Please be patient... I am yet working on this one...Thanks!
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A MAN OF GOD IS KNOW BY . . . . .
A man of God is know by where his Hope is found
Hope: favorable and confident expectation
Every person was created with the need to have hope. What we have our hope in, will define what we become.
If a person has their hope in there Athletic ability - such as a football player, who's hope is in their ability to perform in the game, when they age or are injured - their Ability is lost.
If a person has their hope in Image - such as a model who has their worth (hope) in their physical atributes, when they age - their looks are gone.
If a person has their hope in their children, either to help them when they age, or fulfill what they could not - chances are the child will want to go their own way and be their own person - hope lost.
Ability/Image lost = Hope lost
People today so often place hope on the things of this world.
Two people on the side of the road
Say you are lost. You've been walking down a endless road and after what feels like forever, you happen upon two people. Finally, you think, someone to ask directions of. As you look at the two people you see one is laying on the ground besider the road, quite dead. The other person is sitting beside the dead person, reading a book. You approach.....who do you ask for directions?
But the truth is, many people ask for answers in what is just as useless as the dead person.
People today so often place hope on the things of this world.
But the things of this world are ever changing. They are like vapor - hot & bright...then gone. If you put your hope in
More than the action; "hope" characterizes us by showing what sort of person we are.
To have hope in anything other than God, we will become less than what God intended us to be.
Hope we have received from God. Built on the faithfulness of God and not on our own natural ability or our ability to perform.
Hope does not arise from the individual's desires or wishes but from God, who is Himself the believer's "hope".
It is a hope based in the fact that Jesus was resurrection from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
A believer's hope distinguishes him from the unbeliever, who has no "hope".
Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight-- 23if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
" Not moved away from the "Hope" of the Gospel"
(Romans 12:2 - be not conformed...)
Like those without hope
Grounded - to lay a foundation (Hope founded in the work of Christ)
Steadfast - to stand fast (Our hope not shaken lose)
Now that we understand that our hope is found in Christ, we seek to know this "hope" (Christ) better. As Christ draws our face toward Him and all that He has done for us and on our behalf, we no longer serve those "hopes" that are not of Him but flee from them.
A man of God is know by what he flees from...
(Running to escape danger)
The man of this world flees nothing, he lives by his worldly appetites, passions and desires. How many times have you overheard.
(Weekend conquests) often result in:
unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted disease ....
(Drinking parties) often result in:
alcohol dependance, fatal accidents, D.U.I......
There are many things that we must flee from. Not merely ignoring or leaving a few steps behind but actively running away from the things in our life that can cause us physical or spiritual harm.
We are told to flee...
1 Corinthians 10:13 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality. (Fornication, adultery)
2 Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts
We are also told to flee...
1 Timothy 6:4 pride, greed, envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men with corrupt minds and destitute of the truth,
Titus 3:9 foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.
It is for good reason the bible consistently warns us to flee all of these things. Just as a loving Father warns his child (fire, street), So it is our Heavenly Father warns us to flee the things that would do us harm.
To illustrate this I'll use a story of something that happened to my friends and myself while in Israel. We had been visiting a lovely street where we were shopping for trinkets, and were walking to the Old City of Jerusalem. We were walking down a street that would lead us to the Jaffa gate. We were talking while we walked when all of a sudden a military vehicle screeched to a stop and a soldier jumped out with a weapon and full riot gear. He rushed toward us and began yelling at us in a language we could not discern. My friend, thinking quickly, said "English." The man thought a half moment and then said. "What are you doing here?!?" We looked at one another, pointed at the Jaffa gate (which was in our sight) and said we were on our way to the Old City. He returned sternly. "You must leave now! Un-identified object. Leave now!" We hastened to obey.
The "un-identified object" meant there had been something left in a suspicious area. They could not know - it might be a bomb. But the thing was, they were not going to play with it and hope that it didn't explode and kill people, they made everyone leave before the object was examined.
We have to treat sin just like that - don't play with it and hope it wont explode - flee from it!
A man of God is know by what he follows after
The man of this world has no direction in where he flees to, he does not recognize the danger he is in. No vision, no plan. (Rats scurry)
The man of God does not run blindly but runs with a sense of direction toward that place of refuge. The man of God flees toward the righteousness God.
(Lions gate)
1 Timothy 6:11
But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
Six qualities the man of God is distinguished by, six qualities the man of God pursues.
Righteousness
Living according to the Word of God.
Living according to the new life.
Godliness
Living one's life in the conscious presence of our most holy God.
Life centered on Christ.
Faith
Confident trust in God for everything.
Confidence in His power, purpose and provision.
The man of God lives by trusting our sovereign God to keep His word and meet His servant's needs.
Love Not as the world lives
Agape love.
Seek not its own
Luke 10:27
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'
Patience
Endurance.
Trust in the Lord in hard times.
Gentleness
The man of God is humble. Selfless attitude, all the glory for life's successes going to God.
While the man of God is continually running from evil, he must also be running toward good. There is a sense in which, as long as we are in this body, we can never stop running. If we stop running from what is evil, it will catch us. If we stop pursuing what is righteous, it will elude us. We will never be at the point where we have finally outdistanced what is wrong, nor will we ever have fully captured what it is we pursue.
This seams a silly question doesn't it?