Live Free with Josh Howerton - Enthusiasm Makes A Difference | Ep. 23 | Wednesday March 8, 2023

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? Do you change with the climate of the room or do you set the climate of the room? Today’s episode discusses how to let your enthusiasm flow out of gratitude for what God has done for you and impact everyone around you as you do so.  For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome back to our daily podcast where we're learning together what it means, just a wall company with God. My name is Bro, and just so honored that you give me a few minutes every day. Grateful that we get to do this life together.

And we're just hanging as long as it takes in a section of the Bible called Romans chapter 12. It's in the New Testament. It's a chapter of the Bible that encourages us all to allow God to transform us into brand new people. People who live in such a way that people would look at our lives with curiosity and say, Not sure how it all happened, but man, that guy, that girl, they're just different, man. They're just built different. I'd like some of that peace. I'd like some of that hope.

I'd like some of that joy. I would love to have some of that kindness, some of that love in my life. The writer Paul begins in verse number nine. This is where we've already been. He says, love must be sincere. Love must be real. Don't fake it. Just really love people and hate what is evil.

Just walk away from your former darkness and instead cling, bond, glue yourself. the things that are good and full of light. Yesterday we read how we are to be devoted to one another with a family kind of affection, and we were to honor each other above ourselves. We were to attach a high price tag to everybody that we encounter. And today we land on verse number 11, which says, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. In other words, Paulson, always live with passion, always live with energy and enthusiasm,

for life. If you do that, man, it's contagious. You know how it is to be around like a, I don't know, like an Eeyore kind of person or a Debbie Downer. I mean, that negativity just sucks the life out of a room. And we've all been around those kind of people. In fact, we've all occasionally been those kind of people, right? But Paul is saying here that people who are built different, they tend to bring a positive energy and joy and passion and a really great attitude to the family, to the team, to the job, to the neighborhood, to the church. You know, it's been my experience that there are like two types of people in the world. There are thermometers and thermostats.

Thermometers, you know, change with the climate of the room. Thermostats set the climate of the room. I told you I've been writing some stuff in the margin of my Bible. Out to the edge of this verse, I wrote my wife's name, Debbie, because she's a thermostat, man. She is a thermostat. When the kids were little, I remember a time, she took a bunch of kids from the neighborhood

and took them to a thing we were doing at church. She piled them all in the car, and we were heading down to this, it was like a vacation Bible school type of thing for little kids. We had an old station wagon, so we just crammed all these kids in his car. And on the way down,

somebody whipped out in front of her, and she had to slam on the brakes, and all the kids kind of went flying in the car, and everybody screamed, but everybody's fine. And there's one little boy in the back spoke up and said, I knew we'd be okay. She's a God person. She'd never talked to him about God. He just figured it out. He said, anybody that happy, anybody that full of energy, anybody that full of joy, anybody

that fun, they must be a God person. So Paul says, never be lacking in Z. be a thermostat, keep your spiritual fervor. And then he adds this, serving the Lord. In other words, don't let your zeal, your enthusiasm be all about you. Your gifts, your opportunities, your personality, your influence, your position. He says, let that passion, let that enthusiasm flow out of gratitude for what God has done for you, how He's blessed your life.

Serve him wholeheartedly. When your whole life is motivated by gratitude for God's grace, it just changes the way you see things. Changes how you do school. Changes how you perform on the field. or the court, how you help out around the house, changes what you bring to the workplace. You work with excellence because you know. It's really the Lord that you're working for.

I heard a story about a guy that walked into a McDonald's right before closing time. He was shocked to find one of his old buddies from grad school was working there. They kind of lost touch through the years, but he saw his old friend couldn't help but think, yeah, I thought that dude had a lot more potential than mopping floors of McDonald's.

So he asked him, he said, walk doors and man, I haven't seen you a long time. What are you doing here? The guy smiled and said, I'm mopping these floors. Like Jesus will be the first customer to walk through these doors in the morning. You see, attitude matters. People full of zeal, enthusiasm, passion, and a servant kind of heart, they make a difference. So what do you say we all choose to embrace that attitude today?

Man, I hope you have a great day. Go and make a difference. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you,

would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com.