To Release the Creation — Robert B. Thompson

Father, as we come unto you this morning, Lord, we are so appreciative of your goodness and we thank you, Lord, again for your kindness toward Devin that he didn't hurt himself worse than he did. We are thankful, Lord.

He's a nice little boy, quiet, and we just thank you, Lord, that you've seen fit to spare his life. We pray, Lord, for all the families here. Lord, it seems I've heard in the last couple of weeks at least three incidents of little boys getting hurt.

I just pray you'll put your protection on our families, Lord. Put your protection on our families, I pray, and give us peace and righteousness so that you can be pleased to be with us in our homes and protect us from sickness and from accident, Lord.

We pray now for the little children in the children's church, that you'll be with them. Lord, open their understanding and bless the teachers that labor there, Lord, and for the rest of us, you know what we need to hear.

You know what each one of us needs to hear, and we pray the Holy Spirit will do that this morning for us, that no one is accepted. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. We'll turn in our Bibles to Romans 8.

Co-Heirs With Christ and the Call to Overcome

I think before we do the responsive reading, could you show that diagram that shows the six aspects of the inheritance? If you could do that, it shows the six aspects of the inheritance. And then we'll read Romans 8, 18 -23.

So you can get a little better feel for it. I mentioned before, we're talking now about the inheritance that we've been in the book of Ezekiel. We've been talking about applying the temple of Ezekiel symbolically to our being made in the image of Christ.

And we're down as far now as the inheritance. And the Bible says we're co-heirs with Christ, right? Well, does two or three people agree with that? Anybody else? We are co-heirs. King James says, join heirs, and that is truly a spectacular statement, because Jesus Christ inherits everything of God.

Everything of God. Everything. And if we are co-heirs with Him, then we have a tremendous, tremendous inheritance. And the stipulation is always that we overcome. All things go to the winners. It isn't true that everyone who professes belief in Christ is a co-heir with Christ.

We might assume that that's true, but there's a number of scriptures that tell us that it's not true. Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, for example. There's nothing that says a mere religious profession of Christ qualifies us to be a joint heir with Christ or co-heir with Christ.

There's no scripture for that. We have to go by the Bible. There are several verses that speak of our inheritance, and it's usually associated with suffer. If we suffer, we'll rule with Him. So there are stipulations.

And as I've said before, being an overcomer is not some far-out mystical thing that only five people in the history of the world have attained. It merely means that at any given point in your Christian life, you can look up to the Lord with assurance and know that you're doing His will.

That's all it is to be an overcomer. It's not a standard set out somewhere. It's something that is true now, this minute, or it's not. If you can look up this morning and you know all the things that God has challenged you with, you've said yes, then you have overcome to this point.

You can only overcome moment by moment. It's like manna. You can't store it up. You overcome now. Tomorrow's another matter. Today is the day of salvation. And if you can look up and your heart is clear, if you have prayed through, that is, the things that are buffeting you, that are challenging you, challenging your idols, challenging the things that you crave fervently, challenging these things, or challenge you in the realm of fear, something that may happen, something that maybe you've had a biopsy and you're waiting for the result, or maybe you're being sued, maybe your financial outlook is bleak, maybe there's domestic dispute, maybe there's a son or a daughter that is giving you cause for concern and worry.

These are the kinds of challenges that are normal. Everybody has these, saved and unsaved alike. Our temptations are common to man, and if you can say right at this moment you're prayed through, you're willing to go God's way no matter what it entails.

See, that's why we get torn up. It's because there's something that we fear. There's something in here, and if you'll analyze that fear, it's something that we're clinging to, something that we're afraid will happen.

Trusting God Through Fear, Anxiety, and Suffering

God does not want us living in fear. He does not want us living in fear. The way to overcome anxiety and dread and fear is to visualize the worst and say, Lord, if that's what's going to happen, praise the Lord, I can serve you in that situation too.

Then Satan has no grip on your subconscious. See, he deals, he gets in there those fears that you're afraid to, must be somebody needs this this morning, I didn't intend to go this way, but since we're in it, let's do it.

If there's something in there that you're afraid to face, I couldn't stand the thought of that happening. You know what I mean? I couldn't stand the thought of that happening. Then you repress that, you push that down.

You don't want to face it. You get down to pray and you see that thing, you spring up to your feet. You don't want to face that. And that's what Satan uses to create burnout, to create anxiety and dread.

He uses that subconscious fear. And what that fear is based on a lack of trust in God's goodness and that he knows what's best for us. And even if things, even if the worst of the worst happens, then we have the assurance of the Bible.

All things are working together for good. And we just have to look up and say, Lord, I thought that was what I needed, what I wanted, but evidently God had a better idea. And just let it go. And then Satan has no handle on you.

Because he works through the dread of what might happen. He doesn't want you living like that. He doesn't want dread and fear in our homes. And when there's dread and fear in your home, stand against it.

It's not God's will. It's not a premonition of disaster. That's superstition. God has given us love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. And that's the way he wants us to live. Great peace are they who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

And when we're offended and fearful, how does that verse go? It's all about not fearing a bad report. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. How does the first part of that go? His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

Perfect. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. Was that you, Ruth? Who came up with that? Very good, Lynn. Alright. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. There was a period in our life when I dreaded to answer the phone.

Have you ever been there? And that verse, that whole act before me. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. And that, when we look up to God, we should be without condemnation.

And we're without condemnation when we know that what God has required of us... The report comes back to me that there's people that get angry with God. But how in the world can we get angry with God when we think about Calvary?

How can anybody with any sense of fairness become angry with God after Calvary? I mean, brother, sister, it don't compute. It doesn't compute. No, we don't get mad at God and we don't get mad at people.

And we don't fear people. The fear of man brings despair. God wants us without fear, even without the fear of death. Remember the scripture says in Hebrews, who all their lifetime were subject to the fear of death.

And Christ has broken that for us. So we don't fear death, we don't fear sickness, we don't fear poverty. We don't fear any of these things because we're not clutching them. We trust in the Lord. And you say, well, that sounds real sanctimonious and wonderful to say.

I'm talking about living the way God wants us to live. And we can live that way. We can live above fear and dread and sin by praying. Pray without ceasing. And giving over to the Lord. Lord, you want this?

Great. You want that? Great. This going to happen to me? Fine, Lord. You always pray and ask for what you want. You always do that. If you don't do that, you won't survive. You always pray and ask for what you want.

Always. In everything. With prayer and thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. And you always issue the disclaimer, not my will but thine be done. That is being scorned today. That if we say that, then people won't get healed.

They won't get the result because it's a weak prayer. Brother, sister, that's a lot of nonsense. The strongest prayer in the creation is not my will but thine be done. You don't have to worry because you didn't force your ideas on God and said not my will but thine be done.

You're not going to get the answer. That's more nonsense. You always pray. You always issue that disclaimer because you and I don't know what's best for us. We don't know what will bring peace and joy.

We think we do. But we don't. But God does. And so we express faith in God that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. He does. He's seeking your good. He's not seeking to make you miserable. And when you're miserable and you've done God's will, it's because God is bringing to the surface something that needs to be brought to the surface.

It's as simple as that. So there's a skin cream. It's by prescription. But you can get it to put on your arms. And it will bring up to the surface every potential skin cancer in your arm. Brings it right up.

You have to keep your arm out of the sun or you'll really be in trouble. But that ointment will bring up every potential thing to the surface so that your body can deal with it and so that the dermatologist can deal with it.

And that's what God does. He anoints us and he brings up to the surface all this potential sin that we don't know about. And very often pain and frustration and anger will accomplish this. And so when God says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, that's exactly what he means.

And all things work together for good to those who love God. That's exactly what he means and he hasn't changed. And so be at peace this morning. And if there's something that you're battling about God's will, why don't you yield to God and give yourself a break?

Because you're not going to get anywhere forcing your own will on God. That's ridiculous. God has worked out real great for Eve, didn't it? Six thousand years of misery we've had because of that. A couple of people decided that they knew better than God what was good for them.

And you don't know what's better than God, neither do I. And so the common sense thing is to say, well, Lord, have at it and don't quit because of my wailing. Just do what you're going to do. And you don't go out of church ever carrying a load of sin, ever.

That's what the altar's here for. You get up here because you don't know if you're going to be alive tomorrow any more than I do. You don't. This may be it for you. So you keep your account short. Save sanctified up to date.

Keep your accounts with God short. And don't be carrying a load of debt. Get down there and get that taken care of today. You can do it now if you want to or when we're through, but don't go out of this church carrying a bunch of garbage, whether it's unconfessed sin or wrestling with God's will or fear and dread of God's going to do something that you're not going to like or whatever it is.

Why should you live like that? You don't have to live like that. You don't have to. Here's Paul in prison. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. In prison. Rejoice in the Lord part of the time, right?

Rejoice in the Lord. Paul knew what it was to suffer. He knew what it was to lose everything. And what did he count it? Garbage. Garbage. Refuse. Dung. He says it's nothing. I'm after the goal. And he says let as many as are perfect be thus minded.

So when we say that the promises of God and the inheritance are to the overcomers, we're talking about the normal Christian life. We're not talking about the subnormal Christian life that's true of America.

We're talking about the normal Christian life, which is a life of cross-carrying obedience, keeping your accounts up to date, praying, walking cheerfully in the Lord, giving over everything to Him. Never, never, never saying no to God.

The most foolish thing you can do is to say no to God. You always say yes to God. Always say yes to God. You can live that way. That's the normal life. And everything goes to the winners. Those who profess Christ and are not living it, not carrying their cross, not obeying the Lord, you are in for the outer darkness.

Hear me. You're wasting your talent. You can holler grace, grace, grace, little cows come home. I'm talking Bible. Bible. You waste your talent. Your talent is whatever God has given you to serve Him.

You waste that and you're facing the outer darkness. You can profess Christ all you want to. Wow. That's a bit of reason, so I hope I helped somebody. If it didn't hurt me, I hope it didn't hurt you. These are the six aspects of the inheritance.

Inheriting the Earth and the Manifestation of the Sons of God

First, and we went over God Himself. See, these are all the inheritance of Jesus Christ. And we're co-heirs with Him. Eternal life in the age to come. We went over that, and if you're into that sort of thing, it's on previous tapes.

The nations of the earth, we talked about Tuesday night last. So, if that interests you, it's on tape for last Tuesday night. Now, today we're on the earth, and thank you. Now we're going to go to Romans 8, verses 18 through 23, and read them together in the NIV, which will be on the board directly.

The reason I gave you the stuff in advance is because this is about the manifestation of the sons of God. And that, in our day, has taken on a bad name because some have perhaps preached that out excessively, but I want to tell you it's a very important passage, and it has to do with our inheriting the earth.

And in fact, I'm going to run together inheriting the earth and paradise, which is Numbers 4 and 5 in the inheritance, because paradise belongs on the earth. It started on the earth, and it will finish on the earth.

So we'll run the two together, and it's involved with the manifestation of the sons of God. So forget whatever you've heard of excesses in these doctrines, and we'll try to preach it in a scriptural manner.

Here we go. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Now that is a tremendous, tremendous statement. A tremendous portion of Scripture because it orients our salvation toward the earth. And I guess in past history it has not been God's will to emphasize the salvation of the earth was enough that we die and go to heaven.

We're in a new day. And we're close to the coming of Christ and He's coming to inherit the earth. All these things up there, these six things, are all the inheritance of Jesus Christ. And one of these is the earth.

It's been so new to our thinking. Now, consider here. The creation. That word means the physical realm. Let me say something here. The kingdom of God is heaven clothed with the physical realm. Where do you see that?

In the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you agree with me that in Christ dwells the fullness of God, the fullness of all that is desirable about heaven? Would you agree with me on that? When it came forth from the cave of Joseph of Arimathea, what was that heaven clothed with?

Flesh and bone. That is the kingdom of God. Now, in past time we have thought that the kingdom of God was the spirit realm. There's no scriptural basis for that. That was just our tradition. But the kingdom of God.

Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have the outward form of the kingdom in our bodies. Of course, they will be glorified and purified and whatever when the Lord comes.

We're not sowing the body that shall be. Nonetheless, the body that we will have in the future will have this body in it. Otherwise, there will be no resurrection from the dead. And you can think of a fossil.

You can think of the imprint of an ancient creature or a leaf in a rock. A fossil. Our body will be like that. It will be fossilized. You won't be able to see it, but it will be present. God doesn't create things to have them vanish.

It will be raised from the dead, purified, glorified, and then within us will be the fullness of God. Hallelujah! Heaven clothed with the physical realm. That is the kingdom of God. So, it isn't so much a case of going to heaven, although that's a reality, but it's a case of heaven coming to us.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth. Isn't that a better message? You know, we think the affair with little Devin and others always causes us to think about eternal things. And we know right away that we're not as anxious to die and go to the spirit realm as we think we are.

Huh? Or have our children die and go to the spirit realm. And you say, well, that'd be wonderful. They're up there playing with Jesus in the park with the other children. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Tell that to the mother whose child's had an accident.

They're not that interested in the spirit realm. They're interested in the physical realm. And so we all are. We just play these religious games with our mind. The Gospel. The Gospel is that God so loved the world, He gave a Son, that whoso believes in Him should not perish.

If you read your New Testament, you'll find the word perish refers to the body. John 3 .16 is talking about the resurrection from the dead. The reversal of what was lost in Eden. As Paul says, we wait for our adoption as sons.

Verse 23. What is our adoption as sons? Huh? Boy, that's awful quiet. What is our adoption as sons? Take a hold of it. Get a hold of it. Believe it. That was Paul's goal. To have a body of righteousness.

Now, verse 19. The creation. That's the physical realm. The animals, people, trees, rocks, the sky, the sun, moon, and the stars. You name it. The physical realm waits in eager expectation. Philip says, standing on tiptoe.

The creation. Not the church. Not the Christians. The physical realm. Gotta let us think in. Alright, because we don't hear this every Sunday. Waits in eager expectation for the sons. Plural. That's you.

The physical creation is waiting for you. Don't spend your time cursing the government. The problem isn't the government. It's us. They're waiting for us. We're not waiting for the United States to become a Christian nation.

They're waiting for us. So don't spend your time cursing all the evils of government. The evil of American government is due to the fact that the church is unrighteous. That is preaching grace, heaven, and the rapture.

How in the world is that going to solve all the ills of society? Oh, I thought you'd like that. To be revealed. We're not revealed yet. We won't be revealed until the Lord comes. What needs to be revealed?

What needs to be revealed is what God is doing inside of you. Sometimes we get impatient with people. They irritate us. We want too much too soon. Like the little boy said, God isn't finished with me yet.

Is God finished with you yet? And that's why you irritate other people. God isn't finished with you yet. But if we could see into one another, we could see the marvelous thing that God was doing. And if we would just have patience, patience, and pray, we might be surprised at what will happen to some of these people that we've given up on.

End of the truth. Well, the creation looks at the church, and they can't see that that God is doing and they're creating patience and peace and love and self-control. They can't see that. It's inside us, and it takes a long time coming to the outside for sure.

But God is working on the inside. And eventually it comes on the outside and people say, boy, they should ruin the Lord. Last year, boy, you couldn't stand to be around them, but now they're pretty mellow.

It happens. Happens to the best of us. Happens to the worst of us. Oh yeah, you need to be patient with God. He's a marvel when it comes to changing us. So it behooves us to be patient with people. And when we see the faults of our brothers and sisters, and who among us does not have faults?

And it behooves us to pray, not slander and gossip. Say, I told you so, and step on their head. But anyway, that's another subject. The sons of God, the creation is waiting for you. The physical world is waiting for you.

Not to fly up to heaven. What good in the world is that going to do? The physical creation. You take off here. Fly out of Lindbergh Field and you're going out of sight. Now what good is that going to do the creation?

I don't know. I never thought about it. Well, it won't do the creation any good. They've got to see you. In order for them to see you, you've got to be here. Wow, how logical we're getting this morning.

Logic leaps off the Bible. It's amazing, isn't it, how logical the Bible is? The creation, the physical realm, was subjected to frustration. If you've ever worked in a field with a hoe, cultivating weeds, cultivating around, getting out weeds and cultivating them so it'll take the water, you know how frustrating that is.

Bugs. Weeds. Sickness. Death. Too hot or too cold. Not enough food or too much food. Nothing goes right. If you get a single day with no problems, then you need to put it on your calendar. Our creation, the physical world, we love it, it's all we've got, but it has been subjected to frustration.

Not by its own choice. It did not choose that to happen. Because the creation doesn't know anything at all. But by the will of the one who subjected it, God subjected this creation of His to sickness and all these things.

So they didn't come from the Lord. Well, Amos says, if nothing happens, it doesn't come from the Lord. In hope, in hope, now this is the hope we've got to have that the creation itself, the physical creation itself, will be liberated.

Now that's something to look forward to. The liberation of this creation so we get rid of the bugs and the weeds and the too hot and too cold and sickness and death and everything else. This world is going to be liberated from its bondage to decay.

It's subject to decay. When things operate randomly, they randomize into disorder and decay. They don't arrange themselves, which is one of the greatest arguments in the world for a creator. You leave things alone, like a garden or anything else, you don't work on it, first thing you know you're going to have chaos.

And this world would be chaos if there were no intelligent God making order out of it. That's the second law of thermodynamics. Alright. And brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Now what that means is the freedom that we're moving toward in the church, the freedom of the Spirit of God, is a first fruit of what one day will be true of the whole saved creation.

Now, unfortunately, there will be people who will be lost. And the Bible is very clear on that. So I'm not talking about everyone's going to be saved. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not talking about that.

But all that God has saved will be brought into the Holy Spirit of God. That's the promised Abraham, is the Holy Spirit. And what we have is a first fruit of what one day will be true of the whole earth.

I want to be here when that's true. But notice that it is not going to come down from heaven. It will come down from heaven, but it will come in the persons, in persons, in people, called here the sons of God, of which Jesus Christ is, of course, the greatest and the ruler and the Lord of all.

So it's God's will that Pentecost, of course, is the reign. Now, we're moving past Pentecost into the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles which symbolizes not reign, not the Spirit as reign, but the Spirit created within us so that out from our inward nature comes rivers of living water.

And these rivers are not for us. They're for the creation. Now, the river of God only flows from one source, and that is the throne of God. So, what God is doing for us as we're moving past the Pentecostal experience into the Tabernacles experience is creating His throne in us.

Now, the way that works out in practical terms is He is working out His will in us, which means that the burden of the hour, you want to know where the buzz is now, where the growing edge of revelation and of God's dealing with His people, the growing edge, has to do with our learning to do God's will and to do it sternly and to do it exactly.

Now, we can be saved accept the blood atonement, receive the forgiveness of our sins, and still walk largely according to our own will. And this is true of many Christians. Many Christian churches where the people are all saved and blood-washed find themselves in a state of division and hatred and bitterness.

And whenever that is true, whenever there's division and bitterness between two Christians, it's because one or the other or both of them are not doing God's will. Because when you have two Christians that are doing God's will, there's no friction.

How could there be? So hatred and division and bitterness which fill the Christian churches, I mean the people who are saved, comes from the fact that they are still largely operating out of their own will, their own nature.

And they're not praying all the time. They're not giving all their decisions to Jesus. They're not entering into the death of the cross. They're pursuing their own way. And of course, if you get two people pursuing their own way, you're going to have division.

If you even get one person pursuing his own way, you're going to have chaos and division. Because a self-centered person, a self-seeking person can do more harm than you can put together in a year because he's insisting on his own way.

I'm going to have my own way. You want to know something. For relaxation, I read detective stories. That is, the old ones, you know, Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie. I don't have anything with any sexual stuff in it at all.

The minute I see that or the four-letter words or anything like that, out, out, out. I will not have it. Back to the library it goes. But I've found some, like the fellow that wrote Sherlock Holmes and all, that are very morally clean.

And I enjoy them thoroughly, and they take my mind off a lot of things. But you know, I learned something the other day from reading one of these experts on crime, these writers that write these things, you know, really experts on crime, that one of the main...

Hey, you won't believe this, but this is what he wrote. I was trying to think what it was. No, it was an Englishman. Can't remember his name. Famous English writer of detective stories. Most famous, beside Agatha Christie.

And Sherlock Holmes there. He said the most distinguishing feature of a murderer is someone who has to have what they want. You would think it would be they're violent or they're raised in corruption or something.

This is this person's opinion. Studies crime. The most distinguishing feature of a murderer is someone who has to have what they want and will book no interference. You know, scheme and lie and work around.

Another one is they're stuck on themselves. There are three more. There's five characteristics in the profile of a murderer, but that's not what you would think of, would it? But you see, a murderer will want something so bad he's got to have it until finally he kills somebody to get what he wants, whether it's a woman or a man or money.

We see it every day in the paper, don't we? People that throw caution to the winds. It's like they don't even care whether they're in jail, just as long as they get what they want. Do you ever notice that?

It's becoming true of our society, isn't it? So God is doing us nothing but good when he gets after our self-will. And that is the move after Pentecost. That's the move. That's where the edge is now.

The cutting edge is on Christians. Now, all right, I said about Satan. Let's take Pentecostal people that speak in tongues and prophesy. You can do these things. You can exercise gifts of miracles and still have a problem with self-will.

And I read one time in the early days of the healing revival that the healing ministries were competing with one another about who had the largest tent. Do you ever think people with such a tremendous gift from God would be so carnal?

Instead of wishing their other brother had a tent larger than they do, which would be a Christian attitude, wishing for the advantage of your brother, it doesn't do it. Speaking in tongues doesn't do it.

Prophesying doesn't do it. You can be saved and fill with the Spirit according to the way we use the term, and still not have gotten at that self-will. It's a third step. I call the first step death to the world, the second step death to sin, Pentecost, and the third step death to self.

Death to self-will. So we've got yards and yards of Pentecostal people who create division, who slander, who do mean things one to another because they are asserting their self-will. Now God has something better than that for us.

He has something better than that, and that will be required of us if we are to be in the ranks of the sons of God who have the unspeakable privilege and joy of returning with the Lord Jesus Christ and setting the creation free.

And if you don't think that's going to be a joy, you never have ministered to someone and set them free from bondage as you were ministering and praying and all. How many have had that experience? You either bring someone to the Lord or you prayed for illness or you gave them wisdom that they needed.

How many have had that experience? You know what joy that is? That deep joy of knowing that you have blessed another person and brought them along the way. Can you imagine what it will be like to ride with Jesus and set the whole creation free?

The bondage of corruption? Can you imagine the joy? But it's not enough to have accepted the redemption through the blood. It's not enough to have accepted the redemption and be filled with the Spirit.

You must take this third step. Your whole life must revolve around one of the last words of Jesus Christ. Not my will, but Yours be done. That's very practical. You'll find this afternoon a reason to say that.

You'll find tomorrow several reasons to say that. And as you do, as you say, not my will, Lord. You want to do this? If this is what you want, I'm your man, I'm your woman, I'm your boy, I'm your girl.

It's whatever you want. It's whatever you want. I don't even have to count the cost. I've already counted the cost. I'm already dead with you on the cross. Just let me know the Father's will and give me the grace to do it.

That's all I want out of life is just to be sternly obedient to God. And when we make that decision, the Christian life becomes so simple and so transparent. Sin always brings opacity. It always brings an inability to discriminate.

Satan loves a gray area. Keep it where I can't quite see the issue. God likes things cut in copper plate. And if you're here and there's an issue in your life and you know there's an issue in your life and it's keeping you from that wonderful sense of the presence of God, freedom from condemnation so that you can look up at God at any moment and say, Father, I'm doing your will.

And it's such a joy to me. You know, we can bring many things around with our mouth. And I'm not talking about speaking the creative word either. I'm just talking about the way we are. And I can't use you for an example.

I have to use myself for an example because I don't know what you're doing. But a lot of times I don't feel like doing something and yet I know it's important for the ministry. And instead of saying, God, I don't feel like doing this or I'm too tired or this gets boring or whatever, I say, I make myself say, and you can do this and probably have, what a privilege it is to serve God.