PP0553 DATE
A NEW ZEAL FOR GOD!!
2 Kings 10:15-16.
2Ki 10:15 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
(KJV)
INTRODUCTION: Everyone has a zeal for something. Some it would be a zeal for pleasure. Some it would be a zeal for work. Some it would be a zeal for money. Others would have a zeal for the Lord.
Jehu was king of Israel and he had a great zeal to exterminate the house of Ahab. That is what he is doing in this chapter. By eliminating Ahab’s household it would strengthen Jehu’s hold and status in Israel. Thus the reason for his zeal.
Our church needs a new zeal. Some of our people have lost their zeal. You have lost that drive that you once had. You don’t invite people with that vibrant feeling that was once present in your Christian life. A Christian or a Church without a Zeal will do little or nothing for God.
The 1828 dictionary defines zeal as:
Enthusiastic and diligent.
Devotion in pursuit of a cause, ideal, or goal.
Zealot: One who is zealous. A fanatically committed person.
Zealous: Filled with or motivated by zeal.
Ardent.
Fervent.
I want to give you some areas in which we need to get a new zeal. Without a new zeal in our Christian life we will become stagnant and uncaring. Many have already reached the finish in failure to have a zeal.
I. A NEW ZEAL FOR THE HOME
I checked and approximately one of every twenty-five sermons I preach are on the home. You have heard every aspect of the home. You have heard about how to serve God through the home and your marriage.
Last Sunday I started a new series of six messages called “Bible Marriages”. I have taken six couples from the Bible and have made comparisons and examples for each of us to see and to learn from.
The problem in America is not the White House – nor the school house – our problem is our own house and the church house.
A. God Instituted The First Home.
1. Adam and Eve. Husband and wife. Not live in partners – A man and a woman
2. Cain and Abel – Children.
B. Many Homes Have Become Merely A Place To Sleep And Eat. What is your home like?
1. A Father – the leader of the home.
2. A Mother – the keeper of the home.
3. Children – the blessing of the home.
America is in the mess today because the homes of America have failed. If 75% of the homes would return to what a home should, be then America could be great again. Much of the Bible expectation for homes would be visible again if our homes would follow the Bible standard for the home.
We need a new zeal in the home.
II. A NEW ZEAL FOR THE BIBLE
You may be surprised how many have no more zeal for the Bible than they would the sales section in today’s newspaper.
A. How Many Of You Read Your Bible Everyday?
How many are on some plan to read it through this year? There is still time. If you will read 6 or 7 chapters each day you will easily complete reading the Bible through this year.
B. How Many Have Read The Bible Nearly Everyday So Far This Year?
1. I learned that following the Bible principles will solve all my problems.
2. Sometimes when I read the Bible my heart gets so full of God’s goodness and blessings until I just sit and rejoice or maybe weep.
C. What About Bible Teaching Time? Are you in Sunday School Class regularly? Is Sunday School a priority with you? Or is it a take it or leave it choice with you?
Sunday School is part of the Sunday Morning service. We only have one service each Sunday morning and Sunday School is part of that service. Do you attend the full service or just half of a service. If you skip Sunday School then you just attend half of the service – and you are only getting what God has planned for you. How can you operate if you only get half of the instructions?
D. Do You Commit Scripture To Memory? (Psa 119:11 KJV) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
1. Scripture will help you through certain hardships and trials.
2. David overcame many obstacles in his life by the knowledge of the Word of God. As you read the Psalms you will see that David speaks of knowing and learning the Word of God.
3. I have read of Moses overcoming fear by the Word of God. So can I.
4. I have read of Joshua gaining self confidence through the Word of God. So can I.
5. The three Hebrew Children were victorious in their Christian life by the Word of God. So can I.
(Rom 10:17 KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
E. It’s No Wonder So Many Fail At The Christian Life. You ignore the Word of God. The Word of God is the source of strength that you must have to live for God each day. The Word of God is quick and powerful. Quick meaning “alive”.
F. Do You Have A Personal Time With The Lord Daily?
1. A time of reading the Bible? Not in preparation for a Sunday School Lesson, but just a time of listening to God through His Word.
2. A prayer time. A time when you talk to God. There is no one else around. Just you and the Lord. That time is so vital to your Christian life. If you don’t have that time, you are suffering spiritually, and for the most part, you are failing.
III. A NEW ZEAL FOR FAITHFULNESS FOR GOD’S HOUSE
Ps 122:1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. (KJV)
A. A Zeal For God’s House Is A Sign Of The New Birth.
1. When a person is truly born again and is in love with the Lord, then church attendance comes natural. They don’t have to be begged, primed, or prodded. Going to church is a pleasure to them.
B. A New Zeal For Church Attendance Eliminates Chronic Absentees.
I am so surprised at the number of Christians whose attendance to church is every other week, or once a month. Supposing we kept a running record of every member’s attendance and posted it on the wall here in the Auditorium for everyone to see. Would you be pleased?
Some place the blame on their job. I don’t think that will fit. Stop and think for a moment. Is God really in favor of a person skipping church? Yes or No. If the answer is “No”, which it is, why would He give that person a job that would keep them out of church? I am not talking about an occasional time when a person may have to work. I have know of some who volunteered for over-time on Sunday so they would have an excuse not to go to church. That’s poor Christianity.
A new zeal for church attendance will help overcome the chronic absentees.
Notice this one:
C. Out Of Town Weekends Become Fewer And Fewer.
When one gets a new zeal for faithfulness to church attendance, trips out of town become of little importance.
I am so shocked at how some Christians can just up and leave God on Sunday. Just walk away from Him. I know what they say, “We had to go and see Grandpa and Grandma”. Or maybe they go and see mom and day every other week. Listen to this scripture. (Luke 14:26 KJV) If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
(Luke 14:33 KJV) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Remember this: God will allow nothing or no one to come between you and Him on a permanent basis. (I’m not talking about emergency situations.) Therefore if your family comes between you and God, I wonder how long it will take the Lord to get tired of it? Then what will happen?
If something continually keeps a person out of their home church, God will sometime or another deal with it. He will either remove the cause or bring severe chastisement. Let me give you scripture for that. (Heb 10:25 KJV) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
(Heb 10:26 KJV) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
What do you think this is talking about? Keeping it in its context, it is talking about forsaking church attendance. If this is done willfully after the truth has been made known to an individual, then there is no more sacrifice, for sins. That means there is no substitute for willful sin. What was the purpose of sacrifice? To stop judgment of the sin. If there is no more sacrifice then the judgment for sin will come. This doesn’t mean that a saved person is going to hell. It means that you will have to bear whatever chastisement God sends because you sinned willfully. That has happened to me. If you sin knowing that it is sin then you have sinned willfully and that brings the chastisement of God.
That is not just with church attendance, but for any willful sin.
This would quickly tell us that we need a new zeal for the house of God.
IV. A NEW ZEAL FOR PULPIT PREACHING
A. The Foolishness Of Preaching. (1 Cor 1:21 KJV) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
It doesn’t say, “By the sweetness of music.”
It doesn’t say, “By the profundity of programs.”
Neither does it say, “By the blessedness of fellowships.”
But it does say, “Preaching”.
Preaching is God’s means of getting the gospel to the lost. It is through preaching that conviction comes to a lost soul.
Do you like preaching? How much preaching do you listen to? Do you only listen to the preaching here at church?
I have thousands of sermon tapes. I am going to guess that in 25 years I have listened to at least 5000 sermon tapes, plus I have read thousands of others. I listen to or read at least one sermon nearly everyday.
You need more preaching than you get here. Three times a week is not be enough.
Preaching ignites my soul. There are times I will sit and listen to 3 or 4 hours of preaching at a time.
Preaching – Preaching – Preaching.
B. Without a Consistent Diet Of Pulpit Preaching Many Of You Will Have Fragmented Lives. God will use the man that is preaching behind this pulpit to give instructions for your needs for that day. If you miss that, whose knows what the loss may be.
C. God Uses Preaching For Correction. (2 Tim 4:2 KJV) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. What does that mean? That means God uses preaching to keep us straight in our thinking, in our doctrine, in out intention.
All of us need a new zeal for preaching.
V. A NEW ZEAL IN OUR GIVING
Giving is not to be a drudgery. (2 Cor 9:7 KJV) Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
A. A New Zeal In Tithing.
1. Tithing is the beginning.
2. Sacrificial is the ultimate.
a. We can’t speak of sacrificial giving until we look at Abraham.
You will never be asked to give your son or daughter at the altar of death, yet you may be asked to give them at the altar of service.
God may ask you to give them to a mission field.
God may ask you to give them to a service in another city or state. Often parents try to hold onto their children and hinder the calling of God for their life.
b. We can’t speak of sacrificial giving until we look at Jephthah. Judges 11.
He offered his daughter to God.
Many people today don’t have a clue what real sacrifice really means in giving. It means to give that which is necessary for your existence. If after you have sacrificed, you can continue to do what you did before you sacrificed, then you have missed the concept of sacrifice. It changes your life style. It changes the amount of money you have to spend. It means that you have to step down in your lifestyle. In this day and time most Christians keep moving up to a higher style of living. That tells me that they are not sacrificing. When you give sacrificially you have given some money that you may have needed for the operation of the home. That is sacrificial giving.
Most Christians give out of their abundance rather than sacrifice. If you can spare it – it probably isn’t sacrifice. I don’t know that I have really ever sacrificed. I have never missed a meal because of not having food to eat as a result of having given unto the Lord.
I remember at another church we were challenged to give one week’s paycheck once a year. I did that several times and still managed to go right on living the next week, therefore that probably wasn’t a sacrifice.
B. A New Zeal For Mission’s Giving.
Do you give on a regular basis to missions? How many missionaries could we support on the amount you give each month? I realize many are on limited income and the amount of giving is limited, but missions giving is vital to your spiritual obedience.
Our Faith Promise Missions’ Program is not what it should be. We need another $300 to $400 a week. We now give out in support just about what we receive, which leaves no room for expanding our missionary staff.
VI. A NEW ZEAL FOR THE LOST
A. A Christian Without A Burden Is Worthless To God.
1. Are you a soul winner?
2. Are you making some attempt to win people to Christ?
3. Do you care about your neighbor?
In a recent report of Baptist Churches in America 52% of the churches did not baptize one convert all year. That is the one main reason for a church to be in existence. If they are not functioning as a N.T. Church, then why even meet weekly? I realize there are some areas where the field of prospects may be very slim, and perhaps the reaping would be slim, but most churches could baptize some converts if they had a burden for the lost.
What about our “No One Left Behind….2005”? Do you really have a burden for those on the list that you turned in? Are you following through on those names like we have asked you to do so.
B. A Burden For The Lost Will Take Priority Over Anything Else.
1. Priority over the bank balance.
2. Priority over the schedules.
3. It will take priority over vacations.
4. New cars.
5. Upgrading our home.
We must have a new zeal for the lost people of our community. If we don’t begin to see them get saved, why would God allow us to remain here?
VII. A NEW ZEAL FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST
A. How Much Do You Love The Lord Jesus Christ?
(John 14:15 KJV) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
1. This is more than refraining from adultery.
2. It is more than not stealing.
3. It is going the 2nd mile.
4. It means to serve even though hurting or sick. We have been so influenced by the secular system that we think we must perform our work for Christ like the system does. At work if you have a head cold or a pain in the shoulder, you are supposed to call in sick and go see the doctor.
That is not the way it works in the work of the Lord. Sickness is really no reason for not serving. There is no place in the Bible that gives justification for stopping serving God because of feeling bad, or being ill. Don’t miss-read me on this. I know there are times when you should stay home. But to miss church, S/S or even visitation because you don’t feel good probably isn’t enough of a reason. There is a point in every senior-citizens life when he/she lives with pain. It never stops.
5. A new zeal for Christ is to keep going when you don’t want to go on.
6. It’s fulfilling the responsibility when you would really rather do something else.
VIII. A NEW ZEAL FOR DECENCY AND MORAL STANDARDS
I doubt if it would be possible to reverse the decay that exists in the moral and decency core of America.
We as Christians can and should do that which is right. Don’t vacillate on this. Satan’s attack on morality by letting down in our own life. We can still stand for decency and morality. Don’t let the boob-tube alter your stand on decency.
IX. A NEW ZEAL FOR THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
I don’t hear much preaching on the Second Coming of Christ today. Twenty years ago there was much more than there is today. We need to get back to that hourly expectation of His return.
A. Does Your Heart Yearn For Him To Come?
What a day that will be
B. Is There An Emptiness In Your Heart That Longs To See Him?
O, I want to see Him,
Look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
Cares all past, home at last,
Ever to rejoice.
C. I Have Many Family And Friends Already There.
1. My dad.
2. My mother.
3. Many friends.
If each of us will pray and seek after the new zeal that I have mentioned, it will change our spiritual life. We will be drawn much closer to the Lord. We will be a much better servant and Christian.
What will you do?
Will you seek to be revived?
Will you do whatever is necessary to be revived?
INVITATION
BETH HAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH MINISTRIES
PO BOX 891523
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73189-1523
405-691-8701
This sermon and thousands of others are available on a CD Disk that may be purchased for $75.
If interested contact the above address.
