MINISTRY MINDED LESSON 1 KEEP YOUR SPIRITUAL FERVOR2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

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Year: 2015

Title: Ministry Minded Lesson 1 Keep Your Spiritual Fervor

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2015 Ministry Minded Series

Teaching Transcript: Ministry Minded Lesson 1 Keep Your Spiritual Fervor

Well, before we get into the session tonight, we're looking first of all at lesson one. And so it's going to be about keeping your spiritual fervor. But I wanted to just remind you of really the purpose for this series and encourage you to engage along those same lines.

Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 10, he says,

And as Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he is asking them, he's pleading with them to be united together. And the Lord really put this on my heart for us as a fellowship, that there's work to be done ahead. There's things that God is calling us to going forward.

And there's a need for us to draw together. And there's, you know, lots of different personalities in our body. There's lots of different backgrounds. And there's a need for us to come to an agreement and to join together in the same mind to do the work that God has called us to do here at Living Water. And so he says to be of the same mind and in the same judgment.

Now, again, as I shared a few weeks back, the idea here is not that, you know, okay, I'm going to tell you what to think, and then you think what I tell you to think, and you say what I tell you to say. But, you know, there is a little bit of authority that God has given me as the pastor here. And so, you know, there is some direction that God has called me to give, and there is some of those things.

But I think for the most part, regarding ministry, regarding serving, regarding leading, I think that we should be able to come to agreement. Now, again, we're not switching over to a democracy. Everybody vote if we all agree. It's not that. But that as we look at the scriptures, we can come to an agreement. This is the way that God has set before us. And this is what the word of God says. And that we would be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Right?

The idea here of judgment is not, you know, like a courtroom, but that we would come to the same conclusion, right?

that we would end up at the same page, that we would arrive together and say, yeah, we're in agreement that this is what God has called us to do and the way that God has called us to minister. And so I would encourage you as I teach tonight and in the coming weeks as well to be thinking along those terms. And as we will do week after week, we'll have opportunity for discussion at the end. I would encourage you to keep that in mind so that as I'm teaching these things today,

Maybe there's some questions that you have that would help you to be able to speak the same thing and not just say, well, Pastor Jerry says, but well, I understand what you're saying, but then there's this other issue. There's this other consideration. And how do I deal with that? Or how do we handle that? Or what about this situation? And so I want to give you that opportunity and give us the opportunity to benefit from that discussion. A lot of times when I am asking for discussion,

It's a little bit difficult to get warmed up, and sometimes people are hesitant and stuff. Many of you have been around for a long time, and so I pray that that won't be an issue. But what happens a lot of times is later on, people will come to me personally and say, well, you know what I was thinking is this.

And, you know, that's fine. And we can have the discussion later on too. But then everybody else misses out on the benefit of that discussion. And so there's value in that. And so I would encourage you, hey, if there's questions that you have, if there's, you know, areas that you're like, I don't know, I struggle with that. Or how can I apply that to my specific situation?

you know, everybody else will be blessed as well as we discuss these things. And so don't be shy, and I would encourage you to keep that in mind as we go through the passage and the message together so that we can discuss those things and grow together in the Lord so that we can speak the same thing and have the same mind and the same judgment. Well, we're going to be this evening in Romans 12, verse 11. So you can turn there in your Bibles. Romans 12, verse 11.

Now, we'll be doing the Ministry Minded series on Sunday evenings for the next couple of months, and the lessons are not really ordered individually.

in a specific way by order of importance or anything like that, except for this one. This is the first lesson, the first session, and I would suggest to you that it is the most important. And so that's why I selected it for this evening, because this is something I want to make sure that everybody who serves at Living Water, I want them to know these things.

Everybody who's involved in any way at any capacity at Calvary Chapel Living Water, I would like for them, I would want them to know the things I'm about to share with you here in Romans chapter 12 verse 11. And so for me, these are the most important lesson of this series and the things that I could share for those who serve. Now for me personally, this is my favorite verse in the Bible.

It is a verse that the Lord has used over and over and over and over and over again abundantly in my life, and it's affected me dramatically in my life and in the ministry. And so, of course, because of that impact and the way that the Lord's ministered it to me, that's why I consider it to be the most important lesson that we'll cover. So we're in Romans chapter 12, verse 11, and here's what it says.

not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Paul here is encouraging the Romans in a variety of things here in chapter 12. He's talking about, you know, some different exhortations and encouragements. We're going to get there pretty soon on Wednesday evenings, and we'll see it's really the...

application from all the gospel that he's been preaching in the first part of the book of Romans. And so now live it out and serve one another and love one another and be hospitable and all these different things that he's sharing. But here in verse 11, he says that we are to not be lagging in diligence, to be fervent in spirit and to be serving the Lord. And

And I want to focus on that this evening with the idea of ministering or serving within the church. Now, Romans chapter 12, verse 11, here in the New King James Version, I would suggest that it's not really the best translation of this verse. And so let me give you a couple options to consider.

Now, I will be doing my best to kind of show my work as we go through these sessions so that you can kind of get an understanding of where these things are coming from. And so I put up a couple versions here. The ESV puts it this way. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord.

The New International Version puts it this way, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. And the New Living Translation says this, never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. And I think these different versions are all accurate and all give us just a little fresh perspective and good insight into what Paul is saying here about the

keeping our spiritual fervor. Now there in the New International Version, that's where I get the title of this message, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. This is something very important for each one of us, that we keep our spiritual fervor, that we keep that passion, that intensity within, in our spirit, so that we continue to serve the Lord.

Now, as those who are involved with the church, I'm sure you're very familiar with the opportunity upon opportunity of opportunity to serve in many different capacities. There's needs upon needs upon needs, and there's, you know, people asking for this and people asking for that.

And of course, with all of these opportunities to serve and needs within the body of Christ, it can be very overwhelming, especially because, well, you don't live, you know, full time here at the church. You also have families and you have jobs and you have other responsibilities and other activities and things going on. And it can very easily become that your life is just overwhelmed with all kinds of stuff to do. And so,

And in the midst of that, it's so easy to lose our spiritual fervor. And so I want to encourage you this evening to keep your spiritual fervor and examine this verse to help us understand how better we can do that as we continue to serve and do the things that God has called us to do. And so we're going to be dissecting this verse a little bit. Here in Romans 12, verse 11, the first part, Paul says, "...not lagging in diligence."

Not lagging in diligence or never be lacking in zeal or do not be slothful in zeal. The idea here of lagging in diligence is, well, it's something that is appropriate for all of us to consider. The word lagging here in the Greek, it means grievous or slothful, according to Strong's. Thayer says it could be sluggish, slothful, or backward.

And so the New Living Translation puts it as lazy. Don't be lazy. Don't be slothful, the ESV says. So don't be lazy. Don't be slothful in diligence. The word diligence, it means to make haste or to go with haste, to have earnestness or diligence. So don't be lazy, but

in diligence, in earnestness. Notice the bottom definition there, to give all diligence, to interest oneself most earnestly. That is to involve yourself, to engage wholeheartedly is the idea here.

And so never be lazy in engaging wholeheartedly is what Paul is saying. Don't be lazy in diligence. Now the word lazy and diligence are really at opposites of each other, right? And so he's saying don't be slothful in that. Don't be lazy. Don't lag behind in diligence, in giving your whole self away.

to the work at hand. And so I will translate all of that into point number one this way and say, always give your best. Always give your best. In order to keep your spiritual fervor, I would suggest that the first thing that we need to do is to give our best, to do the best we can in the things that we are involved in.

And this might be counterintuitive, and we'll talk about that in just a moment. But let me just remind you, as I give this point here, always give your best, we're talking about your best, not necessarily the best. You might remember, as we went through Equipped to Serve, I kept saying this one phrase, I may not be the best, but I can give my best.

So the idea is I may not be, you know, a world record guitar player, but I can play the guitar the best I can in serving the Lord. I may not be the best children's ministry teacher. I may not be the best, you know, ministry leader or whatever the case may be. But that doesn't stop me from giving my best, from giving myself wholeheartedly to the task at hand.

And all of us know what it's like when we become lazy in any task. We become sloppy. When we start lagging behind, we start to not really care that much. And so, you know, things are not that important and we don't do that great of a job. It's not our best work. It's not the best that we have to give. And that's what Paul is encouraging us not to do. Be careful. Because there is a natural tendency in any work...

Even if we start out really strong, there's the natural tendency to become more slackened and less and less engaged in the work. Now, just a quick point out, though. There does have to be balance in this. On the one hand, you have lazy sloppiness, and you don't want to have that in your serving of the Lord. But then on the other end of the spectrum is perfectionism. And that's something else to watch out for.

Because, well, that can cause you to go down a road that God hasn't called you down. It's not that everything has to be perfect.

Absolutely, you know, without exception, but it's that your best is given to the extent that God has called you to. So always give your best. That's not an excuse to get caught up in, you know, perfectionism and so everything grinds to a halt because you haven't got it perfect yet. You know, God has other things for you to do as well and you'll miss out on those things if you're caught up in that. But on the other end, don't be lazy, right?

And don't be sloppy and don't just kind of whip it together or throw it together or not really care that much how it turns out, but that you engage yourself wholeheartedly and give your best. Here's an encouragement from the Nelson Study Bible. It says, Instead, Paul encourages the Romans to serve eagerly and in earnest.

And so that means that as you come to serve in whatever capacity at any time, that it's not to be done half-heartedly. And that's a challenge for us because sometimes you kind of feel half-hearted, right? Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Sometimes there is challenges. Sometimes there is sleepless nights. Sometimes there is tiredness and fatigue sometimes.

And this idea of giving your best is really a challenge for us to be faithful because giving your best is easy when it's easy. But the key is that you have to be faithful at giving your best. That is giving your best even when you don't feel like it. Even when you're doing things that you're not so excited about. And we might declare, we might state, well, I can't give my best because

Because, well, I just don't have that fervor. You know, we're going to talk about that fervent in spirit, right? That spiritual fervor. I don't have that. So I can't give my best. But I would disagree. I think Paul would disagree as well. Always give your best, even when you don't feel like it. Do the best that you can with what God has given to you. When you are faithful in serving and giving your best, even when you don't feel like it, even when you don't want to,

the fervor will build. It will increase. Think about it like a bank account. If you open a savings account, it's really not that exciting at first, right? You look at the savings account, there's two cents in there. It's not a very exciting account to look at. And to contribute to that account, well, that means, well, I can't have as much coffee, you know, as I usually have. I can't engage in this. I can't have that much fun over there. You know, I'm, I'm,

removing those things. I'm sacrificing those things in order to contribute to this account. And again, at first, it's not very exciting. It's not fun. But then as you continue to do that, the more you put into that savings account...

the more exciting that savings account becomes, right? You begin to see it grow. Now there's a couple thousand dollars in there, and that's, you know, well, you must have drank a lot of coffee to earn up that much money, but there's a couple thousand dollars in there. Now the possibilities are, well, I wonder what we could do with this, and I wonder, you know, what God has for this, right? I wonder what fun or vacation we could have, and suddenly, you know, that account begins to grow. It becomes to be more exciting. Let me suggest to you that serving is the same way,

Sometimes you're going to have to sacrifice and serve and you're not going to feel like it. It's not going to be that fun. But as you faithfully give your best, your interest is going to grow. The fervor will grow. You will be invested in it because you've sacrificed to be faithful to it. And as a result, there will be a greater fervor. There will be more excitement regarding that.

One of the passages I like to consider when it comes to the idea of giving your best to the Lord and in our service is from Malachi chapter 1 verse 8. There the prophet Malachi speaking on behalf of God challenges the people of God and he says to them, when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? When you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?

offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? The challenge here is to the people who are bringing sacrifices that are just kind of like the leftovers. The animals that they didn't really want anyways, they'll just, okay, we'll give those to the Lord. And so they're offering the blind and the lame. And God says, that's evil. You're just offering what's left. And

He says, offer it to your governor. If he would like it, then you could offer it to me. But if you wouldn't even offer that to your governor, why would you offer that to your God? And I suggest we need to evaluate our service along those lines. That if we're offering to God our half-hearted service, if we're offering to God the leftovers of, well, I didn't have time, or I didn't have this, or I didn't have that, so I just kind of threw it together, and this is all I got. Now, when it comes to the idea of preparedness...

It's kind of a little side note here as well. I'm going to give a lot of side notes because this is more family and casual and I don't have to be so strict on my notes. But when it comes to preparedness, sometimes God wants you to not be prepared. Have you ever tried to study for a message and you're faithful and diligent in studying but just the message isn't coming together but the Lord brings it together in His timing which sometimes means you're up there and He's bringing it together as you're bringing it forth.

That's one thing. And you feel unprepared and that's really stressful. But that's different than not preparing and then just standing up and expecting, you know, God to make it happen. So there's a difference between being unprepared or feeling unprepared because although you gave it your best, you know, the Lord brought it together at his time. And sometimes he likes to do that. He likes to shake us up and do things differently.

But that's not an excuse for us to then not study, not prepare, and just think it'll all come together at the end. We can very quickly fall into the trap of offering the blind as a sacrifice. And just, well, you know, just, I didn't have anything, so I just kind of threw it together, and this is what I got. And so, you know, kids, here's your craft. Or, you know, whatever the case might be. Here's your worship set. Or here's this service or that service. Always give your best.

That's what God calls us to do as we serve him. Now, as you consider that idea of giving your best all the time, I think you and I could relate. It sounds pretty exhausting, right? Especially when you're asked to commit to a lot. You know, there's a lot of things that you're involved in. How can you give your best to all these different things that you're engaged in? How can you give your best in this way?

It's easy for us to start out really strong in certain things, and sometimes we get excited, and so we start out with a bang. We don't continue to give our best. We don't continue on that path and continue in faithfulness to that. The commentator Thomas Constable says this, It is natural for Christians to slack off in our diligence in serving the Lord when we have been Christians for some time.

This idea of slacking off, he says, look, it's an extra threat for those of us who've been around for some time. If you've been serving in children's ministry for a while, it becomes a little bit easier to slack off. Maybe at first it's more stressful. You're more relying on the Lord. And so, you know, there's that dependence upon the Lord and calling out to the Lord. But then after you've done it for a couple of years, you're like, oh yeah, I taught that lesson, you know, and then you're like, oh yeah, I taught that lesson.

And so there's not that much need to study. You feel like, I can come up with a craft real easy. I can come up with this or that. I can put together this or that for this ministry or that ministry, whatever ministry you want to consider. And so it's easy for us to slack off in our diligence. Not that God always wants us to be laboring ferociously and never enjoy anything or never able to use things that God's taught through us or done through us before.

But to not be lazy about it, but to give God opportunity to direct us in what he wants to do. To be enthusiastic and zealous, ongoing in the ministry that we're called to, we must first be enthusiastic and zealous within. On the outside, God calls us to give our best, be zealous, keep your spiritual fervor, be diligent. And in order for that to happen, it's got to be burning within you.

If it's just the outward thing, it's just, okay, everybody do your best, do your best. And then now it's just laws. It's just legalism. And that's outward, a great burden. In order for you to always give your best, there has to be this fire burning within. There has to be this passion. There has to be this fervency and spirit within. And that's the next part of Romans chapter 12, verse 11. He says, not lagging in diligence, but

Now the idea of fervent in spirit here, as he talks about in spirit, some look at this and say, well, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. But I would suggest that Paul's not talking about specifically the Holy Spirit, although of course, you know, you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have those instructions elsewhere. But here, as he talks about being fervent in spirit, he's talking about being fervent within.

That in order to be diligent and faithful without, you have to be fervent within. The word fervent here, it means to boil with heat or to be hot. And so it's used of boiling water. I really like this picture here.

The idea of boiling water. And again, the reason why this is my favorite verse in the scriptures is because this is where the Lord really began to speak to me as a young man. Where I first learned what it meant to really study and consider the Greek and what that meant and how that could impact and change how I understood a passage. And the Lord spoke to me through this word fervent. And as I considered the idea of boiling with heat.

Boiling over is the picture here. Now you can see here, metaphorically, it's used to describe boiling anger. So there's this anger within that boils over. It's, you know, this rage, this hot anger. It can also be used to describe love. And so you can see that hot passion, that fervency in love or zeal, and on and on it could go in those different emotions. And so you can see here, metaphorically,

He calls us to be fervent in spirit.

Now, as you consider that idea of boiling or boiling water, I'm sure every one of us knows how to boil water, right? Even I, even though I'm not very good in the kitchen, I know how to boil water. You take a pot, you put water in it, and you set it on the fire. And then that's pretty much it, right? And then you wait, and the water will begin to boil. Now, that is a good visual for how God has called us

to remain fervent in spirit. He calls us to be fervent in spirit, and not occasionally, but constantly. And how do we do that? Well, if you would picture this boiling water within the pot, you could get a good understanding of what Paul is asking of us. You are a vessel. And as a vessel, you are to be filled with

with the Spirit, and you're to be filled with the Word of God. And as a vessel filled with the Spirit, filled with the Word of God, you are to remain on the heat so that you're brought to boil. And as you remain on the heat, you will boil. You will continue to boil. Now, putting all that together, here's what I'm saying. It brings me to point number two. Stay close to Jesus. To be fervent in Spirit, you must stay close to Jesus.

In order to keep your internal fires burning and boiling and that hot heat within, you need to stay close to Jesus. This is what God desires of us. As we talk about serving in ministry, I would want you to know, I would want everybody who's involved in the church in any capacity to know, first and foremost, our greatest need is to stay close to Jesus.

That our serving the Lord, so not lagging in diligence, that always giving your best flows out of this point, staying close to Jesus. And if we try to always give our best without staying close to Jesus, we're going to burn out. It's not going to go well. What God has called you to primarily, first and foremost, before anything else, is for you to stay close to Jesus. And that can be a challenge.

It can be difficult because, well, as I mentioned before, you've got ministry responsibilities. You've got family responsibilities. You've got job responsibilities. You've got your own nature that needs to be tended to and entertained and fed and taken care of. You've got all these things pulling at you in all these different ways. And so many times for us as believers, the thing that gets sacrificed is

is our time with the Lord, our time staying close to Jesus. But you need to know, this is what God calls you to first and foremost, primarily. Consider when Jesus called the disciples in Mark chapter 3. It says in verse 13 of Mark 3, and he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him.

Then he appointed 12. Notice that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Jesus appointed 12 disciples. We all know that. But it tells us here in Mark chapter 3, he appointed them first that they might be with him. So they were called to go out to preach, but first they had to be with Jesus.

Now, later on in Acts chapter 4, you remember the religious leaders are pretty astounded at the disciples and the way that they're ministering and their boldness that they have. And the religious leaders are thinking, well, they're not educated. They're not trained. Where did they get this boldness? How do they have all this insight? And then it tells us in Acts chapter 4, verse 13, that they realized that these guys had been with Jesus.

You see, their fires within were burning. They had this fervency in spirit because they were with Jesus. First and foremost, stay close to Jesus. Secondly, he'll send you out to preach. Secondly, he'll call you into ministry and he'll set tasks before you. Consider the words of Jesus to the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. Remember, he says, I know your works. I know your labor, your patience, your

He says, you've persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake. You've done lots of good things, but nevertheless, I have this against you that you've left your first love. And so the issue here is they hadn't stayed close to Jesus. They were real faithful. They were always giving their best, but they didn't stay close to Jesus. They left their first love. This is the most important thing. This is why this is lesson number one.

First and foremost, whatever capacity you serve, whatever your walk of life is, you need to stay close to Jesus and make sure that he is first in your life, that you have that strong connection to him. One final example to consider this point from John chapter 15, Jesus says, abide in me. He's talking about him being the vine and we are the branches. He says, abide in me and I in you.

Then he says, Jesus says, He says,

A branch cannot produce fruit all by itself. Going back to point one, if you're going to not be lagging in diligence, if you're going to always give your best, it's not going to be of your own strength. It's not going to be you as a branch, just all by yourself, just sitting there producing all kinds of amazing fruit. The only way that you can do that is if you abide in Jesus, that if you make your home in him, that he is your closest companion.

He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. The only way that you can continue to be fervent in spirit and always give your best and apply yourself and work wholeheartedly to what God has called you to, the only way for you to do that is to abide in Jesus and stay close to him. And so if you'd consider the picture of the boiling water, if you have a pot that has no water and no fire,

There's no passion. There's no work happening. You're just there. You're not filled. You're not on fire. There's no fervency. You're not useful in the ministry. And so you need to be filled and you need to be on fire. Now, if you have a pot that's filled with water, but no fire, there's no fervency. There's no boiling. There's no passion. There's no zeal. There's no real ministry happening.

You and I, we can be filled with water. We can be experts in the word of God. We can be, you know, filled with all kinds of things and receiving from this and receiving from that, receiving from that. But if in the midst of that, we're not staying close to Jesus, we're not going to be fervent in spirit. We've removed ourselves from the flame. And so there's no contact with him. There's not going to be any passion. There's not going to be any zeal. There's not going to be any boiling over.

And so we need to be filled. We need to be fed. We need to be in contact with Jesus in order for us to not lag in diligence, for us to not be lazy in our faithfulness. Now, continuing to consider the pot. If you have a pot that has no water, but it's on the fire, what happens? It's going to get burned. It's going to become like charcoal. It's going to be blackened, right?

And this is what happens to many people in ministry. They're on the fire in the sense of they're continuing to work. They're continuing to do stuff. They're continuing to work, but they don't have any of the water coming in. They don't have anything refreshing them. They don't have the word of God, that relationship with the Lord. They're not filled. And so they're serving on empty and that's a sure way to be burned out. You'll become blackened. You'll become charred.

You'll burn yourself out if you try to serve without abiding in Jesus, without staying close to Jesus. Now, if you have a pot that has water and it's on the fire, what will happen? The water will heat up. It will begin to boil. And then you'll have that fervency. But then also consider if you leave that pot of water on the fire, well, the water will evaporate more and more and more and it can run out.

And so in order to keep that fervency, to keep that boiling, there needs to be a refilling. And that's the key for us. Stay close to Jesus. You're on the fire. You're involved in service. You're involved in working for the Lord. But if you don't stay filled, if you don't get refreshed, if you're not in connection with the Lord and being refilled continually, then you're going to end up having no water and you're going to be burned out.

Because you've got nothing else to give. You continue to give, but you've got nothing to give because you haven't been abiding in Jesus. And so first and foremost, the most important thing you need to know about ministry in order to keep your spiritual fervor, in order to be engaged, always giving your best and not lagging in diligence, is you must stay close to Jesus. When you have all three of these things, the water, the pot, the fire, then ministry and service is the overflow of

Now, typically, we don't think of it as a good thing, you know, if the pot on the stove begins to boil over. But in ministry, that's a beautiful picture. That's the accurate picture, that you are so filled and you're so on fire that you're overflowing and your service in whatever capacity, your leading in whatever capacity, your engagement with the body of Christ is just the natural byproduct of

of you being filled and on fire, of you and your relationship with Jesus Christ. So stay close to Jesus. Well, continuing to consider the last part now of Romans 12, verse 11. So he says, not lagging in diligence. We talked about that. Always give your best. Fervent in spirit. That's stay close to Jesus. Now let's consider serving the Lord. Serving the Lord.

combining all these things together to be diligent, to be on fire, and to apply that to serving the Lord. There's a lot of people who are on fire for all kinds of different things. But as believers, you and I are to be on fire about serving Jesus. We're to be passionate, we're to be fervent, we're to be engaged, and always giving our best in serving the Lord. The word serve here, or serving, it means to be a slave to God.

to be a slave or to do service. When it's used of nations, it means a nation that is in subjection to another nation. It means that we're to be submitted to.

And so this idea of serving the Lord, we might think of serving the Lord in the sense of, well, I pass out communion, or I help people to their seats, or I fold the bulletin, or I do this, or I do that. That's serving the Lord. But when Paul's talking about serving the Lord here, he's talking about you being submitted to the Lord, you being a slave to the Lord. Just like Paul would often introduce himself, the bond slave of Jesus.

That's how we are to be. We are to be always giving our best, staying close to Jesus, and being submitted to him, being enslaved to Jesus.

I like the way that the Greek scholar Spiros Zodiatis talks about this word. He says, And consider that last part of the description that he gives there. It's used of actions which are directed by others. As we talk about serving the Lord...

We're not talking about whatever ideas you have for serving the Lord, for doing things for God. We're not talking about doing whatever you want to do for God. We're talking about doing whatever God directs you to do. The directed by others, that's not talking about, you know, well, you know, Pastor Jerry or George or these guys, you know, they're going to tell you what to do. And so be a slave and be directed by them. No, be a slave of Jesus.

And so be directed by Jesus, whatever you're to be doing. He's the one who needs to tell you. He's the one that you need to hear from. And in order for the first two things to be in line, this one has to be in line. So if you're going to always give your best, you need to be directed by Jesus. And if you're not directed by Jesus, you're not going to be able to give your best.

In order for you to stay close to Jesus, you need to be directed by Jesus. If you're not directed by Jesus, you're not going to be able to stay close to him. You're not going to be able to maintain that relationship if you're not directed by him because you're always going to be pulled in different directions and running in different areas. When we talk about serving the Lord, listen, we're not just talking about being busy with church activity.

We're talking about doing what Jesus directs you to do. And so that gives me point number three. Do what Jesus says. Here is what I would say is the key to all ministry. The most important thing, the first and foremost thing when it comes to ministry, keep your spiritual fervor. And that means that you always give your best, that you stay close to Jesus, and that you do what Jesus says.

Sometimes Jesus will tell you to do much. And sometimes what Jesus will tell you to do is so much that you might think, I can't do everything that he wants me to do. But you need to do what he directs. And sometimes what Jesus directs you to do will be things that you're not comfortable with and will be stretching and will be hard and difficult and you're going to have to take steps of faith and trust him. And that's what he's called you to do. Do what he says. But also understand, sometimes Jesus

Jesus is not going to direct you to do very much at all. Sometimes he's not going to give you much to do. Sometimes he's going to give you a lot and you're going to say, it's more than I can handle. And then sometimes he's going to not give you much at all. And you're going to say, okay, Lord, what am I supposed to do? Give me something to do. It's funny how we often are crying out to the Lord, you know, give me something to do, give me something to do. And then he gives us something to do. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, Lord, that's too much. That's too much. Give me something else to do.

We need to do what Jesus says, to be directed by him. That is to be engaged with our whole hearts, always giving our best to those specific things that he has set before us. And that's the only way that we can always give our best. I'm regularly concerned for people who are in ministry because so many times we let the needs that are there dictate what we do.

We see this need. We see this situation. And we think it needs to be taken care of. It needs to be covered. It needs to be handled. And so we let that declare or dictate what we do. Well, I can't do this over here because, well, there's this need here. And although that's honorable in the sense of, you know, hey, we're servants and we want to do whatever we can do to meet needs.

There's also an element of, well, if you're always pursuing whatever need you see, you're not going to be able to do what Jesus says. Jesus hasn't called you to meet every need. And so if you're trying to meet needs that Jesus hasn't called you to meet, you're not going to be able to do your best. And especially, you're not going to do your best in the things that he specifically has called you to do. I think a classic example that we all are familiar with is in Luke chapter 10 with Mary and Martha.

Mary and Martha had Jesus over to their house. Martha, her sister Mary, was sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to his word. But notice verse 40 of Luke chapter 10. Martha was distracted with much serving. And she's frustrated. She's bitter. She's kind of angry at Jesus. Lord, aren't you going to tell her to get up and help me with the work that's at hand? There's a need here. Jesus, tell her to get to work with the need. And Jesus says...

Martha, Martha, you're worried, you're troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. Mary's chosen that good thing, and it's not going to be taken from her. Now, that doesn't mean we're all supposed to always just sit there at the feet of Jesus. For that moment, that's what the Lord wanted. That's what the Lord was directing. And so Martha needed to sit at the feet of Jesus, just as Mary was.

But there would also be the time where Jesus would say, okay, now girls, now it's time to work. Let's prepare a meal. Let's get ready. But what happens many times is we're missing out on the one thing that Jesus wants us to do because we're distracted with much serving. There's lots of good things for us to be involved in. There's lots of needs that are there, but God hasn't called you to meet all those needs. Do what Jesus says also includes the idea of don't do what Jesus hasn't said.

And again, this is where I regularly get concerned for people who are serving. And I see, you know, commitments here and here and here and here and here and here and here. And I see a spread thin because there's so many needs. Yeah, I understand that. But are you doing what Jesus has told you to do? Or are you just running around trying to meet all those needs and distracted with much serving? How many things can you really commit to?

I have to be careful what I commit to. If you ever try to, you know, get me to commit to something and you're like, man, why is he so like hesitant to commit to something? He's always like, well, maybe. Hey, what do you think about? Why don't you come over here? Hey, let's go do lunch. Okay, yeah, well, let's pray about it. Let's see, you know, if it opens up and the opportunity is there. Like, why is he so noncommittal? Because I have to be particular to make sure I do what Jesus says. And I don't want to just get involved with things just because, well, there's a need. There's always going to be needs.

But the most important thing is for me to abide with Jesus, to have that close personal relationship with him, and then do what he directs me to do. That's serving the Lord. I'm directed by him. I don't get to do everything that I want to do. I don't get to see all the movies I want to see. And I don't even mean just because they're bad. They're good movies, great movies. But I don't get to see them. Because I got to do not, don't feel sorry for me. I'm not trying to, I'm just saying, I have to be directed by Jesus.

I have to live my life in submission to him. Go all out in serving the Lord. Give your best. Exhaust yourself, but be selective in doing what Jesus directs you to do. Consider also the example in Acts chapter 6 with the apostles. There in verse 1, there was a complaint that arose between the widows and the distribution wasn't being handled fairly.

And so the apostles gather together in verse 2 and they say, hey, it's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Jesus hasn't directed us to handle this problem. It's a need. It's a problem. And so then they offer this suggestion. Well, why don't you raise up from amongst you these guys filled with the spirit that can handle this. But for us, it's not what the Lord has directed us to do. And we need to be faithful to do what God has directed us to do.

And if we go, you know, pursuing this and chasing after that, then we're not going to do that well, and we're not going to do what God has actually called us to do well. And so this is the most important lesson I think I could teach you about ministry. Keep your spiritual fervor. It means to always give your best. Don't be half-hearted in ministry.

Don't just do things, you know, with your leftovers, offering the blind and the lame, but give your best to the Lord. Whatever you're engaged with, big or small, do it to the best of your abilities. Do it to the best of the capabilities and the time that God has given to you.

Again, don't get caught up in, well, it has to be perfect. And so then you start taking away from other things that God has called you to do because you want this to be the way that you want it to be. No, use the time that God has given you. Use the resources that God has given you. Don't go into debt, you know, when God hasn't called you to, to make it happen the way that you want it to happen. Give your best. Do your best within the parameters that God has given to you. But do it consistently. Always be faithful to God.

Go all out and do the best that you possibly can, but be selective and don't try to do it in your own strength. Stay close to Jesus. Again, this is something I want everybody who serves at Living Water to know. These are things that I think are essential, that are important for everybody who's engaged and involved in any capacity. You can't give your best always with your own strength, with your own resources. You need to be filled with

You need to be in constant contact with Jesus. You need to be filled with the word of God. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to have a real strong relationship with the Lord. And the overflow of that relationship with the Lord is what you're able to give in serving the Lord as you do what Jesus says. How is it possible to stay consistent in these things when there's so much to do? How can you always give your best? Again, the key is,

You got to stay close to Jesus. And when you find yourself not giving your best, I would suggest many times it comes back to your relationship with Jesus. You're not giving your best in your relationship with the Lord, and that's reflected in your ministry, in your service. You're not doing what Jesus says because you're not maintaining that relationship with him. If you're burned out in ministry, you're overwhelmed, you're stressed out, you're anxious, and things are just not enjoyable, you're

Again, it goes back to you need to be abiding in the vine. You're not filled. You're running on empty because you haven't been spending time with Jesus. Perhaps you're doing more than what Jesus has asked you to do. It's easy to get burned out because you're giving out more than he's asked you to give. He's filling you with sufficient resources for what he's called you to do.

Think about the manna, right? God gave them manna each day, exactly what they needed. He just, it was perfectly what they needed for that day. And then on the Sabbath, the day before the Sabbath, he would give them double and it would last. He's able to give you the resources you need. And so if you're burned out, you're running out of resources emotionally, spiritually, it's because, well, you're not doing what Jesus says. You're doing what you want.

And so you can be like the pot that has no water. It's on the fire. It's continuing to be burned, but there's nothing in it. There's nothing to boil. There's nothing to have that fervent spirit. Or you can be constantly filled, in contact with Jesus, in touch with him, and on fire for him. So never be lacking in zeal. Keep your spiritual fervor by always giving your best, staying close to Jesus, and doing what Jesus says. Amen?

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.