Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
09/23/2013, by John Kincaid
Lesson 45: Obedience With a Purpose
Don’t view obedience like a soldier following orders by shoveling dirt from one pile to another. Imagine that you are building a house, putting pieces together in order according to a plan. That is in fact what God is doing when each believer obeys.
1 Pet.2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Letters of the alphabet have no value unless they are arranged into words. Words have no value unless they are arranged into sentences to communicate thoughts, following rules of language.
Piling up our duties has no value to God unless we are following His plan and purpose. The purpose of our mind is to know God’s will, and to apply it in everything we do.
Be very careful how you live. Think deeply about what pleases God.
Eph.5:10,15 try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord…Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.