Maximizing Your Potential

God is looking for some folk who will exceed expectations. We're not satisfied to be average. Dr. Tony Evans says the Lord has packed each of us with potential, but it's up to us to unpack it. You're not happy with just being okay.

You're not satisfied with just trying to make it. You're going beyond what was required. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. When you're following someone, you don't get to choose the route or the destination. If you do, it no longer qualifies as following. Today, Dr. Evans says Christ followers maximize their potential when they stay the course, even in tough times. Let's join him as he elaborates. In the last verse of 1 Corinthians 15, we read these words, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil or labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Now, let's be crystal clear. You are not saved by works. The Bible makes it clear, by grace have you been saved. Through faith, that matter of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not according to works, so that no one can boast. Nobody gets to heaven because they have worked their way there. The Bible says it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done. When a person says they're working to make heaven their home, they don't get it.

You cannot earn a place with God. But while we are not saved by work, we are saved for work. Because what the author of Ephesians says after declaring we're not saved by works in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, he goes on in verse 10 and says, But we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he hath created beforehand that we should walk in them. So you are not saved, converted, regenerated, redeemed, justified, or propitiated because of your work.

That comes because of his work. But if you are saved, because he says in verse 58, my beloved brethren, he's talking to those men and women who have come to faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who have been saved and redeemed, and what Paul wants to know or what Paul wants to encourage is your work in the Lord. He wants to talk about if you are saved, how is heaven benefiting from your salvation? He wants to know if you are redeemed, how is the kingdom of God benefiting from your redemption? Or are you just chilling until you arrive in glory?

How can there be all these Christians in all these churches, on all these corners, in all these communities, with all these programs, and all these ministries, and we still have all this mess? He says there is work to be done. But he says my beloved brethren, not only my brethren, but my beloved brethren, my, the ones who have entered into this special relationship, there is a mandate.

What is your word? And I'm not talking even now about getting in a ministry at the church. I'm not being that specific. That would be more of the labor side, where there's a specific task. I'm talking about your overall mind. See, your overall mindset in the marketplace is, I need a job. If I don't have a job, I need a job. If I have a job, I want to try to get a better job.

Or I want to try to get more reward from the job I'm in. That ought to be your mindset. Paul says your mindset, if you've been saved, is your service. How am I serving the Lord to advance his kingdom that benefits others with his name attached to it? That's the mandate. That is the expectation of God for all of his people. God is looking for folks who want to go to work. But having given the mandate, he gives the method.

He gives three things in verse 58. Be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding. First of all, in your service to God, in your labor, the word steadfast means to be seated and settled.

To be seated and settled. Right now, you are steadfast because you are seated and you are settled. You're in your place.

You're in the spot. Some of you, I always know where to locate you because you never move. You have laid claim to that seat.

I have seen some of you get a little attitude. If somebody else has the audacity to sit in the seat where you have situated yourself for all these days, months, and even years. I know where you are, which means I know if you're not here because I have scouted where you sit.

To be steadfast is to situate yourself. When I was growing up, my father would sometimes take us on Sunday drives. He would take us inside the church and after dinner.

He would take us on a Sunday drive. The problem was often we were going nowhere. It was a drive into nothingness. It was driving for driving's sake. Now, after a few minutes, the trees look the same, the grass looks the same, the road looks the same, the highway looks the same. It becomes empty movement because there is no destination attached to it. We're not going anywhere.

When he says be steadfast, he is saying in your service to the Lord, let's settle this issue. If you've got a 30 year old living with you, they're 30 years old and they're living with you. They're eating your food, getting cooled by your air, getting warmed by your heat. They are benefiting from your work. And the reason they're claiming the benefit is that they were born to you. They have birthright. And so they're piggybacking off their birth, leeching off of you.

And they're 30 years old. You need to have a steadfast conversation. A steadfast conversation. You need to settle an issue. You need to say, have a seat young man. Have a seat young lady. We need to settle something.

We need to situate something. What we need to settle here is you need a job and if you are going to stay here for another minute or two, you have to work and contribute. If you're five, I'll feed you.

If you're 35, you feed you. You know, we need to settle something. He says, my beloved brethren, you have a mandate to serve God. So let's get this settled and let's stop going all over the place.

He says, let's settle this issue. You are a servant of the Most High and your service to God must be a settled issue. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. That is to whom you belong. And so the Bible says at the end of 1 Corinthians 10, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

He is saying, let's make that a steadfast issue. That I serve Christ. I serve Him on the job. I serve Him at my home. I serve Him with my friends. That is my mindset.

I'm steadfast. It's non-negotiable. If somebody wanted to negotiate with you, whether you worked or not, that should be a non-negotiable.

Particularly as the head of a household, that's a non-negotiable. It's what you do to make ends meet. That's what you do. You get up in the morning and if you need help, you set the alarm because it's a settled issue.

I got to go to work. He says, be steadfast. Let's settle this thing.

Let's stop playing with this. He intensifies the concept of being steadfast by saying be immovable. Immovable means not tossed to and fro, not vacillating in uncertainty.

So it's like being steadfast, but it means being fixed or locked down to, being tethered to, not negotiating. I love what Joshua said. He said, as for me and my house, Joshua 24, 15, we will serve the Lord.

The context in which he says that is all the other people were looking at all the other idols they could serve. Joshua comes out and says, I can't dictate to your house, but let me tell you about my house. As for me and my house, it's not up for discussion. It's not up for debate. Most of us as parents have probably said to more than one of our children, if you're gonna live here, if you're gonna stay here, this is non-negotiable.

Now, you can go and move and negotiate, but if you're gonna stay here under my roof, this is non-negotiable. This is immovable. This doesn't change. We live in a world today when God's view gets to change.

Everybody else's view gets to stay the same. He says, be steadfast. He's talking about the mandate of your service, your labor. He says, be immovable. Let's not negotiate this thing that you represent the Lord Christ, and it is Him who you serve.

And that's not negotiable. You are a Christian. That's who you are. You belong to Jesus Christ. That's your identity.

Nobody else is apologizing for what they do. Every manner of lifestyle, every manner of language, every manner of action is being taken, and everybody else wants you to accept it. Well, He says, you be immovable. Let's not make your service to the Lord negotiable.

Now, it should be appropriate, but it should not be negotiable. We only hear from a small percentage of the people who listen to our program every day, so don't depend on someone else to meet the need. Visit tonyevans.org today or call 1-800-800-3222 to let Tony know he can count on your support. Either way, as our way of saying thanks when you make a donation, we'll send you the best of Tony Evans 2020. You'll get 20 of Tony's most popular messages, as well as his devotional book called For a Purpose.

Get Tony's best so you can be your best. I'll have our contact information for you again later on, but right now, let's get back to today's lesson. And then he says, abounding. He says always abounding. To abound means to exceed the requirement.

Let me give you a secret on your job and your everyday work. You have a job description. You have expectations that have been written out for whatever the labor, the specific task is that you're responsible for in the company for which you work. There are expectations.

Abound means to exceed expectations. You went further than what was required. God is looking for some folk who will exceed expectations, who are not satisfied to be average. You're not happy with just being okay. You're not satisfied with just trying to make it. You're exceeding expectations. You're going beyond what was required.

Always abounding, exceeding expectation, zealous for God. You're not wasting time. You're not just going through the motions. You're not just showing up.

That's the person who, when required to be there at 8.30, is ready to go at 8.30, because they want to abound. All of us know people, and perhaps many of us sometimes have been that person, who is just trying to get by. One of the big issues today in our country is the issue of entitlement. Unfortunately, many Christians have a spirit of entitlement. God, you're supposed to do this for me.

You're supposed to not let this happen to me. I am entitled. If you and I fully understood what He already has done for us, you'd understand that it would take eternity to repay.

That's why I want to close today with the motivation. The mandate is, what is your labor for the Lord? What can you point to consistently, abounding? What can you show and say, I serve the Lord Christ, and it is visible and evident? You see, chapter 15 of the book of 1 Corinthians is the leading chapter in the Bible on the resurrection.

No other chapter competes with chapter 15 on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am a Christian today because I believe in the resurrection. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace toward me did not prove vain.

But I labored, I labored even more, because remember, He exceeded requirements, than all of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Verse 54, when this perishable will put on the imperishable, this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, I know life may be rough right now. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the only hell you get to experience is the hell you're going through now. This is as bad as it's ever going to get.

It's not going to get any worse than this. I mean, it may be bad, but it's the only hell. In case you're here and you're not a Christian, let me explain something to you.

However good it's going for you right now, this is the only heaven you're ever going to get. The main reason that you should be motivated to serve the Lord is because, watch this now, I love this, you don't get to die. He calls it the sting of death. Okay, death has a sting to it. When you go to a funeral and see a loved one laid out again, you know, death's got a little bite to it, he says, okay?

When you have to sit down and do your will and you got to think about what it's going to be like when you're not here and you're forced to deal with that thing or buy life insurance and be reminded that death has a sting to it. But he says the reason that death has a sting to it is that death has sin attached to it. He says the sting of death is sin. So the only reason you're going to die is because sin has come into the world and come into your life and the wages of sin is death. So death has a sting.

The sting is sin and the law is the thing that lets you know about the sin that's caused the death. The law is God's standard. God's standard can't be changed. He cannot grade on the curve.

He cannot dumb down his requirements. So he can't change. And the law, thou shalt not, lets you know when you shalt. Because it lets you know when you violated God's commandment either on action or attitude. So God gives the law that reveals the sin which brings about the death. But he says thanks be to God through Jesus Christ that the sting of death has been removed. If you feel like you're still carrying around that stinger Dr. Evans was talking about, Jesus is ready to pull it out for you today.

Here's a word from Tony about how that works. If what you just heard has impacted your heart, if what you just heard has quickened something within you, to want to enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then I want to invite you to respond right now to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So right now, why don't you go to God and let Him know that you now receive Jesus Christ into your life for the forgiveness of your sins, for the gift of eternal life, because you believe He died on the cross for you. If you will do that right now, God is ready and waiting to receive you and to give you the greatest gift that anyone could ever be given.

Dr. Evans would love to tell you more about that gift. Just visit TonyEvans.org today and follow the link that says Jesus. He has a helpful video there that will answer your questions, along with some great downloadable resources to get your new life started off right.

Also, let me remind you briefly about that special offer I mentioned earlier. When you make a year-end contribution, we'll say thanks by sending you The Best of Tony Evans 2020, an audio collection on CD and digital download containing 20 of Tony's most requested messages, as well as his powerful devotional book, Called for a Purpose. This book will help you see your talents and interests through God's eyes, allowing you to discover the purpose the Lord has in store for you. Both of these resources make a great gift, and they're both yours as our gift when you make a donation to help keep Tony's teaching on this station into the new year. Just drop by TonyEvans.org, where you can get all the details and make your donation online.

Again, that's TonyEvans.org, or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members assist with your request. There are modern-day treatments for depression, but tomorrow Dr. Evans will tell us about an age-old treatment that doesn't require a prescription and only has positive side effects. Right now, though, he's back with this closing story. A little boy one day was in a car with his father. A bee came buzzing around the car. He grabbed the bee and went, ah, and opened up his hand. The bee popped out of his hand and went, bzzzz, and the boy said, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, the bee, the bee, the bee. He says, boy, don't worry about that bee. He said, but the bee is flying all around. It's going to get me.

It's going to get me. He said, boy, don't worry about that bee. He said, what you mean don't worry about that bee? He said, because that bee got one stinger, and that stinger is in my hand. Because when I grabbed him, he stung me. So all that bee is doing is making a whole lot of noise, because it can't mess with you now.

I've got that stinger in my hand. Death has a sting, but on the cross, Jesus Christ grabbed the bee, and he took the stinger. Now, death may be buzzing around, bzzzz, it may be making a lot of noise, but if you know Jesus Christ, it can't touch you now. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Death has a sting. Jesus Christ took the stinger by canceling the sin, because he kept the Lord. So guess what? The reason you ought to serve the Lord is you don't get to die. .