1. Are You Self-Motivated Spiritually?
Comments are welcome to Tom Steed This sermon seeks to motivate individuals to develop their own desire for spiritual growth.

2. Are You Self-Motivated Spiritually?
Good Morning!
I consider the lesson before us one that is very important. The question of motivation is a very important one in every area of life including athletics, business and religious matters. Today we want to ask, do you have a desire to grow spiritually and are you putting that desire into practice.
I ask you this question, “What is your motivation quotient?”

3. What is Your “Motivation Quotient?”
Do you recognize these pictures? These are pictures about motivation. The person on the left is the real Rudy. This picture was taken off his web site The picture on the right is from the movie, Rudy. This is a story of motivation. Undersized and ill-equipped to play for Notre Dame, Rudy was strongly motivated to achieve. His overwhelming desire was to play football for them. As you know from the movie, Rudy was willing to polish helmets or to do anything to be around the team. Rudy finally got to be on the practice team. He went through extreme hardships to play for the Notre Dame Gold. Personally, I am no fan of Notre Dame football, but I admire his persistence and determination.
(At this point, I got rather animated and enthusiastic, since it is the key point in the lesson. The issue for us today is: Are you motivated spiritually? More than anything else, you need a desire to be like God and Christ, to succeed at living the Christian life, to live so that when you die you may receive a reward in heaven. We need to be willing to have intense motivation, to overcome any obstacle in order to succeed at that goal.
To put it differently, we need….

4. Needed: Spiritual “Rudys”
As a matter of fact, what we need today is some “Spiritual Rudys.” This is a picture off of Rudy’s website that shows the real Rudy making his one real tackle. He only got to play one or two plays in his entire college career, but he gave it everything he had. Rudy now goes around and does motivational speaking.
Now, I love many sports, but there is something much more important that any sports team, music venue, or anything that comes up. That is that we want to be spiritually in a right relationship with God that when we die we want to be prepared to go to heaven to be with God. More than anything else, we need to develop a burning desire to come close to Jesus Christ and live for him and we need some people with some passion about their spirituality.

5. Job Description Must be able to work independently.
Must be able to work well with others.
Do you ever see these kind of job descriptions in the paper? Someone pointed this line out to me, “Must be able to work independently.” That means that your boss doesn’t have to stand and look over your shoulder every single minute to make sure that you are working. Spiritually, we need people who are able to work independently also. They don’t need the preacher or elders to beat them into it. In their heart they have a desire to do what is right.
Before you go off into “Lone Ranger Christianity,” there is also a job description of “must be able to work well with others.” So while we have independent motivation, we also have to be able to get along with people. Think about that job description, yes, you must be able to work independently, but that independence leads you to working with others.

6. The Rich Young Ruler He was self-motivated.
He was self-directed instead of God directed!
I want to hold in evidence here the account of the “Rich Young Ruler.” You notice that first he was self-motivated. He came up to Jesus and asked, “Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” They discuss it and Jesus answers, “You know the commandments. Do this, do that.” And the ruler says, “All these things I’ve done.” So he is self-motivated. But then Jesus says, “All right, go and sell all you have and give to the poor.” He went away sorrowful because he was self-directed. There were things that he loved more than God. In doing so, he was self-motivated, but he was self-directed.
We need to be self-motivated and put much enthusiasm into it, but we must do it in the way that God says do it.

7. Our Desire Only Works Through God’s Power !
Now, as we go to the next slide, I want you to see that today I am talking about something that you could take in the wrong way or make some wrong assumptions.. We don’t reach down and pull ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps. You don’t go to heaven because you work harder than anyone else. We are not motivated or rewarded in that way, but our desire for God leads us to God in His way. Yes, we have to be self-motivated, but we only do it through God’s power. We only achieve things when God helps us to achieve them.

8. Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Let’s think about the scriptural basis for what I am saying today. In Psalms 42:1-2 David writes, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
In the context of the Psalms, this is almost a desperation move. Like a dear that is thiristing for water David is expressing an intensely strong desire for God. We sing this song with is taken directly from the text, from the word of God.

9. Psalm 63:1 (NIV)
1 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Psalms 63:1, 1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
In our world, we have water fountains everywhere. I do not usually experience thirst. However, if you have ever been truly hot and really thirsty, you know that it is an intense longing for water. It begins to dominate our thoughts. One of the men who used to work for the agricultural extension service, Don Elkins, used to tell a story about how he was tromping though a rural area in Tennessee on a very hot day without any water. He came up to an old shack and the resident greeted with by saying, “You look like you could really use a drink of water.” Don would dramatize how hot and thirsty he was. The man offered Don an old fruit jar of water with a bug or two floating in it. Don said, “I scooped the bugs out as best I could, Drank it to the bottom and asked for more!” That is truly thirst, truly desire!
David likens the desire for God as extreme thirst. Love for God is not something that someone has to force you into, but something that you should desire. If you get really thirsty for God, it will overcome your hesitancy. If you are truly thirsty and there is a water fountain in the building, you will rush inside. When we see the water of life in the worship service, we will rush toward it.

10. Matthew 5:6 (NIV) Jesus says:
“ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Jesus says, “ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” This verse has an Testament background. It ties in with God’s provision for His people during the exodus. God provided both food and water for them. During the new covenant, Christ assures us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
In this passage, the reference to righteousness is not just for personal righteousness, for the word “righteousness” can also be translated, “justice.” So when you truly desire justice for others or for yourself, you have Jesus’ assurance that He will help you. Cultivate the desire to be like God, to see good things prevail and God will not leave you alone, He will meet your needs.

11. Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)
3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
We will look at Colossians 3: 1 & 2 from both the NIV and the King James. The NIV translates it “3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” He is not saying don’t think about earthly things, but we should set our true desires on spiritual things.

12. Colossians 3:1-2 (KJV)
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. “
The King James Translates it a little differently: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.” The Greek word for “set your affections” is from a root which means, “to think about.” The NIV says, “Set your minds,” and the KJV says, “Set your affections,” so you are to make these things the things that you think about.
Do you remember the catalog days? The days before the internet and the mall close by? You would take that Christmas catalog and pour over it for hours, just imagining how wonderful it would be to have one of those items that you could see so beautifully displayed in full color. Oh, how I wanted some of those items! That is the kind of desire that we are to have for spiritual things.

13. Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The things that we truly treasure will be the objects of our desire as we find in Matthew 6: 21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

14. Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
The classic scripture on this subject of spiritual desire is found in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Our desire is to focus on God and then we will be able to achieve other the other things that God already knows that we need.
A summary of all that I am saying today is that we are to put our desire for spiritual things first, and other things will fall into place. We have now established an adequate scriptural basis for the idea that we are to have a strong motivating desire for God and spiritual things.

15. Signs of the Spiritually Self-Motivated Individual
Interest in spiritual matters
Seeks out or readily accepts chances for growth.
Volunteers to teach so that he or she might learn rather than waiting to be asked.
If you looked around at church or at work, how would you know if someone was truly spiritually motivated? If you had to grade people, A to F on spiritual motivation, how would you do it?
Let me give you some hints and then you can make your own judgments.
First, we can recognize an interest in spiritual matters. They do not look bored at spiritual discussion and spiritual matters.
Second, the spiritually self motivated person seeks out or readily accepts chances for growth. As a minister, I have an inside look at seeing people grow spiritually. Often as people accept responsibility to lead in public worship, I see their fears as they get our of their comfort zone. It takes courage to go into new areas. I admire it greatly when people accept the change to serve in some way, even if it makes them nervous. The spiritually-minded person accepts those chances for growth.
The person with strong spiritual desire does not wait to be asked, but instead volunteers to teach. Have you ever heard the adage, “The teacher learns more than the students.” The reason that this saying has reached the status of a proverb is because it is true! If you really want to learn, volunteer to teach. The person who is teaching is growing usually faster than the students.

16. Signs of the Spiritually Self-Motivated Individual
Reads and Studies
Attends and Participates
Desires Development and Growth
Willing to Devote Resources (time—energy--money) to Spiritual Things.
Have you been in someone’s home and seen their collection of cookbooks? “How did you get all of these?,” you ask. O, I love cook books. My family gives them to me for gifts. I can look at them for hours.” Look on the coffee table of a dedicated hunter or fisherman. They will have magazines that deal with those subjects. They are willing to spend some of their time energy and effort to learn more about their hobby that they love. Would you expect the dedicated Christian to do any less about their interest. A Christian who really wants to learn will have materials.
The Christian who wants to learn will attend and participate. Many people just want to barely be in the church. The barely arrive before worship begins and leave as soon as it is over. The truly motivated person will be seeking to participate. Our outward actions are not a true picture of the heart, but they can be a pretty good indicator.
The spiritually motivated person wants to grow. I want to grow, I want to develop.
The person who wants to grow is willing to devote resources (time, energy and money) to spiritual things. Ask any teenager if it is appropriate to spend $80 on a pair of tennis shoes and they will likely say it is OK. Is it any more reasonable to pay $80 for a good reference Bible or set of commentaries to help you grow? What is the point? If you think people who will spend large sums on fashionable clothes are wonderful. But people who contribute generously or buy good materials, your priorities are way out of whack!
You do these things not because someone shames you or fusses at you but because these are the things that you value.

17. Who Motivates the Motivator? Paul Meyer Success Motivation Institute
1 Crystallize your thinking. Set a dynamic goal.
2 Develop a plan to reach that goal and give yourself a deadline on its accomplishment.
A few years back there was a company called the Success Motivation Institute. They put out a tape a few years back entitled, Who Motivates the Motivator? Here’s what Paul Meyer from the SMI said. First, Crystallize your thinking. Set a dynamic goal. You must have a definite goal and be focused. I’m trying to get you to make spiritual growth your goal. You may even want to refine that further to set a specific goal like, developing some specific spiritual attribute, developing some talent to a certain level, serving in some capacity, or giving a certain amount or percentage to God.
Second, Meyer said that you should develop a plan to teach that goal and give yourself a deadline on its accomplishment. In one sense, this does not apply to the Christian, because we want to devote a lifetime to growth and development. But you may want to set our some specific action and time as a goal. For example you may say, I will lead a public prayer in worship within the next three months.

18. Who Motivates the Motivator? Paul Meyer Success Motivation Institute.
3 Develop a burning desire to reach that goal. It must become an obsession with you.
4 Develop an unshakable faith in yourself to accomplish it.
5 Create a force of iron will determination. Let nothing keep you from reaching your goal.
The third rule Meyer sets out is that you must develop a burning desire to reach that goal. It must become an obsession with you. Today’s lesson is that you must develop a burning desire within yourself to grow spiritually.
Fourth, you must develop and unshakable faith in yourself to accomplish it. In the case of the Christian, it is much more appropriate to say that you must faith that God will help you to accomplish your goal. Believe firmly that God will keep his promises that we reviewed earlier.
Finally, you must create a force of iron will determination. Let nothing keep you from reaching your goal.

19. Suggestions We can cultivate desire!
Don’t wait for others to motivate you—accept responsibility yourself.
Desire to be like God and Christ.
Here are some suggestions to help you reach your spiritual goals.
You may say, I just don’t feel that spiritual desire. You can cultivate desire. You hang around with people who do have strong desire. The more you read, the more you study, the more you take baby steps, the more likely you will be able to take larger steps.
Don’t wait for others to motivate you—accept responsibility for yourself. Some people say, The preacher just doesn’t do it for me. OK fine. The leaders just don’t have everything together. That is not your problem. Your problem is your relationship to God. Don’t wait on everyone else. Maybe you can say, I have a few suggestions. We need a class to help me learn to ….. Why doesn’t someone teach me how to….. Maybe we could study this. We don’t wait for people to do it for us, we accept responsibility for ourselves.
Finally, focus on the cross. Desire to be like God and Christ. When we see the love and sacrifice that God and Christ have given for us, it should help our desire to be like them. If my brother mistreats me, it makes me sad, but it will not stand in the way of my relationship with Jesus. IF the service is dull, that doesn’t stand in my way of worship, because I did not come for a show, to watch the preacher or the song leader, I came because I love God and want to worship Him. I did not come exclusively for others, I came for Christ.
Today, anyway that I can beg and plead with you to live the Christian life, I would and I will. But more than anything, I wish to motivate you to have your own desire within your heart to live for Christ. When the desire for you to follow Christ becomes strong then you will make that known. When you have that desire, let it be known that you trust in Christ, that you have desire to repent of your sins, and that you want to be baptized into Christ. If that be your desire today, then let it be known.

21. STEED’S SERMONS
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