Arise, Shine! Are You Teachable?
Pastor Phil Derstine 3-23-25
Are You Teachable?
- Teach-able – Able to be taught, willing to learn; not a “know it all.”
- Matthew 18:3 “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
- Matthew 18:3 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
- Are you a Professor or a Possessor?
- Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
- John 9 - Story of contrast between religious elite (Pharisees) and teachable seeker (blind man)
7 Principles on Being Teachable – John 9 (Healing of the man blind from birth)
- Don’t Major on the Minors – “Who sinned?”
- John 9:3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
- The work of God is MAJOR, our concerns are MINOR.
- “Before worrying about the SPECK in your brother’s eye, get the PLANK out of your own!” Matt. 7:5
- “You’re gagging on a GNAT and swallowing a CAMEL!” - Matthew 23:24
- Trust God’s Teaching Techniques
- John 9:6 “Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.”
- Mud in the eyes is hard to understand.
- God gave an INSTRUCTION – “Go”
- Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
- True Change can be seen by Others
- A change of HEART must also bring a change of CONDUCT.
- Matthew 7:20 “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
- Debate always Divides
- Pharisees debated Jesus because he had made mud and opened the man’s eyes on the Sabbath.
- II Timothy 2:23 (NIV) “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels, (24) and the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone…”
- James 3:18 “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
- Base what YOU KNOW on the Power of God
- John 9:25 “One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!”
- YOUR faith is your ARMOR!
- Look for a NEW THING
- John 9:33 “If this man (Jesus) were not of God, He could do nothing.”
- Isaiah 43:19 “I will do a NEW THING.”
- Faith to BELIEVE comes when your Spiritual eyes and ears are open.
- John 9:36 (Blind man) “Tell me so that I may believe on Him!” (That’s being TEACHABLE!)
- Don't ask why, or how, don’t complain, or criticize, just believe, and follow!
