High Cost of Low Enthusiasm Part 2

Wednesday we started a series, High Cost of Low Enthusiasm…

(NLT) — 9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Your Enthusiasm Matters!!

MAIN POINT- There is an abundant overflow of power and resource for those that are God’s people. Fully use everything he has given you with enthusiasm or run the risk of missing out on more.

DEFINE- Enthusiasm is defined as intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.

(NLT) — 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

(NLT) — 14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried. 15 Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. 16 Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands. 17 Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.” 18 Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.” 20 Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring.

MAIN POINT- There is a high cost to low enthusiasm. The extent of my victory is connected to the level of my enthusiasm, therefore I need to remove the caps of my enthusiasm.

KEY POINT- You are in a battle. We have all faced moments of defeat, but its time that we step up and face off with our eastern battlefield.

KEY- Elisha tells the king shoot that arrow through the East window. It was on the Eastern side of Israel that Aram had started invading.

POINT- It is time that we shoot the Lords arrow of victory across our Eastern battlefields.

Schools.

Homes.

Our influence.

POINT- We can not afford to loose ground in these areas of life, and your enthusiasm makes a difference!!

POINT- When we give our lives to Jesus, his spirit makes our hearts his home. It is that same spirit that brings enthusiasm.

POINT- If the holy spirit is in you there is enthusiasm. —You all have it…

QUESTION- Then why is it at times it is so hard, so hard to serve the Lord WITH enthusiasm???

KEY POINT- You have an unlimited level of enthusiasm that you have chosen (on purpose or inadvertently) to cap.

ILLUSTRATION- Being given the small four wheeler that had a very low governor on it. — Though it had the potential to do more, it was capped when someone placed limits on it.

CHALLENGE- It’s time to remove everything that caps our Enthusiasm for serving the Lord. We have got to do it! There is too much at stake!

ILLUSTRATION- Andrew N. being upset by the movie the passion of the Christ, “It made me mad that someone did that for me, and no one told me about it.”

What will cap my enthusiasm???

1. Sin

(NLT) — 10 Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to rule over Israel in the thirty-seventh year of King Joash’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria sixteen years. 11 But he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit.

ILLUSTRATION- Aug 21st 2017 I stood outside Orlando international airport, a few late busy passengers rushed into the airport to find short lines inside but a crowd of people outside. The crowd outside all head there heads up looking at the sky, not looking at the planes taking off and landing, but staring at the sun. This was the day scheduled since the beginning of time for a solar eclipse…

(NLT) — 10 Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to rule over Israel in the thirty-seventh year of King Joash’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria sixteen years. 11 But he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit.

A man stared into the sun for too long wearing a normal pair of sunglasses and slowly drifted beyond the barricades and into the street with cars and busses passing by. After hearing the sound of a deep buss horn he quickly takes off his glasses and panics… All he could see was stuff around his peripherals but there was a giant black spot in the center of his vision, someone helped him back into safety, and after a short time his sight returns.

POINT- The more time you spend in sin, the less you will be able to see when you look away.

This is why King Jehoash didn’t know how many times to strike the ground, his sin and refusal to follow after God had limited his enthusiasm…

I’m not here to beat up on anyone… Some people claim that church is all about a bunch of rules, you have to do this, you can’t do that…

Don’t you realize that Jesus came to set us free from all of that!!

POINT- It is out of my deep LOVE for God and out of my over abounding GRATITUDE that I choose to do the things that will please him, and walk away from the things that would hurt him.

ILLUSTRATION- Have you noticed that when people use the phrase, “well its a free country...” most of the time they say it after doing something a jerk would do.

(NLT) — 13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

CHALLENGE- Stop ignoring your sin in hopes it will go away, stop using the excuses, its not that bad… I’m young I’ll change later… Stop lying to yourself and CHOOSE to love God

KEY POINT- Sin will cap your enthusiasm, it will distort your view of God and his purpose for your life, it will wreck your emotions, it will confuse your understanding. Sins desire is to bind and pull you away from the holy spirit.

Gossip.

Lies.

Immorality.

Are you waiting for results that only your obedience can produce???

(NLT) — 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

(NLT) — 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

CHALLENGE- It’s time to confront sin and resolve sin.

2. Fear

ILLUSTRATION- Limiting my climb because of fear of falling.

I wonder how many times we have struck the ground only 3 times because we were afraid of what may happen if we put everything into it…

KEY- Fear is often connected with the unknown… how is it that I know this to be true?? Almost every rationalization of fear is made with this statement, “wonder if…”

(NLT) — 14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried.

KEY- Elisha was approaching the end of his life and King Jehoash knew of Elisha’s and God’s relationship. Jehoash was aware of all of the miracles Elisha preformed, and now it appears that Israel’s hope was about to die.

POINT- Elisha was never the hope of Isreal it was God.

3. Wrong Focus

(NLT) — 14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried.

(NLT) — 6 But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They also allowed the Asherah pole in Samaria to remain standing. 7 Finally, Jehoahaz’s army was reduced to 50 charioteers, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Aram had killed the others, trampling them like dust under his feet.

KEY- This battle Israel was in had been going on for a while, and under the previous king Israel’s army was nearly obliterated leaving just a few Chariots; the icon of strength in an army.

POINT- Your resources will be the cap of your enthusiasm if you choose to solely focus on them.

KEY- Resources are great, but they will never be enough. We still need God!!

(NLT) — 7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

Stop focusing on all the things you don’t have and start looking at what is in your hand…

Moses didn’t dwell on what he did not have, God showed him when he asked him, what is that in your hand and Moses said a staff… — If God has given you a staff then use it to split open the seas…

David didn’t dwell on what he did not have (the people around him did) but he knew what his sling could do if it was swung by the spirit of God… — If God has given you a leather strap use it to take down giants…

King Jehoshaphat didn’t dwell on the size or limits of his army, but he sent a bunch of singers and musicians on the frontlines of battle to glorify God, and the enemy collapsed in on itself… — If he has given you worship, sing over your struggle.

POINT- When you focus on everything that could possibly be missing, you miss everything that could be possible.

KEY POINT- My identity is not going to be in what I have, its going to be in who has me!

----- Cast some vision…

ILLUSTRATION- Giving away a xbox 360 and a student came back and said, my friend said he already had 2 he doesn't need a third one.

In CrossFire we don’t have all the latest gadgets and gear… In fact there is a lot of things I would love to have, I know there are some problems with the layout of our facility and there are things that are not ideal.

But we are going to focus on what we do have…

The spirit of God in our services.

Anointed worship.

Anointed preaching.

A family atmosphere that is focused on doing life together — Which means you have to be willing to be a family in this building and out of this building…

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4. Pride

(NLT) — 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”

POINT- It may seem counter intuitive, but pride will cap your enthusiasm. Your enthusiasm will only extend to the limit your ability will go.

ILLUSTRATION- Completing reading comprehension stories.

(NLT) — 1 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place? 2 My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.

KEY- Pride is the barrier that keeps us from receiving strength in our weakness.

Conclusion…

ILLUSTRATION- There was a girl by the name of Sarah, she was the type of girl who was friendly and loved people, not obnoxious, but often was on the outside looking in. It’s not that she liked being like that, but she didn’t know how to really change it, and found ways to make the best of it. She just kept being friendly to people around her, a little shy…

She was at a camp and she came back and something changed, not so much her personality or her popularity, but every week for 6 months she brought a new person with her to Engage (The youth group) some people she brought never came back, but that didn’t stop her from bringing new people… She personally was responsible for seeing Engage grow by about 30%…

One day I asked her, Sarah this is amazing, what changed???

She said I just changed my priorities from serving people and I started serving the lord…

KEY POINT- It’s when you start to DO something for God that you start to see results.

(NLT) — 9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

DEFINE- In the greek for this verse there are 2 words that make up this English word “Enthusiastically” the first one is the word, “zeo” which means, to cook, or boil…

So often throughout the bible and even mankind, heat or fire is connected with the idea of power or force, or excitement, or passion.

Boiling water is amazing, because when water is connected to heat what was once contained becomes uncontainable, what was once still becomes rapids, what was once gentle becomes forceful…

IN FACT

The second one is the word, “pneuma” which is the greek word for holy spirit, and wind.

I’d say its time that in CrossFire we start to, “cook the holy spirit” I think its time we stop with games of pretend and start to get real.

POINT- If the holy spirit is the holy spirit I believe that the boil, the heat, is our Godly action…

POINT- If you want the holy spirit to be uncontainable in your life it starts with your Godly actions...

CHALLENGE- What are you going to do this school year??? How many lives will you bring to Christ??? How many times are you going to strike the ground???

CHALLENGE- What are you going to do this school year??? How many lives will you bring to Christ??? How many times are you going to strike the ground???

CHALLENGE- Your enthusiasm matters, throw off the things that have capped your enthusiasm and DO what God has called you to do and keep doing it, don’t quit with the little bubbles go for the roaring boil!

How will this world see my enthusiasm?? When I DO what I am called to do...

Lets get enthusiastic about the many salvations we are going to expereince this school year.

Lets get enthusiastic about the healings that are going to happen in this room and in the hallways of your school.

Lets get enthusiastic about the revival that is taking place.

Lets get enthusiastic about God’s word.

Lets get enthusiastic about God’s love.

It is not your ability, but your availability that determines how God will use you.

CHALLENGE- It’s time for some followthrough!