The Law Of Diligence
FOUNDATION STATEMENT: What you honor
you give priority to and what you give priority to you’ll be diligent with.
I. Victory requires diligence
A.
Deferred hope makes the heart sick (Proverbs
13:2)
1.
Deferred hope comes when expectation and
reality don’t match
2.
You’ll be able to believe very little with a
sick heart because it’ll always be reminding you of what didn’t happen last
time
3.
When people expect to walk in victory without
adding diligence to the promises, hope gets deferred and their heart becomes
sick
B.
You’re not going to walk in victory without
being diligent in hearing and doing Word
1.
Joshua 1:8-The success came after diligently
hearing and doing the Word
2.
Most people don’t want to hear that victory
is going to require diligence in the Word. They live their lives hoping nothing
bad enough happens that they can’t handle by natural means and then when it
does and they can’t handle it they go into crisis management-mode with a few
moments of tears and prayers hoping that God will do something. Rather than living in the Word and no
matter what arises they “hear and do” their way out of
the problem.
C.
You’re supposed to be skillful in the Word of
Righteousness-Hebrews 5:11-13
1.
You’re supposed to know what to do when you
don’t know what to do
2.
You’re supposed to be able to run to this
word, find out what it says, and do your way out; MAKE YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS
D.
There’s a reason things aren’t happening in
people’s lives and many times it’s because they lack diligence-Proverbs 26:2
1.
Nothing just happens, the natural and
spiritual world are governed my laws; If you do this, this happens
a.
Blessings don’t just happen and the curse
doesn’t just happen
b.
Nobody obeys God and gets the curse in their
lives
2.
If you do what the word says diligently
you’re going to walk in victory, if you don’t you won’t
a.
You’re in the condition you’re in right now
because of what you have or haven’t heard and done from the Word
b.
People reject this responsibility and because
of it they walk in no authority
3.
You can’t ignore spiritual law and then be
surprised when the results of the law that you put into motion show up in your
life (Js 1:20, Hosea 4:6)
a.
You wouldn’t be surprised if you jumped and
came down, so why should we be surprised if we don’t walk in diligence and then
don’t see victory in our lives
1)
Get on the good side of these laws
4.
Proverbs 13:13-This is a spiritual law; If
you despise and neglect the Word destruction is going to be in your life
II. Everybody is diligent at
something, but digligence often times is misplaced
A.
Diligence has been misplaced because God and
His things have been given no priority in the life of many believers
1.
Diligence will manifest with the highest
priority
2.
What is most important to you, you’ll be
diligent at
B.
Whatever has the place of highest priority in
your life got there through your honor for it or because you value it the most
1.
Honor-Greek
(Timios)-Estimate or attach a value to something, to
honor somebody as sacred or special, to value as of great price, precious,
esteemed (valued), to hold especially dear-Hebrew
(Kabad)-Weight, heaviness, to be heavy or weighty; in
those days they had scales and how much something cost was determined by
weight; if something was very expensive you had to pile a lot of heavy precious
metals on that scale to buy it; the more valuable a thing was the “heavier” the
price
2.
When we honor something it’s valuable to us
and because it is, it has priority in our lives
C.
We are to honor God and His Word (John 5:23,
Malachi 1:6)
1.
John 1:1-5,14-God is the Word and Jesus is
the Word and you can’t honor him without honoring His Word
2.
EX: You can’t honor your spouse, but not value
what they say
D.
Whatever you honor/value the most you’ll give
priority/preference to in your life and be diligent at
1.
We honor God by giving him and his things our
diligence (1 Sam 2:30)
2.
That sounds like the diligent get the reward
3.
Believers aren’t diligent in the Word because
it has no priority in their lives and it has no priority in their lives because
their honor for it is missing
E.
Many believers don’t show honor because
they’re dominated by their feelings
1.
Their honor is missing because when it was time
for the word, they felt like doing
something else.
2.
Believers have been underdeveloped in honor
and overdeveloped in following their feelings.
III. Diligence has been misplaced
because honor has been misplaced
A.
Proverbs 5:7-13- Where you invest your
energy, your effort, your excellence, where you invest your time, money, and
labor is where you’ve placed your honor
1.
7-Whose words you give your attention to you
honor
2.
9-Where you invest your effort, energy, and
excellence is what you honor
a.
Vigor-Physical or mental strength and energy;
intensity
b.
Splendor-The condition of being magnificent,
impressive, or excellent
3.
9-Where you invest your years (time) is what
you honor
a.
The Greek word timios
(honor) is where we get our word time
4.
10-Where you invest your money is what you
honor
5.
10-Where you invest your labor is what you
honor
6.
12-They didn’t honor or value His correction
7.
If your honor is misplaced your priorities
are out of whack, your diligence will be misplaced, and you won’t walk in
victory
B.
Matthew 15:8-Many believers like to think
that they can honor God while giving his Word little attention, little energy,
little excellence, little time, little money, and little labor; But the say
they honor God
C.
We have to attach the proper value to the
proper things (Mt 13:45-46, Lk 14:16-33)
1.
EX: We’ve put a $5000 price tag on a pack of
bubble gum
2.
Matthew 7:6-Hogs value slop as much as they
value pearls
a.
We won’t miss our TV shows, slop but the Word
is secondary
3.
What men see as important often times God
sees as meaningless
a.
What God sees as important often times men don’t have time for it and don’t
value it and see it as valuable
b.
Open up the eyes of our heart and help us to
see the real value of things
D.
If you don’t honor/value the Word you will
have destruction (Proverbs 13:13)
1.
We don’t have to wonder why destruction is
there. You invest little-to-no time, energy, effort, excellence, and labor into
the Word. You put the very law of
destruction into motion and are surprised when destruction showed up.
2.
Those who honor the Word will have nothing
missing and nothing broken in their lives
IV. A big part of developing
diligence is becoming developed in honor
A.
Release your faith-I am a person who honors
God and His Word above all else
B.
Ignore your feelings
C.
Refer to the Word with honor
D.
Confer upon the Word-Make time for the Word
E.
Prefer the Word over other things-Practice
giving it priority