Nothing replaces proper training. It can equip you to do a job well, and it can save a life. Perhaps even your own!
Great training requires excellent tools and well-trained teachers.
Today we’re going to talk about how this is done.
Before we do, thanks for joining me on “Mornings with Bishop Robert.” My goal is to introduce people to the Jesus they never knew, and help them get to know Him and His word personally – and better ! If our time together today speaks to your heart, then let me invite you to like, subscribe and share it with a friend !
There are some things that untrained people should never try to do. You don’t want to get cardiac surgery from an untrained beginner, even if he is a doctor. Most things are more complicated than they appear. Surgery on a beating heart is one of them. Running electrical power is another. One wrong step with 240 volts of electricity and you can fry your body or burn down your house.
You may have heard of the Florida air traffic controller successfully talking a man with no flight experience through the landing of a plane two weeks ago. The pilot’s aorta tore while flying some people back from a fishing trip in the Bahamas; no one on the plane had any flight experience, even on a video game. Thankfully one of the air traffic controllers at the Palm Beach Florida International Airport was also a certified flight instructor. Miraculously, he was able to walk the untrained passenger through a safe landing. It’s a heartwarming story, but nobody wants to be in a plane without a well-trained pilot.
Today’s verse speaks about us being EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK. And that’s a process.
God created us with a purpose. He didn’t just throw us together from spare parts. We are God’s handiwork, which speaks to design and craftsmanship. You and I were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. God, who knows the end from the beginning, specifically prepared those works in advance for us to do. So He has literally built us for the works He has for us. I don’t know what God has prepared for you to do, but I do know that when you find out, you’re going to LOVE IT !!! It will match you, your character and your interests; because you were created to do it. But it will also stretch you to your limits and bring you WAY out of your comfort zone.
So He teaches us and prepares us. The tools for this process are His Word, His Holy Spirit and people with spiritual maturity. He’s intent on bringing LIFE into dead people and situations, so the tools God uses are all LIVING TOOLS.
God’s word is living and active. It discerns and develops, it cuts and it heals. Scripture is breathed out by God, spoken to us. He uses it for teaching, laying the foundation of knowledge. He uses it for reproof, to stop us when we are wrong. He uses it for correction, leading us from the place we are to the place we ought to be. And He uses it for training in righteousness, to apply the lessons learned so that they become part of our character. His intent is that His people become competent. As we increase our skills and develop our experience, we are being equipped for the very good works God designed for us to do.
God’s Holy Spirit participates in the process. Giving us His gifts and teaching us to use them well. His power operates within us, and empowers us as we do the things He calls us to do. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us, encouraging and strengthening, leading and guiding. Enabling us is ways we never imagined to employ the gifts He has poured out upon us.
There’s a word for the process of the older ones in the faith teaching and training the younger ones. That word is discipleship. It can begin from godly parents training children and continue with more experienced followers of Jesus passing along the lessons they have learned. And, like anything else, it takes time.
Not that you need to sit on the sidelines useless and uninvolved until every step of the process is complete. Not at all. Everyone has gifts and talents that can be employed; but we should desire and develop our gifts to their maximum usefulness. Jesus trained His disciples for about three years. They followed Jesus and learned from Him, but even as they were learning they were involved in advancing the Kingdom of God.
This process, carefully designed and faithfully employed, has been building the disciples of the King for centuries. Paul told his disciple Timothy, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Hear the heart of love as he calls Timothy his son; Paul was his “Dad” in the faith. There are four generations of discipleship in those forty words – Timothy, the many witnesses with whom he was trained, the reliable people to be entrusted with the message of the Gospel, and the others they would reach.
What good works has God designed you to do? If you don’t know, His word, His Spirit and His Church can help you find out. And each of these can help you , train you and enable you to serve Christ.
It’s time to get ready to roll. It’s time to be equipped. And you can do it, because you were built for whatever God has set before you.
