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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Three Characteristics of a Teachable Spirit

Yes, we do not know what the next few months, several months will look like.

But 1 thing we do know is that Jesus will still be there.

Thank you for that beautiful message and song.

You know it's been said that being teachable is 1 of the most important life skills.

And this morning as we begin with our, continue with our service, I'd like for you to turn to your neighbor to your left.

Turn to your neighbor to your left and say, Hi neighbor, do you have a teachable spirit?

Now turn to your neighbor to your right and say, I pray I do.

So now let's prepare to open the scriptures and discover what a teachable spirit looks like.

I'm asking God to speak to us through his word.

Father in heaven, wherever we are in our journey with you, We're so thankful that you receive us with arms wide open here today.

We're welcomed by your grace and by your love.

And we pray, Lord, that as we seek to ask the question, do I have a teachable spirit?

I pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would make Himself known to us, be welcomed into our hearts, that we might receive a word from You today that will transform us.

And we thank you for answering our prayer in Jesus name.

During his 3 and a half years of public ministry, Jesus was acknowledged as a mighty healer.

The 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, record only 37 miracles performed by Jesus.

Yet these accounts, no doubt, represent only a small number of the countless miracles that Jesus would have performed during his lifetime.

In fact, the very last verse of the Gospel of John explains, John chapter 21, verse 25, and there are also many other things that Jesus did.

He has including miracles, which if they were Written 1 by 1, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

But as we recognize Jesus as a healer, Let's not overlook his role and his identity as a teacher.

Jesus, 1 could even argue, was more of a teacher than even a healer.

For Jesus often found himself speaking to multitudes, speaking to individuals 1 on 1.

Whether he was in the cities or in the villages, by the seaside, in the synagogue or the temple, there he was teaching to multitudes of various sizes to teaching individuals.

In fact, the Greek text calls Jesus teacher 45 times.

45 times in the gospels, in the gospel account, 45 times.

But this is the question I want to ask us though, a question I believe is legit.

We need to really ask ourselves a very critical question, and that is this.

How much do I recognize Jesus as a teacher today?

Oh yes, we know Jesus and we need Jesus as a healer.

And How often have we asked Jesus to heal us?

And by the grace of God and for His glory, Jesus still performs miracles today.

Jesus is still the miracle working God today.

But as surely as he was and is a healer, church, he was and is a teacher, a teacher.

And to a greater degree now, through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

And because he is still a teacher, I might even add a yet even more pressing question.

If he is still a teacher, the question must be asked, am I spiritually teachable?

And I've come to this conclusion that it is a fatal mistake for Christians to cease being spiritually teachable.

For in that very moment they deny the teacher whom they claim to follow.

And so this morning, as we consider this very intimate, very personal question, am I spiritually teachable?

We're going to take a look at 3 characteristics of a teachable spirit.

We're going to observe these 3 conditions in the context of 2 stories.

We're going to see these 3 conditions as they were observed or followed by, or rather refused, in the life of a young leader and demonstrated in the life of a few uneducated fishermen.

And so for our first case study, come with me and your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.

So take your Bibles, come with me to Luke chapter 18.

For those viewing from home, welcome you to grab your Bibles.

Whether it's the Bible you handle or a device, Let's both go to Luke chapter 18.

And our story, our story will take us to verse 18.

So in the onset I'm going to introduce to you the first of 3 characteristics of being spiritually teachable, having a teachable spirit.

For 1 to be spiritually teachable, 1 must put out of their own hearts what your own hearts want to do.

Let's start with Luke chapter 18, verse 18.

Here we find the story of a rich young ruler who eagerly came running to Jesus.

No doubt he was looking for the master, he was looking for Jesus.

Finally locates him and he runs to him as quickly as his feet can carry him.

Because he has a pressing question that he must ask this good teacher.

Verse 18, now a certain ruler asked him saying, good teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

What's interesting is that we already identify what's in his heart, what's in his mind, what he's thinking.

He had in his own heart the desire to possess immortality.

He wanted to possess immortality, to live forever.

Well, we do know that he was young and rich.

The gospels identify those characteristics.

And being young and rich, we can only come to a few conclusions.

They're not explicitly stated in the text, but we can conclude, fairly conclude, and that's this.

That it's likely possible that the rich young man received an inheritance from his father or a family member.

For 1 to be young and rich, That would be 1 of the likely ways of how he became rich.

Second, to receive an inheritance, he may have won the favor of the 1 who wrote the will.

No doubt if this was an inheritance, he was in good standing with the 1 who wrote the will.

He had received an inheritance that was rightly his.

In light of this, could it be, could it be that in the mind of the rich young ruler, the deeper question to how can I inherit internal life, the deeper question would be what must I perform to win the favor of God and thus be worthy of inheriting immortality?

Eventually, or rather evidently, he was an educated man.

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Three Characteristics of a Teachable Spirit

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