Keep Your Zeal | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

I want this week to do a bit of follow -up from

Darren's sermon last week. How many of you remember

what Darren preached about last week? Go ahead,

everybody. Okay, zeal. You sounded very zealous

as you informed me of what he preached on. We're

going to have to work on your zeal, I think.

So he preached on zeal, and he did that out of

2 Kings chapter 13, and I'll just quickly read

2 Kings 13 · chapter mention

this verse. You can go back and listen to it

online if you missed it, but it was where Elisha

had become, he was on his deathbed. Elisha the

prophet was about to die, and King Joash is coming

to him. He's coming to be sad with him, to grieve,

but also often the kings of old would go to the

prophet to receive some direction from the Lord

on what they should do. And so he was still at

the place of needing direction. One final thing,

Elisha, before you die, what should I do about

the Syrians? And so he got some direction, and

at the end of the direction, in 2 Kings 13, verse

2 Kings 13:18

18, He had told him, take the arrows. So he took

the arrows and he said to the king of Israel,

strike the ground. So he struck three times and

stopped. And the man of God was angry with him

and said, you should have struck five or six

times. He was not happy with this half -hearted

striking the ground. Okay, one, two, three. That

made Elisha mad. No. He said, you should have

struck it five or six times, then you would have

struck Syria till you had destroyed it. But now

you will only strike Syria three times. It's

interesting he doesn't say, you should have done

it five or six times, and then you would have

struck Syria five or six times. No, he said you

would have struck Syria until it was destroyed,

which in my mind I'm thinking could have taken

10, 20 times, but there was no limit if he had

been wholehearted in his striking the ground.

But because he was half -hearted, he was limited

to his half -heartedness the three times. Wow,

I didn't even get that. That just came to me

just now. I didn't even get that in my preparation

time, but that's mind -blowing to me. It really

doesn't matter how many times he would have struck

it had he done it in zeal. If he had done it

just the five times, but with a heart of zeal,

there would not have been any limit on how often

they would have struck Syria. They just know

they would have destroyed Syria. But because

he was half -hearted and lacked zeal, he was

limited by his zeal. You should chew on that

this week. I'm going to chew on that this week.

So that was Darren's sermon last week. What I

want us to follow up this week is how to sustain

zeal. Many of you responded to the altar time

for zeal. I want to be zealous for God. And many

of you came forward. To say, yes, I want that.

Now, I love a good altar encounter just like

anybody else. And I can look back on my life

and recall significant altar moments where God

did amazing things in my life. But where the

transformation in my life happened took place

as after the encounter, I took it home to walk

it out. And to be honest, I can recall specific

encounters where I'm in the encounter and I am

also thinking, I don't want to go home and wake

up Monday morning because I'll have to deal with

reality. I'm in this heavenly zone right now.

Where I don't have to face a spouse. I don't

have to face a child. I don't have to face my

finances or my health. Jesus, could you just

take me now? Let's all just be raptured right

now in glory. Wouldn't that be wonderful? But

no, I had to go home and walk it out. And so

the God encounters, the breakthroughs have been

significant for me. But the significance only

goes as far as we walk it out Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday. And so I want us to, for a few moments

here, look at three areas that are going to help

us not just say, yes, I want to be zealous, but

how can I sustain it in life? And so we're going

to look in Galatians chapter 4 this morning.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

And we're going to be starting in verse 17. But

I want you to understand some of the issues that

Paul is addressing with the Galatian church.

You have to remember that there is this new covenant.

Once Jesus was resurrected and ascended, a new

covenant was put in place. And you have to remember

that as part of that, things like Peter having

a vision of all of the unclean food and realizing

it's all been made clean now. And so they had

this huge shift in culture. All of these rules

and laws that had identified who Israel was,

who the Jewish people were, are now a whole nother

thing. And they're having to learn what that

looks like in the New Testament, where we are

free now. We can eat what we want now, right?

This is, I mean, if we think about how hard we

have sometimes with change, I know a lot of times

people, oh, I want. Like Darren often likes to

bring out songs from the 80s and I'll roll my

eyes at him because those are his preference,

right? And so sometimes just little things are

hard for us in change. Can you imagine when it

has been for thousands of years a cultural identity?

And now all of it is permissible. Not at all

beneficial, but it's permissible. And so what

they began to experience in that early church

were teachers, false teachers coming in that

were trying to get them to come back to living

according to the law. And Paul had no tolerance

for it because what that says is, is that the

sacrifice of Christ is not enough. It says that

we also have to fulfill all the law as well as

have the sacrifice of Christ. And he had no tolerance

for it. And so they were trying to seduce them

back into bondage. That's what's happening in

Galatians. And so in Galatians 4 .17, it says

those people are zealous to win you over. It's

not just that they were trying to woo them back.

They were zealous to win them over. But for no

good. What they want is to alienate you from

us so that you may have zeal for them. They wanted

a transference of affection, of zeal, of loyalty.

To them and their teaching. And he goes on to

say, here is our primary text. It is fine to

be zealous. Provided the purpose is good. And

he gives a second qualification. And to be so

always. not just when I am with you. Okay, so

here's what happens. Paul would show up. Okay,

here's what it's like. It's like when our new

superintendent last fall called Darren on a Saturday

night and said, hey, I'm going to be at your

church tomorrow. And then it was me texting our

leadership team saying, hey, the superintendent's

going to be here tomorrow. Everybody on their

toes. This is what it was like for Paul. He would

come to town to visit the churches, and they

would all, their zeal and their faith, yeah.

And then he would leave town, and what would

happen? Would get lax again. Oh, the little things

don't matter. Oh, the... The spiders that I see

if I know that the superintendent's coming, I'm

checking for. But I don't care if you got to

come to the altar and face the spider web. This

is what was happening. They had zeal when Paul

was with them, but their zeal waned when he was

not. And he's saying, listen, it's good to be

zealous. But you have to have a good purpose

and you have to always. Be zealous. You have

to have a zeal that is not a roller coaster ride.

What it comes down to is this. There is an inward

stimuli and an outward stimuli. And so what they

were experiencing in the Galatian church, Paul

was their stimuli. And so when Paul, and he was

an outward, when Paul came, it stimulated them

to zeal. But they did not have an inward stimuli

to spur them on towards zeal. And to sustain

zeal, there's this transference that has to happen.

And I think it is really the place of maturity,

becoming spiritually mature. anybody that has

children. And we don't just leave the children

to raise themselves, do we? Few of them are going

to have the inward stimulation to eat their vegetables,

clean their room, treat people, share their toys.

That's why they have parents to provide the outward

stimulation toward that, right? Maturity, hopefully

as they become adults, They will begin of their

own accord without you overseeing it, will be

stimulated to be kind to people, to clean their

stuff, to do their laundry, to manage their finances,

right? It is a process of maturity. And so there's

nothing wrong with needing outward stimulus in

our zeal. But the goal is that we begin to grow

up into it coming from within. I don't need to

call an elder or the pastor in this moment. Not

that there's anything wrong with that. I call

people to pray for me. But it shouldn't be every

day. It should be, I know what it is within me

to reach out into heaven. And it's a place of

spiritual growth and maturity. I think this word

zeal is interesting because there is emotion

attached to it, right? We do feel some emotion

and zeal. If I'm zealous for something, it should

encompass my mind. It should encompass my emotions

and my body, my actions. And I think of the word

is very similar is passion. And I remember years

and years ago at a women's conference at my mother's

church, sitting with a group of women, and one

woman going on about how passionate she was.

And what she meant is that she is an emotionally

passionate. She liked wild colored hair. She

really meant zest for life. zestful person. Loud.

She liked crazy. In her mind, that was passion.

But what I find interesting is that the word

passion is actually an English word that comes

from Latin, passio. And do you know what that

word means? Suffering. It means suffering. It

was not until about 1200 that the word passion

entered the English vocabulary. In 1200, from

the Latin word meaning suffering and endurance.

It's where we get the term the passion of Christ.

Because what was Christ doing? Suffering and

enduring. And so we hear these terms like zeal

and passion. And they're good. But I think we

have a false conception of what it means. That

I'm always going to feel like worshiping. I'm

always going to feel joy. I'm always, that is

zeal and that is passion. And the truth is that

it usually means suffering and endurance. Aren't

you excited? I think you liked Darren's sermon

on zeal better than this one. Here's what made

me begin to think about this while he was preaching

last week. I began to think of 9 -11. And do

you know what happened? And if you all follow

anything in the church world, we had so many

articles and so many people talking about this.

What happened following 9 -11 was an influx into

the church. And now where are the people? It

doesn't last long. It made me think of Charlie

Kirk. Because what happened after Charlie Kirk's

death? An influx into the church. I know we had

some, and I haven't seen them in months and months.

I think of Gary. And do you know how many people

Darren and I talked to after Gary passed that

felt... Ah, Gary has gone. People need to rise

up now because Gary's gone. They need to walk

his shoes. They need to fill his shoes. And they

began to come to church and they began to rise

up. And slowly they're here less and less. What

is that? That is outward stimuli. There were

these moments that fanned zeal. that fanned passion.

And then we lose, we get away from the immediate

feelings of grief, of fear, the immediate feelings

of how close we are to eternity, how fleeting

this life is. We get further and further away

from that. And what happens? The zeal begins

to wane. The passion begins to wane. And I know

I'm really kind of preaching to the choir today

because you guys are coming day in and day out.

You're a zealous people. So I know that in a

lot of ways I'm preaching to the choir, but I

want to encourage you in it because the temptation

is. I told Pastor Araya this morning, I kind

of wanted to just stay in my sweatpants today.

I was so tired and after the accident and I was

just, I could just really just sleep in today.

But there's a passion that drives me. There's

a zeal that drives me. And no longer. Are they

subject to what is happening in life? Pastor

Gary may have lit a flame, but I've done the

job to blow on the flame, to feed the flame,

to sustain the flame, right? And so there are

three things I want us to quickly walk through,

and then we're going to conclude around the table

of the Lord. How to sustain zeal in your life.

And the first way to do it is to guard the direction

of your heart. These are going to be three very

simple things, but if you think about how you

feed fire, It's very simple things. You feed

it some wood. You blow on it a little bit. Give

it some oxygen. Sometimes you give it a stir.

It's not complicated, but it will sustain your

fire. And so these are three simple ways. They

don't sound very profound, but if you want to

sustain zeal in your life, there's no getting

around them. And the first one is guarding the

direction of your heart. I want us to go to Proverbs

23, and I'm going to read verse 19, and then

we're going to back up a little bit. But I want

to start in verse 19. And he says, hear my son

and be wise. Now, how many of you want to be

wise? I want to be wise. And guide your heart

in the way. That's what it says. I love that.

Guide your heart in the way. We're talking about

the way of the Lord. What this means is that

you are not subject to people. You are not subject

to circumstances. You have the power and the

authority to guide your heart in the way it should

go. You are not a victim. In trauma, in problems,

in difficulty, you are empowered to guide your

heart in the direction of the way. I love that.

That's what they called the new believers in

the New Testament. Followers of the way. Guide

your heart in the way. And so let's go back.

It's going to tell us a little bit how to do

that in verse 17. Two ways to guard the direction

of your heart. One is to guide it away from the

loves of this age. This is where zeal begins

to wane. When the things of this present age

become all -consuming. And suddenly our heart

is tangled up in it. And verse 17 says, do not

let your heart envy sinners. You're seeing all

of the people at your work that don't follow

the way of God. They're all flourishing, making

money, have kids, doing amazing things. And you

just see hardship, hardship, hardship. Do not

let your heart envy sinners. I love what Kathy

said. All that is needed, the salvation of my

soul. But be zealous for the fear of the Lord

all, everybody say all, all the day. What did

Paul say? If you're going to be zealous, be so

always. Be so always. So, do not envy the sinners

in your heart and be zealous for the fear of

the Lord all the day. And the second is to guide

your heart toward its eternal destination. Verse

18. For surely, here's your hope, surely there

is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut

off. This is why we are continually saying, look

to his coming. Look to the next life. Don't get

too settled here on earth because we want our

eyes continually on the prize. Our hope is not

in overcoming in this age. Our hope is in overcoming

death and forever overcoming with Christ. This

is our hope. And so when we are guiding our heart,

See, the enemy would want you to focus on getting

rooted here on this earth. And then there comes

a moment when you realize those roots don't go

very deep. In a moment it ends, and then everything

you've built for this life is done. Our heart

gets, the enemy wants your heart to be consumed

with this life. And it's not bad, and I'm all

about stewarding it well. But I'm stewarding

it for his kingdom. I'm stewarding it on my way

to where my heart, that's where my heart has

been placed. I've guided my heart, and I've said,

heart, you don't belong here. Heart, you belong

in eternity. And so I am guiding everything toward

where my heart is destined in eternity. Romans

12, there's one little verse, and the beauty

of the New Testament is there's a lot of writings

on how to live this life. There is a lot of practical,

you're children of the light, here's how you

live as children of the light. You're a Christian,

here's how you live as a Christian. Here's how

you treat people as a Christian. There's so much

writing in the New Testament concerning how to

do that. And in the middle of that, in Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, there's a whole passage on that,

how to treat people. It says in verse 11, never

be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor

serving the Lord. Again, a choice here. If I

can get you to see this, that you have choice.

That you can decide your spiritual fervor. That

nobody's going to decide it for you. That nobody

can take it from you, but also nobody can give

it. It's up to us to keep our spiritual fervor.

And we do that by guiding the direction of your

heart. You can't just let it be and think it's

going to go where it should go. That would be

like raising children and not directing them.

You think they're all going to go the way they

should go in that case? No. Our hearts have to

be governed by our spirit, by our spirit man.

Our spirit man tells our heart where to go. And

so we guard the direction of our heart. The second

way we sustain zeal is, again, a choice. We can

guide the direction of our heart, but we also

have to choose how we're going to live. Okay,

that's our second. Choose how you live. In Titus

Titus 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, and starting in verse 11, salvation

has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying

ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live

how? Soberly, righteously, and godly in this

present age. Again, we're choosing how we're

going to live this life while we wait for the

glorious return. And we see that in verse 13.

Why should we do it? Looking for the blessed

hope and glorious appearing of our great God

and Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you see the connection

they keep making in all of these verses? Wherever

it is telling us to keep your fervor, to keep

your zeal for the Lord, wherever it is telling

us, here you need to say no to the things of

the world, the things that your flesh would like

to feast on, they are always connecting it with

the return of Christ. They're not wanting us

to just do, we're going to suffer to suffer because

that's what it is to be a Christian. But no,

what we're doing is we're cutting off things

that would hinder us in our journey, in our pilgrimage

to our forever home. And so they always are connecting

over and over and over again. We do this looking

for his coming. We do this because he's returning.

We do this because Jesus is the prize that we

are going after. Always is the connection. Because

there's more than what there is to just live

for in this life. And so we have to choose how

we're going to live with intentionality. Cannot

be emotionally driven. We have to be driven by

the word of God and the ways of God. And so we

guard the direction of our heart and we choose

how we're going to live life. And here is the

sweet sauce of sustaining zeal. The third one.

Live in relationship with the one who is zealous

for you. Live in relationship with the one who

already showed us his zeal for us. In Titus chapter

Titus 2 · chapter mention

2, if we look a couple of more verses down, it

says that he gave himself for us, that he might

redeem us from every lawless deed and purify

for himself his own special people. You belong.

I belong to him. It finishes that sentence with

zealous for good works. Okay, so he redeemed

us from every lawless deed. He purified us as

his own special people. A people that are zealous

for good works. I know in your mind you might

be saying, well, that means that there are things

I have to do for God. But I would have us go

to Revelation chapter 2. In Revelation chapter

Revelation 2 · chapter mention Revelation 2 · chapter mention

2, we have here in this segment, he's addressing

all the churches in Revelation. And we find ourselves

at the church of Ephesus. He says in verse 2

to Ephesus, to the church of Ephesians, I know

your works, okay? Well, we just read that we

should be zealous for good works, and here he's

saying to them, I know your works, your labor,

your patience, that you cannot bear those who

are evil. I know that you have tested those who

say they are apostles and are not and have found

them liars. And you have persevered and have

patience and labored for my name's sake and not

become weary. That sounds like an awesome believer.

And he's acknowledging their what? Good works.

And as good as all of that is, still he has something

against them. Those are not the works that Jesus

is looking for. He goes on. He says, nevertheless,

in verse 4, I have this against you. You left

your first love. And here's our key. Remember,

therefore, from where you have fallen. Think

about when you were first saved. Repent and do

the first works. Interesting. So there were obviously

works they were doing in the thrush of first

love. That were different from the works he acknowledged

at the beginning. As good as those were. They

were not the works that Jesus was looking for.

Do the first works or else I will come quickly

and remove your lampstand. What are the works

of first love? What are the things that you did?

And the beginning of your marriage that maybe

40 years later you no longer do. What are those

things? I think that they are works that are

works that fostered love interaction. The works

that maybe You did for one another that 30 years

later, yeah, you can do those. You don't need

to do those anymore. There is a work that Jesus

is looking for from us that is not about your

labor in the kingdom. As much as I feel like

he's showing them appreciation for that labor,

I feel like he is affirming All of the hard things

they've walked through and endured. I feel like

he's affirming those things. But it's the leaving

behind. If they had just carried the first works

along with them in the later works. And so I

think when we go back to our verse in Titus,

where it says that he purifies for himself his

own special people, zealous for good works. It

is a good work that is born out of love affair.

It is a first work born out of knowing the lover

of your soul. And to sustain zeal means you've

got to do the things at the beginning. You've

got to remain in the first love. You've got to

remain in, we say that word passion, now I've

kind of changed that dynamic a little bit, the

zeal for one another. That you had at the beginning,

he's looking for in us. And if we will, abide

in the first love works. How many of you remember

when you first came to Christ, your zeal for

the word of God? You couldn't get enough of it.

Every time the church doors were open, you were

there. You couldn't get enough. You couldn't

get enough of one another, the body of Christ.

First love works. And even if we no longer feel

that first love, if we will engage in it, in

those works, do you know what will happen? It's

kind of like if you're trying to light a fire

and you cheat and you spray some lighter fluid

on it, right? If you will begin to engage again

in first love works, Jesus, I'm just going to,

I'm in my secret place with you. And I am, you

know, when Darren and I were dating, we didn't

want other people along. want other people hanging

out with us. And sometimes we allow into our

secret place other things, other cares, other

concerns, other people. And there is a time and

a place before the throne room for that. But

there is in the secret place a place where it

is you and it is Jesus. And you're just there

to commune and have love relationship. You're

just there to worship. You're not there thinking

about all the problems of life. You're just there

to worship and to commune in love. I guarantee

you, if you will engage in that, what is that?

That's first love works. If you will engage in

that, it will change your zeal. It will change

your... sustainability of zeal. And as soon as

I start to feel like I'm away from that, it's

my sign I need to just get back. I need to forget

about all of you. I need to forget about all

of them. I just need to be with the lover of

my soul. And if we will spend time, nobody can

give you zeal. You might get inspired by being

around zealous people, but nobody can sustain

zeal for you. It is only you and Jesus. There

is no shortcut. There is no other way. to sustain

zeal, but to be with the lover of your soul.

And it's a beautiful call. It's why one of my

favorite songs right now, we sing it every once

in a while, is What a God. Because if the highest

place I reach is at your feet, then I've done

it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your

glory, then I've seen it all. And sometimes we

get awfully distracted even in kingdom and we

get away from first love. We get away from the

secret place with just the bridegroom. And the

bridegroom is calling you back. He's in the secret

place and he wants to be with you. He wants to

be with you. Not the pastor, not the worship

leader, not your neighbor. He wants to be with

you in the secret place. And so this morning,

I'm going to ask the worship team to come. And

the ushers are going to begin to distribute communion.

This is why I love the table of the Lord. Because

the table of the Lord re -centers my life. The

table of the Lord draws my attention to the one

that is so zealous for me that he gave his life

for me. And when my eyes are fixed on that zealous

one that gave his life for me, Do you know what

that begins to stir? Zeal. Zeal. And so this

morning, I want us to be a people not just wanting

an emotional experience at an altar, although

they're good. But I want you to walk out here.

committed to these three things. Go ahead, men,

you can begin to distribute. As we come to the

table of the Lord, I'm going to ask that we would

make a fresh commitment in guarding the direction

of our hearts. And sometimes you have to let

go of things, good things. At this table of the

Lord, I want us to think about how intentional

we're being with our life. What we're building

towards. At this table of the Lord, I want us

to maybe oil the doors of our secret place. Maybe

they've gotten a little squeaky from unuse. But

the bridegroom is calling. As much as he loves

all of the things that you do for the kingdom,

what he's after is your heart. What he's after

is time with you in the secret place. He didn't

die on a cross for you just to do good things

for him. He died on a cross. So that you would

have a love affair with him. Jesus. The table

of the Lord is a place of examination. It's a

place to examine our hearts, our lives. And so

for just a few moments here, I want us to just

quietly look at where we've let our heart go

to. I want us to look at how we've chosen to

live and build our life. And I want us to begin

to think about our use of this secret place.

Just for a few moments here. This might be a

moment of repentance. Jesus told the church of

Ephesus, repent of these things. Repent that

you have stopped doing first love works. You

will receive life. Repentance, all it really

means, it's more than an I'm sorry. I'm sorry's

don't mean a lot if you then don't quit doing

the thing that caused the pain. But repentance

is to change your mind and to go a different

way. And some of us might need to do life a little

different. We might need to make space for the

secret place. We maybe have let our heart have

its way without direction. And we need to change

that. This is simple repentance here. Lord, what

do I need to do to change that I may walk in

zeal? Lord, as we come to your table, we don't

want to be like the empty nesters who spent their

whole marriage busy doing life, busy taking care

of kids, busy with careers, and never doing the

works of first love and are suddenly alone together

again and they don't even know their spouse.

Jesus, we don't want to be so busy in your kingdom

that we don't know you. We don't want to one

day as we're standing before you, Lord, look

at what I did. I even prophesied. And Jesus,

you say I never knew you. Lord, We want to be

consumed, above all, with first love, with the

secret place. And so as we come to your table

today, we take up your bread, which is your body.

This body in which we become one with. Even as

a man and a woman becomes one, as we partake

of this body, one with your body, a place of

deep intimacy and love that feeds zeal. And as

we take of this body, would you feed the zeal

and the fervor of our spirit today? May it awaken

this body of yours that was broken for us, that

was slain for us. May it be the sustenance of

our zeal as we partake of it today. In Jesus'

name, let's partake of his body this morning.

And we take the cup. The cup that is the promise.

The cup that represents the new covenant. The

cup that reminds us that there is another cup

that we will one day drink at the marriage supper

of the Lamb. Where we are face to face with Christ.

And so this morning, Jesus, we take this cup

in anticipation. We take this cup with joy, knowing

that it's just around the corner in such a little

time that we will be face to face with you partaking

together. And so with great anticipation and

great thankfulness, we partake this morning of

your cup in Jesus' name. Praise the Lord. Praise

the Lord. Can you just stand with me and can

we just for a moment worship the Lord? Thank

you, Lord. Before we leave, just for one more

moment, worship him.