Zeal Tag

November 26, 2006

G.F.I. w/E2!

Do you do sloppy, sub-par work? Do you only work hard when your boss or teacher is watching? God says that is the kind of attitude and behavior that will guarantee you fail in life. A lazy, sloppy employee brings shame to the name of Jesus. A Christian who is dedicated to enthusiastic excellence in everything he does presents a good testimony for Jesus. And in the same way, a Christian who is lazy and unreliable brings dishonor to the name of Jesus.

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July 4, 1999

Stop Enduring Life and Start Enjoying It

Some people say, “When I get some of these problems in my life, that’s when I’ll rejoice, that’s when I’ll start enjoying life.” The only time you’re going to get rid of problems in your life is when you’re in a cemetery. In life trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional. Think about that. You have a choice about whether you are going to be miserable about the problems in your life, and the way you deal with it determines whether you are miserable or not.

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June 13, 1993

The Tragedy of a Lukewarm Faith

A deep theological question I have been asked is, “Was Jesus ever sick?” Some say because he was God in the flesh he never got sick; others say he never had the sniffles or He never had a headache or a cold. Did Jesus ever get sick? I don’t know if he got sick during the thirty-three years he was here on earth. I’m not going to answer that question, but he does tell us there is one thing that makes him sick: Lukewarm Christians–compromising, side-stepping, lukewarm Christians.

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April 25, 1993

How to Wake up a Dead Church

I have never wrung a chicken’s neck, but my mother had an expression, “The most active chicken in the barnyard is the one who just had its neck wrung.” When you wring a chicken’s neck, that chicken is dead, but it’s out there flopping around and running around even though its neck is broken. It’s dead but it’s busy and that’s true of a lot of churches. There’s a lot of activity going on but the church is dead. That’s what Jesus said about this church here at Sardis.

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March 14, 1993

What to Do When the Glow is Gone

The city of Ephesus was one of the most important cities of the ancient world. Ephesus had a problem. It was the center of a fertility type of pagan religion. It was a religion that basically worshiped sexual reproduction. It was also home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
These Christians in Ephesus lived in that kind of a setting. Yet they were a church Jesus wrote to and said, “I praise you. You are working hard and you are not giving up. You are hanging in there. You are keeping on keeping on.” Yet the church at Ephesus was guilty of forsaking their first love.

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