How do you use the scripture in 2 Timothy 2:15 and make it applicable for yourself in life as a man approved of God to do that which He has placed in your heart to do.
How do you use the scripture in 2 Timothy 2:15 and make it applicable for yourself in life as a man approved of God to do that which He has placed in your heart to do.
Hello, today we shall be praying about being a man approved by God. In life and in this generation, we often say things like going with a flow. What does it truly mean to go with a flow, and then, whose flow are we really going with? As human beings, we often like to please people as opposed to pleasing God. We have instances at work and our families while we're growing up where we truly do not even understand the consequences of our actions. We cannot even quite explain why we do the things that we do. But there is a scripture that popped out to me and it made me realize that God can approve a man to do a certain task, and it's so profound to me because, as a person who loves to pursue purpose and to talk about purpose and to be able to bring many people to the realization of what their purpose is, that they too may be able to pursue it, that we ought to be men and women approved of God. Second Timothy 2 and verse 15. I'll read from the amplified classic version Study and be eager to do your utmost to present yourself to God. Approved In brackets, tested by trial, a work man who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing in bracket, rightly handling and skillfully teaching the Word of God.
Speaker 1:
We have this model throughout the Bible and the model is Jesus. We see that Peter refers to Jesus in his first message on the day of Pentecost as a man approved of God. He knew Jesus as both God and man, and it dawns on you how close you can be to Jesus by understanding his humanity. You will never go back. His humanity, his human state, is just as everlasting as his God states. In Acts 2 and verse 22 we read that Jesus was approved. Ye, men of Israel, hear these words.
Speaker 1:
The question is always does this apply to me today? Can I be a man approved as Christ was? And the answer is absolutely yes. There's three things that in my study of being a man approved of God that popped out to me that I will be sharing with you. That number one, life is a choice. Number two, as a man approved, we ought to live a life of surrender. And number three, as a man approved, we ought to live a life of truth. So what does it mean to be that life has choices?
Speaker 1:
As a man approved, we see that choosing God side, not man, to do God's will, not your will, then leads to a total life of surrender when we're now saying God, I have my choices. You've given me the ability to choose, but I choose you. I choose to be on your side, god. I choose to do your will. And so God then looks at the state of your heart and my heart and is able to say this is a man approved of God, a life of surrender allowing God to use you to display his wonders, as we read in Acts 222, jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs. He did which God did by him, in the midst of you. And so when you live a life of surrender, god is able to use you to do wonders, signs and miracles how amazing is that. And a life of truth when we choose right, you surrender to do the will of God, you live by truth and the truth which is the word of God. Then you become a testimony of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
And so today we shall be praying that, lord, as you call Jesus your son a man approved, make me a man approved. Lord, also help me, as I grow in your word, as I grow in your things and your ways, that I will rightly divide the word, I will rightly divide it. In truth, see, the Holy Spirit was sent to help us. He is our teacher, our friend and our counselor, and it is through him that we get immense revelations, those moments where you look back and you're like, ah, that's just come to me. That is Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:
And so, even today, as you and I pursue purpose, let us pray that God will say that I am a man approved and as a man approved, I will live a life of surrender. I will live a life of truth, truth. I will make the right choice and the choices to do the will of God. Let us pray, our Lord and our God, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you sent your son, jesus Christ, to come and die on the cross for us. We thank you because we have a model, and the model is Jesus, and we're able to emulate that which Jesus did. We thank you because we know that you desire to have men approved in your midst, in this nation of Kenyan, around the world.
Speaker 1:
Oh God, father, we pray that you will find me as a man approved. You will find us as a man approved, that we shall do your will here on earth, as it is in heaven that we shall hear your choice, that we should desire, and we shall choose you, god, despite the circumstances. We shall say no to the ways of the world and yes to the will of God. We shall live a life of surrender where we say we are fully sold out to Christ Jesus to do his will all around the world, in whichever form and way that he says that we are to do, because we are men approved.
Speaker 1:
That, father, god, we are to live lives of truth, reading your word and dividing it right.
Speaker 1:
Father, we pray that, indeed, as you help us through the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall receive this Holy Spirit, your Holy Spirit, inside of us to guide us, to be with us, to walk with us and to help us to be a man approved as we pursue purpose. Oh Jehovah, god, father, we thank you because we know, as we pursue purpose, the very thing that you have put inside of us, that we are convicted to do, oh God, is because you have approved us in heaven. You are saying that we are your servants and that we are to do your bidding in the land of the living, every territory, every area that you have given it to us that you have approved us this day. And so, as we walk out, oh God, we are walking. In truth, we are walking in surrender, and we are walking making the choice that it is God that has sent us. And so, father, we bless you and we glorify you, for we pray all this, believing and trusting in Jesus.