{"id":9892,"date":"2023-04-27T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/?p=9892"},"modified":"2023-04-17T14:24:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T19:24:38","slug":"useful-to-god-an-appeal-to-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/2023\/04\/27\/useful-to-god-an-appeal-to-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Useful to God an Appeal to Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If we were to ask, most boys would probably say that they don\u2019t feel like they would be\u00a0very useful to God right now. They might feel that they are too young, not smart enough,\u00a0too afraid, and the list could go on. I would tell them the truth is, by yourself, you are not,\u00a0but with God in you \u2013 you are more than enough. You see, God does not call the\u00a0equipped \u2013 He equips the ones He calls. As adults and leaders of boys, we must let\u00a0them know that the first step in making yourself useful to God is to make yourself\u00a0available to be used by God. God can and does use young boys; you don\u2019t have to wait\u00a0until you are older to be useful to God. There are several examples in the Bible of young\u00a0boys who were useful to God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The theme for Men\u2019s Ministries in 2023 is \u201cUseful to God\u201d - 2 Timothy 2:21. Timothy was\u00a0a young man who was useful to God. Timothy was taught the Old Testament scriptures\u00a0as a young child, and he knew them very well. Many people think that Paul may have\u00a0led Timothy to Christ at an early age, and when Timothy was still a young man, Paul\u00a0asked Timothy to join him on his missionary journey. Paul eventually sent Timothy as\u00a0his representative to minister and work in the churches that Paul planted. Timothy knew\u00a0God\u2019s word and made himself available to be used by God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Josiah is another example of a boy who was useful to God. Josiah was only eight years\u00a0old when he became king. While Josiah was still young, he began to get rid of the evil\u00a0practices in the kingdom and lead the nation back to the right worship of the one true\u00a0God. Josiah\u2019s strong devotion to God shows us that a young person can have a passion\u00a0for God and a positive influence on people greater than many older people.\u00a0I pray, \u201cGod, please raise up a generation of Josiahs from among the boys of the IPHC.\u00a0Please help their leaders to recognize your hand upon these boys and raise them up to\u00a0be Mighty Men of God.\u201d\n<\/div>\n
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Another young boy was very useful to Jesus, and we don\u2019t even know his name. He is\u00a0only referred to as a boy with five loaves of bread and two little fish. What he had was\u00a0not enough \u2013 but when he gave it to Jesus, it became more than enough. His gift was\u00a0enough to feed 5,000 people and have twelve baskets full left over. To be the man God\u00a0wants you to be, you only need to use the things you already have. Jesus says if that is\u00a0all you have, then give it to me, and I will make it enough. Ordinary, in the hands of\u00a0Jesus, becomes extraordinary.\n<\/div>\n
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Not only do we see in the Bible that God used boys, but there are also instances where\u00a0He called them out to be used by Him. Samuel is an excellent example of God calling a\u00a0young boy to be used by Him. From a very early age, Samuel lived in the house of the\u00a0Lord with the priest, Eli. One night God called Samuel by name and told him he would\u00a0be a prophet of God. I Samuel 3:19 says, \u201cThe Lord was with Samuel as he grew up.\u00a0He did not let any of Samuel\u2019s messages fail to come true.\u201d As a young boy, Samuel\u00a0obeyed God and made himself available to be used by God.\n<\/div>\n
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God called and anointed David at an early age to be the king of Israel. We know the\u00a0story of how David, the young shepherd boy, killed a lion and a bear when they attacked
\nhis sheep, but he is most remembered for killing the giant, Goliath. David was not a\u00a0soldier because he was too young. He was busy taking care of the family\u2019s sheep and\u00a0was not even supposed to be at the battle that day. God had a plan for David, and he\u00a0used something as simple as cheese and bread to accomplish His plan. David\u2019s father\u00a0sent him to take cheese and bread to his brothers at the battle, and we know the rest of\u00a0the story, how David, with the help of God, defeated the mighty warrior, Goliath. God can\u00a0use the most insignificant things in our lives to accomplish His will \u2013 we just need to\u00a0make ourselves available.\n<\/div>\n
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The first key to making ourselves useful to God is to make ourselves available. Our\u00a0scripture verse gives us the second key. In the International Children\u2019s Bible, 2 Timothy\u00a02:21 reads \u2013 \u201cIf anyone makes himself clean from evil things, he will be used for special\u00a0purposes. He will be made holy, and the Master can use him. He will be ready to do any\u00a0good work\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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To be useful to God, we must make ourselves available, and we must make ourselves\u00a0clean. Some people wonder why they keep having the same problems all the time. They\u00a0don\u2019t seem to have the spiritual strength to resist or overcome certain sins, and they\u00a0keep making the same mistakes over and over again.<\/div>\n
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Boys, this is an important lesson that if you learn it now while you are young, it will save\u00a0you from a lot of problems later in life. If you don\u2019t remember anything else, please\u00a0remember this verse, 2 Timothy 2:22. It gives us the answer to how to live a clean life. It\u00a0is easy to remember this verse by thinking of all the twos \u2013 2 Timothy 2:22. \u201cStay away\u00a0from the evil desires of youth. Try hard to live right and to have faith, love, and peace.\u00a0Work for these things together with those who have pure hearts and trust in the Lord.\u201d\u00a0The first part of this verse tells us to stay away from the evil desires of youth. Don\u2019t put\u00a0yourself in bad situations where you can be tempted. If you know you have a problem\u00a0with something, then stay away from it. If someone is a bad influence on you, stay away\u00a0from them. I have a good friend who put it this way - they said, \u201cif you play stupid games\u00a0- you win stupid prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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It is not enough to just run away from the bad; we must run toward the good. You will\u00a0not have to worry as much about staying away from the bad if you are going toward the\u00a0good things of God. James 4:8 tells us to \u201cCome near to God, and He will come near to\u00a0us.\u201d Make yourself available and make yourself clean \u2013 then you will be found useful to\u00a0God.<\/div>\n
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David Moore has served as the National Commander of the Royal Rangers for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church since October 1998. Before coming to the national office in 1993, he worked in the Global Ministries Center accounting office. Commander Moore has been actively involved in a local outpost since 1985. He currently serves as the Senior Commander for his local church and works on a weekly basis with the Ranger Kids outpost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":9893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1,15],"tags":[1518,1404,1477,175,16,1031,1228,19,1511,1471,1512],"class_list":{"0":"post-9892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-discipleship-ministries","8":"category-general","9":"category-mens-ministries","10":"tag-1518","11":"tag-article","12":"tag-boys-ministry","13":"tag-david-moore","14":"tag-discipleship","15":"tag-discipleship-ministries","16":"tag-iphc-boys","17":"tag-men","18":"tag-mens-ministries","19":"tag-q2","20":"tag-useful-to-god","21":"entry"},"title_es":"","content_es":"","author_name":"David Moore","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/04\/Mens-2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-2zy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}