Take me to Romans chapter 12. I'm going to read verse 9 through 13. My original plan, if you look at your program, it says up to 13, but I'm not going to get to verse 13, and I am not going to get to verse 12 either. Okay? So I explained to the first service that as I was preparing, my intent was to get to 13, and as I was preparing, I said, "Well, this is too much material.

Let me take it down to 12." Then as I was preparing, even last night, I took about half a page of notes, outline, and I took it out, and then at night as I was reviewing, I put it all back in, and then I put some more in after that, and I realized I'm not going to be able to make it all the way.

It'll be too long. But neither did I want to take out certain important stuff in here, so we're most likely going to get to 11, and then 12, 13, hopefully by next week. Okay? But I'm going to read from verse 9 up to verse 13 before we get started.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much. Lord, sometimes it can just become habit, coming to church and worshiping, and we know, Father, you deserve much more than that. We want to express our love for you, our appreciation for your perseverance in us, not only for saving us, but being patient, Lord God, through our sanctification.

We thank you, Father, for your Holy Spirit. We thank you for your living Word that reveals to us your thoughts, your heart, your intentions. Help us to understand these things, Lord God, not simply for knowledge, that we may change, that we may continue to reflect who you are through our lives.

So we pray for your blessing and your Holy Spirit's power to be revealed in your Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As you guys know, last week I wasn't here. I was up at BMC, and they were celebrating their fifth anniversary. And so, you know, it's been five years already since we sent out that team up there, and in the five years they've been gone through, obviously you guys know, you know, what kind of stuff that they went through, but in five years they've grown tremendously.

I've been there, I think, about a year, maybe a little bit less than a year ago, and last time I visited they had maybe about 120, and this time I went and they had, they're almost kind of hitting 200, and as a result of that they're having some growing pains.

In addition to the facility that they're in, they can fit maybe about 260, 250, 260 people, and so they're kind of debating whether they're going to go to the gym or they're going to find another location, but again, these issues are coming because, you know, they're growing, they're maturing.

So I was very thankful that I was able to be there and to share it in the time that they have, but I ask you to continue to keep them in your prayers. I just remember that when our church was growing and we hit about 200, that was the period when it was the most challenging for us.

So some of you guys who were there during that period, not that they're all gone, but that was the most challenging, when our church culture kind of changed and there was a lot of challenges and the workload was doubling and tripling at that time, and all because God was sending people to the church.

And so if you guys can, again, continue to keep them in your prayers, pray that the Lord would use them, give the leadership wisdom, that they wouldn't be tired out and know how to adjust certain things to be able to manage the growing number of people that are coming to the church.

You know, when Pastor Aaron asked me to come up and to, again, to address the church in their fifth anniversary, I knew that we had a football game on Saturday. Our elite sisters were going to go, and for the last five or six years, I wasn't able to go, so I was really trying hard.

So I asked Pastor Aaron to make sure, give me the latest flight out of Orange County so that I could watch the football game. You know, I'm not talking about Super Bowl, I'm talking about the real football game that took place on Saturday. And so, you know, he got me the latest flight, and then I was all, you know, geared to go after our meeting and then found out that they were having it in San Diego.

You know, so I was up at the hotel up in San Francisco texting with our brother James, and he was kind of giving me an update of what's going on. And then I saw your video clips of the win and how excited you guys were, and I was excited with you.

And I know some people may look at that and say, "Well, what a, you know, that's a lot of time being spent that has nothing to do with God." Right? Two, three, four months, and then the next eight months thinking about it, right? You know, people can complain, look at that.

And I think if we're not careful and we just let football be football, yeah, it is a lot of time wasted that has nothing to do with God, if that's all it is. That you guys had fun, had great opportunity to fellowship and to get to know one another.

And if it ends in just having more people to go to Disneyland with, you know, to celebrate birthdays and to just have more friends at church, if that's all it ends in, yeah, then it is a great waste of time, no matter how excited you were, no matter how many games you win.

My hope and prayer is that all the things that you've gained, all the fellowship, and that's the thing that I keep hearing over and over, that they really love the camaraderie among the sisters. And with that camaraderie, what will we do with it? With the friendships and the community, in football, out of football, whatever it is that we're building, what are we doing with that?

Is it just more friends to hang out with? Is it just a better community where people know me and I know them? But to really use every good gift that God has given and to be intentional about spurring one another on toward loving good deeds, that make sure Christ is the reason why we're gathered together, that all the friendships that we build, that we don't just use that to have fun with, but that we're running this race together.

So anything that causes us to build a greater community would lead to greater honor and glory to God. And so my prayer is that it would not just end in football, but that football would only be an avenue to honor and glorify God. Now I say all of this because that's the text that we're in.

Paul has been expositing for 11 chapters about the in-depth presentation of the gospel, and he says in light of this grace, we should also offer our bodies, as Christ gave himself for us, that we ought to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, that this is a reasonable, logical, spiritual act of worship.

And then he told us in verses 3 to 8, the avenue in which we are to live this life of sacrifice in the church. So God has given us different gifts, and that we are to use these gifts to build each other up to honor and glorify God. So he gave us the arena in which we are to practice this Christian faith.

How do we first respond to this grace? Well, respond in a way that honors and glorifies God in the context of the church. The section that we're in now, starting from verse 9 to verse 21, is a rapid-fire presentation of the imperatives. And there's about 21 to 24 of them based upon how you divide this.

He just, one after another, to do this, to do this, and then do this, and then do this, and then do this. He doesn't sit there, like, elaborating on any of these things. He just wants to know that this is a, again, there's about 21 to 24, but in no way is this comprehensive to everything that we know about what it means to be a Christian.

And he doesn't go into in-depth description of what he is trying to say. He just gives a long presentation of, these are things that we ought to give our thought and our mind and our zeal toward. He doesn't just say, "Hey, you should be a good Christian." He doesn't just say, "Hey, you should have affection for Christ." He gives us, like, this is what it should look like.

So in verse 9, he began this list by reminding us that the greatest of these commandments is to love. In verse 9, it says, "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." So if you look at this list of 21 to 24 imperatives, they don't all directly connect to love, loving God and loving our neighbors.

But whenever you see a list of things in the Bible, it's there for a reason. It's never random. When you see the list of the apostles, Peter's name is always on the top, and it is never random. It's because Peter was the head guy. He was the leader among the disciples.

So his name is always on the top. If you see a list of immorality that we are to avoid and to shun, these lists of sins, sexual immorality is almost always on the top. It is never random. It is very deliberate that these are things that God wants to pay special attention to.

So the fact that on the top of the list, the first two verses emphasizes the practice of love with brothers and sisters, it is not by accident. It is deliberately highlighted. And we mentioned that, I mentioned that a couple weeks ago when we exposited the first couple verses. In Galatians 5.14, it says, "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Everything, all the imperatives, whether it is directly connected to it or not, he said all of it is summarized in love the neighbor as yourself, to love. Again, Philippians 1, 2, 1 and 2, it says, "If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." Again, he is not speaking to a select group of Christians who are experiencing this spiritual fervor for God that other Christians are not.

He is basically saying, if you are a Christian, if you have repented and you find any encouragement in Christ, if you have any fellowship with the Holy Spirit, any participation for His affection, in other words, if you are a true Christian, make every effort to be of the same mind, to practice this love.

Again, in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9 and 10, this model church that Paul says that their reputation of their genuine conversion is being spread all over Macedonia, that he doesn't even have to tell people about who they are. He said that people are talking about them, how they came to faith and how the genuine Christianity is being practiced, and this is what he says to this church, "Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another." What does he mean by that?

Is he saying that to the Thessalonians that there was some kind of special revelation that God opened up heaven and He was speaking audibly to them, that He wasn't speaking to other churches? Is that what he is saying? Was it some special revelation that only the Thessalonians had in saying, "I don't need you, I don't need to tell you about love because God Himself is teaching you directly." I don't think that that's what Paul is saying here.

What Paul is saying is that the practice of love is so fundamental to our faith that you can't preach the gospel without preaching love. There would be no gospel, there would be no salvation, there would be no heaven and hell, there would be no incarnation, there would be no church without love.

So what Paul is saying is, "I don't even need to mention this to you because the very fact that you became a Christian, you're already being taught by God that you ought to love." That's how fundamental it is to our faith, that these aren't some extra instructions I need to give you.

You can't be a Christian if you don't recognize this. Verse 10, "For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia." He said that's what makes them a model church because they were actually already practicing this love. He said, "But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more." That's how important it was.

Here's this model church who's already practicing this love and he doesn't say, "Well, you're doing a great job." You know, he's just kind of back off a little bit, you know, don't push yourself too hard and don't get burnt out. He says, "No, you're doing this, but do this more and more." This is something that you need to be pursuing.

This is something that you need to be working on and sacrificing to the day you die, to this more and more. So there is no way that I can exaggerate the importance of this character. You know, when we talk about spiritual maturity, we have various things that we can look at to see how mature somebody is, like how committed are they to church?

How do they use their time, their discipline? How many people have they shared the gospel with? We have, you know, depending on what your perspective is, we all have a different measuring stick, right? Some of them overlap, some of them are very different. Some things are very important to you and some things may not be as important, right?

So if you happen to be one of those people who love theology, you tend to measure other people's maturity based upon how much theology that you think they know. If you happen to be a prayer warrior and you tend to, you know, measure everybody else, well, how much do they pray?

So we all have our own perspective of how we think. Like these are people that respect, these are people that we think are mature. Now none of these things are necessarily wrong, they are in scripture. But above all of these things, you can have all of that and yet not have love, the scripture says it is absolutely nothing.

It is nothing. You can have theology without love, it's nothing. You can have devotion without love, it is nothing. You can pray without love, it's nothing. In fact, remember he says, "You can give your body to be burnt and have not love, it is nothing." You can be martyred and be nothing.

That's how important it is. It is not just better, it is the thing that God desires from us. It is the thing that he wants us to practice. So how do we measure maturity? If there's one quality that we ought to look at and measure by, it's love. Like how do I know if I'm mature?

It's practice of love. How passionately am I practicing this love? Am I reflecting this love? So in verse 11 and on, he may not specifically mention the word love, but we know that the application of all of these things ultimately is expression of love. So let's look at verse 11.

He says, "In this practice of obedience and offering your bodies a living sacrifice, do not be slothful in zeal." Do not be slothful in zeal. The word slothful, depending on what translation you have, has been either translated lacking or lagging, slothful. And the word for zeal in other translations have been translated diligence, or like here it says zeal, or business.

So these are words that, again, there are a little bit of differences and nuances, but at the end of the day, he's basically saying, don't be lazy in the things that God has called you to do. Don't be slothful, lagging, and nonchalant about what God has called you to do.

In obedience, do not delay. That's basically what he is saying. If you've ever raised children, typically children don't say no. Of course they say no, but when they want to disobey you, a lot of times the way that they disobey is delaying. Take out the trash. Okay. You know, four hours later, it hasn't been taken out.

I told you to take out the trash. He's like, I will. It's never a no, because he knows it's his responsibility. You're supposed to do the dishes. Yeah, I know. Well, how come it's not done? I'm planning to do it. You come back later part of the day and the dishes aren't done.

How come you didn't do the dishes? You're supposed to do the dishes. That's your job. Yeah, I know. I'm going to do it. 1130 at night, the dishes aren't done. How come you didn't do it? I'm about to do it. I'm about to do it. You wake up in the morning and it's still there.

How come you didn't do the dishes? I was about to do it. Then I had to do something and I fell asleep, but I mean to do it. Don't worry. Get off my back. Usually, a lot of times it's not no. It's usually delayed. It's delayed because we don't want to do it.

We don't want to do it now. Oftentimes, our disobedience is not expressed with, "No, God, I'm not going to do it. You are my Lord, but not now. Later." When I have more time, when the bills are paid, when my children are older, when I'm done with school, when I have more energy, it's usually later.

It's delayed. See, that's what he's addressing here. Disobedience, it'd be very easy to identify when somebody says, "No," because you're standing against God. If you've been raised in the church, you're not going to challenge God. You're smarter than that. We don't say no to God, not as Christians. We just say, "Later." In the end, later turns into disobedience.

If you look at it, remember, you don't need to turn your Bibles there, but remember the parable of the talents, where God gives this parable. Understand that this is one of the last parables that Jesus gives in his public ministry. He's already visited the temple. He's about to go to the cross.

He's only a few days away from being crucified. The last public address that he gives to the multitudes, one of the last parables that he gives is a parable of the talent, because he's preparing them for his departure. In that, he gives this parable of the talent, when he says he gave one servant five, and the other one two, and the other one one.

The one who will receive five, he invests it, and then he multiplies it. He comes back with another five, and he says, "I invested in this and this, and I give you this." The one with the two comes back, and then he says, "I multiply two. You gave me two, and I added the other two, and here it is back." The one with the one comes back, and all he did was bury it.

He buries it, and he comes back, and he gives it to him. The response that he gets from his lack of work, I want you to look at this. Matthew 25, 24-30. I'm going to read starting from verse 26. He said, "But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I scattered no seed.

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given and will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.'" So stop right there. So basically, you didn't do your job. I'm going to take what you have. I'm going to give it to the people who were faithful. But here's the part, how the end result of this servant.

"And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For why? Where is he headed? Where's the weeping and gnashing of teeth? He's talking about hell. He's talking about eternal judgment. So according to this parable, because he didn't do his job.

Now, if we're not careful, we can look at this and say, "You better get to it." Those of you who've been lazy, you're going to go to hell. If we're not careful, we can apply this and say, "Well, that's what the parable of the talents teach." Because he was lazy and he was slothful, he says there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I think we really need to understand this in context and who this man is. Because in verse 26, the reason why he gave, why he didn't do what he did was, he says, again, turn your Bibles, I don't think I have this up here, turn your Bibles to Matthew 25.

Okay? Go to that parable because I don't think I have the verse up here. In Matthew 25, verse 24 to 25, where this servant with the one talent, he gives the reason why he didn't invest. And he says, okay, Matthew 25, verse 24, "He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'" So the reason why he gives, why he didn't labor for the kingdom was your fault. Because you're an unfair man. It is wrong for you to expect me to labor.

And you are unfair and you're asking me to do something that is unfair, so therefore I didn't do it. So the description of this man is an unbeliever. He said the reason for his slothfulness, the reason for his laziness was because he didn't believe his master. So this is not a distinction between a Christian who is working hard and a Christian who didn't work hard enough.

He's talking about an individual who because of his unbelief, it led to his slothfulness. How much of our Christian life is the way it is because we do not believe? That we don't say no just in case. We definitely want insurance because justification by faith and faith alone, so we want to make sure we have enough insurance so that when we die that we're going to go to heaven, but the rest of our lives we don't pursue God.

We don't worship God. We don't obey God. Because all we are concerned about is insurance to get to heaven and the rest of it, I find life somewhere else. I want life in heaven when I die, but while I'm here I find life in anything else but God. It's an expression of his unbelief.

Turn with me again to Hebrews chapter 5. Turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 5. Those verses are going to be up behind me, so if you don't have the Bible you can just look behind me. So if you look at Hebrews chapter 5, here's a passage that a lot of people get confused about when we look at Hebrews chapter 6 where it talks about it's impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gifts and have shared the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

So people read that passage in Hebrews chapter 6, 4 through 6 and say, "Well, is he talking about a Christian losing his salvation?" Clearly, a one who has been justified by God's elect purpose cannot lose his salvation, so what is he talking about here? If you look at the previous verse in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 11 and on, it gives us a context of this.

Again, the most important part of understanding scripture is context. So in the context, remember who he's speaking to. He's speaking to second or third generation Hebrew Christians where their primary sin wasn't necessary that they rejected his blood, that they didn't believe in deity, like all of these things are mentioned in Hebrews, but their primary problem was they were just starting to drift back into their old life.

And so the argument that the author is making is the preciousness of Christ. How can you neglect such a great salvation? So in other words, how can you just nonchalantly just kind of drift back into your old ways? So look what he says in chapter 5, verse 11. He says, "About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing." That was their primary problem because they became lukewarm and they got tired and they got dull of hearing, so they have a lot of teaching in their head, but now they're not hearing anymore.

They're not growing. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." The reason why they became dull of hearing, though they have a lot of teaching in them or they didn't mature, is because they didn't constantly practice righteousness.

And they were beginning to drift back into their old life. It is in that context that Paul, I think it's Paul, but whoever wrote the book of Hebrew, is trying to tell the readers that apostasy is not something that they choose, at least not here. Apostasy was happening because they weren't paying attention.

They weren't fervent for God. They were being slothful and their hearts were becoming hardened. And as a result, verse 7 through 8, it says, "For land that has drunk the rain and often falls in it and produces a crop useful for those whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.

But after it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned." You've sat under the teaching. You have every opportunity to grow. You had fellowship. You have brothers and sisters around you. You had men and women to disciple you.

You had every opportunity to love people, to give, take care of the poor, to live in obedience and you had every opportunity. You were taught to do all of this stuff and yet you delayed. You were simply slothful and you've always said, "Not now. Maybe in the future. Maybe when the kids are older.

Maybe when I have more time. Maybe my job situation is more secure." And we always delay. And it says, "After you receive all of this and some bear fruit and those who don't bear fruit and it's not because you didn't have the opportunity." And usually it's not no, it's later.

See, in both situations, he's not talking about somebody who's outright rebelling against God, he's expressing his unbelief through delayed obedience. And then the next phrase that he says, the antithesis of that, is not to be slothful in our zeal and our passion for God, but he says, "Rather be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." Be fervent.

I want you to understand the language that he uses here. He doesn't just say, "You know what? Live in obedience and just be passionate about the things of God." The word for fervent here literally means to boil. It's a very descriptive word. To boil. So when you think of something boiling, it's not somebody who's just checking in and checking out of church.

It's not somebody who just kind of like, "Oh yeah, you know, 15 years ago I accepted Christ and I'm not like the pastors or the missionaries. I'm just an average churchgoer." And when somebody, anytime somebody says, "Oh, I'm just an average churchgoer," it's kind of like an excuse, like there's different levels of Christianity and it's just some pastors and some serious Christians have decided to be boiling for God and for the rest of us, not so much.

That's not a call for a few Christians. And it would only make sense that a reasonable response to the blood of Christ would be a fervor, a boiling over, because what he called us to is not simply not going to hell. The scripture says that he has come to give life and to give this life abundantly.

So it would only make sense that the blood of Christ that we profess to believe would result in a life that is boiling over for God. Fervent, passionate. That's why it says in Jeremiah 29, 13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Have we ever wondered why God doesn't seem to be answering our prayers?

Why it's so hard to read through scripture? Why the fellowship is not attracting? Maybe, maybe we're already fed with the things of this world and there's no appetite for it. Maybe we spend all our energy and all our fervor and all our might on something else and then we bring the leftover to God and wondering why God is not passionately doing what we desire him to be.

He said, "No, you will find me if you seek me with all your heart." Do you know that God may be waiting for you to make up your mind whether you're going to follow him or not? Isn't that exactly what Joshua says in 24? He's looking to Israelites who are giving sacrifices, who went through a battle, wandered through the desert, and at the end of his life he says, "Make up your mind for me and my household.

We will serve the Lord." He's not talking to idol worshippers. He's not talking to people who are chasing after pagan idols. He's talking about people who are constantly wavering back and forth based upon any trials and tribulation and temptation comes into their life and they choose whatever is the most convenient for them depending on the circumstance they're in and he says, "Choose.

Make up your mind." That's what it means to be boiling over in the Spirit in serving the Lord, to commit. When Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" in Mark chapter 12, 30 and 31, "Then you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." You probably heard sermons about what it means to love the Lord with your heart, with your mind, with your strength, and with your mind.

And all of these things are true. But the emphasis in these verses is not your mind, heart, strength. The emphasis is all. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. Because God gave all to us through his Son.

And so what he desires from us is worship. And worship by definition requires a boiling over. You guys watch the Super Bowl game. And you know, I was rooting for the Eagles, right? And I was rooting for the Eagles because we used to live there a long time ago.

We had about three, four years that we were in Philadelphia. So if I were going to choose any team, it would have been the Eagles. And then I found out that there are a lot of Christians there. I saw them praying before and then they were praying after and they're giving testimony.

It's like, of course, they're brothers. We're related. So I have to root for them, right? So some of you guys may have watched the football and I heard some of you guys saying, "Oh, who do you root for?" It's like, I don't know, but I hate the Patriots, right?

So you were rooting against the Patriots, not necessarily for the Eagles. So you had various reasons. So when they won, you know, different people celebrated differently, right? And I was happy, but I wasn't elated because I didn't really follow football and I don't have a jersey. So I kind of watched it and I said, "Oh, I'm going to choose the Eagles because it just makes sense to me." And some of you guys were passionate about it, like really passionate about it, right?

And the different levels of passion is related to how much time you devoted to watching the game and following the team and what kind of connection do you have and how much devotion you had. And so some of you have been fans for over a decade, maybe longer than that, and you've been watching and Eagles never won a game.

So you went through the ups and downs, went to the Super Bowl and didn't win. So you went through all that drama. You invested so much in that. So when they finally won, you say, "Yes! We won!" So, you know, we all celebrated, but we had different degrees of celebration, right?

But all of it was a genuine response of worship, right? A genuine response of worship. Our devotion to God, our devotion to God must reflect what He has done. Our devotion to God, it has to. It only makes sense that if what we are celebrating is a sacrifice of His only begotten Son, He who knew no sin became sin, that we may experience the righteousness of God.

And that is what we are celebrating. That is what we are worshiping. That what we do and how we do must reflect that intensity. So it only makes sense that God requires not checking in and checking out, not reading up Scripture, not to say, "Oh, I prayed five minutes or ten minutes," but a boiling over in the Holy Spirit.

A boiling over. That's what He wants, and that's what He deserves, and that's the only reasonable response when we truly understand what it is that we are worshiping. John 2.17, John the Baptist says, "His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" He's referring to Jesus at the temple.

The disciples saw Jesus gentle. See, young children come and say, "Hey, don't block them from coming." He was so gentle with them. He had prostitutes coming and begging for forgiveness, and He was so gracious and loving. Glass collectors that everybody wanted killed. They wanted to pick up stones and just kill them, and the Jewish community would have just dragged them out on the street and just left them alone.

But Jesus makes them His disciples. He was probably the most gentle, gracious man that they've ever met, and yet when He goes to the temple, not only that He's flipped over tables, He's actually making whip, and He's starting whipping people out of His temple. It was a scene they probably weren't used to seeing of Jesus.

It was afterwards, as they were meditating and thinking, the disciples quote a prophecy about His Son, and they remembered, it says, that "Zeal for your house will consume Him." Consume Him. If we are the body of Christ, and He is the head, and the Scripture says that He is consumed for His house, it only makes sense.

He says, "Do not be slothful in zeal, but be consumed to be filled, to be passionate, to boil over in the Spirit in serving the Lord." That our Christianity is not just something that we do. That the love that we practice, the grace that we are under, is not just something that we do.

I'm a father. I'm a son. I'm a friend. I'm a pastor. And I have all these identities. And a child of God is not just one of them. A worshiper of God is not just one of many identities. That is who I am. And everything else is consumed under that.

To boil over, there's nothing more important than a reasonable response to God. Benjamin Franklin, who many historians say he was not a Christian, and I don't think there's any debate over that, and a lot of his helpers watched him attend George Whitefield's revivals. And they asked him, "You're not a believer, but why do you keep going to his rallies?" And his response, he confessed that he often went to hear George Whitefield because he could watch him burn before his very eyes.

Whether Benjamin Franklin believed it or not, he knew that George Whitefield did. And he was attracted to a man who absolutely believed what he was preaching, even if he didn't believe it. I was thinking about Apostle Paul's ministry. You know, I've been in ministry, I started when I was 20.

I probably started earlier than I should have, but I've been in ministry about 30 years. And I was thinking about Apostle Paul's ministry. He came to Christ when he was about 30 years old. He, obviously, he evangelized and he did various things, but his official ministry didn't start. This three missionary journeys in the Book of Acts doesn't start until he's about 42 years old.

There's about a 12-year gap before he's a Christian, and then he actually begins to do official ministry, where he's sent out by the Church of Antioch. He is martyred at the age of 61. At the end of his third missionary journey, he goes to Rome and he gets carried out.

Eventually he is jailed, and then he is beheaded and he dies. So his active ministry, official ministry, lasted 19 years. 19 years this man traveled over continents, not cities, continents, between Jerusalem to Turkey to Rome, three times around. And even when he was sitting in prison, he's writing letters to make sure that he makes the most of his time.

You talk about a man consumed by the things of God. This man was consumed in 19 years. And I keep thinking about, I've been in ministry for 30 years, and sometimes it's tiring. I think about Apostle Paul, like, wow, he did this in 19 years. All the churches that he established.

Everywhere he preached, everywhere he went, this was a man who was consumed by the things of God. So when he writes these words to boil over in the Spirit, I mean, that's him. That's Apostle Paul. You know, this week, myself and Pastor Mark and Pastor Nate, we were at a Steve Lawson's Expositors Conference.

Basically it was like a room full of pastors, about a small group, about 50 of us. And Steve Lawson started out the half day on Monday, and then all day Tuesday, and then half day on Wednesday. So he gave probably a total of maybe about, I think about 10 messages in those two days, two full days, if you count it.

And the whole time, I was thinking, there's nothing that necessarily he said was brand new to me. But I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind that this 67-year-old man was standing there for six, seven hours straight, teaching the Word of God. And he revealed to us his preaching schedule.

And he said he was on the road for eight months, traveling all over the world. And the whole time I'm thinking how time was just go to India. People keep asking me, "Are you over it yet? Are you over it yet?" It's like, "No, I need a couple more months." And I keep thinking, "Man, this guy is 67 years old, and sometimes he's preaching 20, 30 hours a week." And the whole time I was thinking, "How is this guy doing this?" At 67, you think, "Just relax.

Write some books." You know what I mean? And the whole time I just kept on thinking, "This guy is being spent for God's kingdom. He's being spent." It's almost like he's trying to die on the pulpit. I was just not necessarily what he said, just watching him at work.

And then he said he's an introvert, and it's like, "Can you be an introvert and do what you're doing?" And then in between the breaks, he would sit there and he said he loves football. He was a jock. And then he said, "I know what happened, the Super Bowl, and I loved it, and I watched the game." And I think he said he was rooting for the Eagles.

But he said, "In between break, don't ask me about that. We're only here for two days. So I would love to talk to you about that, but we only have short time. So when you come, ask me about ministry. Ask me about sermons. Ask me about what I said.

So I want to engage you." So that's exactly what he did. Every break we had. I couldn't even say hi to him because he was always talking to people, and I didn't want to be that guy. You know what I mean? So I was just like, "Okay, he's busy enough as it is." But the whole time I was just thinking and just challenged, not necessarily what he said, what he's doing.

He's being spent. He's boiling over for God. Again, for me as a younger pastor, it was challenging to me just to be in that. Jonathan Edwards is a guy that I think most Americans and even outside of America will believe that probably the greatest theologian that modern Christianity has produced.

As a young man, he said he was resolved to live with all my might while I do live. Resolved never to lose one moment of time, but improve it the most profitable way that I possibly can. Resolved to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better.

The temptation for us is to be casual because we're in Orange County. We can worship God, church, give, fellowship, all without any sacrifice. All without any sacrifice. We can choose an easy road that is broad and not narrow and still be in the church, still be active, still be giving.

So our temptation is to be lackadaisical. Is to just be nonchalant in our walk with God. We worship, no sense of urgency. We pray, which is something that we need to do. We study the Bible, but it's not something that we must do. It's just something that's good if you did do it.

See, in Ecclesiastes 9.10, and let me conclude with this. He said, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going." Our life is short. And you'll hear that over and over again, and probably you already feel that.

Our life is short. We're like a mist. And the psalmist says, "Help me, Lord, to count my days." Why does he say that? It's not because he's morbid. It's not because he likes thinking about his death. It's so that he can recognize that the time that we have is short, that I would use it wisely to pursue and invest in things that have eternal value.

Not things that you're going to enjoy for the moment, and then a year later look back and say, "Wow, that was a waste." But to be consumed with the things of God. To give to Him not just some, but all of it. If you don't understand who God is, you may listen to that and say, "Wow, what a burden.

What a burden. Life is hard enough as it is." And we come to church and you say, "You're not doing enough. Do more." You can easily hear that if you don't know who He is. Scripture says that He has come to give life and to give this life abundantly.

The life He's describing there, Zoe, is about joy. It's about life. It's about Sabbath that was lost at the fall. And the whole purpose of salvation is to restore that Sabbath, to give us this rest. And so the challenge to be fervent and to be passionate and to be boiling over, it is not a challenge for difficulty.

It is an invitation to live. Because real life is found at the center of His will. Real joy. Not this fake joy that you experience for a moment and then have to repeat it over and over again. Not this you travel one time and you come back longing to do more and you have to do over and over again.

He says, "The water I give you will well up into eternal life and he who drinks of it will never thirst. The bread that you eat, you will eat and you will be hungry again. But the bread that I give you will well up in you eternal life." So the challenge that He has to not to be slothful in zeal, but to boil over in the Holy Spirit in serving the Lord is an invitation to live.

To really live in Christ. I pray that our Lord would open our eyes and give us faith to see who He really is. That the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we had a glimpse of would continue to be opened. That He would draw people to Himself.

Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and find rest in Christ. Would you take a minute to pray with me again as we ask our worship team to come and lead us? Again, take some time to pray. You don't have to be articulate. You don't have to be, have to have long theological prayers.

Just be honest even if it is a short prayer. I believe, help my unbelief. Have you been delaying your obedience? Have you just been nonchalantly walking and drifting toward the world? Hear the voice of God inviting you to His presence. To live, to really live. What have you been holding on to that's preventing you from this life?

Ask the Lord for His help. Again, as our worship team leads us, let's take some time in honest prayer. >> Thank you.