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21st Century Men of Grace:

Reverence:

Staying Focused on God in a

World of Distractions

Titus 2:7

 

This morning as we open to Titus 2:7, we return to the 21st Century Men of Grace Series we have been studying this past year.

 

As you turn back to that little New Testament epistle of Titus, here is a quick overview and back ground to this passage:

 

  • Titus was a companion in ministry of Paul, one of two special young pastors that had been mentored and sent out by the Apostle Paul.

 

  • The letters or Epistles that Paul wrote to Timothy (who was serving the Church at Ephesus) and Titus (who was a missionary church planter to the Island of Crete) are collectively called the Pastoral Epistles and describe the specifics of how local New testament churches were to be led and taught.
  • Titus 2:1-8 contains a curriculum for every church that has 24 qualities God desires to see in His children.
  • Twelve of those qualities are specifically directed at women of all ages, which we have already studied through, one-by-one. These are God’s desires for 21st Century Women of Grace.
  • The other twelve qualities are the desires God has for 21st Century Men of Grace.
  • We are in the 4th quality of the second half of that list of 12, which are pointed at all of the younger men, because:

 

Tomorrow’s Godly Men

Start Today 

 

Paul tells Titus that God put the spotlight on the next generation of leaders for Christ’s church. The young men, who want to grow up to be the godly and mature servants of God must begin while they are young to cultivate these six qualities. Do you have them noted? Here they are again, starting in v.6:

 

  1. 6 “Likewise exhort the young men”:

 

  1. “to be sober-minded”, v. 7: First in any godly man’s life is a firm resolve to Live a Restrained Life in an Unrestrained World;
  2. “in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works”: Next, these men seek to Follow Christ In A Christ-less World;
  3. “in doctrine showing integrity”[1]: This is the call to the personal integrity of Believe Right so we Behave Right;
  4. “reverence”: God is asking every one of us as men to: Stay Focused on God In A World of Distractions; (This is the NT Greek word # 4587-semnotes rendered as “reverence” in the NKJV); gravity (KJV); dignity (ESV); seriousness (NIV); dignified (NAS):

 

This fourth quality of “reverence” is God’s appeal to younger men to abandon the distractions of life that will steal so many years of their lives. God says don’t get into time-wasting habits. Get your eyes fixed on me as Hebrews 12 says, and lay aside those easily besetting sins that will distract you from really knowing me. For a moment turn onward in your Bibles from Titus 2, and find Hebrews 12. Titus, Philemon, and then Hebrews: it is a close book. Hebrews 12:1-4, please stand, and listen to God’s similar appeal in these familiar words:

 

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

 

Pray

 

God desires younger men to choose to keep a singular focus upon Him in this horribly distracting world. One of the most vital choices any young man can ever make is to:

 

Lock Your Mind

Onto God  

 

It is amazing how something we really want can capture our attention. Some young men can’t stop thinking about that car they want, or that girl they saw, or that sport they love, or that activity they enjoy. Often their minds captured by the desires for something they want can make them zone out in school, at home, in church and everywhere. They are locked onto that desire. That intense, mind-riveting desire is the focus God says: Give to Me. God wants us to seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with ALL of our heart.

 

During our last summer in Tulsa a friend gave us tickets to the PGA tournament, before Tiger Wood’s started his well publicized fall from his lofty reputation as an iconic golfer.

 

What I most remember as we stood not ten feet from him on that 18th hole was not how drenched with sweat he was out in the blazing Sun, nor his impeccable outfit, precision golf clubs, or anything else except this: he was COMPLETELY focused on the ball.

 

He looked at the shot he needed to take way to many times, from way too many angles. He crouched, he stepped back, he made himself examine the course the ball had to travel from almost every angle possible, and then stepped up confidently to take that final putt.

 

But he did all that calculating as if he did not even see the thousands of us straining at the rope barriers, thousands more all glued to their perches in the grand stands, or even the millions of eyes that were on him via television cameras capturing his every move.

 

Tiger Woods had an incredibly disciplined and practiced ability to FOCUS! That learned, chosen practice of intense, concentration of something that is worth ignoring everything else for is reverence. Tiger Woods had a “reverence” for his game, a complete focus that nothing else at that moment could distract him from. Golf was worth more than any momentary distraction. Have you ever focused upon God that way?

 

That choice to ignore anything that could get me off course with God  is exactly what the Lord wants from young men today. This word we are examining today means:

 

Staying Focused on God in a

World of Distractions

 

Paul reintroduces us to this quality we have already seen for older men (reverence is the second quality listed in v. 2).

 

All men whether older or younger, are called to have this kind of singular focus upon a godly, reverent lifestyle. This word “reverence” in word studies that have been published variously describe a man with: a “seriousness about life, a dignified lifestyle, and a goal of pursuing whatever honors God”.

 

Reverence doesn’t mean never laughing, showing humor, or enjoying life—rather it means because God is your focus, you checking in first with Him, to be sure that the laughter, humor, and enjoyment are pleasing to Him.

 

This grace-prompted reverence leads men to make to constant choices to avoid the trivial distractions that can consume days, weeks, and months of our lives; and instead of distraction, to focus upon the pursuit of the eternal.

 

A focused life is what each of us should desire to give to God today.

 

  • Focus light and you get a laser burst.
  • Focus water and you get some commercial cutting applications.
  • Focus atoms and you get some momentary atomic power.
  • Focus on money and you get a passing fortune like a Rockefeller, Gates, or Buffet.

 

But—focus your life on Jesus Christ and you get an eternal reward, and endless delights.

 

Learning How to

Focus on God

 

How is your focus this morning? I recently was struggling seeing with my new glasses. They were made by the best doctor, prepared in the best lab as a special gift for me heading out in ministry—but they were a bit fuzzy. I went in and found that the blurred vision was neither the glasses nor my eyes, it was just one of the nose pads had gotten bent. Just a tiny correction and the world was all clear again.

 

How clearly are you seeing God these days? Crystal clear, bright, and empowering, or has God gotten blurred over the days and weeks of life that has gone by?

 

One great benefit of this chosen lifestyle of “reverence” for God is that when we do so, we see Him in His glory and it changes us. As we open to Isaiah 33, we see the continuing effect that Isaiah’s sight of God in chapter 6, had upon his life.

 

Remember he saw the Lord, felt His holiness, and experienced the sanctifying power of cleansing and consecration. But for Isaiah that wasn’t a one-time event, that led to a life long pursuit of reverence. Look with me at Isaiah 33:14-17 and stand with me for the reading of God’s Word:

 

Isaiah first asks who gets to spend time enjoying the Presence of God, using concepts we later see in the book of Hebrews about our God who is a “Consuming Fire” (Hebrews 12:29):

 

Isaiah 33:14b-17 (NKJV) “Who among us shall dwell with the Devouring Fire? 

Who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings?”

 

The answer to that question comes in v. 15 with a list of distractions to be avoided:

 

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,

He who despises the gain of oppressions,

Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,

Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,

And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:

 

Then the reward for staying focused on God in a world of distractions is offered. This is what makes godly people make the choices to focus on God:

 

16 He will dwell on high; [This is the incredible opportunity for: Closeness to God.]

 

His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; [This is the incredible offer of: True Life-long Security.]

 

Bread will be given him, [This is the incredible reminder that when we spend time with God: He satisfies us, we NEVER have empty and unsatisfied souls.]

 

His water will be sure. [This is the description of a refreshed life: Jesus said in John 7 that when we come to Him He gives rivers of life giving refreshing waters to flow out of our life by His Spirit.]

 

17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; [This is the incredible opportunity for: Spiritual Insights, if we seek Him we find Him in all His Beauty when we seek Him with ALL our hearts.]

 

They will see the land that is very far off. [This is the pilgrim mentality of Hebrews 11: they made it by all the distractions of life because they sought a better place, a Heavenly place. They laid aside the weights that beset them and ran the road that was heading towards Heaven.]

 

That list of promised benefits is worth more than we can ever imagine.

 

All of those spiritual treasures are offered to those who REVERENCE GOD, choosing one-day-at-a-time to focus their life on Him and ignore the distractions.

 

So that is the lesson of our Bible study this morning. But now comes the most important part: the APPLICATION to MY life.

 

Just like in personal Bible study, when we gather as a church and hear God’s Word we have to come to a point of decision.

 

Am I going to be just a hearer of the Word or a doer. God says don’t miss out on my blessings by just listening and walking away and forgetting all you heard: BE DOERS.

 

Isaiah 33 before us reminds us that OUR God offers to all who focus upon Him the very greatest treasures, when we reverence Him by avoiding those distractions that so easily beset us. The application of this life of reverence is a time of considering some:

 

Choices that Strengthen 

Our Focus upon God

 

  1. Grace-prompted Young Men (and all the rest of us) who Focus on God will choose to: Start Godly Habits (Romans 13:14).

 

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. NKJV

 

There are twin imperatives here. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” and “Make no provision” are both commands from God.

 

A command or imperative means an action we must make, and God awaits our response to what He asks us to do.

 

So the One who bought and paid for us by His own blood says first of all:

 

I command you to put on Christ in the form of new chosen daily habits.

 

And secondly He commands: MAKE NO provision to feed, strengthen and supply the old you, your flesh. Don’t feed your lusts.

 

Remember that an imperative in Scripture means that He WAITS for a response.

 

This morning God is waiting for you to either begin or reaffirm your response.

 

What is our answer to His command that each of us:

 

  • Choose to put on Christ (which comes through the Word, prayer, and walking in the Spirit); and
  • Make no provision (which is cut off all supply routes). It is either yes I will do that, or no I won’t. The Christian life has no middle ground.

 

Simple Personal

Choices

 

At the start of this New Year why not decide to cultivate some godly habits?

 

If you are distracted from God by websites, TV shows, magazines, games, music, videos, and so on, that are less than Christlike, destroy them.

 

If there are avenues that defile and deaden your reverence for God, such as cable TV/HBO and ungodly internet access, get rid of them.

 

Do whatever it takes to starve the evil desires of your flesh, and those of your family. Put on Christ by starving your flesh!

 

How do we start? Here are 5 small choices you could make in this New Year that can completely change the focus of your life away from the distractions of the world and onto the God who waits for your attention each day.

 

Each of these little choices starve the old habits and lusts we have built up, and allow us to start strengthening the new us we have in Christ. Grab a pen and jot one or more of these down, and prayerfully decide you will begin some of these godly new habits:

 

  • Make a choice to: Read God’s Word before email or any online activities each morning. That choice reflects Christ’s Words in Matthew 6:33 “Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God”.

 

  • Make a plan for : Creating an intentional place of solitude, so that you can not only read God’s Word, but also avoid any distractions until you can prayerfully apply the lesson you found: into your own life. That is the MOST VITAL part of each day’s devotional time. Jesus called this in Matthew 4:4 “living by every word of God”.

 

  • Decide you will start a new habit to: Pray in the car or meditate on a verse instead of listening to the radio or music for 15 minutes a day. This can transform our car time into an altar of sacrifice to God. Many of us are all alone in the car except that Someone else is there, often sitting right next to us in the front seat. God is waiting for us to talk to Him, invite Him into our day and just acknowledge that He tags around with us everywhere we go.

 

  • Take the huge step of fasting from the ultimate distraction of Media: Skip a day of reading online news, the newspaper or favorite magazines as a fast to prove you are not controlled by anything; and instead memorize one verse to meditate upon that feeds your soul.

 

  • Finally, ask the Lord if He is able to give you enough of His grace for you to: Have a no-television/video/gaming week or month and see if you can study through an entire book of the Bible or read a great Christian classic.

 

 

So the One who bought and paid for us by His own blood says first of all:

 

I command you to put on Christ in the form of new chosen daily habits.

 

And secondly He commands: MAKE NO provision to feed, strengthen and supply the old you, your flesh. Don’t feed your lusts.

 

Remember that an imperative in Scripture means that He WAITS for a response.

 

This morning God is waiting for you to either begin or reaffirm your response.

 

What is our answer to His command that each of us:

 

  • Choose to put on Christ (which comes through the Word, prayer, and walking in the Spirit); and
  • Make no provision (which is cut off all supply routes). It is either yes I will do that, or no I won’t.

 

The Christian life has no middle ground.

 

 

 

 

 

For Further Study

 

  1. Grace-prompted Men who Focus on God will choose to: Yield to God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-19). Let the Word of God fill your life, and then pass it on to your family! Walk daily in step with God!

 

Please turn with me to Ephesians 5:18-19:

 

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, NKJV

 

Those biblical commands are meant for each of us, as Christians, to obey. They are not something to simply pray about, and then get around to doing one day. No, they are for us to actively grab hold of and obey—right now!

 

So God Almighty commands:

 

All of Us

To Let His Spirit

Continuously Be Filling You!

 

  1. Grace-prompted Men who Focus on God will choose to: Stay in Constant Touch with God (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is the best, greatest, and most powerful way to touch your family’s lives!

 

Pray without ceasing!

 

    • Pray for wisdom, and seek God’s direction for how to promote your growth in Christ’s mind.
    • Do not let another day go by without praying for a focused, undistracted heart for God.
    • Plan for purity; expose your mind only to the right things.
    • Read the Bible with your family or friends, and discuss it, so they also learn how to draw practical life applications from God’s Word.
    • Pray for grace to stop the indiscriminate and endless watching of TV and videos, and starting systematic, prayerful reading and studying of God’s Word.

 

We all have the time to do what is right—we simply have to make it a priority. Today, let us each choose to cultivate the mind God has willed us to have!

 

  • Grace-prompted Men who Focus on God will choose to: Stay in Constant Touch with God.

 

  1. Grace-prompted Men who Focus on God will choose to: Make Little Choices of Self-Restraint (I Timothy 4:7). This is a daily pattern of saying no to specific temptations, and saying yes to the Holy Spirit as He prompts you. One small choice is to turn your monitor so those behind you can see what you are viewing. If you struggle with images online this is a great accountability step. Discipline yourself!

 

Grace teaches this serious spiritual life. Today we can make little choices to give to God what He desires from us.

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused devotion. Mark 12:33 “And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” NKJV

 

Have we offered our devotion up to Him irretrievably, completely, and lovingly—by giving Him time each day because we love Him; by giving Him our complete attention as we focus upon Him in His Word and in prayer?

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused life. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. NKJV

 

Have we recently renewed that offering of all we are to Him? Have we repeated those simple words of the child Samuel, that the Lord so delights to hear from us, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!”

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused service. Philippians 2:17 Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. NKJV

 

Are we pouring out what we cannot keep–to Him so we cannot lose? Each time you serve, look up in your heart from the classroom, nursery, choir room, AWANA room or where ever you offer that service, and say to the Lord, “I am giving this time to you. I can’t keep it, I could selfishly squander it, but instead I give it to YOU as an act of devotion and worship!”

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused gifts. Philippians 4:18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. NKJV

 

What is the aroma ascending from our living before Christ’s eyes today? Make more of your offerings by praying over each check, hold it in your hand as you mail it or place it in the offering and breathe out to God, “I give this to YOU as an offering of love and gratitude!”

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused worship. Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. NKJV

 

When is the last time we stopped and launched a wave of praise filled worship toward His Throne? Plan to burst forth in your car, or on a walk, or when you are all alone into a cry of love to the Lord. Say something like you sing, “I love YOU Lord and I lift my voice to WORSHIP you…!”

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused good works. Hebrews 13:16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. NKJV

 

What acts of kindness have we premeditated and carried out this week? Plan to do intentional sacrificial acts of kindness for others. Do things unasked, unseen, and not expecting any thanks. As you do that act (like the trash, laundry, sweeping, mowing, what ever) lift you eyes above and say, “I am doing this in YOUR Name Oh Lord because I love YOU and I want to serve like You served!”

 

  • Give Him your un-blurred, undistracted, focused prayers. Revelation 8:3-4 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. NKJV

 

What do we have in the bowl of our collected prayers? If God loves our prayers so much that He collects them all (like notes from my wife & kids) why don’t we send more? Up your times of prayers. Invite God into every praise and problem, every fear and frustration…your life will be revolutionized as you say to the Lord, “I need YOU in every part of my life!”

 

  • God says that His grace-energizes us into being focused upon spiritual things;
  • His grace teaches us how to focus on living a disciplined life: which means self-controlled and not addicted to anything;
  • Believers energized by God’s grace focus their choices upon seeking out God’s priorities;

 

  1. Grace-prompted Men who Focus on God will choose to: Live like Pilgrims and Strangers here on earth.

 

1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, NKJV

 

The grace-energized man never gets intoxicated by the error of the world that this world is my home and this is what I live for. Peter explains for us the focused-mind that God wants and that Paul instructs Titus to train up. Peter uses five, very targeted exhortations, in I Peter 1:13-16, in the form of 2 imperative commands surrounded by three participles. The NIV renders them all as commands, and that is the direction we will go this morning. The singular, reverent focus on God is governed by these truths.

 

  • UNHINDERED: “gird up the loins of your mind” (NKJV) or “Prepare your minds for action” (NIV). In Bible times men often wore long, flowing robes. When strenuous work or running was required they would pull up and cinch into their belt that robe to make what we would call shorts. Obedience is a conscious act of the will. Christians in conflict need a tough-minded holiness that is ready for action. The ancient practice of gathering up one’s robes when needing to move in a hurry; here, it is metaphorically applied to one’s thought process. The meaning is to pull in all the loose ends of one’s thinking, by rejecting the hindrances of the world and focusing on the future grace of God (cf. Eph. 6:14; Col. 3:2).

 

  • UNINTOXICATED: “be sober” (NKJV) or “Be self-controlled” (NIV) Is our word from Titus 2:2 is word from Titus 2:2 via the verb neµphoµ (“be sober”) which is always used figuratively in the New Testament. This word describes a person free from every form of mental and spiritual “drunkenness” or excess; and one who resists the control of outside circumstances. God wants believers to be directed from within. As we’ve seen, this form of spiritual sober-mindedness includes the ideas of steadfastness, self-control, clarity of mind, and moral decisiveness. The sober Christian is correctly in charge of his priorities and not intoxicated with the various allurements of the world.

 

“The opposite of “be sober-minded” is “frenzy, madness.” It is the Greek word mania, which has come into our English vocabulary via psychology. If we are sober-minded, we will be intellectually sound and not off on a tangent because of some “new” interpretation of the Scriptures.

 

We will also face things realistically and be free from delusions. The sober-minded saint will have a purposeful life and not be drifting, and he will exercise restraint and not be impulsive. He will have “sound judgment” not only about doctrinal matters, but also about the practical affairs of life.[2]

 

  • UNWAVERED: “rest your hope fully” (NKJV) or “Set your hope fully” (NIV). This balanced mind and holy life demands great determination. A believer’s hope is to be set completely, unwaveringly, and without reservation solely by faith upon God’s grace. Only His grace can energize an anchored mind.

 

  • UNSQUEEZED: “not conforming yourselves to” (NKJV) or “do not conform to” (NIV). Here we see Peter using that famous word from Romans 12:1 (suschematidzo “not squeezed into the mold of”) the evil desires of their past sinful lives. Rather as obedient children (lit., “children of obedience”) they were to mold their characters to God’s Word and the renewed mind’s desires implanted through the Spirit of God.

 

  • UNTAINTED: “be holy in all your conduct” (NKJV) or “all you do” (NIV). Grace-energized living brings a denial of the old life (their former ignorance), and a new walk in the Spirit that is set apart to the desires and wishes of God who gave us new birth and called us to be His own.

 

Remember the recent tomato scare, as hundreds were sickened and some died from possible tomato borne disease. Remember how some of you looked at anything remotely resembling a tomato in your food? That is how a grace-energized man looks at anything that displeases God!

 

We live in the most intoxicating time in history. We live around the constant allurements of wealth, comfort and the false promises of security. When we give in to the “Canaanite virus” we slowly detach from the closeness to Christ and His church He calls us to and we drift around seeking our goals, plans, and ambitions.

 

Whether young or old, God wants men who think deeply about God in an amused, shallow-thinking culture. This man lives a life that is marked by grace-energized convictions:

  • This man chooses to not be entertained by sensuality; and
  • This man chooses to never be amused by vulgarity.

 

This quality of godly character means a grace-energized choice to:

  • understand the brevity of life;
  • experience the gravity of God’s Word; and
  • live in the reality of eternity.

 

This morning, may I challenge every young man in this place to God’s call that you keep a singular focus upon God in an increasingly blurred world.

 

 

 

 

How can godly men keep from wasting the most precious years of life? By grabbing onto the grace-energized changes God wants to make inside of you, so that you will be the man He can use to maximize His Kingdom, purposes and plan for this world!

 

 

What a negative impact media has had upon an entire generation of young and older people!  In effect, because of the world saturating their minds and lives:

To be a Reverent Man: Saturate Yourself With the Word

After you read and ponder, work on memorizing key Scriptures that can help you have greater victory over sin, and then regularly meditate upon those verses. (See Appendix A for suggestions.) Meditate day and night!

 

Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. NKJV

 

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. NKJV

 

Invite God Into

Your Daily Life

 

A profitable study to aid your prayer life is to look up each of the Psalm 119 verses below that contain Ezra’s prayers. Thirty-eight times, with these eleven different phrases, he cried out to the Lord. The secret of his fruitful life was his choice to invite the Lord each day into every part of his life. For a rich blessing, I encourage you to meditate on each of these verses.

 

  • Teach me (vv. 12, 26, 33, 64, 66, 68, 108, 124, 135).
  • Remove from me (vv. 22, 29).
  • Revive me (vv. 25, 37, 40, 88, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159).
  • Make me (vv. 27, 35, 98).
  • Strengthen me (v. 28).
  • Give me (vv. 34, 73, 125, 144, 169).
  • Help me (v. 86).
  • Save me (vv. 94, 146).
  • Uphold me (vv. 116, 117).
  • Redeem me (vv. 134, 154).
  • Hear me (vv. 145, 149).
  • Deliver me (vv. 153, 170).

This next group of verses from Psalm 119 could be considered as imperatives Ezra called out to God. These short prayers are examples of how he invited the Lord to impact and direct specific areas of his life. As you read each verse, ask the Lord to do whatever He wants to in your life, and prayerfully let the way God worked in Ezra’s life become the guide for yours.

  • Do not forsake me (v. 8).
  • Deal … with me (vv. 17, 124).
  • Open my eyes (v. 18).
  • Strengthen me (v. 28).
  • Not put me to shame (v. 31).
  • Incline my heart (v. 36).
  • Turn away my (vv. 37, 39).
  • Let or not let [me, my or to me] (vv. 10, 41, 76, 77, 79, 80, 116, 169, 170, 173, 175).
  • Let [others] (vv. 78, 122, 133)
  • Take not (v. 43).
  • Remember … to (v. 49).
  • Be merciful to me (vv. 58, 132).
  • Accept [from me] (v. 108).
  • Not leave me (v. 121).
  • Be surety (v. 122)—meaning “a basis of confidence or security.”
  • Deal with [me] (v. 124).
  • Direct [my] (v. 133).
  • Make your face shine (v. 135).
  • Consider (vv. 153, 159).
  • Seek Your servant (v. 176).

Remember: God wants to invade every part of your heart, mind, and life. But He can only do so if you will say, “By Your grace, Lord, I purpose to learn Your Book, to prepare my heart to live Your Book, and to lead others in living and learning Your Word.” That is exactly what God has put you on earth to do!

 

What a difference a Word filled life can make! Are not your spouse, children, and family worth the little time it takes to invest in the discipline of the Scriptures to pursue a Word filled life? Is not your Lord and Savior worth any price to show Him how much He’s worth to you?

[1] The Greek text is: en te didaskalia (1319) aphthorian (90).

[2]Wiersbe, Warren W., The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books) 1997.


Check Out All The Sermons In The Series

You can find all the sermons and short clips from this series, God’s Man For The 21st Century-Redone here.

Looking To Study The Bible Like Dr. Barnett?

Dr. Barnett has curated an Amazon page with a large collection of resources he uses in his study of God’s Word. You can check it out here.