# Exhort Truth ## Background - For decades, I have shied away from the way God made me. I want to publicly repent from failing to be the man God designed. {[[God]], [[Repent]]} ## Notes - Paul starts off **Ephesians 4** by saying, "I... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received" {[[Ephesians_04|Ephesians 4.1-3 (BSB)]]} - In other-words, Paul is exhorting the Ephesians to do what I have failed to do. - In a few paragraphs later in the chapter, Paul discusses the so-called APEST - And He gave some indeed _to be_ apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers {[[Ephesians_04|Ephesians 4.11-13 (BSB)]], [[APEST]], [[Apostle]], [[Prophet]], [[Evangelist]], [[Shepherd]], [[Teacher]]} - Based on the language, it would seem that not every believer is called to be one of the APEST. However, clearly some are designed for these roles and need to serve God as He designed! {[[Serve]]} - Although I shied away from it and did my best to do other things, I have always been a speaker of the truth. Apparently others have recognized this character trait in me even if I was denying it. Countless times in my life, others have come to me and started a conversation by saying, "we know you are a 'straight-shooter', so ..." {[[Truth]]} - In the Bible, there are two types of prophets: - fore-telling (speaking about the future) - forth-telling (speaking God's truth as defined in the Bible) - Clearly, there are lots of examples in scripture of people "fore-telling". I don't want to appear to tie God's hands nor the work of the Holy Spirit, however, I don't believe there are any fore-telling prophets today! {[[Scripture]], [[Holy Spirit]]} - On the other hand, I do believe there needs to be and in fact are forth-telling prophets speaking God's truth! - The reason I believe there are NO fore-telling prophets today is because we already have the Bible and there is no need for them to complete the work of God. Paul wrote to Timothy: - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. {[[2_Timothy_03|2 Timothy 3.16-17 (BSB)]], [[Righteousness]]} - On the other hand, the need for "forth-telling" prophets grows every day. We are living in the era Paul described in his letter to Timothy: - For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. {[[2_Timothy_04|2 Timothy 4.3-4 (BSB)]]} So, to address the "so what" of this note: {[[So_What]]} - I feel God gifted me / designed me to speak truth and in particular God's truth! I don't feel it is necessary for me to put a "title" in my business card. I just need to be the man God designed and stop running from His plan for my life. {[[Spiritual_Gift]]} - I think the awaking to this "truth" began several years ago. One of first acts of obedience was to abandon the nickname, "Bud" I used for decades and exclusively use my given name, "Gary Martin Abbott". ([[Gary_Name|Some thoughts about my name]] ) - As I "shama"( listen and obey) I will do my best to "speak the truth in love". However, I know I will fail at times. The challenges notwithstanding, based on **Ephesians 4**, the truth (and other giftings) are essential to the body of Christ {[[Shama_(Hebrew_Word)]], [[Listen]], [[Obey]], [[Truth]], [[Love]]} - to equip the saints for works of ministry {[[Saint]], [[Ministry]]} - to build up the body of Christ {[[Body_of_Christ]]} - until: - we all reach unity in the faith {[[Unity]], [[Faith]]} - in the knowledge of the Son of God, {[[Knowledge]], [[Son_of_God]]} - as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ [[Christ]] - Then we will no longer be infants - tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching - by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. {[[Deceive]]} - Instead, speaking the truth in love - we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. - From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part. {[[Ephesians_04|Ephesians 4.12-16 (BSB)]]} Epilogue - In a conversation with my wife about all this, she thinks I am more of a teacher than prophet because when asked the time of day, I tend to explain how a watch is designed. See [[Prophet_vs_Teacher]] for more on the differences between the two. - Regardless how any of us are wired / gifted / called / etc., we are all commanded to shama (listen and obey) --- ###### The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible (https://bereanbible.com), BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub (https://biblehub.com), Discovery Bible (https://discoverybible.com), OpenBible.com (https://openbible.com), and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0).