Good morning everyone, welcome to Faith Ward Baptist Church, great to see you all here
for our Sunday morning service.
If you'd all please have a seat, grab a hymnal, and open up that hymnal to song number 33.
We begin this morning's service by singing song number 33, Christ the Lord.
Praise him today.
Hallelujah, sons of many angels sing, Hallelujah.
Praise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah.
Sing the old hymn, whose words we love, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, the King of Hallelujah, where all death is now I see, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, the King of Hallelujah, where I may truly obey, Hallelujah.
Let's redeem him from this war, Hallelujah.
On earth like the bathroom wall, Hallelujah.
Let him reign for peace and Christ, Hallelujah.
Christ has only ever lost, Hallelujah.
To me now where Christ has laid, Hallelujah.
Holy, glory, soul to give, Hallelujah.
Let him reign for peace and Christ, Hallelujah.
Christ has only ever lost, Hallelujah.
Amen.
Thank you, Father God, for this day. Thank you so much for this morning's service.
We ask you to please receive our praise and glory unto you.
And we can give you all the thanks and bless this morning's service.
In Jesus' mighty name, amen.
Let's turn our handles to song number 10.
Song number 10, the Earth Cross.
Song number 10.
Jesus, lead me near the cross,
Where the precious mountain
Raises on the healing stream,
And flows from Calvary's mountain.
In the cross, with the Christ,
Meet thy glory ever,
Till thy precious soul shall find,
Rest beyond the blind.
Here the cross, a gently sown,
All thy mercy fairly,
Hail, O God, and glory strong,
Gentle dreams around me.
In the cross, with the Christ,
Meet thy glory ever,
Till thy precious soul shall find,
Rest beyond the wind.
Here the cross, O ever done,
Bring this sea before thee,
Everyone from day to day,
In these shadows of glory.
In the cross, with the Christ,
Meet thy glory ever,
Till thy precious soul shall find,
Rest beyond the river,
Here the cross, a watching wave,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till thy peace turn home and stand,
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, with the Christ,
Meet thy glory ever,
Till thy precious soul shall find,
Rest beyond the river.
Amen. This time we'll go over the announcements.
The column will be sitting somewhere over 56.
Alright, if you need a bulletin, go ahead and slip up your hand,
and Brother Fabian will bring you one.
As always, in our upper left-hand side,
we have the service times listed there every Sunday at 10 30 a.m.
Again at 5 30 p.m.
Thursdays at 7, we're going through 2 Kings,
we'll be in chapter number 3 this week.
And then before I forget,
I've been wanting to mention this last Sunday,
and I just got through the announcements,
so I don't have a note in here,
but do pray for Brother Adam and Miss Grace, his mother.
People have been asking,
and I'm sure he doesn't mind me sharing this,
I know he's been asking for prayer and things like that,
but just so everyone knows,
his mother has come home this last week.
But she's come home to hospice,
and if you know what hospice is,
that's basically you go home to die.
So, praise God she saved, praise God she was somebody who,
with the time that she had, was serving God,
and can still be a light out there.
I'm not exactly, you know,
know what condition she's in right now.
Last I heard, she's still coherent,
and things like that, she's still talking.
So she still has an opportunity to be a great light,
a great witness for Christ,
and just pray for her that that process is peaceful,
and comfortable, and that she has that peace of God
that passeth all understanding,
and knowing where she's going.
We can talk a big game about going on to see the Lord,
and how I'm ready to go,
but when we're actually facing that,
it's a natural thing for us to fear,
and to be reluctant maybe.
So pray for her that God dispels that,
and just gives her peace as she goes through this,
and pray for brother Adam, and his family,
that they're comforted through this time,
and that they also can use this to the glory of God.
So I did want to mention that,
so that's what's going on there,
do keep them in prayer.
And then we've got the salvation, the baptisms,
the offering totals, as well as the attendance there.
Over on the right hand side, don't forget,
next Sunday, it's only one week away,
my stomach's already rumbling,
I'm already, can't wait to be preaching,
and smelling the meats, cooking,
the smell of it wafting in here,
and making you all salivate,
and say hurry up and get done preaching,
so we can eat, right?
You might not be saying that though,
because we're going to have
Deacon Oliver and Godzillas preaching for us,
so you might be just saying,
hey, hold off on the meat, let the man preach, okay?
So he's going to come preach for us,
both services, don't forget the 3.30 is moving up,
there's going to be the potluck in between,
so we won't be doing any of the soul winning next week.
Now obviously if people want to go out,
there's maps available, I can,
just don't expect me to go out,
I'm going to be sitting back and enjoying myself,
but that's always, of course it's not off limits,
but just keep that in mind,
and then also there's still that sign up sheet back there,
and if you're able to bring something,
be it a side, a dish, or dessert,
or all three, please sign up,
and make sure you read the list too,
before you commit to what you're going to bring.
This always reminds me of an incident
in my old church in Michigan,
where the pastor was upset,
because he put out a sign up sheet,
and everyone brought meatballs,
and I was a single guy,
and I'm just like, meatballs,
because as the bachelor of the church,
I always got the leftovers,
and I was eating meatballs for days after that,
but he was upset, and what was he upset about?
That there was a sign up sheet,
I don't know if it was nobody signed up,
or if everybody just wrote meatballs,
but it went down in the books,
it was a moment in our church,
so I don't care, if we have an excess of macaroni salad,
I love macaroni salad,
and I might be married,
but that old bachelor still lives within,
and he's more than happy to take home some macaroni salad,
and chew on that as well,
but just keep that in mind as you're signing up,
if you're able to bring something,
that's just there,
so everybody can kind of get an idea of what's coming,
but I'm not that picky, I won't get that upset,
but also we're not gonna cancel the donuts,
now you think oh we're having the potluck,
surely we're not gonna have donuts,
yes we are,
I'm not gonna jip the September birthday people,
you're still gonna get your sugar shock before,
perk you up,
so come out at 10 a.m. early,
get those donuts,
get the coffee in honor of those
celebrating their birthday in the month of September,
remember if your anniversary or birthday
was not included last year,
and you haven't gotten me that information,
you need to get that to me,
otherwise it won't be listed,
also we're starting a new weekly Bible memory,
it doesn't say weekly Bible memory verse,
because we're doing something a little different,
and this is part one of seven,
and what we're gonna do is we're gonna memorize
the Old Testament books,
but in addition to that,
because there's probably a lot of young people in the room
that have already got,
excuse me I said New Testament,
the Old Testament books memorized,
but do you know how many chapters are in each book,
and I think that's kind of useful information to know,
and it makes it a little bit more challenging
for those of you that might already have this memorized,
so if you already have the books down,
well now let's add how many chapters per book,
so we're gonna break this up,
I'm not gonna lay it on you at once,
but some weeks will have more books than others,
but we're just gonna start out with the first five here,
Genesis 50, Exodus 40, Leviticus 27,
Numbers 36, Deuteronomy 34,
so start working on that,
children and young people,
so that next week you can come in
and tell us the first five books of the Bible,
and how many chapters are in each book,
and you just say it just like it's written,
Genesis 50, Exodus 40, Leviticus 27, Numbers 36,
now there is an exception,
because I understand that this is,
you're thinking oh I got this,
this is more difficult than you might think,
to keep numbers and words associated,
it's a little bit more difficult,
maybe it's just me, I don't know,
but maybe I have the mind of an eight year old,
I don't know, but I have a little asterisk there,
that says children under eight may memorize the books only,
so if you're eight years old or younger,
you don't have to memorize the chapter,
now remember that's your age, not your shoe size,
I wanna make that clear,
so if you're eight years old or younger,
you can memorize just the books,
everybody nine and above, chapters two,
and by the way, you might not get an ice cream bar
adults for doing this, no one's gonna give you a reward,
but knowing this could be its own reward,
if you're beyond the age,
if you're not a minor and you're not gonna get
the ice cream bar out of the fridge for doing this,
it's still a very useful thing to know how many chapters
are in these books, and it's especially helpful
if you've never memorized the books of the Bible,
to take the time to figure out,
that's gonna help you in coming to church
and your own personal Bible reading,
if you ever preach one day and you gotta prepare sermons,
you know where things are,
so go ahead and do that if you haven't done it,
and you can just, the Lord will bless you for it instead.
On the back, don't forget to come help us celebrate
the graduation of Abby and Robert Martinez
on Saturday, September 10th at 1 p.m.,
so if you can make it out, we'd love to have you out,
and there'll be carne asada from Juanitos over here,
and the rice, so we'll have a main,
church will also provide a sheet cake,
and then if anyone wants to bring sides,
they can sign up, and if you're gonna come,
even if you're not gonna bring anything,
if you could sign up, that would be very appreciated,
because that way we know how much food to order, okay?
The last thing I wanna do is not have enough carne asada
for a bunch of Tucsonians, you know,
things get ugly, it'd be our first church split, right?
And then below that, kind of in that same vein,
there's the baby shower coming up in September,
so these first three weeks are gonna be busy,
but that's good, that's what I want,
and we're gonna have a baby shower
in honor of Kami Ellingson on Saturday,
September 17th from two to five,
so there's also, I just put up a sign-up sheet for that,
ladies, if you could, again, this is for ladies only,
I'm just gonna give that caveat, you know,
because these young dudes are gonna hear,
oh, there's food there, I could stand a baby shower,
you know, well, you're not invited,
and if you show up, you'll be turned away, okay?
But ladies, do please sign up,
there's a sign-up sheet back there,
there's two columns, you only need to use the one,
just your name, there's an example of my wife's name
and how many children are coming with her,
so just your name and how many people are coming with you,
that way, again, so we can get an idea
of what's needed for the event, so please do that.
Also, don't forget the QR code if you want to scan that
and take advantage of the gift registry on Amazon,
I'm sure that'd be appreciated.
Also, on the last announcement there, Sunday morning,
I'm starting a new Sunday morning series,
and I'm putting this in the bulletin
because I really want to encourage people
to come out and listen to this series
because I'm planning over the next several months
to preach several sermons during the Sunday mornings
that I think are gonna be very important for our church.
If you consider this your church,
if this is your church home,
and if you invest in this church,
if you care about this church,
I would really just emphasize
that you should try to make a point
of being here every Sunday morning,
which we try to do anyway,
but I understand things comes up like that,
but if you're somebody who's just kind of wishy-washy
about your church attendance,
I'd really appreciate it if you could make it out
for this series.
This series is gonna lead into another series
that I have planned out,
but we're gonna be preaching Our Vision for 2023,
and you say, wait, it's September,
and you're talking about 2023?
Here's the thing.
I don't wanna go into 2023
and then figure out what we're gonna do.
I wanna start to lay the groundwork for 2023,
and I don't wanna start preaching a sermon right now,
but I feel like, but I am going to a little bit,
but I feel like our church is at a place
where it's grown to a place
where it's gone through some things
where having a vision is gonna be
very important moving forward,
and people are gonna have to start
really asking themselves
what do they want out of this church?
What are they willing to give to this church?
What are we expecting from this church as a body?
So again, I don't wanna start,
I don't wanna steal my thunder here,
but we're gonna begin by going through our vision,
just kind of looking at where we've been,
where we are, and where, of course,
most importantly, where we would like to be.
So if you can make it out for that series,
I'd really appreciate it,
and then don't forget also the song list
for the upcoming week is listed there.
You got Thursday songs, Sundays,
a.m. and p.m. listed there as well.
I didn't have room for the QR code,
but hopefully everyone knows
where to get that at this point.
If you don't, come see me.
That will do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song
before any of the preaching this morning.
Song number 56,
when we all get to heaven.
See the one grace of all Jesus
Sing his mercy and his grace
In the nations bright and blest
And he'll bring their cross to grips
When we are all fixed and ready, what a day of rejoicing God will be.
When we are all saved, Jesus will stand and shout the victory.
While we walk the pillar that with clouds will overswear the sky,
one great traveling gates are open, not a shadow not a sign.
When we are all fixed and ready, what a day of rejoicing God will be.
When we are all saved, Jesus will stand and shout the victory.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day.
Just like the shark in victory, let all the joys of life prevail.
When we are all fixed and ready, what a day of rejoicing God will be.
When we are all saved, Jesus will stand and shout the victory.
Honors to the prize before us, to his beauty we'll behold.
To the glory gates still open, we shall tread the streets of gold.
When we are all fixed and ready, what a day of rejoicing God will be.
When we are all saved, Jesus will stand and shout the victory.
Amen.
We thank you for giving us this Daily
Cashidge to claim the cash.
Peor and in the matter of cos by the daughter of a prince of Midian their sister
Which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. Let's go ahead and pray dear Lord again
Thank you for this time that we have to come together for the preaching of your word
I pray and ask Lord that you would
Fill me with your spirit Lord that you would help me to use your word to edify your people this morning and Lord that we
would be a
More zealous people for the things of God. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen
So if you remember this last few weeks
We've been going through a series on this character Phineas and just very quickly about the review here
If you remember two weeks ago when we started we talked about his heritage
We talked about the fact that he was the son of godly men like Aaron
He was the nephew of Moses his father Eliezer as the high priest
He has this godly lineage
but that he also had some ungodly influence in his life as well such as his uncles Nadab and Abihu and
I don't want to repreach all that but we remember that the application there was that despite our past or even our current circumstances
You know, we still have the ability to serve God. We can't control what others do
We can even even if it's a good influence, you know, we can take that and squander it if we have bad influences
You know
That should not be a hindrance to the fact that we can serve God as Phineas did
And then also the week after that last week we looked at his service
We looked at the you know before he came the high priest how he was one that was led by others and we talked about
How service requires submission that if you're going to serve under somebody's leadership, you're gonna have to be in submission to that person
We talked about how he also was sent out into the battle
We talked about how our participation in the spiritual battle or our lack of the participation of spiritual battle
You know affects the morale of those around us and then we talked about
Regarding his service after becoming high priest how he led others and the point was that leaders are first followers
You don't have a great fall or great leader without having been first a great follower and you know
The takeaway from that was that all successful ministries need leaders
And not only that that all successful ministries need people who are going to follow people who are going to submit people are going
To go to the battle and people who are going to be leaders themselves
This morning what I want to look at is
And concluding the series is when it comes to Phineas is not his heritage or service
But lastly his zeal Phineas was a very zealous man
I think zeal is something that is very important that if we begin to lose our zeal in the Christian life
You know you might as well just go ahead and start counting down the days till you wash out and quit serving
It takes zeal to stick with it and to continue to serve God and it has to be something
Zeal has to be something that you have for yourself
It has to be something that comes from within you cannot just rely on other people to make you a zealous Christian
This has to be something that comes from within you have to be somebody who takes initiative and that's what we see in the story
Is that Phineas is somebody who when he saw what was going on took some initiative and we'll talk about that here in a minute
But before we really get into it
I want to just quickly remind us of some things of where we find the children of Israel here in
Numbers 25 if you know the story of Old Testament Israel
You would realize that at this point they are very close to crossing into the promised land
Really?
This is just their last stop before they would go on to cross Jordan defeat Jericho and all those other kings and inherit the promised
Land so they're very close
And if you would keep something there in numbers 25
But go back to numbers chapter number 22 chapter number 22 where we'll get some context of where we are
Who is this Midianite ish woman? Who are these Moabites, you know, what's going on in the story? Why is this taking place?
Again, Israel is very close to crossing Jordan the Bible says in Numbers chapter 33. You're going to chapter 22
It says that they pitched by Jordan from Beth Beth Jesham oath even unto Abel
Shittim in the plains of Moab
Okay
And this is that's Moses recounting the journeys of Israel and that they were pitched by Jordan in
Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab of Moab
So in that's he's referring to this story this time in their history that they were what near Jordan
So we see that they're coming to the end of their wilderness wandering
They're getting ready to cross over in the promised land and that's when you know
Quite frankly all hell begins to break loose. There's this plague. There's this fornication. There's this idolatry
God's wrath is being poured out and it's so strange because it's like they're just right there you would think at this point
they would just be so eager to go on and serve God after having just coming out of
40 years of wandering the wilderness of watching that previous generation waste away and die that you know
This seems like something that just would not take place and yet it did
and I think a lot of it is because they had lost their zeal and
The reason why they were still preserved and were able still to go on and not be completely destroyed is because there were still
Some among them that had not lost their zeal
If you look there in Numbers chapter 22 verse 1 it says and the children of Israel set forward and pitched in the plains of Moab
On this side by Jordan side Jordan by Jericho
So again, there's given us the geography and if remember what happened leading up to this
when they're first coming into this plane of Moab and spreading themselves in this valley and
Pitching on this side Jordan by Jericho. That's where we had the story of Balak and Balaam
I'm not going to take the time to rehearse all that but it says in verse 2 and Balak the son of Zippor saw all
The Israel had done to the Amorites and what had they done to the Amorites?
They defeated them they had you know been on the war path and there were just destroying these kings
They were having victory after victory and then they have this stop in Moab and then everything that happens happens the judgment of God comes
But it's Balak that story with Balaam and Balak
This is where that unfolds and it says in verse 3 and Moab
Was so afraid of the people because they were many and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel
So they're seeing them pitch in their land. They're hearing everything that had just taken place in the Amorites and they're thinking we're next
We know the story there that Balak the king of the Moabites
Seeks Balaam to curse Israel it says in verse 4 and Moab son and the elders of Israel now shall you come this company lick
up all that are round about us as the
Ox licking up the grass grass and the Balak the son of Zippor was the king of the Moabites at that time
He sent messengers therefore and to Balaam the son of Beor
To Pethor which is by the river of the land of the children of his people to call him saying behold
There's a people come out from Egypt behold. They cover the face of the earth and they bide over against me. So he's recruiting
Come now, therefore. I pray thee curse me this people for they are too mighty for me per adventure
I shall prevail that we may smite them and that I might drive them out of the land for I want not that he
Whom thou blesses is is blessed and he who now curses is cursed
So this is the backstory of where we're finding Israel right now
They've just come in from all these great victories of the Amorites
But now they're they're settling in a Moab preparing to pass over
into the river over the Jordan into the land of the Canaanites to conquer Jericho and
While they're there while they're idle while they're just sitting still that's when the enemy begins to notice them
That's when the enemy begins to plot against them and device against them and actually causes them to fall
We'll see later that what happened with Zimrai and cos by and the fornication that taking place in Israel the adultery
That was all by design. That wasn't something that just happened by accident
How do you go from wandering in the wilderness being led by the God Almighty himself in a pillar of fire?
And a pillar of cloud to be going all the way over to idolatry
It's because there was plotting that was taking place and because they lost their zeal
There was a lack of zeal in some who were not zealous for their God
They ended up falling and really that's the point
I want to point out right here is that at this point in the story where we are reading in numbers
Israel has become idle if you go back to numbers 25 keep something there all morning numbers 25
It says in verse 1 and Israel abode in Shittim, what did they do? They abode there meaning they were idle
They weren't moving forward. They weren't moving backward
They were just kind of idling and I'm not saying I was right or wrong for them to do
It seems like that's kind of maybe what the Lord had in mind and maybe that
You know gave them time to be tested one last time before passing over
but what I want to point out from this is that when we become idle when we don't have
Direction where we're just kind of standing still in life
That's when sin becomes to come starts to come into the picture idleness gives way to sin
Idleness gives way to sin notice that it says in verse 1 that Israel abode in Shittim
that's the first thing God wants us to notice about the story that they're idle that they're standing still and
Then it says there in verse 1 and the people began to commit whoredom one came before the other
It says they were abiding in Shittim and then they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and
The point I'm making about zeal this morning is that zeal is the opposite of idleness
Idleness is a form of apathy often
Idleness just kind of a lackadaisical just kind of a you know
Just you know malaise just kind of a blah attitude towards the things of God that will lead
to sin it is the opposite of
zeal
When we start to think that church really isn't that important reading the Bible really isn't that important the things of God?
Just aren't really that important
We can kind of just do whatever we want mark it down. That is a lack of zeal a lack of zeal will lead to sin
Zeal is the opposite of idleness
This is a story about inaction versus action people who have become idle and people who are beginning to lose their zeal
Versus people who are still wanting to stay in it who are still zealous for the things of God
You go over to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 7. We're talk a little bit about zeal this morning
The Bible is this is a topic the Bible talks about at length many passages many places where zeal is mentioned being zealous
Point I'm making now is that you know zeal is the opposite of idleness you say what's zeal its action
It's not just words
It's not just big talk zeal leads to action just as idleness or apathy leads to sin
And what I want us to understand is that zealous people like Phineas?
Who's described as a zealous man in this chapter zealous people?
resist sin
they resist sin and
Let me say this they don't resist sin and this kind of white-knuckling. Oh, I hope I don't sin
resistance
Now I'm really tempted. I'm just I just don't know what I'm gonna do look zealous people
Resist sin to the place where they hate sin
They say I'm not gonna fall in that sin because I hate sin and I love the Lord. That's real zeal
That's what it means to be zealous not just I'm holding out. Just one more day. Just got to get to the next meeting
Look at if you need those things by all means I'm not against it
Well, what I'm saying is is that real zeal isn't just this white-knuckle holding out hoping I don't fall into sin
It's an act. It's action. It's active. It's proactive. It's on the offense against sin. It says I hate sin
I'm not gonna let in my life. That is what zeal is. That's the difference
And zealous people resist sin to the point of revenge
If you look there in 2nd Corinthians chapter number 7, that's how Paul describes it in verse 11 2nd Corinthians 7 11
It says before behold the self same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort
He's referring back to the letter that he'd written in 1st Corinthians where he just basically ripped the 1st Corinthians face
For the sin that they'd allowed in a fornication that one would have his own father's wife
that such sin that wasn't even named among the Gentiles and he's rebuking from them and saying put out from among them that that
Wicked person and he's telling them to execute or to a practice church discipline
and of course they did that and he's referring back to that here and he's saying in verse 11 behold the self the self same thing
That ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you. He's saying
Take a take a step back and look at this and understand. He's saying look I wrote that letter
You received it you put you did what I told you. Look how it made you behave it caused you to be what careful
He said you sorrowed after a godly sort you heard what I had to say it cut to the heart and then what happened?
It brought carefulness in you. Yay. What clearing of yourselves they got right with God
He said yay. What clearing of yourselves. Yay. What?
Indignation, what is indignation? It's anger. They were mad about the fact that sin had come into their life. They were angry
They were upset at the sin that allowed to creep in upon them. That is what zeal is folks
Not just oh, I'm sorry. I'll try not to do that again. That's not zeal
Zeal says I can't believe I let this happen. I'm never gonna let this happen again
I'm gonna get this sin in my life
And I'm never gonna let it back in because I hate it because it makes me angry
Yeah, just the idea of falling into sin. Just the idea of letting sin in my life
Just the idea of letting a sin in church. It makes me mad and it ought to and if it doesn't I question your zeal
That's what he's saying here. What clearing of yourselves what indignation? Yay. What fear? Yay. What vehement desire?
They said we want to get right at zeal
Is now when he says what vehement desire yay, what zeal?
Yay, what revenge?
See zeal takes action. It doesn't just sit idly by just let whatever happen happen. It says no, sir
I'm going to resist this to the point where I'm going to take revenge upon it
And
He says that in all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter
How did they clear themselves folks through zeal?
through vehement desire
through revenge
Through indignation through fear they cleared themselves and I won't you can go over to Ephesians chapter 5
But if you remember at the end of our chapter and numbers 25, we're hopefully you saw the bookmark the same thing
Phineas
After he has zeal and does what he does and takes action against the sin that had come into the camp
The Bible says that he had cleared himself in the matter of Peor and in the matter of cos by the daughter of the Prince
of Midian
So the Corinthians had cleared themselves
Phineas had cleared the nation of Israel
Through what through zeal?
the vehement desire through passion
and
This is why this sermon is important
This is why you need to listen this morning because without zeal you will leave things undone in your life
Without zeal you will not begin to do the things you need to do without zeal
There will be things that you need to do that are left undone because it takes zeal to accomplish those things
There are sins that will stay in your life for the rest of your life unless you get zealous
There are good works that will go undone for the rest of your life unless you get zealous for the things of God
Without zeal we will do things that should not be done not only will leave the things undone that should be done
But without zeal we will also start doing things that we should not be doing and we know we shouldn't
We find ourselves in some sin. We find ourselves in some place
We find ourselves consuming or smoking or looking at something. We shouldn't be doing
And we say why am I doing this? I'll tell you why you don't have any zeal
But through zeal through vehement desire through indignation
We can take revenge on those same sins
We can clear ourselves
Those of us that maybe have a bit of a past that we'd rather not remember look you can still take revenge on those
old sins
Through zeal those of you that have not made those mistakes. You can avoid those mistakes. They're not having that regret through zeal
That's what it says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 he says there in Ephesians 5 verse 15 see then that you what walk circumspectly
circumspectly
That's something that that's an action folks. That's something that you do when you walk circumspectly
It's a form of zeal its vigilance say what a circumspectly mean we'll think about
circumference around right
circumnavigating the globe
Right they went around it
He's saying when you walk through this life
Be vigilant be sober for your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour walk circumspectly
See what's coming see where you're at see where you're heading see what you've left behind
walk circumspectly and
not as fools
You know it's foolish people who just kind of flounder through life
Just no direction. Just whatever happens whatever situation
They happen to find themselves in whoever they're hanging around whatever whatever whatever just takes place c'est la vie
That's a fool's way of looking at life. We ought to have direction we ought to walk circumspectly we ought to have
Somewhere we're going and we're only going to be that way if we are people that have a zeal
Not as fools, but as wise doing what redeeming the time
We could sit around and lament everything all the years the decades that we've wasted
Or we can get zealous and redeem that time
You know I was just saying to some folks the other day
My approach to life to now is not to sit around and lament all the things you know the the time that was wasted and look
We're all going to have wasted time I get that
But going forward you know through zeal what we can begin to do by walking circumspectly by
Redeeming the time we can begin to minimize any future regrets
Well, I got so much regret. Okay. Well enough of that then how about going forward you just try to keep that to a minimum
If you would go to revelation chapter number three, so we're talking about zeal this morning
And hopefully I've convinced you to understand how important it is so far
But if not let me just give you a few more points before we close tonight for this morning
talking about Phineas and the zeal that he had
and let me just point out some some realities when it comes to zeal and
The first reality about zeal that I want to point out is that some people are zealous and others are not
Some people have zeal and some don't I mean isn't that what we see in our story?
Phineas is zealous
He's taking action
Would you say Zimra is a zealous guy? I mean maybe he's zealous about the wrong thing, but he's not zealous for God
Look some people are zealous for the right thing some people are not
Think about Simon Zelotes, I
Mean, that's literally the name that Jesus gave him. You're a zealot
And
Some people are zealous and others are not this is the reality of zeal and the other really I want to point out is
That zeal can affect a whole church
Zeal can have an effect on an entire church. Don't believe me. We'll look at Revelation chapter 3 verse 14 and
Under the angel the church of the loudest eons write these things say the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the
Creation of God. I know thy works and
Thou art neither cold nor hot. I
Weren't thou work cold or hot
Saying you're not hot
And you're not cold
He's saying so then because thou art lukewarm
You know what lukewarm is not zealous
When we think about zeal we think about somebody who's red-hot
We think about somebody who's on fire for God. We think about somebody who has some passion has some zeal
He says oh so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth
That's Christ talking to a church
He's saying I know what you're like. I know what your works are. I see how you are and
You're lukewarm you have no zeal that's what he's saying to loud decisions and this is why this is important
because if enough people in a church begin to lack zeal that whole church will be known as what a lukewarm Church and
You know the preacher can only do so much for you folks
Because as I said in the beginning zeal is something that has to come from within
It's something that you have to have want to have in your life. I
can get up here and rant and rave and shake the pulpit and kick and foam at the mouth and spray it spit everywhere and
Scream and turn red in the face and yell and try to fire you up, but until you want to be zealous
It's not going to happen
You know and I'm trying to not be one of these guys
And I probably am more than I even care to admit that just barks at people
Try to get them to do what they ought to do
And I really want to be the type of leader that inspires people and motivates them and wants and then makes them want to do
Things of their own accord make them think it was their idea to do that
That's the way I want to be and I try to do that
But look either way barking inspiring motivating
You know being a drill sergeant whatever if you don't have zeal none of its gonna work
And what's the solution it's zeal
If you're looking at your life, and you say man, I kind of fit in allowed to see you sounds like my kind of church
I'm lukewarm
What's but you know I don't want to be that way what's what's the what's the solution it's zeal
zeal
That's why he says in verse 19 as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent
See again zealous is associated with action isn't it with repenting
I'm saying I'm not gonna be some watered-down
Lukewarm halfway in halfway out Christian. I'm gonna get all the way in this thing. I'm gonna serve God. I'm zealous
That's the solution
That's one of the realities of zeal that some people are zealous and others are not the warning is as if enough people aren't
It'll affect the whole church
You know the reality of zeal is that there's a difference between zeal and being you know what we coined hyper spiritual and
The hyper spiritual types are the ones that they talk a big game
Because zeal as I said repeatedly already is action and not words if you would
Go over to John chapter 2
John chapter number 2 I'll begin reading in verse 13 of John chapter noon verse verse 13 and the juice Passover was at hand and
Jesus went out to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that it's sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money
Sitting and when he now who's doing this Jesus
He had made a scourge of small cords
he sees what's going on and he doesn't immediately lose his cool and just
You know, it's this isn't Jesus losing his temper. This is a very controlled
Display of emotion that we're gonna see here what he sees what's going on the buying and the selling that's taking place in the house
Of God, he walks out and he makes a scourge of small courts
He literally sits down and takes the time to break. I've never done it
I don't imagine it's something you just whipped together. No pun intended very quickly pun wasn't intended, but I'll take credit for it
But he took the time to do this so we see that this isn't just him flying off the handle this is very deliberate
He made a smart scourge of small cords and
Draved them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables. I
Mean he's in a public place just where people are just conducting business and he just goes in there with a whip
You know, he's an active whipper, you know, he's whipping people. He's pouring out money. He's flipping over tables
And he said unto them at soul said that soul does take these things hence make not my father's house a house of merchandise and
His disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Say why did Jesus do that?
Why did he make us a scourge of small courts? Why did he go out there and drive these people out of temple?
Why did he go in there? Just make a big mess
I'll tell you why he did it is because he had some zeal for the house of God
And
That's another reality about zeal
It's not this hyper spiritual talk
Look, the old saying is true. Talk is cheap
talk is cheap and
Spiritual talk is no different
You can sit there and say what you're gonna do and tell me what you're gonna do and have all these big plans
but without zeal you'll never do it and
If you've never done it don't sit there and expect to be expect to be considered a zealous person
Go to James chapter 3 James chapter 3 the Bible says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness
But a faithful man who can find
Where is the faithful man? That's what we're looking for
Now faithful man is somebody who's consistent somebody who's zealous somebody who's gonna have some drive in their life
Spiritual talk is cheap
Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. It's it's cheap
I think it's hard to find some boaster some braggart out there in the world
They carry some leather ball across the finish line and they think they've conquered the world
They slam dunk a basketball and it's like oh, I'm the next greatest thing. I mean
You know the sports world's full full of them
These actors these musicians. They all think they're just the greatest thing since sliced bread, don't they?
Yeah, that's because every man will proclaim his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find
James chapter 3 look at verse 13 who was a wise man and dude with knowledge among you let him broadcast it on Facebook
Who is a wise man and dude with knowledge among you make sure he goes around and tells everybody
So that everybody knows because he said so
No, he said let him show out of a good conversation his works
How do we know who's the wise person the wise guy right? Who's the guy that has the knowledge?
Who is it that we're gonna look at and say that's somebody that has some zeal
Not the guy who's a big braggart and just tells everybody how spiritual he is
It's the guy who through his conversation and that's not talking about like the way we use it
It's talking about his conduct his behavior how he carries himself how he conducts himself in this world
his comp let him show out of his
conversation and
What his works what he does actions speak louder than words?
Go to James chapter 1 the Bible says in all labor there's profit
James chapter 1 but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury
You know and how are we gonna profit how are we gonna get something done through labor through working at it?
But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury
Being poor, you know it talk is cheap folks
We can sit there and talk about what we're gonna do and how great that everything's gonna be
But if we're not willing to labor it's not gonna happen
Look at James chapter 1 verse 26 if any man among you seem to be religious and brighteth not his tongue
But deceive at his own heart this man's religion is vain
Pure religion undefiled before God the Father is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself
unspotted from the world
You know the guy who does not have a vain religion
It's the guy that takes action who does what the visiting
It's the guy is going out there and visiting the fatherless visiting the widows and their affliction going out there
And and getting his hands dirty and not just sitting around saying man. I'm so great
I'm so spiritual. Let me tell you all about it. I
Give so much to missions. Oh
I do a lot of soul-winning every time that plate goes around in my envelope. I give hundreds to missions
I give five dollars a month to missions
whoo
Look, I'm not against giving emissions, but you know, it doesn't make you zealous. It's when you go do the visiting
And
To do what to keep himself unspotted from the world, you know, it's gonna take zeal to do that
To keep yourself unspotted from the world because Satan's out there just picking up handfuls of the world just throwing it at you
All day constantly trying to spot you trying to get a blemish on you trying to get sin into your life
You know and the guy who's got a real religion who at and that's not a bad word who has a real religion
Yes, I said religion. The guy who has a real one works takes action and keeps himself unspotted
And that's not easy to do and it takes zeal to do it and
Zeal acts against sin zeal takes action against sin. It takes action against ungodliness. It takes action against wickedness
If you would go back to our story in Numbers chapter 25, we'll get into it that was all introduction just kidding
Says in verse 1 in Israel abode and shit him
we read numbers 25 verse 1 and the people began to commit whoredom and with the daughters of Moab and they called the people under
their sacrifices of their gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods and
Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor and
The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel
You know God's not just gonna sit idly by while we just go ahead and get into sin
Especially when we're his people. Is that what he's doing in this story?
The people that he's been guiding and shepherding and leading and helping and showing mercy and patience
And providing for all these years through the desert and now just as they're about to cross over
They start to worship another God and commit whoredom with the heathen
God just says well, you know
What can I do?
No, the Bible says that the anger of the Lord was kindled
Get God gets angry
and
God hasn't changed
It says that the Lord where were we there and
The Lord verse 4 and the Lord said unto Moses so notice who gets the ball rolling in the story
it's the Lord and
The Lord sees what's going on. He says Moses
Go tell them not to do that anymore
Go shake your finger Adam say now now now
That's not God's best for you
Shouldn't fornicate, you know, ideally you'd all be married
Is that what God says
Look God God's not playing games. God's message to Moses is this take all the heads of the people and
Hang them up before the Lord against the Sun
He's saying go execute those people and cut their heads off
and
Publicly display them for everyone to see this is what God thinks of your sin
That's intense
Or you're such a mean preacher
We see such harsh things. I
Have a cutting with his head off and put it on a steak
But God did
Moses did Moses said to others go do this
Why
That the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel and
Moses said of the people say everyone is men that were joined into Baal Peor
Hey
you heard what God said guys all those people that are committing fornication and
Committing and worshiping false gods and committing idolatry that are breaking the first commandment
Go cut their heads off and bring them here and we're gonna make a public example of them
So
God gets it going and God's taking action and God's pretty zealous, isn't he?
But Phineas sees all this taking place and remember Phineas is still just the son of Eliezer
You know, he's coming up
But it says in verse 6 and
behold one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianite ish woman and this
Just gets under Phineas. He is not having it
Now this poor sucker whoever this guy is. Well, it tells us who it is samurai. I
Mean talk about I don't know this is just bad timing
But it's bad timing either way
I don't know if this is just a blatant disrespect to what's taking place in the camp or if he's just like has no idea
What's just happened? What are whose heads those are?
And he's got you know, basically his whore and they were committing whoredom
He's got his Midianite ish whore with him and he's just marching through the camp
The plague is broken out people have been slain by the thousands. There's heads being hung up Moses is mad
Those that are serving him are mad the fierce anger the Lord's be appearing on. He's just walking through the camp with his whore
Why cuz he has no zeal he's not worried about keeping himself unspotted from the world
And
It says that he brought unto his brethren verse six a Midianite ish woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of
All the congregation he just parades his sin in front of God and everybody
And
What are the people doing they're weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation? I
Mean they this happens and they're they're heartbroken. They're distraught. Not this guy not zimri
But you know what there's a guy in our story Phineas who we've been talking about he sees this happen and
Phineas gets fed up
And he says in verse 7 and when Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it
He sees this guy just marching through the camp with his Midianite ish whore
He and he's got the weeping in his ears. I mean he's hearing everything that's taking place
He's seeing the men coming back with bloody heads
He's seeing the fierce anger of God being poured out and he sees this guy who just doesn't seem to care. He's just apathetic
He's just whatever he's just you know laissez-faire take it or leave it attitude
Just marching through the camp just with his sin and that he gets fed up
It says that he saw it and he what he did he did something about it
He didn't just say oh, that's too bad
Someone should go tell that guy not to do that. No, he took action. He took it out of his mouth
He took action. He took it upon himself to go do something about it
It says he rose up for the from the congregation and took a javelin in his hand
and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and
He thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly
Now I'm not gonna describe that anymore the Bible does but obviously for them to both gotten skewered
I believe this is happening at the same time. There was some kind of an embrace going on
You know, maybe they're just hugging
We know where that's leading and and Phinehas doesn't walk up with this little spear and go
Hey, is that Mariah? You got a minute to talk?
Because the sins already done there's already a problem man
He I don't know if you could kick in a tent door
But he blows through that tent door and sees what's going on and just run some bow through
And walks out
And
Notice the result it says so the plague was stayed from the children of Israel and
Those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand a lot of people died that day
You say why what would compel Phinehas to do something like that, I'll tell you what would compel him zeal and
This gives us a good idea of what zeal looks like in a person's life
It's action and it's not just some misguided direct, you know in a directionless just kind of
spiritual cheap talk
This is appointed, you know the javelin this is appointed
Action against sin, but we see his zeal manifest as a hatred for sin
He hates it
It's not cuz he had some old beef with Zimri. Well, this is my opportunity
You know, he saw the sin that was taking place he said I'm not gonna just sit here and let this take place
I'm gonna do something about this sin and
Because he had zeal he went and did something about it. You want to know how to hate sin in your life?
You know, some of us could just recall the consequences of sin in our life
Just think about the consequences of sin in your life, you know, I want to be more zealous
I want to hate sin, you know, I want to be more on fire for the things of God
I want to get this sin out. How do I do it?
Think about the consequences that have already taken place in your life because of sin
You know, that's what always just boggles my mind when you have families that come from a long line of drunks
It's like don't don't you see how alcohol has just destroyed your family don't you see what it did to your parents?
Don't you see what it did to your cousins and your uncle and they're just like look alcohol so bad
Life's so hard. It's like it's the alcohol stupid
Change, you know and you can apply whatever to that whatever sin
Recall its consequences. Oh
I don't want to do that. I remember what happened last time I did that
You know if you can't recall anything because you haven't done anything
We'll consider its consequences and just take our word for it those of us that can consider its consequence that can recall consequences
That you know sin is going to have debt, you know devastating effects on your life
That's what the Bible says folks
That sin bringeth forth death when it is finished
Well sometimes no every time I
Mean isn't wouldn't Zimrai don't you think Zimrai might have some regrets as he's bleeding out in that tent
Thinking this wasn't worth it
You know, I could have just kept myself the marriage got my heart right
Find a nice Israelite girl
Married her raising kids. I'd still be alive. I
Wouldn't be pinned to some whore in this tent. I
Mean
That's probably I'm sure he had some regrets. You know what that doesn't do any good when you're not considering it
Beforehand the time to think about that is before you get into sin
That'll help you be a more zealous person
Think about his consequences sin will come into your life and skewer you
It'll turn you into that like the story a little sinner shish kebab
And it'll pin you to the floor
With your sin, it'll keep you down
While everybody else packs up and goes on without you because that's what happens in the story
It doesn't say what what they did with Zimrai
It doesn't say that he was buried with his father's now, maybe they did bury him. I don't know
But maybe they were just so
Indignant over what he'd done. They were just so aghast at how just blatant he was with the sinner. Just like you know, what?
Just let him rot
Just feed him to the animals
Bible says in Proverbs 30 the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother
The Ravens of the valley shall pluck it out
You know, there's a lot of different ways to apply that
But think about it if we're just gonna disregard the things of God if we're just not gonna have any zeal
There's gonna be consequences the sure was for Zimrai
That's the reality of zeal is that when you don't have it and you don't hate sin the way you should you're gonna suffer its consequences
See well
What else about zeal well, let's talk about not just the reality of zeal let's talk about the requirements of zeal
What I mean by requirements, I don't mean what you have to do to get it. I'm saying
That zeal is necessary
But you have to have it
And why because there's people out there that are actively working against you it's called Satan
The devil you have a spiritual adversary who wants to spot you
Who wants to bring you down because again as I said in the beginning
What we see happening with Zimrai is not by accident. This is all by design go to Revelation chapter 2
I should add he keeps on their revelation, but go back to Revelation chapter 2
Zimrai, you know hooking up
To use the the parlance of our times
You know, let me just you know, really tell you the way it is Zimrai fornicating with that whore
This is where they ought to say it was not an accident it was by design
It says in Revelation chapter 2 verse 12
And the angel of the church and Pergamos right these things saith he which hath the sharp two edges sharp sword with two edges
Jumped down to verse 14, but I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold to the doctrine of Balaam
Now that should ring a bell. That's chapter 24
Right before numbers numbers 25
He's saying look some of you have the doctrine of Balaam who taught
Balak to cast a stumbling block because see we read in the story about Balak and Balaam that you know
He gets Balaam gets hired by Balak to go out and curse the people he tries to do it three times
He actually ends up blessing Israel and saying and ends up saying oh, yeah, he's gonna actually smite the corners of Moab
And it's the it's the king of Moab the Midianites that's there hearing that and he's in he gets angry, right?
We know that story
But we get another detail in Revelation chapter 2 say how did they how did John know that it's called the Holy Spirit
Okay, and it says there that if that Balaam taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel
He's saying look I can't curse these people as the Lord, you know
Whatever the Lord tells me to speak that I can't help but speak it
You know as one being who was asleep and had his eyes open and he was like just basically in a trance
If you know the story but what he could do saying look I can't curse them for you
But what I can do is teach you how to cast a stumbling block before them. I
could teach you how to cause Israel to get into sin and
What did he end up doing he caught he taught it Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things
Sacrificed unto idols, which is exactly what we see in our story and to commit fornication
So
Zimrai isn't just some you know
Idiot who just went out there
I mean he is an idiot who just went out there and it was just you know
Following the flesh Zimrai is actually a victim of the devil's plot
Of Balaam he taught these people how to do that
This is the devil's indirect attack and think about the story. He's saying look you can't defeat them
The Amorites can't stand against them. Nobody in Canaan's gonna be a stand against them because it's their God that's on their side
But what we can do we can't just have an all-out affront on them
We just can't assault them physically and take them on in an actual battle
But what we can do is get their God angry at them. I
Mean God's the one that's making them so powerful. But what if we turn their God on them and
How do they do that?
Idolatry your fornication through sin
This is why you need zeal in your life because the devil is has an indirect attack on you
The devil is doing the exact same thing to us
The devil can't drag us down to hell folks
the devil can't
Destroy us but what he can do is tempt us what he can do is get us into sin
that's gonna do what make God angry and
Then in a way God will just do the work for him and rightly so
You say what's gonna stop that zeal
Saying I'm not gonna let that happen what walking circumspectly
Sin has to be resisted through zeal through what through zeal through what through fear through what through vehement desire
through a bench
through indignation
Doesn't it make you mad that the devil's out there trying to destroy you and plot against you and plot against your family plot against
This church doesn't make you mad that we have an enemy who wants to just shut us up who wants to just keep us
You know just not doing anything for God who doesn't want us going out there and rescuing souls from hell
Doesn't that make you mad it should and if it doesn't I question your zeal
You know, I know I got to close I know I got to hurry up
I
Mean just get to my last point here
We talked about the reality of zeal
We talked about the requirements of zeal and not in the sense of what it takes to get it
But the fact that it's required that it's necessary because you have an enemy
Who's plotting like Balaam like Balak to cast a stumbling block in your life?
Just like he did with Israel
And if that's not enough to motivate you to have some zeal in your life
Let me just remind us in closing that the results of zeal
The first thing I want us to notice is that it delivers other people from wrath
Say why did Phineas do what he did?
Because he had zeal
Say well you say he had zeal. No, that's what God said about him
God says he was zealous look at their numbers 25 verse 10
After he goes in there makes a sinner shish kebab and leaves him right rot
The Lord speaks to Moses in verse sense that that wasn't very nice and Phineas you tell him not to do that again
You tell him you go apologize to Zimri family
He says no the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phineas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest hath turned away my wrath
from the children of Israel
He sees what he does it says oh look somebody's getting it. I'm not so upset anymore. There's hope
And you say and he says how did he do that while he was zealous for my sake among them
What compelled him?
Phineas to go in there and do that his zeal
zealous
He said he was zealous for my sake among them that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy
Look if we get some zeal in our lives
You know we're gonna. We're gonna be on guard against all the sin. We're gonna miss a lot of those stumbling blocks
We're gonna spare ourselves a lot of heartache and suffering
You know on top of that. We're gonna deliver other people from wrath
We're gonna spare other people from the wrath of God say how when you get zealous about soul winning
You get zealous about going out there and preaching the gospel
We get zealous enough to actually take the time to mark up your Bible to memorize the scripture to go ahead and get over your
Nerves and to open up your mouth and boldly proclaim the gospel as he ought to
That's gonna happen when you have zeal and what that will do is it will deliver people from the wrath of God
And not just some little plague talking about hell
talking about smoke
Torment fiery wrath from God for all of eternity. That's what you'll deliver him from
Well, I just want something to fight for I want some meaning in my life
Why don't you get zealous about delivering people from wrath?
The other thing I want us to know that when it the result when it comes to the results of zeal is that
zeal spreads
Zeal is infectious. You ever talk to somebody who's zealous about something that just passionate about something it almost makes you want to go do it
And I and I'll use an example you know our pastor pastor Anderson
You know, he doesn't talk about a lot. I'm sure he wouldn't mind he's sharing this but he runs these ultra marathons
Like he's run several
Throughout just this last year and when I'm up there when we're around sometimes he'll get to talking about that with me and
The way just you know, and it's not like he's over the board
It just but I could tell by the way he talks about he's passionate about it
And it's crazy because after the conversation is over. I'm sitting there. Maybe I should start running
I know I know but that's my point me
I mean the last time I ran there was probably a dog chasing me
Or there was you know, the buffet line was starting to form
Sure it's not as it comes to shock as anybody that this is not the physique of a runner, okay?
Although I might have a good stride
Maybe I should take it the point I'm making is this is that when someone you know starts talking about something they're passionate about it
It's infectious
The point where you'll start considering something that you never would even crossed your mind
I'm gonna sat there and thought maybe I should start running several miles a day
That you know, but I got around somebody who started who was passionate about it I came to my senses later. Don't worry
But that's what zeal does it spreads it's infectious look if you get it
You're gonna spare yourself the heartache you're gonna deliver souls from wrath and you know what you're gonna have an effect on the people around you
The inverse is also true if you're just some lukewarm
You know watered-down not on fire for Christian Christian
It's gonna affect the people around you and not just the people at church folks the people in your family
People that ought to matter the most to you
Are gonna see that and say well, I'm just gonna be like them
Why should I be zealous you're not
That's how it'll spread for the better or for the worse
Galatians chapter 4 I'll read to you it says in verse 17 they talking about these judaizers zealously affect you
But not well
You can be zealously affected in the wrong thing. Yeah, they would exclusively affect you
That you might affect them, but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing
The last thing I want to point out about the results of zeal well second the last thing is that zeal produces trust
We'll close in Philippians 2, please go there Philippians chapter number 2
You know, I don't I don't really worry about the people who have zeal
They're not going to be able to be zealous
I don't really worry about the people who have zeal
They're not I mean I pray for them and I I I you know
Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall I get that
But the p I'm not worried about the zealous person washing up out of the Christian life
I'm not worrying about you know, the person who's half in half out going just all the way out
I don't sit there and scratch my head and go I wonder if we'll see them next week
Well, I wonder if we'll see them in a year I wonder if we'll see them at the you know, the eighth anniversary
I wonder if we'll grow old and gray together. I don't think that about people that are zealous
Why because zeal it's it's it's in them zeal is something that comes from within it's part of it's part of who they are
It produces trust in that person
Later in the story much later in Israel's history in Joshua 22
After they've come through and they've taken over the promised land and they've divided up the inheritance
And the rubinites and the children of gad and half-tribe menasseh
They go back to the other side of Jordan where they had gotten their inheritance if you remember the story
Well, they go over there, but when they get there they set up an altar
and Israel sees this and they think they're going to worship false gods and
They're going to investigate and they send some soldiers
And they send some soldiers it says the children of Israel sent
Out the children of rubin to the children of gad and to the half-tribe of menasseh into the land of the gilead
Phinehas the son of elias are the priests
They're saying hey, let's go. We need to find out what's going on
We're going to see if they're worshiping false gods send these guys and make sure you send phineas the high priest
Why because he can be trusted because we know that he's how zealous he is
Because we saw it
On that same crossing because that's where the story takes place
We saw it at that same place
That he that he got up and took a javelin and was zealous for his god and delivered the people from wrath
So we know we can trust him we can send them back there
You know what and if they're worshiping false gods, you don't have to worry about phineas. Why because he's zealous
He's not going to go there and go well tell me more about this false god of yours
Maybe i'll join you
He's not going to be swayed he's not going to be turned aside because he has zeal
Devil's not going to get to him because he has zeal
He has vehement desire
Philippians 2 I have you go there verse 19
Paul writing says but I trust the lord and the lord jesus to send timotheus shortly unto you
That I may be also be of good comfort when I know your state
So he's saying look i'm going to send timothy to you so I can
Find out what's going on with you because back then it wasn't just hey message me
Why is he sending timotheus why is it that timotheus has to go
Verse 20 for I have no man like-minded
When you really think about this verse, it's it's kind of sad
He says I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state
What he's saying is I have to send timotheus because timotheus is the only guy I have that will be naturally like-minded
Who who care to who will be naturally care for your state?
Saying he's the only guy I got
He's the only one that's got some zeal he's the only one I can what trust
So why is paul
Saying this why does paul say that he has nobody else besides timotheus verse 21 for all seek their own
Oh, it's because paul had a poor social skills or paul just didn't know how to make friends or nobody trusted paul
No, it's because everybody else was busy seeking their own
They're zealous about the things of this world. They're zealously affected but not in a good thing
They're zealous for everything but the things of god and as a result the man of god is just saying look
I don't have anybody else timotheus. I can trust because he has some zeal and he will naturally care for the things of you
to know your state
And he says in verse 22, but you know what the proof of him
You don't have to worry about timotheus. He's got zeal
Paul the sad thing about this is that paul could just use about a dozen more timotheuses in his life
And that goes for any ministry
Say oh we got enough zealous people no
Will we ever have enough zealous people no, will you ever have enough zeal in your life? No, but get all you can
Last thing i'll point out and I promise it's the last thing is that zeal goes for the long haul much like this sermon
It was a pretty zealous sermon, wasn't it?
zeal goes for the long haul
And i'll just read to you from psalms chapter 106 verse 30. It said then
Stood up finneas and executed judgment and so the plague was stayed that's the story we read in numbers 25
It's being referred back to in psalms 106 and he said then
finneas stood up
And executed judgment and so the plague was stayed that's what happened then
But we all know the story in judges 20
When they're warring against the benjamites
And the civil war breaks out it says in verse 27 the children of israel
Acquired of the lord for the ark of the covenant. God was there in those days and finneas the son of
Eliezer the son son of aaron stood in those days
look
finneas stood then in numbers 25
Finneas stood then and got up and took a javelin and had some zeal
He stood then
When they got into the promised land, he could be trusted because he had zeal they said send finneas to go investigate
What's going on with the rubinites and others?
But at the end there in judges chapter 20 when we last read about finneas, you know what it says he stood
He was still standing
even then
look
Zeal will keep you on your beat
And don't make any make no mistake about it. There's people there's spiritual forces at work that are trying to knock you down
And keep you from moving forward and keep you from being zealous and keep you from being caring about the things of god in this
In this life and being what and doing what doing what seeking your own?
Just seeking life's pleasures just seeking the things of the world
Being like edemus and just loving this present world having zeal but not in a good thing
Distract you get you moving in the wrong direction and get you to lay down
It's zeal that's going to keep you like finneas standing
All the way through for the long haul
He stood before it why because he had zeal that's why he kept standing. That's why he kept moving forward
That's why finneas went in there and conquered that land. That's why finneas went in there and inherited the promises because he had zeal
And make no mistake about it sin
Will pin you down just like it did zimrai
And it will leave you just like it did zimrai pinned down
And doing what being barren and fruitless
Just abandoned to rot in some desert
Zeal is important folks
And the christian life is not a game
And unless we get zealous about the things god, it doesn't matter
How how good or bad or on point or not on point? I am if you don't get zeal in your life for yourself
You will not stand to test the time. You will not be standing at the end like finneas was that's what carried finneas through
It was a zeal. Let's go ahead and pray dear lord again. Thank you for this great example of a man
in finneas
a man who lord had a
Mixed background lord had godly influences had ungodly influences
A man who served and was a leader a man who had humility
And a man who is a great example in the scripture of zeal
A man who shows us lord what we can all have if we are zealous we can have a life that
Is free not completely lord. We understand but can avoid these pitfalls can avoid these traps
That are laid for us
A life lord that counts
Because it delivers others lord a life
That will end well with us on our feet if we have zeal we ask you to help us to do that lord
In this coming week we ask in christ's name. Amen
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go
Is
Take
Is