Equipped for every good work

2 tim. 2:17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

complete- mature

equipped = having what is needed for the task

this is a process, not much different than school, or any form of education. God has outlined in scripture a process for us to be made complete/mature and equipped. He has given us all the tools that we need to accomplish His desire, now its up to us to properly utilize the process and the tools.

Eph 4:12-14 “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,”

fullness- complete

eph 4:11 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,”

these are gifts that He gave to the church for its edification, growth, and training in the faith and knowledge of the son of God .

apostles and prophets: foundational: eph. 2:20 / 3:5 we get the scriptures through them. one article “the” “some” two characteristics of single person, hyphenated word

pastors= comforting/guiding

teacher= instruction, training

before we can accomplish the most basic tasks we must first be trained in that task, or at least in how to think through how to accomplish the task.... In the Kevin Costner film “the guardian”, he plays a legendary coastguard rescue swimmer, who has had a traumatic experience and is forced back to the training school as the lead instructor. His philosophy differs from the traditional training methods, his goal is to tighten the gap between training and real life scenarios.... we will all fall back to the level of our training when faced with the circumstances of life. He realizes this and thus begins a very grueling training regime with the new recruits. In the scriptural sense, when we sit under the teaching of a pastor-teacher and take in the word of God we are being trained in the school of the faith, and our manual in the Word of God. Now as that knowledge/gnosis is applied to our life we will have a knowledge/epignosis of the son of God! One of the training scenes in the movie is where Kevin Costner has the students in a huge tub of freezing water…the other staff come in and state that they have classrooms to teach about hypothermia in…Kevin responds that in just a couple more minutes each of the students will know what hypothermia is! they have experienced it!

Rom 1:5 “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,”

Rom 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

acts 2:42-47 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

acts 16:4-5 “As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.”

rom 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

heb 3:15 “As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.””

when you hear the Word, believe it

heb 4:1-3 “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

2 tim. 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

teaching/doctrine= that which is taught

we must come in humility to be taught, must be teachable, if we think that we know all that we need to know, pride will take over and we will eventually fall flat on our face. We will become futile in our thinking, and over time our hearts will become darkened.

reproof= bring to light that which is incorrect

the scriptures will show us where we are weak, where we are leaning on our own understanding and not walking in step with the spirit. its like a mirror that will show us where the dirt is

correction= shows proper way to correct wrong action/thinking

then it will show us not only how to be washed clean again, but will show us the proper direction to be walking...

training in righteousness= divine righteousness

the righteous shall walk by faith, divine thought, divine good, divine viewpoint

2 tim 3:17 “that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

eph 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

gift to the body/church

purpose = equip the saints

= building up the body

how = unity of the faith/ that which we believe

= knowledge/epignosis of the Son of God

epignosis = applicable knowledge, not simply head knowledge

2 tim 4:1-3 “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,”

in season and out of season

2 tim 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

in this instance this is directed at Timothy, a pastor-teacher, who must be prepared at all times, completely devoted to proclaiming the Word truthfully/correctly cutting it straight.

acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.””

2 tim 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

reprove = convict, convince, tell a fault

rebuke = forbid, charge, judge

exhort = call near, comfort, encourage, to call alongside

with all/complete = patience and teaching/doctrine

not many people enjoy being reproved or rebuked, sometimes it can be painful, sometimes it may seem harsh....but we know that sometimes that's exactly what is needed to get the point across…Christ understood this very well when He continually rebuked the Pharisees, sometimes even to the point of name calling, Paul also called out Peter for his hypocrisy in the Galation church.... how do we respond to reproof? how do we respond to rebuke?.....it’s easy to take exhortation! We all enjoy a good time of encouragement and the calling alongside of each other....

prov. 1:1-7 “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

prov. 8:7-12 “for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.”

prov. 15:29-33 “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones. The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”

the Lord disciplines the ones He loves, when His word convicts us, let us humbly accept it

2 tim. 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

patience = forbearance, longsuffering

teaching = doctrine

Isaiah 28:9-10 ““To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.””

The pyramid of doctrine in your soul will be able to make you stand.....stand on the promises, rest in the Word

"The Christian who does not understand what God has done in the past, and does not have faith in what God will do in the future, will be overwhelmed by today's crisis." Chester McCalley

the Word has been designed to be taught in a way that as each principle is added to principle, allowing us to know more about who our Father is. allowing us to trust him more and more. as we get to know Him for who H truly is and what He desires for us we will be conformed to his image and start reflecting Him to the world. without knowing him as our primary focus we will simply be showing forth that which we have picked up from the world..... the wind and waves of doctrine spoken of in eph. 4 are not simply false doctrines distorted from scripture but quite literally doctrines from demons and the like, all designed to take our eyes off of christ and get them focused on self.

1 Peter 5:12, "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: FEED THE FLOCK of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind."

Deuteronomy 8:3, "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

isaiah 26:3-4 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

2 cor. 11:3 “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

ps. 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

rom 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

testing of your faith.... if your mind is renewed you will be tested on it! We say we believe what God has spoken…now is the opportunity to test that faith, do we trust that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that He is the rock by which we stand, that when we are weak He will exchange our strength with His own and we will mount up on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary!

Eph 5:17-19 “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,”

Know the will of the Lord!

Be filled by means of the spirit!

these are commands!!!! the question is then do we know the will of the Lord? do you know the will of God for your life? if not i would suggest that you start asking Him to reveal His will for your life to you! He will do it! He will reveal it to you as you seek Him through His word! He will start to transform your thinking to His thinking, your view on life will become less your own view and be more clearly seen from the view that God has.

1 cor 2:14-16 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

phil. 2:5-11 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

2 tim. 2:20-21 “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 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.”

cleanse yourself, be ready for work, 1 john 1:9, confession of sin

eph 4:11-12 be taught the Word

2 tim 4:2 be reproved, rebuked, exhorted

2 tim 2:15 study to show yourself approved to GOD

Eph 4:15-16 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

being conformed to his image, col. 3:4 you will appear with Him in glory

every good work

gal. 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

through the Word, we will see the written will of God and as the spirit teaches us, we will start to display Him, we will be more confident in who it is that we serve, we will be able to stand in the world with all assurance not only of our eternal salvation through faith in Christ, but able to stand firm moment by moment on the promises and principles of God. Knowing that He will never leave us, He will fight every battle for us, He has already conquered death and through Him we can become more than conquerors! We continually strive for the unity of the faith and the Knowledge of the Son of God…as this happens we will become more mature and equipped/ prepared for every mission that God has set before us to accomplish