Why Being Zealous for God’s Remarkable Vision is Right

One trait that must characterize Jesus followers is to be zealous to carry out God’s vision for their lives. This thing about God’s plan, God’s purpose, your gifts and calling is no light matter. Yet many either underestimate or plain do not understand the vital nature of zeal. David McCullough in his book Mornings on Horseback tells [one such] story [along this line] about young Teddy Roosevelt: “Mittie (his mother) had found he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside if alone. He was terrified, she discovered, of something called the ‘zeal.’ It was crouched in the dark corners of the church ready to jump at him, he said. When she asked what a zeal might be, he said he was not sure, but thought it was probably a large animal like an alligator or a dragon. He had heard the minister read about it from the Bible. Using a concordance, she read him those passages containing the word ‘zeal’ until suddenly, very excited, he told her to stop. The line was from the Book of John, John 2:17: “And his disciples remembered that it was written, ‘The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.’ ” People are still justifiably afraid to come near the “zeal” of the Lord, for they are perfectly aware it could “eat them up” if they aren’t one of his. Our Lord is good, but he isn’t safe.¹ Now, I know that you are not one of these who is afraid to be associated with the zeal of the Lord because I know you are one who strongly desires to do God’s will. And so, in this week’s podcast, we take a look at the subject of zeal in relation to the vision for your life. Why Being Zealous for God’s Remarkable Vision is Right, all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
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You will have a deeper sense of satisfaction on the inside when you know you, from your heart, have consistently given God all that you have. Communicate with the Lord on this level. Tell Him you’ll do what He wants you to do with energy.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
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Question: Share a story from a time in your life where you weren’t fully zealous for God and how the Lord dealt with you along this line. Please share your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 48 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God, thank you right now for Gods’ plan, I thank you for the next part of it, the next phase of it even. I thank you that it is all in your perfect plan and timing. Thank you for unveiling it to us all, showing us the way we should go in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Zealous for God: Review

We’re starting out once again in the book of Acts today.

Acts 26:19 (ESV) — “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…

The Greek word for ‘vision’ means to see.
We’re talking spiritual seeing not physical seeing.
God designed you to operate via the dreams of your heart.
Here’s what I mean by that: your spirit man is command central.
The Holy Spirit in your spirit communicates with you via your spirit.
Once you have some inkling of your ‘why,’ then comes the walking out part.
Know that ‘the walking out’ part of God’s plan takes sacrifice.
Sometimes, it can take a great deal of sacrifice.
Sacrifice means your idea of what constitutes a ‘normal life’ will have to be aside for God’s version.
He may have a different take on what He considers a normal life for you.
Remember the definition of vision.

Vision is a human cause worthy of self-sacrifice. It’s when you see a cause that is so important to humanity that you are willing to lay down your life for it²

So, there’s the sacrifical component.
There is this price for carrying out the vision for your life.
Really, the price is an exchange — you’re exchanging your idea of how you are to live your life for His.
Paul went on to inform us that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision — that is to the plan God showed him for his life — no matter the cost.
And we can see by looking at the life of Paul, that in his case, the price was very high.
Now with the price, or with the plan comes an area of influence.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) — 13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.

God has an area of influence marked out for you.
A particular part of His kingdom that he wants you to establish.
The Lord spoke to my spiritual dad, in May of 1950.
This is what the Lord told him.

“Go teach My people faith! I have taught you faith through My Word. I have permitted you to go through certain experiences, and you have learned faith, both through My Word and by experience. Now, go teach My people what I have taught you”.

So establishing how to interact and receive from God by faith was his area of influence.
Now there are at least four ways, [and even more] that you can access the vision God has for your life or your area of influence.
We talked about looking to the Holy Spirit in your spirit.
Because the third member of the Godhead resides in we can talk to Him about the vision for our life.
We can talk to Him about the next phase of that vision.
We’ll focus on this a bit more coming up because, you understand, that there are steps to the whole plan.
You can be in phase one of God’s total vision for your life — you can be in phase two.
You won’t always know or be able to get to what the next phase is about until you’re faithful doing the phase your in.
But you will get clues that something is coming.
On May 12th of last year came these words: now this particular word was a bit lengthy: but He talked to me about ministry success and a new place of effectiveness and service.
On June 9th of 2024 these words came up in me: ‘there are several things I have for you to accomplish.’
Then, when I went up to see my brother in August of last year, the Spirit of God moved while we were together about ministry.
The point here is not what He said specifically to me, that’s why I didn’t put it out verbatim.
But to understand that God Word always goes out first.
Then comes manifestation.

Psalm 107:20 (ESV) — 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

Word comes first — then manifestation.
So, before God unveils the vision, He will begin speaking.
He will drop little bits — small hints to you.
The Lord will also begin sharing with the people you are connected to.
They will start picking things up because it’s the same Holy Spirit that’s in all of us.
So, you’ll get a clue that something’s up.
Now, don’t get your head in a roar trying to figure what these hints all mean.
Don’t waste mental energy trying to figure it out.
Don’t go poking under the tree trying to figure out what the presents are.
The Lord is highly intelligent, and He knows how to communicate with you.
When the fulness of time comes, you will know.
Romans 8:27 solidifies for us the fact that God is in us.

Romans 8:27 (ESV) — 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

So, we can ask the Holy Spirit to show us the vision or the next phase of the vision for our life.
Secondly, we can pray.
We can ask Him to show us.

Mark 11:24 (ESV) — 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

All New Testament prayer is to the Father in Jesus, Name.
If you believe you receive the answer, you will have the thing you asked for.
So, ‘Lord, I thank you for showing me the vision.’
Third, we can spend time ‘waiting on God.’

Isaiah 64:4 (ESV) — 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

Habakkuk 2:1 (ESV) — 1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Fourth, we can head out — that is put your hands to something — and say to the Lord, ‘Please direct me and show which way I am to go.’

Psalm 37:23 (ESV) — 23 The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

This is effective because it’s easier to steer a vehicle when it’s moving.
God always finds busy people and adds more stuff to them.
I have often said this: ‘lazy people get very little from God.’

Zealous for God: The Vital Need for Zeal in Fulflling Vision

So, let’s talk about the zeal part of vision.

Romans 12:11 (ESV) — 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

The Greek word ‘zeal’ is the one we want to look at and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The word ‘zeal’ means to hasten, apply oneself, devote oneself.³
You can add to this the word ‘diligence, urgency, or seriousness.
Now let’s look at the word ‘slothful.’
The Greek word ‘slothful’ from the same lexicon means to hesitate, to delay, to be lazy, idle, negligent, or burdensome⁴
Taking these two words and putting them together we can understand the definition for ‘ do not be slothful in zeal’ to mean don’t be lazy or hesitating in serving the Lord.
Instead, have an urgent seriousness and diligence that applies oneself in a ‘right now’ — ‘no delay’ manner.
Vision or the ability to see is one attribute of God.
And, what does God see?
God sees the future, and He works backward from it.

Isaiah 46:10 (ESV) — 10 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

What purpose will God accomplish?
The purpose that He is seeing up the road.
Your job is to by faith trust what He sees for your life and apply yourself to that cause with zeal.
And, with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.
This quote is from Charles Spurgeon.
Here’s what he said about zeal.

ZEAL and discretion are like the two lions which supported the throne of Solomon. They make a fine pair; but are poor things apart. Zeal without discretion is wildfire, and discretion without zeal is cowardice.⁵

Fulfilling the vision without zeal is like eating lukewarm soup.
Jesus takes a dim view of the lukewarm, passionless, ‘going through the motions,’ spiritually indifferent kind of life.

Revelation 3:15–16 (ESV) — I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Lukewarm here means spiritually indifferent and so ineffective.
It’s a reference to the water supply of the city which was piped in from six miles away.
Once the water reached the city from the mountain springs, it was neither cold nor hot.
Lukewarm means not cold enough to drink.
Lukewarm means not hot enough to take a bath with.
So, not really useful in its current state.
You would have to add energy to it as heating or cooling to make it useful.
The Lord wants you to be convinced — He wants you to heat-up.
He wants you to sell out.

Zealous for God Everyday

Now, can I tell you — this is a day to day deal.
Living for God, walking out His plan is a day by day function.
Mark this thought down and don’t let it get away from you.
The secret of your success is in your daily routine.
The secret to fulfilling vision is applying yourself to it everyday.
So, maintaining zeal is a good word here.

Being Zealous for God Means Being Emotional at Times

Can I tell you, you will have a deeper sense of satisfaction on the inside when you know you, from your heart, have consistently given it all that you have.

Living out of passion is so much more Christ-like than merely living out of good discipline.⁶

Being less than on fire is just not fulfilling.
Something will gnaw at you on the inside.
You know when you are going through the motions.
He told us, ‘be fervent in spirit serving the Lord.’
We’re supposed to be fervent and the word ‘fervent’ is a word filled with emotion.
It means sometimes you get angry at unrighteousness.
Remember Jesus encounter with the money changers and how He used a whip to drive them out of the Temple?
That’s fervency that easily can display as righteous anger.
Now, go back to the statement — “Living out of passion is so much more Christ-like than merely living out of good discipline.”
Shouldn’t it greatly bother you to see helpless people abused by tyrannical sinners?
Human—trafficking should drive you up the wall.
Children being sexually abused by demon possessed people should make you holler in disgust.
That’s one side of fervency.
Understand, we’re not talking about being sensitive and touchy — you know wearing your ‘feelings on a sleeve.’

Exodus 32:7–10 (ESV) — 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

You saw Jesus in Temple — what about God in the wilderness?
Again, fervent is a word filled with emotion.
Do you sense God’s emotion here?
Is the Lord displaying a strong sense of what’s right here?
Now, you understand that He is the Lord — and because He is He doesn’t change.
The Lord didn’t morph into a different God as the New Testament period arrived.
He is still a fervent, zealous God, with emotion based feelings.
He has emotional feelings about you — how about that.

1 Peter 1:22 (ESV) — 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

The word earnestly is the one you want to home in on.
Listen to it on the KJV.

1 Peter 1:22 (KJV) — 22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

‘Be fervent’ in love one toward another.
That means love people with an emotional depth of feeling.
The word ‘fervent’ means to be eager, to be enthusiastic.
To be excited or on fire.⁷

Zealous for God: It Takes Understanding to Fulfill Vision

So, we are understanding that we can and ought to be zealous in our walk.

Galatians 4:18 (NIV) — 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.

But, we don’t just need zeal, we also need some knowledge to go along with it.

Romans 10:2 (ESV) — For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

The Greek word ‘knowledge’ here means “full, correct, vital, experiential knowledge.⁸
To get to some of the higher phases of the vision for your life takes experience.
Earlier, we mentioned that there are phases to the vision.
Why does vision work in phases?
Because to walk out some things, you must grow in some things.
It takes spiritual maturity.
Do you remember the life of Moses?
Recall the fact that after Moses got a whiff of the vision and then went out and killed an Egyptian.
After that, God left him in the wilderness tending sheep until he was 80 years old!
Now don’t be mistaken, there is not to much to be placed on the spiritual age of a person.
When I say spiritual age, I mean the amount of time a person has been born again.
Spiritual maturity doesn’t come with age — that is the passage of time.
Sometimes age comes alone.
Israel had a zeal for God without having a knowledge of God, that is, knowing who God is.
That means they didn’t know the Word of God because the Word of God clues us into who God is.
Now, with that thought here is the Illustration of the Day.
Many years ago, there was a young man, a holiness preacher — a hellfire and brimstone kind of holiness preacher years ago who ministered on the east coast.
This man became popular — he had a large church and a prosperous radio broadcast.
But he messed up his doctrine.
He said things about God that were not true.
My spiritual mom was a holiness preacher as well, and she even thought he was too hard.
Long story short?
This young man died at 44 years of age.
I believe I know why he died.
His area of influence was messing people up.
I don’t know if you understand this — but it can take years to undo wrong thinking — years, do you understand?
A zeal for God without knowledge of God can be dangerous.
It can get you spun off into a ditch in a hurry.
So, learn all you can and respect the growth process.

Zeal for God Coupled with Discipline

You must couple zeal for the vision with discipline.
One good word you can substitute for discipline is the word ‘every day.’
Being disciplined means every day.
We hinted at this earlier.
Discipline means consistency of action.
The Lord said to me, ‘Write a running commentary on the New Testament and publish it as your life’s written work.’
Right now, there are over 1.5 million words on the website — www.emeryhorvath.com.
There are 539 podcasts already up there and this one will make 540.
There are 64,863 down loads so far.
Some one may ask, ‘How did you do that?’
You know how I did it? — consistency of action.
I did it through breaks and lunches at work eleven years running.
You know we are in season 12 now.
While other people were relaxing on break and lunch, I was writing.
While other people were resting, I was writing.
While other people were socializing, I was alone at a lunch table, writing.
People at work learned early on not to interrupt me.
I don’t want to talk, I’m writing.
One individual who was over me made a comment to me one day that I wasn’t engaging with people while on my breaks.
I had to set him straight — ‘this is my time,’ I told him.
He agreed — this is your time — and he never brought that comment back up to me again.
There’s nothing wrong with relaxing, resting, socializing, or talking, but I have to ‘write a running commentary on the New Testament and publish it as my life’s written work.’ I have to get this done.
Someone somewhere needs these words.
How are they going to get these words?
Zeal for God coupled with disciplined gets it done.
Disciplined means every day.

Zeal for God: Time and Timing of the Vision

A word of encouuragement here.
Don’t be impatient.
God knows where you live.
I want to talk about times and seasons but we are out of time so I will just read the scripture here and we will pick this up in a future podcast.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV) — For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Now, Father God thank you for your Word. Thank you for showing us the path we are to take via zeal, discipline, understanding the fact that we all need to grow and that we all need to get busy every day staying focused on kingdom business.Thank you for speaking to us and helping us to recognize your direction in these matters in Jesus Name, Amen.

Why Being Zealous for God’s Remarkable Vision is Right.
You guys have a great God-week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light On Life.

Why the Power of Vision Will Transform Your New Year

__________
References:

Greg Webb, Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 1., Elesha Hodge, ed., Today’s Best Illustrations, vol. 1–4, Today’s Best Illustrations (Christianity Today International, 1997). ↩
Myles Munroe, The Power of Vision ↩
Ceslas Spicq and James D. Ernest, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 276. ↩
ibid ↩
C. H. Spurgeon, The Salt Cellars: Being a Collection of Proverbs, Together with Homily Notes Thereon, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 367. ↩
Johnson, Bill. God is Good (p. 181). Destiny Image, Inc.. Kindle Edition. ↩
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 426. ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 172. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

Equipping people to pursue God's glory

Why Being Zealous for God’s Remarkable Vision is Right

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Four

by Emery Horvath

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Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Zealous for God: Review

Zealous for God: The Vital Need for Zeal in Fulflling Vision

Zealous for God Everyday

Being Zealous for God Means Being Emotional at Times

Zealous for God: It Takes Understanding to Fulfill Vision

Zeal for God Coupled with Discipline

Zeal for God: Time and Timing of the Vision

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Zealous for God: Review

Zealous for God: The Vital Need for Zeal in Fulflling Vision

Zealous for God Everyday

Being Zealous for God Means Being Emotional at Times

Zealous for God: It Takes Understanding to Fulfill Vision

Zeal for God Coupled with Discipline

Zeal for God: Time and Timing of the Vision

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