OUTLINE:

Curing Familiarity’s Plague
A shepherd cannot cure familiarity, for it is his person who others have become dull-of-hearing with. He can, at best, help sharpen another's perspective. Only God can cure this plague.

Charles Spurgeon
Jesus Christ deserves the best men to preach His gospel, and not the empty-headed and the shiftless.

King David
He was a “doer…not merely a hearer who deluded himself” (ala Jas 1:22), described in the Lord's own words as, "A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will" (Ac 13:22).

Jas 4:6
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

Real Men (and Women) Do!
Why? Not because there's anything extraordinary about them (consider "Why Are the Apostles So Encouraging"), but rather because they are humble. They aren't interested in self-glorification, only God's glory, by grace.

Serving From the Heart
The proper perspective on serving is that it's a pure privilege.  It's nothing less than a privilege, a grace gift, and an opportunity to honor the Lord from the heart.

Recognizing Privilege
With the Lord's perspective, you will see how much you've been blessed. While you get familiar, Christ never does (Heb 13:8). If you've lost sight of your privilege to serve, you've lost sight of Christ!

Remembering Where You Came From
If you remember that you didn't have the privilege to serve the Lord until He chose to save you, maybe, just maybe, you'll be more grateful for your current opportunity to do so.

Php 4:8 [Message]
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Php 4:9 [Message]
Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

The Value of Pressure
Pressure proves the mettle of a person's heart.  Under pressure, true faith emits humility; pseudo-faith emits arrogance. God reminds us of our arrogance by pressing us to this latter point and then saying, "See?…you're still arrogant."

The “Conversion Coin”

Jesus’ Call
Why didn’t Jesus choose the Pharisees? Why the Apostles? The answer is simple - the Pharisees thought they could save themselves; whereas the apostles looked to Jesus to save them. (e.g., Mt 16:15-16)

“do not suppose”
This wreaks of the contemporary plague in the churches, where people are convinced that they are saved just because they are “official” members of a church (or a group, lineage, etc.).
Jesus NEVER had a problem challenging a person's salvation.

Surefire Evangelism
Always includes, "The Bible says…" or "The Word of God says…" This places the burden of conviction on the Word and the Spirit in that moment, not the evangelist. It also relieves the evangelist of bearing the responsibility of saving others. God saves.