The Man God Uses

The Man God Uses

Ezekiel 22:30

Intro: What kind of man does God use in a crisis? We are having a moral crisis as a nation and world because men refuse to step up to the plate and be counted to the fathers and Spiritual leaders that God wants them to be.

2 Chron. 16:9 says “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…”

God wants fathers and all men to be…

I. Men of Purity_.

A. In motives

B. In actions

The Bible says, “Keep thyself pure.” Isaiah of old has given to us the counsel, “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (Isa. 52:11). Psa. 24:3-4 says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” The Bible still says, “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” (Matt 5:8) The apostle Peter says “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet.1:16).

Illustration: Think as God Thinks

“Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.”

John Brown, nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, quoted in J. Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 51

II. Men of _Prayer_____________.

The man that God uses must be a man of prayer. Hudson Taylor has said, “Prayer is transacting business with God.” Jonathan Edwards has said, “prayer is storming heaven.” John Knox has said, “Give me Scotland or I die,” and that is prayer.

Illustration: Norman Vincent Peale

In his book Why Prayers are Unanswered, John Lavender retells a story about Norman Vincent Peal.

When Peale was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit up. It didn’t taste good, but it made him feel very grown up…until he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus.

“Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.”

His father’s reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot.

“Son, he answered quietly but firmly, “never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.”

- Kirk Russel

John Lavender, Why Prayers are Unanswered

Illustration: Build Me a Son, O Lord

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain.”

-General Douglas MacArthur

III. Men of _Pursual__.

The man of God must be a man of pursual. He must study the Book. The Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15. Fathers must delight in the Word and meditate in the Word and must have their soul fed by the Word of God.

Illustration: Learn the Word as You Would Your Trade

Remember the wise words of Richard Baxter to the people of Kidderminster: “Where you but as willing to get the knowledge of God and heavenly things as you are to know how to work in your trade, you would have set yourself to it before this day, and you would have spared no cost or pains till you had got it. But you account seven years little enough to learn your trade and will not bestow one day in seven in diligent learning the matters of your salvation.’

John R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, Some New Testament Word Studies, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1961), p. 27

IV. Men of _Perspiration__.

God won’t use lazy men to do His work. We must be men and fathers who are diligent in business and in the spiritual welfare of the family God has entrusted to us. Fathers must take time with there sons and daughters to love them. Learn to be involved with your children. Like the things they like so that you can win them to the Lord. Play and Pray with your children. Be involved in their lives. Get on their level and play with them. Teach them how to work by working yourself. Teach them to be diligent by being diligent yourself.