Stir it Up Part XX
"You still got plenty"
Acts 14:19-20
19) And there came thither [certain] Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew [him] out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
20) Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
Imagine that, here we have Paul who goes into the city of Lystra. God uses him to perform a miracle on a man who was crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
Then in verse 19 some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.
They ended up stoning Paul and dragging him outside the city thinking he was dead.
Then the Bible says after all this took place some of the disciples had gathered around Paul and he got up and went right back into that same city.
Now I don't know about you, but this would be a good time for Paul to say that does it for me.
Here I am just trying to do what God has called me to do. He is using me to heal the sick, He is using me to see miracles, and to bring the good news to hurting people. Then all of a sudden I find myself being stoned and left for dead - I am going to leave this up to someone else.
I quit - I am going to throw in the towel - I have given all I can give. This was a good place to have that type of attitude. Is that the attitude that Paul had?
No No No - Paul got up and went right back into the city of those who stoned him and continued to do the work of God.
He didn't quit - I said he didn't quit - Somebody say - He didn't Quit...
See there maybe some of us here tonight that find our self in a spiritual dessert. You feel that you have given all you can and you don't have any more to give.
You find yourself in a place where you are under the circumstances, going through trials, and they seem to have gotten the best of you.
You say that's it I have no more to give I have given all I can give:
Well I just stopped by to say - It is Stir it up part XX - and you still got plenty!!!
You and I need to take on the attitude of Paul. Who even though he was stoned and left for dead, he shook of the circumstance and the situation and said I am not done yet, I still have something to give.
Yes I am going through it - Yes I got hit - and yes it was painful, but God didn't bring me this far for me to quit.
Paul had the attitude of I can't give up now, there are still more people that I need to help and bring the good news to.
If I don't go back into the city then who is?
Let me read something to you that I came across:
It said if you give up, it means that other people are deprived of the help that God would have used you to give to them.
It continued on to say Get a hold of that!
If you give up, other people will miss out on the help that God would give to them, through you!
See Church - If you and I give up on the call of God upon our life, that can be a selfish attitude. Because that means we are not thinking of others, but we are just thinking of our self.
See If we thought about the many people that God wants to use you and I to help, then we wouldn’t give up.
- Let me ask you "how many here want to fulfill the call of God upon your life?"
- How many here want to do all that God has called you to do?
O.K. great - then let me ask a question.
Why is it that some people quit and give up and others keep on pressing forward?
What is the difference between these two types of people?
It is amazing - they can be facing the same type of trials or the same situation and one will press on, but the other will give up.
Why is that?
Here is an article that I would like to read to you:
It said throughout my 18 years in the fitness industry as a trainer, nutrition consultant and motivational coach, I have noticed that some people who start a nutrition and exercise program give up very easily after hitting the first obstacle they encounter. If they feel the slightest bit of discouragement or frustration, they will abandon even their biggest goals and dreams.
On the other hand, I noticed that some people simply NEVER give up. They have ferocious persistence and they never let go of their goals. These people are like the bulldog that refuses to release its teeth-hold on a bone. The harder you try to pull the bone out of his mouth, the harder he chomps down with a vice-like grip.
What's the difference between these two types of people?
An extremely important guideline for achieving fitness success is the concept that, "There is no failure; only feedback. You don't "fail", you only get results."
A lot of people will second-guess themselves and they'll bail out and quit, just because what they try at first doesn't work. They consider it a permanent failure, but all they need is a little attitude change, a mindset change.
Instead of saying, "This is failure" they can say to themselves, "I produced a result" and "This is only temporary."
This change in perspective will change the way that they feel and how they mentally process and explain the experience.
Now they are willing to turn the situation into a learning opportunity and valuable feedback which they use to make adjustments in their course, instead of feeling like a failure, and that drives continued action and forward movement.
See just like the Israelites went through the desert. There are going to be times when you and I will face spiritual deserts, but the key is to take the attitude that brought us to the dessert and leave it there and take up the attitude that will move us into the promised land.
Don't leave your dreams in the desert - Some people start off with a dream, but while going through the process of the dessert they got robbed of their dream....The Dessert stole their dreams.
In order to make it to the place of doing all that God has called us to do, we need to press through the desert experiences...
Paul didn't quit, even though he was going through a tough time in his life. He shook it off and went right back to pursuing the call of God upon his life.
Maybe these are the marks he was talking about in
Galatians 6:17
Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
When Paul was going through this spiritual dessert, he didn't leave his dreams there, but he had a don't quit attitude.
He was left for dead, but went back into the city to preach the Gospel...
I don't know if you know this, but there was a young man named Timothy who was from the town of Lystra.
Acts 16:1 - He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek
Just like Paul had a don't quit attitude. I want to encourage someone here today that may feel like you given all you can. Now is not the time to quit, there are still more people out there that God would have you and I to reach.
There is someone waiting for you to shake off the rocks that people or the Devil have thrown at you:
It maybe rocks of 1)sickness 2) rocks of failure 3) rocks of depression 4) rocks of doubt 5) rocks of loneliness 6) rocks of discouragement,
but I stopped by to tell you to shake it off...
You may feel like your book is done, but it was only a chapter you still got some more writing to do because you still got plenty:
Let me read something to you
Giving up means not going through.
How did the Israelites get to the Promised Land? By going through the desert.
You and I are going to have desert experiences, But if we trust in the promises of God we can make it through the wilderness.
Why some people give up and some people don't:
It's all about your results and your interpretation of those results
Dr Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, did some incredible research on this subject and wrote about it in his book, Learned Optimism.
Dr. Seligman noticed that the difference between people who give up and people who persist and never quit is what he referred to as "explanatory style." He said that explanatory style is the way we explain or interpret bad events or failures.
This is a study done by a Dr. on why some people give up and some people don't. He used someone being on a diet as a point of reference.
People who habitually give up have an explanatory style of permanence. For example, they hit a plateau in their progress and explain it by saying, "diets never work" or "I have bad genetics so I'll always be fat." These explanations imply permanence.
Other people hit the same plateaus and encounter the same challenges, but explain them differently. They say things such as, "I ate too many cheat meals this week," or "I haven't found the right diet for my body type yet." These explanations of the results imply being temporary.
People who see negative results as permanent failure are the ones who give up easily and often generalize their "failure" into other areas of their lives and even into their own sense of self. It's one thing to say, "I ate poorly this past week because I was traveling," (a belief about temporary behavior and environment), and to say, "I am a fat person because of my genetics" (a belief about identity with a sense of permanence).
Remember, body fat is a temporary condition, not a person!
People who see challenges and obstacles as temporary and as valuable learning experiences are the ones who never quit. If you learn from your experiences, not repeating what didn't work in the past, and if you choose to never quit, your success is inevitable.
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