Angeles congregation, picked up by a number of our homebound people in the Southland, as well as those that are not able to go to church due to distances. So at this time we are basically webcasting to parts of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and also throughout Southern California. So we want to say a special hello to all of you that might be tuning in today. I'd like to share a story to bring us to point and to introduce the rest of the message. I hope that it will be poignant. There was a little girl, and she walked into church all by herself, and she saw a sign in the meeting hall, and she began breaking out, just sobbing and crying. The sign read, The zeal of thy house hath consumed me. Well, an elderly custodian that was working there walked over to the little girl and said, well why are you crying?

And she said, I'm afraid of the zeal. And he answered, don't worry, little girl, there's no zeal in this place. Now, you've done it. Because while we're all laughing, there's a question that I'd like to share with all of you. What would this man say about you and about me? After all, Scripture reminds us that the church is not a building. The church is not a hall. The ecclesia, the called-out ones. It's not a place. It's about people. It's about hearts. It's about you. It's about me. This story and the pivotal question that I just asked you leads me to the title and the purpose of today's message. Allow me to share it with you.

It's simple and it will be direct. Sustaining zeal towards God's calling.

Sustaining zeal towards God's calling. What does zeal mean? You might ask yourselves, what calling? We might ask ourselves, who is the ultimate zealous example? We might ask, why can and does zeal wane even amongst the members of the body of Christ? Especially with the incredible revelation that God has granted us. Some of us today may be here today attending church. We've had a lot of practice at attending church. It comes, it goes, it comes, it goes. We're in a routine. We've got to go to church. But something's happened along the way with our heart, with our enthusiasm, with our excitement, with our thrill, with our response to the revelation of God. I would speak to you today. Some of you may have been praying fervently, zealously, as it were. God, I need to be alive for you. I've, as the righteous brothers used to sing back in the 60s, I've, I've lost that loving feeling. Some of us today might feel vacant. We might feel empty.

And we want to reach out. We know that we need something. We know something is wrong. Well, I'm glad that you're here today, because I'd like to speak to you today. Not only about sustaining the zeal towards God's calling, but recognizing how we might obtain it. To recognize, along with everything else that we receive by God's grace. That zeal for that calling is right in there as well.

First of all, then, let's grab a hold of a death-emission regarding zeal. It comes from the Greek word zelos. What does it mean to have zeal? What does it mean to be zealous? Webster tells us that there's an eagerness. There's a great interest.

There's a passion. That no outside aroma that we just heard about from the outside can bring to us. We're talking about something from the inside that moves outward. That indeed, ultimately, can be that aroma towards God and towards one another. Roger Sotharis puts it this way regarding zeal. Being anxious. Being fervent. Being industrious. Being willing. Being zealous. Thus, we find that a person who isn't dispassionate but is fully focused, engaged, and energized.

Actually, the word zeal is also very synonymous with the word in Greek for fire and or ignite. So, when we think about that and we know what fires do when they ignite and when they spread, and unfortunately with what we're seeing in the news right now with our neighbor's state up in Washington, that when something is ignited, there's a fire, there's an energy, there's a light, there's warmth, there's heat, and it consumes. And so, what we're talking about here is that we are consumed with the things of God.

We're consumed with the wonderment that He might even be interested in us. We are overwhelmed by the love that God says that He has for us. And we say, what love? How can we know? How do we know? We'll talk about that in the course of the message.

So, we see all of this. Now, as people of faith, as people of the Word of God, we simply have one perfect example set out before us. It's none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is that ultimate target. We want to say, well, who should I turn to and look to so that I can learn and I can be zealous for God? Who am I going to look at down here below?

I'm not asking you to look down here below right now or at all because the example was sent from above down below and He's gone back up, but His example resides with us in Scripture. Join me, if you would then, for a moment and turn to Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9, and we're going to run through just a couple of Scriptures to build towards a point. Isaiah 9 in verse 7, and these Scriptures are either messianic prophecies and or real live examples that have happened in real live time with a man that was on a mission and who was zealous.

In Isaiah 9 in verse 7. Actually, let's pick it up in verse 6. For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting Father Prince of Peace and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever.

Okay, then notice what it says the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this God the Father and Jesus Christ are absolutely zealous on fire to perform their will in each and every one of us and for all of us and ultimately for all of humanity the zeal is there now let's take it a step further join me if you would in John 2 we've already alluded to this in the cute little story about the girl that was afraid of the zeal that it might consume her that let's go to John 2 in verse 13 in John 2 in verse 13 we'll pick up the thought here because we have not only a prophecy but we have the reality of what Jesus was the like in his lifetime on this earth in John 2 in verse 13 now the Passover the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found at the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business and when he had made a whip of cords he drove them out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and notice any overturned the tables and he said to those who sold the doves take these things away don't make my father's house a house of merchandise and then his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house zeal for your house has eaten me up this was a quote from a Davidic psalm and the disciples noticed early on the zeal and the passion and the fervency and the desire in Jesus Christ to honor his father above and to represent him and that that zeal and that passion hear me please was not based upon externals it was not something that was coming from the outside in it was something that God was working inside it was not based upon the thunderstorms of life on the outside and or what everybody else was doing but what he was called and sent to this earth to do he knew that his time was short three and a half years of ministry that would be cut off and he knew that every day and every moment counted because it wasn't just about him he was about his father's business join me again building upon this theme seeing what Jesus himself was like John 4 and verse 31 in John 4 and verse 31 let's take a look here 31 through 35 in the meantime his disciples urgent saying rabbi eat but he said to them I have food to eat of which you do not know therefore the disciples said to one another has anyone brought him anything to eat and Jesus said to them my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work in one sense and we do know that Jesus ate he was not a Gnostic ghost and that's why there's so many comments in the gospels about Jesus being fully the son of man but his really his real diet his real thirst the food that really turned him on and gave him energy was being about his father's business and to finish that work do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest me hold I said you lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are already white for a harvest and he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together Jesus was about his father's business can I be frank with you please let's understand and I think the word zeal and consume really go hand in hand and heart to heart in this matter Jesus was consumed with his mission he knew why he had been selected by the father and volunteered then thinking it not robbery to be equal with God but to let it go that he came to this earth every moment counted every day counted every individual that he met counted he knew his time was short I might have mentioned it here another congregation sometimes I forget where I mention it I know that my time is short I'm not saying anything's going to happen tomorrow I don't know maybe it will if it'll happen tonight but I know how old I am and I know also how young I'm not I realize that I only have a certain amount of time to honor God to love God to have Christ living in me to serve all of you to serve the others that Susan I have been elected to serve I'm jealous about that time I want to be like Jesus Christ I know that you do otherwise you would not have been here today or you have not been praying that prayer that you prayed God I feel motionless I'm just going through the moves but I don't have it in my heart well that's why we're talking about today we want to be like Jesus Christ God the Father wants us to have that consuming feeling about that kingdom that is going to come and that kingdom experience that we can have right now and he wants each and every one of us to have that and we're going to talk about that as we proceed one thing we've noticed are the messianic prophecies another thing that we've noticed is what Jesus was like on this earth let me remind you of one very important pivotal scripture join me if you would in Hebrews 13 8 then we'll go to the next section in Hebrews 13 and again Hebrews is about the elevation of Jesus Christ above all that had preceded him and here was a church that the the the Jewish Christians and the world was coming in all around them around 65 66 AD the Roman legions from Syria were on the march they were being circled they were wondering is this really worth it and that's why the book of Hebrews is written to galvanize them and to encourage them and one of the greatest encouragement here is in Hebrews 13 and verse 8 where it says Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever and just as much as Jesus Christ and God the Father worked with those people in the first century he's worked with us and he did not abandon those Jewish Christians in the late 60s AD and he has not abandoned us it's more than a pillar of fire it's more than that cloud that led ancient Israel we have no less than the rock and we're going to talk about that as we move along I want to show another example then about God and his zealousness we've talked about if you'll notice past tense but you know what with God the path the present and the future all come together and he says that what I have promised I will do join me for Isaiah 62 in Isaiah 62 and let's pick up the thought again in verse 1 you think God is a couch potato do we think that somehow he's gone to sleep on the heavenly sofa up above we look at this world around us and we say what is going on we read the headlines you almost want to call them the bad lines whether it be Wall Street whether it be what's happening over in the Middle East whether it's what's happening in Europe and you just go around this world and you recognize how much this world needs the intervention of God Almighty through Jesus Christ landing on the Mount of Olives and we should have that same zeal every day of our life saying your kingdom come your kingdom come notice what it says in Isaiah 62 for Zion's sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth his brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns the Gentiles shall see her righteousness and all the kings your glory God can't wait to bring his kingdom to this earth he's zealous he's consumed by what we see in Isaiah 62 but he also realizes that it's got to be in his perfect timing now with this example in place one thing that we want to understand is that Jesus Christ continues to walk through his temple we had that story of Jesus as he went up to the Passover and what he saw in the temple and he overthrew the tables and had that confrontation with the money changers want to share something with you join me if you would in Revelation 11 and verse 1 in Revelation 11 and verse 1 again this is apocalyptic literature but I think it brings something to point then I was given a read like a measuring rod John speaking and the angel stood say rise and measure the temple of God the altar and those who worship there God is still measuring the temple today I'm measuring a temple on a mountain in Jerusalem at this time we've come to understand through the writings of Paul that God resides in us in 1 Corinthians 3 and 17 you can jot that down look at it later friends it says no you not that you are the temple of God the temple that God is measuring today is not a bunch of brick mortar or ivory or stone or slate he's measuring the tablets of our heart he's measuring us he's measuring you he's measuring me he's not measuring an organization he's not measuring a corporation each and every one of us are a mosaic within this what is called the body of Christ and you can worry about me or you can worry about my responsibilities or you can worry about an organization but that's not where God wants us to be at he wants us to be concerned and rightfully concerned not worried worried for the other side God says don't worry but we need to be concerned that we have that same zeal that same fire that same passion that same fervency that God the Father and Jesus Christ have for us you might say well okay mr.

Weber you keep on throwing up Christ I'm not Christ how'd you guess but he's the example he had a specific mission he had a specific mesh mission you say I know that God the Father sent his son he had a mission he came here to be our Savior he came to qualify to be the high priest forever and he came to establish the church one two and three he had a clearly defined mission so what's my mission join me if you would in Ephesians 2 verse 10 in Ephesians 2 and verse 10 let's notice a part of our mission for we you and you put your name in there I am his workmanship God is not done creating God stopped creating on the sixth day of Eden but he's not done folks he's now in the midst of a spiritual creation project for like it says here we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus not out of dust not out of Eden something new something wonderful something different something grand we are created in Christ Jesus notice for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them you and I have the opportunity that Adam and Eve had and forsook Adam and Eve were created and brought about that they might worship God and have this intimate immediate relationship with God that as they open their eyes and they were created that what they saw was God they were allowed to walk with God they were allowed to talk with God they were allowed to experience God they were allowed to enjoy God and God was allowed to experience and enjoy them in a way which we can't imagine I get fired up just talking about it I'm jealous but I don't need to be because that what is God's calling us to a different garden a different garden in Revelation 22 another garden at the end eternity which is likened to that Eden when you go to Revelation 22 but that that's the work that we have is to to allow God to stay in our midst and to draw our love to draw our energy to draw our desire to draw our breath to draw our everything from him with that stated now we do have a work brethren that work never ceases it never comes to an end until we die or until we are resurrected whichever comes first let's notice how Jesus Christ allowed the Apostle John to measure one church out of the book of Revelation a church that seemingly had lost its initial zeal join me if you wouldn't revelation to in Revelation 2 and this is a message by the angel to the church at Ephesus revelation to inverse wonder the angel of the church of Ephesus right these things say he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands he has all power and he is in the midst of everything that is going on I I know your works your labor your patience and that you cannot bear those who are evil and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary if you notice the pattern when the angel speaks to the different churches it always begins with a what we call a a commendation what they're doing right what they're doing correct now comes the complaint nevertheless I have this against you that you have left your first love you've left your first love remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I will come to come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent but this you have that you hate the deeds of the nickeladians which I also hate then says he who has an ear let him hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and a him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life see it always goes back to the beginnings the man who spoke in Pasadena for so many years was correct it always goes back to the beginnings to the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God the book brings up the two words first love what is first love let's consider our experience for a moment our first love I'm not speaking about my wife right now but I'm speaking about that spiritual love it's the excitement it's the passion experienced when the fullness of the gospel message is first revealed it's not only understanding what God the Father has done for us in Christ but what he has in store for the future and for all humanity sometimes people and they say it sincerely but they say well I'm saved and it's singular and it's individual but what about everybody else all of us are made in God's image all of us are made after God's likeness all of us have been created to be his children is there a heaven is there there's a heaven yeah but is there a hell are people condemned I know that was one of the great great truths and the loves that I had just as young boy understanding that this way of life is correct I came out of a very fundamental background and I was worried about other people and I believed in a hell you just do sometimes when you come out of fundamental backgrounds but what about the people that have never heard of God never read the Bible never known the name of Jesus Christ of which there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved are they damned are they doomed do they roast in a barbecue below the earth for the rest of their life or if you want to be kind about it is there just simply an absence from God and a companionship never to be it was really exciting when that truth came to me it's like it says in Matthew 13 44 join me if you would there in Matthew 13 and verse 44 again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field which a man found in head and for joy over it goes and sells all that he has and buys the field great joy great satisfaction a consuming thought that God is not asleep that God is not a butterfingers that God is not playing cosmic dice with the universe but has a purpose and that purpose is backed by a plan and that plan is backed by promises and those promises are backed by provisions he knows exactly what he's doing in his perfection and he will intervene in each and every life when it is right and good and he will intervene in this earth and I have every confidence of that and that was a consuming reality in my life even as a 12 year old boy as God began to work with me oh please understand I was still plenty teenager for years after that but that I knew that this was the truth I knew that one day I had to surrender and commit to it I was consumed beyond that we came to this understanding what is the purpose of man why were you born and to recognize that God is so loving and so sharing that he wants us to be a part of his family he's not just simply creating spiritual automatons he's not just making cosmic robots he's not just going to put us on a cloud and we're not just going to play a harp and we're not just simply going to have a beatific vision of him and I'm sure that quote-unquote the beatific vision is again described when people in the book of Revelation see God it is going to be a thrill that's not to dismiss that but that God is a God that is of action of dynamism and there is so much activity around his throne that the book of Revelation can't contain it he is a consuming fire as the Bible tells us and he wants each and every one of us and he's creating us not out of dust now but out of spirit that you and I you and I might be his immortal children in the family of God and experience eternity with them that we go from this flesh and blood existence we become born from above in that spirit experience and that one day we enter that eternity by his invitation and by his grace and that you and I are going to see him as he is we are going to be able to move beyond that consuming fire as it mentions in the Pauline epistles and we're going to see him and he's going to say well done thou good and faithful servant because you have been faithful over little I will make you faithful over much and that's all coming so what do we do we realize that we can in the sense over time as with any out of us we can be rubbed dull and we can use lose our energy by life's forces I could talk for another half hour and it's in my notes but I'm not going to about the early church and we today how many similarities that there are the disappointments the departures some of the high points there were people that thought that they were going to see Jesus Christ return in their life around 50 AD and 55 AD they had their eyes set on men that had literally literally seen Jesus Christ live and die and be resurrected having those men around men was so important to them and then when those men started to be martyr to die off for that first generation died off along with them people had to begin to asking is this all that it was cracked up to be heresy came into the church people that you had trust and confidence in departed the church ministers that have been faithful departed themselves very interesting that word in Ephesians the commendation to Ephesians was simply this those of you that have dealt with the apostles that were not that is not only in the first century but there are others that have called themselves apostles hence that were not apostles and left others astray so we understand the wear and the tear of the human existence the cynicism the wearing on our love for God so what do we do brother what do we do I'm going to skip ahead here in my notes there's three things that we notice very quickly out of the book of Revelation join me again in Revelation let's open up the Bible that's what we do in the church the Bible is the Word of God this is the revelation of God we notice three things that come out of Revelation 2 right in verse 5 remember therefore from where you have fallen number one it says to remember number two it says to repent and number three it says to do let's talk about that point number one are you ready stay with me we're going to go very quickly number one we want that zeal if we want to have that consuming fire in us of God's Holy Spirit directing our actions number one we have to remember you know there's nothing more human than forgetfulness there's nothing more human human than forgetfulness and when we forget it brings different results remember what it says in the book of Romans because they did not acknowledge or did remember God in their actions he gave them over what are we supposed to remember join me if you would in second Peter in second Peter 2 and let's pick it up in chapter 1 please second Peter 2 in verse 1 Simon Peter a bondservant apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and our Savior Jesus Christ brother and again it's not about us oh we have a responsibility in it we're going to get to that salvation does not begin with us and by what we do it's not by our works salvation comes from God Almighty through Jesus Christ to those who obtained like precious belief with us by the righteousness not human works grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us by glory and virtue we have a calling we didn't bump into the truth we didn't sign up Revelation 101 what you and I have as Christians is a revelation what you and I have is a calling how incredible I know that if any of you received a note from the White House and an invitation with the presidential seal I know that you would just keep it in your wallet you wouldn't show it to anybody in church on the Sabbath just say guess what's in my wallet 500 guesses no you'd be showing it to everybody and yet you and I have been given an invitation and more than an invitation but we have been promised the involvement of God Almighty and Jesus Christ continued involvement continued grace continued favor continued blessings continued spiritual tools to fill us with this consuming fervency of how great and how wonderful God is as his divine powers given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to glory by which we have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust but also for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge self-control and to self control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and a brotherly kindness love for if these things are yours and abound in you you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ this is what we've been given it's incredible we have a calling some of you today because it can become ordinary it can become ordinary ask God to bring back the extraordinary in your life of how special he is have him bring into your life and in your heart not how much this world needs him but how much you need him God will deal with the world in his time and in his way and in his perfection you recognize I recognize I need to recognize even more how much or how less I am apart from him and how much I need him we're going to build upon that in a moment the Zulus have a saying that the continually stuffed cannot see the secret things the continually stuffed cannot see the secret things you know God has given us a revelation journey if you would in Deuteronomy 29 29 in Deuteronomy 29 the fifth book of the law notice an interesting verse that pops out of the scriptures the secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law there are secret things that belong to God but he's also revealed things to us we need to remember that we need to remember where we were before he began dealing with us when we remember and when we go back it gives us perspective I think of the course of my life and looking back I think of a 12 year old boy 11 year old boy first hearing the wonderful things of God I already had a relationship in that sense with God and with Christ I'd grown up learning about Christ learning about Jesus I think I already as much as a 12 year old boy could have had a had a budding love affair with God Almighty but it's only when God opened my mother's heart and my mother's ears and back in those days as children you did everything that your parents did you didn't get multiple choice if they sat down and listen to the broad I see some faith if they sat down and listen to the broadcast you sat down and listen to the broadcast if they were on lesson 53 of the correspondence course writing it out handwritten you also were on lesson 53 of your own of the correspondence course that's how it was that's what it did that's what allowed me to be and yet it was wonderful my parents and I some of you had the same experience I wasn't able at age 11 to be in a church this big with beautiful music and scripture reading and potlucks tonight and people have liked mine and like heart church consisted of three people my dad my mom and me around a table that Suzy and I still have upstairs in her study and church was reading the correspondence course you say that's it you think I'm boring right now just passing back forth back and forth what incredible training when you read the words of God just like some of our young people are doing up here reading the words of God before all of you you don't think that that's not going to sink in and that that family is not going to be more bonded together as they praise God and we were praising God in our own way when I was age 11 and I remember that and sometimes a lot has happened since then 53 years of life and experiences ups and downs and in-betweens but you go back and you remember where you started and where you were before God began dealing with you point number two it says here to repent to repent this means to change by turning around and going the opposite way to our human nature and our own desires remember when you first came into this way of life and the amount of things that you had to change in your life and you all had the the spiritual wherewithal the passion the fervency the desire the zeal to do it which I as one that came up to my parents I cease to be amazed at what God did with you you went from observing and worshiping God on one day to another day you went to you sent a note or made a phone call to mom or to your mother-in-law that guess what we're not coming over on December 24th that evening by the way you can save your money this year in December you appeared at a house and somebody like my mom and myself when we went back to the East Coast my aunt prepared us a delicious meal a very expensive Virginia ham and we said looks nice thank you but not going to have it and those were all very very big things that we had to kind of stick out make a difference remember that remember what it was like to come out of this world to remove ourselves from the tradition and the deception and the false teachings of this world that we just took for granted but now God's dealing with us in a different way it's not just about a day we've got that one down it's not about what we put into our body I don't think we're gonna have that much problem here with that subject it's not about holy days and holidays it's about something deeper it's not about the things that everybody sees but the things that God sees in us that we need to have that zealousness about that which lies in our heart not only doing the right thing but what are our motives are they self-centered are they selfish or do we remember that just like Adam and Eve that you and I were created spiritually now as a new creation to glorify God and to be a blessing to other people I mean I have to be a blessing to my wife yes you do yes you have to be a blessing to your children yes you have to be a blessing to your neighbor yes God has called you to be a blessing to be a light in the office place yes young Christians God has called you to be a blessing and to glorify him in the hallways of your junior high your high school or your community college what were originally boulders that we had to by God's Spirit help push out the way big things like Sabbath keeping and festival days and how we eat and how we give to God offering him a tithe rather than how many coins do I have in my pocket those were boulders back then but those are lodged that's not what I'm talking about the zeal that I'm talking about is the fruits of the Spirit those fruits that God says he wants in abundance and he wants fruit he doesn't want raisins he doesn't want our dried up leftovers he wants the best of us as we're tied into the vine brother you can be there you can do that God has called you to his greatness by his grace not only how he intervened in your life in the past see grace grace is not just simply unmerited pardon for what you have done grace is God's invitation grace is God's continued involvement in every step of your life that you're his workmanship he's right there with you he's right there with you he says that he will never leave you nor forsake you it is his initiation of every good thing that comes from you it's his righteousness dwelling in you and all you have to do is ask for it point number three remember number one number two repent number three doing God has expectations for what he gives is not simply theory he wants results join me if you would for a moment in Mark 1229 in mark 1229 which is a fuller expression a fuller expression of what Jesus mentions in Matthew 22 because mark 1229 has that fuller expression of the echo of Deuteronomy in Mark 12 verse 29 Jesus answered him the first of all the commandments is here Shama O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength this is the first commandment and the second yes indeed is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself and there is no other commandment greater than these but notice what it says here O Israel Shama in the mindset of the Middle East in the mindset of the Hebrew language to say Shama or to hear was more than just sensory it was more than just auditory it was synonymous with responding you did not just take in you responded there was that intimacy of that covenant and that as you heard it came back out by action is it any wonder that in the book of James it says which is very Judaic in its way it says God not only loves a hearer of the word but a doer but a doer and that's where we're at God wants us to perform for him not by our might nor by our power but by God's Spirit you know brethren God has offered you and me by his grace to enter the promised land and I'm not talking about something in the Middle East I'm talking about that which is going to come down from above one day as it mentions in Revelation 22 and I realized sometimes for some of you that do I dare say you thought it would be over by now just like that first church they thought that it was going to be a sprint they didn't understand that God wasn't calling them to a sprint he was calling them to a walk with him in this lifetime to be a light and to be an example and so that journey sometimes the journey for Susie and I have been nearly 50 years for both of us can have its wear and tear and can grind on us humanly on the outside how about you indeed it can and we can become frustrated but I'm going to ask you one thing to think about today if you're just simply going through the motions and your heart is empty today and you wonder why you were called into this wonderful beautiful way of life you know it is correct you know that is right but your heart is tired and weary or just shot full of holes because of disappointment just go by what it says in Matthew 7 7 ask and seek and knock you ask God to fill your heart as David said to renew that spirit in Psalm 51 and verse 12 renew my spirit I want to walk this walk I want to talk this talk I want to be in your kingdom but I'm tired you know that's honest God can do God can deal with our doubts and he can deal with our honesty but he cannot deal with people that are just on the bench you ask him that's the greatest miracle that can occur you say well that might be embarrassing well join the rest of the Bible the Bible is always about revelation and then people falter and then it is about return and then it is about redemption and then it is about restoration and then it is about inheriting the promises of God just look at King David just look at ancient Israel look at the disciples look at Peter Peter you're gonna go down you think you're so big you think you know so much you big fishermen you're going down Satan's asked you to sift you just like so much wheat but when you return when you return feed my sheep the Bible is always about return it's about redemption it's about restoration but you have a part in it you ask you seek you knock a SK pretty simple Matthew 7 verse 7 you ask you seek you knock say well is that it is that all I have to do no then you do your part in it you do your part just as much as God called ancient Israel and the priest to go into the Jordan River to cross into that promised land the water didn't just open up in the Jordan the priest had to walk into the water you have to do your part and throw yourself on the mercy of God and ask him to restore you and to illuminate and to turn that fire on you again and to restore that first love but you've got to do your part just like the priest of old had to walk into the Jordan can you imagine that I'm on the shore okay okay got do your business right here please right here no I don't want to walk on the dirt I'd rather have concrete no the priest had to go down like this they had to go into the water into the water with the Ark of the Covenant can you imagine see this on video wouldn't it be great not me but the real thing they had to go into the water and as they went down into the water it was only then that the Jordan part it there's only then that the Jordan part it God is always going to ask us to do our part to reach out to him in faith and as we do our part God will do his part I'm going to tell you something is one Christian to another that is a promise that is what God is like and he wants you to sustain to sustain that zeal that's what it's about how exciting you can be a part of that don't throw away such a great salvation do your part you ask you seek you knock you remember you repent you do and you then be about your father's business we don't need a sign up above us God has written his laws in our hearts in our minds the zeal does not come from the outside looking at a sign the sign has already been had it's right here you and me all of us let's act upon it