Latest / Wesley at FSU & TSC / "How To Be A Person :: Steal Back Your Zeal" | Sunday Service | October 18th, 2026

Transcript

"How To Be A Person :: Steal Back Your Zeal" | Sunday Service | October 18th, 2026 · Wesley at FSU & TSC

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to continue our sermon series this morning called How to Be a Person.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm titling this week's Steal Back Your Zeal.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to turn to the person next to you and say, Steal Back Your Zeal.
• 1:16
  unknown: Steal Back Yal.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're pulling this entire sermon series about how to be a person.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And by this I mean how to be the people that God wants us to be from the 12th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you have been here in the past, uh you've heard me say this, but I'm going to share it, especially if you're new.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: For the first 11 chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans, he just pours out some of the richest, most helpful theology about who God is and what God has done for us.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about all of the things that we now consider like basics of church, including baptism and grace and sanctification.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: He does an amazing job of laying all that out.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I told you in the past, if you want to just dive into that, I would encourage you to start with Romans 8 and Romans 9.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's some of the richest stuff.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you though, you need to set aside some time because Paul's language is deep and thick.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need to get through that.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of 11, he kind of celebrates and worships, and then he makes this change in Romans 12, where he says, Therefore, because of God's mercies, I urge you to so and so and so.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that he says is that you should present your body, your whole self, as a living sacrifice.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, say it like you actually believe it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Living, yes, yes, that is holy and pleasing to God, he says.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed, yes, by the renewing of your mind.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: These are the first two verses in Romans 12.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to read all of that together.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back to Romans uh 12, verse 1.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hear now the reading of God's word.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, brothers and sisters, because of God's mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is your appropriate priestly service.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you can figure out what God's will is, what is good and pleasing and mature.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each of you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each of you.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: We have many parts in one body.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that before?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the parts don't all have the same function.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: In the same way, though we are many of us, we are one body in Christ.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And individually we belong to each other.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have different gifts that are consistent with God's grace that has been given to us.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: If your gift is service, devote yourself to serving.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouraging.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The one giving should do it with no strings attached.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: The leader should lead with passion.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: The one showing mercy should be cheerful.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And now you should start paying attention if you drift it off, because this is where we're going today.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Love should be shown without pretending.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hate evil.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on to what is good.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Love each other like the members of your family.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Be the best at showing honor to each other.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate to be enthusiastic.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Be happy in your hope.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Stand before ground when you're in trouble and devote yourselves to prayer.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Contribute to the needs of God's people and welcome strangers into your home.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: The word of God for the people of God.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray over the preaching of God's word.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh God, your word is a lamp into our feet, and it's a light to our path.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: May it speak to us and speak through us for the establishment of your kingdom on this earth.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts who are gathered here be acceptable only in your sight and in your sight alone.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because you are our rock, you're our redeemer, and we love you.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: We love you because you first loved us.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: We pray this in your holy and precious name.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: I want to start with a confession this morning.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I this is not gonna be surprising.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am a millennial.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: When I go to take a video, there's a significant pause before I start talking.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's legit.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned to cut it out because Gen Z told me I was unk.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because of that, I am not addicted to the same apps on the phone that you are.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am addicted to apps on the phone.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a different set of apps.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: If Instagram disappeared tomorrow, I would probably think about like what Wesley's gonna do, but I would not personally care at all.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like I forget about that app so much.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have Snapchat installed on my phone.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And mostly as I was speaking at this Christian tech thing about 10 years ago, and I had a Snapchat account, and I made the mistake of putting the QR code up on the screen.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then for the next like forever, I would just get pictures of people's like ceiling fans with the word streaks written on it.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever had.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I deleted it and I've never re-downloaded it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: However, I am so addicted to Facebook, bro.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've gone through these like these moments of sanctification where I've deleted that thing, and like and I just keep coming back to it.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mostly, and you're gonna laugh, Facebook reels.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Which means that I see the same content you see, but like six months later, you know what I mean?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like you guys see it on TikTok and Instagram, and then I see it a lot later.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: YouTube Shorts, that's my jam, bro.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so lame.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I've done recently.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've been uh scrolling, as you do, and bookmarking as you do.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: LK's like, we don't bookmark, bro.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a very helpful tool, okay?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as I'm bookmarking, uh, you know, the algorithm gets that, and so it starts to feed you more of the same thing.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's so bad.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing I've been really addicted to recently, and this is exactly how old I am, is cooking, particularly for families of four for less than$25.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the coolest thing in the world.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, hey, here's a here's a crock pot meal for$25.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, that looks delicious, right?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I bookmark it and then I save it, and I'm like, I'm gonna make so many meals.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing this about six months.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: How many meals of the years do you think I've made?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Zero, not a single one.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I got them saved.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like when the time comes, I'm gonna do it, you know.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just never have this like scroll economy that you're we're all like forced upon.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's got us in this habit of seeing things we want to do, having the toxic trait of teaching ourselves or convincing ourselves that we can do that thing, and then never ever doing that thing.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I'm saying?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is how that we we save all that stuff, we'll share that stuff.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: This will change your life.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: One time when I was first out of when I first married, and you know, you're in your first new apartment, and you're you're wanting to be as organized as possible.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to the container store.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever heard of the container store?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Went to the container, I was like, this place is awesome.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: All they sell is containers.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I had seen this is before shorts and stuff, but I had seen videos of people who were so immaculately organized that they took everything and put it into a container and then like a hard like printed label on it, right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then their closets looked like they could be in magazines.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that's going to be me.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it never was.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Never one time, never one time.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I should just accept my disorganization as a trait of who I am, and I should live into who I am.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am who you say I am, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But like, man, we are so good at like desiring to do a thing, wanting to do a thing, even seeing the step-by-step instructions on how to do a thing, and then proceeding to never do that thing.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would venture to say that that has crept into our faith life as well.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: We want to do all of the things that we feel like we should do.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: We see people on the on the scrolling in that same fashion of like, I need to read my scriptures every day, I need to pray every day, I need to go to church more often, blah, blah, blah.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually what happens is you just don't do that thing.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Here's Paul.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start in verse nine.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to go back through it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Love should be shown without pretending.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hate evil, hold on to what's good.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Love each other like members of your family.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be the best at showing honor to each other.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate to be enthusiastic.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate to be enthusiastic, be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you brought your own Bible, you might be seeing a phrase there that's pretty common in this translation to say, do not lag in zeal.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Zeal.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do not lag in zeal.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Some translations will put it in this more feasible way, this more readable way.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate to be enthusiastic.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But most of the translations say, do not lag in zeal.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I gotta tell you, when I hear the word zeal, that is like such a church word.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: How many think about how many times outside of the church you've ever heard the word zeal?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I went to Starbucks this morning and I ordered the thing, and the lady was very nice as she was taking my order.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But that barista, like if I had told you that that barista made my coffee with zeal, you would look at me like I'm crazy, right?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: But this is that's the that's the word that's used here.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we often use it to describe what Jesus does as being a zealot or we somebody who's really hard after something, they're really zealous toward this.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's how we often describe it, but it is often a religious term.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So can we go back through the Greek for a second?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now listen, I asked the teaching team, I was like, are we doing too much Greek?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do we put too much in it?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And they were like, No.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't like it, you can take it up with them, not with me.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: The word, the word for zeal that Paul uses is actually only used three times.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: He uses it twice, twice in Romans 12, and then once in 2 Corinthians.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the only times he uses it.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be hard for us to define.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: The word the Greek word is spude, say spude.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty good.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way that we know to define it in this context is earnestness or diligence.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think we could probably define it as like to care enough about something to actually do something about it.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's not just like knowing it, believing it, wanting to do it.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually going and doing that thing.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Zeal.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Zeal.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I might even put it this way because of the way Paul frames it.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read it again.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Whitney, well, you don't have to put it back up there, but I just called her Whitney for the first time in my life.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wit.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you don't you don't have to put it uh back up there, but love should be shown without pretending.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hate evil, hold on to what is good.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Love each other like the members of your family.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Be the best at showing honor to each other.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Don't lag in zeal, be on fire as you serve the Lord.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So might I define zeal even in this way?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: To put your love that you received from God and therefore bring to the world into action.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Zeal.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Zeal.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: We had this big discussion this week, a few of us, about what zeal looks like.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I think it's really easy for us to define zeal as like big and bold and loud and like expansive, you know, in the modern church, like we're talking about the hands raised, we're talking about the word the moving body, we're talking about all of this, like that is a really zealous way to go after the Lord.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm with you on that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes it's hard for us to define it in such a big way because is it true that people express themselves in different ways?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is it true that people can uh intimately respond to the Lord and to each other in different ways that look very different?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up as a worship leader, and when I was in high school, my friend TJ and I had this little band, and we would go around the little church youth groups.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: We went to this church youth group, it was right around the corner from our high school, actually, and uh we were told we were doing this youth event, and more older people showed up than youth.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it was a great time, and we led these songs, and we had a pastor who was preaching, and it was a great gathering together.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: But there was one lady who sat on the back row, I mean the back row, and she sat very much like this the whole time, and I was like, We're up there with drums and a guitar, and I'm thinking, oh, I don't know what I did, I don't know what we said, I don't know how music shifted and changed.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I get that, but we just we had ruined her day.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: You could tell.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you see it on their face?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: She comes up to me afterward, and I am starting to wonder, like, what's she going to say?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those moments where sometimes this happens when you're a pastor and you're starting to read the room a little bit, and somebody comes up after service, and you're like, Oh Lord, what am I about to be in?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and she came up and she shook my hand and she said, That's the closest I've felt to the Lord in a long time.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to say, well, you could have told your face, you know.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: But really, I think the truth is people can be passionate and put their love into action in very different ways.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: What did Paul talk about earlier on?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: He talked about being different parts of the same body, right?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: He talked about being uh, if you're gonna be the hand, be the hand.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the hand doesn't sit down there and say, hey, foot, like how you doing, right?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: The hand is actually moving, doing things, and yet it is different than the work of the foot, and it's different than the work of the brain, and it's different than the work of the hair, and it's different than every other piece of your body, but it is in motion, it just feels, acts differently.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want to give you is just a little bit of a warning to say that zeal is not necessarily this, just like I have to go after it, I have to do.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I want you though to see that people express zealousness in different ways.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: The question is, how does it get framed?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what Paul says here is don't hesitate to be enthusiastic, be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Be on fire in the spirit as you serve the Lord.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see the way he's framing it there?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: What is the purpose in your zealousness?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's the purpose and your enthusiasm?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just for performance or show?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is it just for so that I can be the biggest and that everybody's looking at me and I am super zealous?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is that it?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it perhaps that it's to serve the Lord as a part of the body?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I would argue that it is.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: The serve the Lord.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Last week I encouraged you to think about what gifts you have.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I encourage you, like, hey, some of you have gifts that you have just not put into motion yet.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was so encouraged at the end of the service how many people came up and they're like, hey, I really have these gifts with this, and I would love to do this.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like person after person after person.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I wish I had preached this a month and a half ago.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like there's so many gifts that you have to give to the congregation, to the church, to the Lord, that you could bring those and put those into action.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: You could do it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so we need to give you a space to do that, but you see, you do it in service to the Lord, to serve the Lord, zeal, faith put into action to serve the Lord.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Be happy in your hope, he says.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Stand your ground when you're in trouble.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Devote yourselves to prayer, all things he wants you to do, attitudes he wants you to have.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, contribute to the needs of God's people and welcome strangers into your home.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: The residential staff here will tell you that I have one phrase that is a pretty quick way to find a new place to live around here.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it is, anybody want to tell me?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's not my job.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I swear, the first time somebody ever in seriousness says that to me.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's gonna be a bad day.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's not my job.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it true though that we often all do that when it comes to things at church?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I see it all the time in church.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a new person walks in.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: We want to we just talked about being uh an inclusive and welcoming space.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: We and but we have a new person who comes in, and uh perhaps you're that new person and you're thinking he's talking about me right now, that's okay.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you walk in, and uh a whole bunch of people see you walk in, but they're in the middle of their conversation.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so that conversation over here doesn't happen.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what often happens, we often tell ourselves the thing.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody else will do it.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody else will do it.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's often what we say to ourselves.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody else will do it.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, that really does need to be done.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't believe me, just think for a second about the dishes in your kitchen.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: You apartment goers.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody else will do it.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I've learned in my marriage?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody else is gonna do it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just think to yourself, oh yeah, yeah, that needs that definitely needs that.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, those are gross.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: That really sucks for the person who's gonna clean it.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: What if that person were you?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of jobs in the residential step that are not that fun, to be honest with you.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: The sign one's kind of fun.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh big big props to the yik-yak, uh virality of last week's sign.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: We got a good one planned for tomorrow.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a lot of thankless jobs though in the world, aren't there?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of like we have a couple of people who clean the floor twice a week in this building.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: We have somebody who takes out the trash in this building, and believe me, it's gross.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, amen.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot about the people upstairs.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: You guys don't know it, but there's uh 22 feet in the air up, it's really like 17 and a half.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's people up there, there's four people up there that are helping to serve something that you hopefully will never see.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Eli is serving in the front of the house this morning, he's doing audio.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Sydney is doing audio for the live stream.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Will Shortle for the very first time is on cameras, and we have such camera problems this morning.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not Will's fault.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Will's doing a great job up there, and Wit's doing the slides up here.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking, like, their whole goal is that you never see them.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Their whole goal is that you never realize that they're there, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's how you know that they're doing what they're doing well.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, whatever those gifts are that you were mentioned to yourself last week, I want to do this and I should do this and I should do this.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: How much of a tragedy will it be if we just said, well, somebody else will do it?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to start that small group, I don't want to do that book study, somebody else will do it.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or like Bryant should do that.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Bryant needs more things to do.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like what if your response is to be enthusiastic, to put your love and your faith into action?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: What if your response is to steal back your zeal?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is that got in the way, whatever it is that like.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: made you lazy in that way whatever it is that like ah I just that I don't they don't want me to do that no no no no no no no no no no steal it back take it back your zeal put your love into action spoodet some of you are wondering how to do that in your life may I suggest maybe some things that he mentions here be happy in your hope when you're in trouble stand your ground devote yourself to prayer contribute to the needs of God's people and welcome strangers into your home contribute to the needs of God's people I happened to know one way that you could do that this week and it's actually pretty timely because we're packing the bags next week but there we have a uh a bin over there and actually if you could go back and put that it's probably gonna mess up this the lights there's a slide up here uh for the how the kits that we are putting together oh yeah there it is um for the unhoused in this area one of a lot of you have shared that like if you pull up to a a a stop sign or a red light or something and there's somebody in the corner looking for money and you typically don't have any money because I know you know you're college students uh you need something to hand them need something to give them may I suggest that like you might be have an unhoused kit that you just keep in your car and you may hand it because it has things that they need in them it has food it has uh water bottles it has band-aids it has deodorant and toothbrush and toothpaste things that they don't have and you do you have in superfluous supply perhaps there's a way to give all that you can to the needy in this way and guess what if you bring it in this week or you bring it in next Sunday we're gonna pack the bags next Sunday afternoon and my goal is to have so many that we are begging for more people to take them that's a way in which you can be zealous and steal back your zeal enthusiastically few of you are like I I get that I get that I just got too much on my heart and my mind do you know what I mean I got too much on my heart and my mind got too much going on somebody else will get that done somebody else will do it.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it it's hard especially in college when you're trying to manage all these new things in your life I get it I get it I want to remind you that it would not be good enough for me just to say particularly in a Christian sermon just to say just do better bro you know that's never what this has been like I want you to see what he says multiple times in the beginning of chapter 12.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So brothers and sisters he says because of God's mercies because of what?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: God's mercies because of God's grace he says I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice if you're hearing that you're thinking there's no way that I can do that.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's got to be somebody else's job no no no steal back your zeal my friends I encourage you to present your body I can't do that well how am I gonna do that?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well because of God's mercies don't be conformed to the patterns of this world that's real hard.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God's will is what is good and pleasing and mature and then to start three he says because of the grace that God gave me I can say to each one of you he says I can't do this alone I only can do it by the grace of God so might you be your prayer this week be God I want to be on fire for you and if that means raising my raising my arms in worship amen if that means helping my neighbor amen if that means pulling somebody into the community on the volleyball court amen God but I I don't have the courage to do it myself I don't have the time to do it myself God I'm tired I'm overwhelmed I have this like intermittent got delayed because of the hurricane God I'll do it next week you know what though somebody else that that guy over there he's really good at talking to people I don't need to do that might your prayer be God grant me your grace grant me your mercy to do even the impossible to do even the things that I can't do.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's only by God's grace that we can take back the zeal that's been given to us