utensils

August 17, 2021

“A Special Utensil”

21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. — 2 Tim. 2:21 NLT

2 Timothy 2:20-25 NLT

In First Corinthians, Paul uses the human body to describe the relationship and the function of each individual member of the Church.  Here in his second letter to Timothy, he uses the analogy of a wealthy home with many utensils.  We can assume that a wealthy home would have all the utensils needed for every task, from the lowest to the highest.  That home would also have a full staff of servants with one of those designated as the chief of all of the servants.  This person would be responsible for making sure that each person was assigned a specific task or tasks and also that that person would be given the exact utensils he needed to complete the task.  Some will tutor the kids, some will do windows and yes, some will do the bathrooms.  All of the utensils and servants are there to care for the home, the master and his family.  In this analogy, God would be the Master, Jesus would be the heir and the Holy Spirit would be the taskmaster assigning the tasks and giving out the utensils necessary to perform the tasks.   The home is the Kingdom of God here on earth.  The Holy Spirit knows who He has gifted to perform each task and no one can do it better than that person.  We are to spend our time, not in foolish discussions about temporary things of little or no consequence, here or later, but in doing the tasks that the Holy Spirit has given us to do.  If we do not, the Kingdom will not function as well as it should and the world around us will grow more evil as satan moves in to take the territory that we give up.  I think we can see the proof of that all around us today.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

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June 10, 2016

More Than Enough!

even-smaller-bug-light1

8 “Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this Temple of God. You must pay the full construction costs, without delay, from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted. — Ezra 6:8 NLT
Ezra 6:6-13 NLT
In Exodus, we saw that when God brought the Israelis out of the bondage of Israel, He brought them laden with gold and the treasures of the land. God had instructed Moses to tell the people to ask their Egyptian neighbors for whatever they would give. In this way, Egypt was plundered.  God had sent the Israelis into bondage again when the Babylon army ransacked Jerusalem and took the people to Babylon.  When the time of their bondage was fulfilled, God brought them out of Babylon to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.  Cyrus had decreed that they could go in peace and do this.  He gave them the bowls and utensils that had been brought from the Temple.  Cyrus also decreed that their neighbors should “contribute toward their expenses” by giving them voluntary offerings of gold, silver, livestock and anything else they might need for their journey to Jerusalem.  The people of the provinces west of the Euphrates opposed the rebuilding of the Temple.  When Darius became king, they wrote him a letter requesting that that he, Darius, should tell the Israelis to cease and desist.  Instead, Darius had the records searched and found the decree that Cyrus had written years before.  He not only decreed that everything in that letter would be fulfilled but that the peoples of the provinces west of the Euphrates would not help the elders rebuild the Temple but they would bear the cost of the reconstruction using the tax money they usually paid to Darius.  You would need to read the whole book of Ezra to get even a small grasp of all that God provided for His people so the Temple could be rebuilt.  They received gifts worth billions in today’s economy.  God never sends us anywhere or asks us to do anything that He does not provide “more than enough’ to complete the mission.  “Dayenu” is Hebrew for “sufficient for us” and it is a beautiful Passover song that reminds us of just how great God really is. 
 
Dayenu
Post 06-10-2016
June 23, 2014

Pursue A Holy Lifestyle

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

20 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.​ 22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.​ .–2 Timothy 2:20-​2​2 (NLT)
​God has a plan​ for every Christian. Each of us is an original design created by the original Designer. His canvas is the universe. We are limited in how much of that we can see, but be assured His plan has been in existence since before the foundations of the earth and they will be completed,
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago–Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
​Whether we are gold, silver, wood or clay is not our concern. Our concern is to be prepared to carry out His plan for our lives. ​ To do this, we must remain pure and clean. We must avoid the very appearance of sin and run from things that stimulate us physically. Our focus is to be on righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.
Post 06-23-14