Committing to Growth - Part 2

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If it's true, I can't report Dr. David Jeremiah office Google Chrome assurance that your never alone in front of an audience should be passionate about pleasing listeners that this is the conclusion of his message committing to grow and thank you so much for joining us today.

We are studying Colossians chapter 3 verses 23 and 24 were talking about living your life on purpose and living with passion were talking about whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not to men and will get back to that in just a moment we are moving toward the end of our series the life God blesses after today, we still have one week left but then were going to have a new study as we move into the month of February never going to get started with this last part of our lesson on Colossians chapter 3 and open your Bibles to that portion of God's word. If you have a study guide. Find the lesson. Let's talk about this as we conclude this week together. This lifestyle is taken in recent years as men and women of God had settled into a more comfortable so I don't know if you noticed it, we begin to worry about burnout and in the process. Many of us have, or perhaps even rusted out, but we are living out what was the last time you saw somebody who was really on fire for God on fire with vision and passion and excitement for the Lord when we talk about passion were talking not about a brand of perfume were not talking about the steamy nature of an explicit television show or a novel were talking about the burning drive that God puts within our hearts, to change the world were talking about the motivation that we feel to go about the work of God. The world understands this in their own inadequate way. If you look around in the business world and the world of sport you will find passion on display in almost every venue Jack Welch and some you guys in the business world. No bill to the GE Corporation in one of the largest investment companies in the world in a book called simply Jack writes these words about passion. He says for me, intensity covers a lot of sins. If there's one characteristic all winners share. It's that they care more than anyone else.

No detail is too small to sweat too large to dream the years, I've always look for this characteristic and the leaders we selected doesn't mean louder flamboyant. It's something that comes from deep inside great organizations can ignite passion in another business book: lessons from the top there is the statement, no trait is more noticeable in the leaders on our list than the passion they share for the people and their companies.

Quite simply, they love to. I believe real passion comes from God. I know that he hates apathy and indifference. Did you know that in the seven letters that were written to the church of Revelation. The last letter.

According to many, represents the church that's going to be on the earth when Jesus returns. This letter is written to a church called the church of Laodicea, and in that letter, the Lord addresses that church in the skating terms, listen carefully. Revelation 315 and 16. I know your works, that you are neither cold or hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth will look warm.

Attitudes make God sick you because there are only three temperatures that are mentioned in the Bible for the heart.

Chapter 24 you remember when the disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus and they began to understand what was going on with Jesus. They said, not our hearts burn within us when he walked with us on the way. So there's the burning heart that's the hard part. And Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 24 that in the last days man's hearts are going to wax there's the burning heart in the cold heart then there's this heart.

Jesus talks about in Revelation. The lukewarm heart. You see, we have come to be so politically correct in what we do and so careful that we don't step over the line that we have become in many ways like the lukewarm heart of the Laodicean church. We are so afraid of being on fire for Christ. We do not want to be labeled as emotionless toward extremists in every other area of life.

We are targeting what we do. We are enthusiastic about attainment were enthusiastic about and were enthusiastic about life, but much of our Christian experiences that include without any zeal and without any enthusiasm. So let's get back to our verses again in Colossians and listen to what they say and whatever you do heartily as unto the Lord, and not intimate, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ and then let me add this Old Testament counterpart, which is kind of like the Colossians 3 of the Old Testament found in Ecclesiastes 910.

Listen to this. Whatever your hand finds to do it with your might, for there's no device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you going, so if you live life with everything you have. Because when you die you will get to live in the grave, soul and spirit lives, but your work for God is done to go back to those first let me just remind you what it says notice. First of all, this verse is about passion and he begins by teaching us something about the scope of our passion.

It says what ever you do, do it heartily, and whatever your hand finds to do, with all your might. That means that nothing is outside of the boundary of this particular attitude. But God has called us as his people to do everything that we do with all of our heart. Everything you say will I teach school. By the grace of God do it with all your heart will I work in a factory, do it with all of your heart, I'm a business person in the business that I don't like the best you can with all your heart, there's nothing outside of the scope of this.

Whatever you do covers a vast territory of activity. That means that nothing falls outside of this instruction to the believer.

God expects and intends for us to live passionately, not passively effective you ever noticed that God incorporated this magnificent truth into what Jesus said was the greatest commandment of ever been given. On one occasion some people came to Jesus and they said teacher. What is the right command, and in Matthew chapter 22 in verse 37 Jesus answered he said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Think about the fact that your relationship with God falls under the category of passion, but you should be passionately in love with God that you should love it with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and so many of us, we just slip in the church on Sunday conveniently pay our dues and go back out into the world is God were dead, while we claim to be Christians where practical atheists because we live as if God were not a part of our lives when the great command.

God is given to us is this love him with all your heart and soul and mind loving passionately. Every part of who we are. Should be touched by that, I was switching the channels back and forth surfing the channels and I came across a Christian talk show. I don't know what it was but they had Mr. T on this talkshow. Remember Mr. T change around his neck. In the 18 well.

Mr. T became a Christian. I'm sure you know that he's a Christian I'm telling you what I never saw an interview like that. I'm sure the interviewer never saw one like it either because when they introduce Mr. T said he had been comparing all afternoon for this interview. He came onto the set and he started talking hundred miles an hour I could hardly keep up with any talk and talk and talk and you saw the interview. Try to get to know you would never get a word in edge wise. Mr. T enthusiasm and excitement of his life.

That interview is think about this message and I was going scope of it is covers everything.

Now notice the strength of your pension says it heartily, and with your might heartily use the word Príncipe in the Greek language. It means out of your soul means from the very core of who you are. I love this read this verse. With this in mind some hundred and three, verse one. Listen to this. Bless the Lord all my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Live your life for God and all you bring that to the table. We don't do that. We've become proper we've become polite, we become politically correct we become to a sad degree very passive in our culture has pushed us into this category. I speak primarily to men and I challenge you. God wants you to live with the same enthusiasm in your Christian life that you want to put into sports when you were growing up and it was go out and win. When He was a boy his greatest passion was football and his favorite player was a running back for the Minnesota Vikings named Chuck keep me used to spend hours each day playing football on the streets of Stone Village ghetto located in Hartford, Connecticut on Sundays, keeping watch the Vikings on TV and on Monday he tried to do everything that he saw Chuck Foreman due on Sunday. If Chuck Foreman did it on Sunday. TV did it on Monday. Monday, keeping his brother were playing their usual game of street football and some of the neighborhood kids were there on one plate keep his brother through a long pass and keeping ran out for the deep bomb as the ball floated up in the air. Keep he could tell it was good to be too long but his passion kicked in and he refused to give up summoning his courage and put on a burst of speed and need to catch the ball at the last possible second. Stretching his finger tips. As far as they would go and never taking his eyes off of the pigskin to the amazement of everyone he caught the ball landing hard on the pavement and scraping the side of his face on the gravel surface. Did you see the catchy said as he got up that looked just like Chuck Foreman was frame started and when white amazement. Finally one of them said man look at your ear.

That is when Kiki felt something warm and wet on the side of his face and he touched and discovered it was blood in his friends and then your heirs hanging off scraping the side of the space on the gravel and actually worked off a chunk of the boys ear leaving with dangling precariously on the side of his head, but keep he hadn't even noticed he was so passionate about being a football player just like Chuck nothing mattered well little keep got medical attention for his ear in the next day he was back out on the same playground playing again as he grew into a man. His passion for football continue to grow, eventually carrying him to the National Football League is inspired play not only sent into the Pro bowl several times. It helped the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl championship keeping better known as Eugene Kiki Robinson shared a lot of mistakes. To be sure, some of been very big and very public. But his example of passionate commitment to the game of football is second to none.

Why is it that we hear story like that you will all almost like a vicarious blessing comes to us when we think of somebody wanting something so bad and trying so hard and working so diligently for goal that's going to pass away you play football after 40. Not for much longer after 40 yet that which God has given to us which has eternal dividends becomes so secondary in terms of the effort and the energy we put into it. Talk to thirdly about passion. The secret of it. The strength of it is to do it heartily, and the secret of it is, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance.

That's really the secret of our passions and say why work at a place where nobody sees me. Oh no you don't you work in a place where God sees you play your game out on a field with an audience of one, and that audience of what is really the only audience that matters, sees us, and he sees what we do with the motive in our heart and passion with which we bring our gifts to the table and the secret of passion for a believer is to understand that when we serve. We may have the rottenness manager in our business. You can imagine maybe almost intolerable to see past that and recognize that our services not for him. It's for Almighty God, we may be in a situation where the tension is so great every day when we go to work will make it through the hours of the day. I want to tell you something if you see past that to the fact that God has allowed you to be in that situation, perhaps for your own growth and for your testimony before others.

All of a sudden, the dynamic comes in the play that you can imagine your passion for work becomes not to please your manager, but the police your master is on to the Lord in the Scripture tells us that none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself.

For if we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, where the Lord's Romans 14 Colossians 317 says whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ getting thanks to God the Father through him.

First Corinthians 1031 says. Therefore, what you eat or drink whatever you do all to the glory of God. Galatians 69 is the promise that if we do that we should not grow weary, for in due season we will reap if we don't lose heart.

Listen what he says. Knowing that from the Lord will receive the reward of inheritance.

Finally, let me run by you. This thought that passion has a source. The source of your passion is God you serve the Lord Christ passion comes from God. You know that the word in Louisiana's him which is kind of synonym for passion. Did you know that the word enthusiasm is made up of words and and federal which means God in you. Enthusiasm is gone and you passion comes from God and I believe that passion is not something we develop as much as it is something we discover God puts it in you passion in you. If we are believers in God has put it in us because he gives you a spiritual gift, and he equips you to be passionate about that and I am more and more convinced as a pastor that we know what that is and we either accept the gift and give it back to God will we let the opportunity go by and we consign ourselves to live a life of joyless You know who you are in Christ he's given each one of you gifted may recommend Romans 12 first Corinthians 12 all the lists are looked out for that list and you will be able to see immediately the gifts that are yours and you zero in on the ones that are years that the primary truth is that when God gives you a gift gives you the equipment to manage that gift with things he has been passion and even the secular leader say is not about developing passion. It's about finding the passion it's already there, and then allowing that passion to bloom and become all that it should be.

I do not believe that we can once for all.

Make decisions about passion, but I believe that the divine moments of opportunity continue to present themselves to us and we either sees them once again.

Erwin McManus is captured the thoughtless and those words, the more you move, with God-given urgency with passion, the more God seems to bless your life the more God blesses your life the more you have to lose the more you have to risk the more you have to risk the higher the price of following God and in some twisted way. God's blessings to us can become our greatest hindrances to seizing our divine moments because God has blessed us so much.

How can we leave all that to accept the next thing God wants us to do. How can I begin to live my life with passion. It starts with a small step of illness and obedience to begin to do now what you know to do so I wish I knew what God wanted me to do with my life wanted to start with, may be what God wants you to do today and it's interesting that when you start there. Wonderful thing begins to happen to people when they become passionate about something they become proactive and start taking initiative and reversing start to when he began to take initiative.

When he began to do the good that you see needs to be done. You'll find yourself calling and passion when you commit just something you move in the right direction. Once you're moving in a direction that is aligned with the character in the heart of God and find God's personal mission for life begins to come into focus, so don't worry about what God wants you to do tomorrow or next year when his calling on your life might be as God, what you can do for him today with all your heart when you take that step into that mission of doing the one thing God tells you to do today with all of your heart something happens began to sense a new passion in your heart that begins to open up new doors and better opportunities and pretty so that bit of obedience and passion opens up into the wider path that God has for your life when you move forward on what you know, things become clearer when you refuse to act on what you know all that you do not know paralyzes you me say that again when you move forward on what you know, things become clearer. But when he refused to act on what you know all that you do not know paralyzes you, so it's time to just do it is time to begin today to commit this moment to follow God's direction in your life follow him with all your heart sinking is such a life on fire.

I don't know what God wants me to do for my life but I got a good idea what he wants me to do today.

So what he asked me to do today I want to do with all my heart is to him and that small step is the beginning of a journey will take you into the most exciting adventure you've ever known in your life day by day and the adventure of a lifetime. I recommend that adventure to you.

I've got over 50 years of experience with it and tell you what it's not without its challenges, but it's also not without its blessings enjoys the greatest thing you can ever do with your life is to use it to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, I encourage you to do that we had toured the weekend. Let me remind you of the importance of going to church if you indeed can do that during this time. Those of us who are back in church.

We know how important that is.

Recently there was a study that proved that the one thing that causes better mental health is going to church every week. It was the only thing on the positive side of the list and I was so excited when I read that because of pretty much knew it all along.

I don't usually get scientific support for my thoughts but that was a great one and I will encourage you to do if you can't go to church if you're not in a place where you can do that you can get church online which is certainly not the best but it's better than not having church at all. So let me encourage you to get involved.

Don't forget to watch Turning Point on television and if were on when you should be in church by all means go to church DVR us and come home and watch but make sure should priority. Encourage your pastor a lot of churches that are back now are finding that not everybody's comebacker still a lot of fear out there. So if you're okay with going to church. Be sure you do it. Make sure your pastor knows you there be an encouragement to him and whatever you do join us next Monday and will see you then.

Have a great weekend message today resided from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah senior positive.

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