How Teachable Are You?
Opening Illustration: One child wrote a letter to God.
Dear God,
I read your book and I like it. Did you write any others? I would like to write a book someday with the same kind of stories. Where did you get your ideas? Best Wishes, Sarah
Thesis: When you are through learning from others you are through! God wants us all to have a teachable spirit!
Video Illustration from “Men In Black” Start time 1:11:48 Scene is an old man and a dog at a booth. Jay and Kay are in a desperate race to track down the stolen galaxy. Searching for information, the Men in Black interrogate an alien (disguised as a dog), who is quick to point out just how limited Jay and Kay’s understanding of the universe really is. End time 1:13:19 (From Videos That Teach, Fields)
Profiles in Courage: Copernicus pronounced Ka- pur – nic – us (Information below is quoted from the website http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/index.html: Biography of Copernicus)
Nicholas Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who lived between 1473-1543. Before his time, people believed in the Ptolemaic model of the solar system, which maintained that the Earth was the center of the universe.
Copernicus changed this belief when he introduced the heliocentric model, centered around the sun. He claimed that all the planets, including Earth, moved in orbits around the sun, and showed how this new system could accurately calculate the positions of the planets.
Nikolaus Copernicus was one such individual. His work, although not immediately and widely accepted, lead directly to the undermining of centuries of assumption and superstition. In fact, his discoveries carried with them consequences which are even today not fully recognized by many people. Born in 1473, Copernicus began his studies in the fateful year 1492. This is a significant year in European history - it heralded in an age of discovery and the doubling of the size of the known world which helped broaden people’s minds in a variety of ways. The world was not what it was once assumed, allowing many people to more easily accept the idea that other assumptions might be in error.
Forestalling Danger
Copernicus spent a great deal of time working on his famous book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium - distilling a lifetime of thought and effort into it. He was quite aware of his place in history in writing this book, but he was also conscious of the conservative social and religious forces which would oppose his ideas. As a first precaution, he correctly identified the idea that the earth circled the sun not as originating with himself, but as existing among much earlier writers. Thus, the responsibility for suggesting a dangerous heresy was left to those long dead. In the dedication to Pope Paul II, the explained how Cicero reported that Hicetas believed that the "earth was moved" and that Plutarch and others held to the same idea.
He then went on to declare in bold language that
...I myself also began to meditate on the mobility of the earth. And although the opinion seemed absurd, yet because I knew the liberty had been accorded others before me of imagining whatsoever circles they pleased to explain the phenomena of the stars, I thought I might readily be allowed to experiment whether, by supposing the earth to have some motion, stronger demonstration than those of the others could be found as to the revolution of the celestial sphere.
In this dedication, Copernicus achieved several vital goals: he addressed his arguments directly to the Pope, the one man who could likely make or break his efforts; he shifted the responsibility of the original idea to respected ancient thinkers and thus protected himself from the worst consequences of heresy; he appealed to a new principle of intellectual freedom which would allow him and others to pursue these ideas to their logical conclusions; and he indicated that their validity would rest upon the results of their practical application to solving the current confusions over the movement of the heavens, rather than upon any compatibility with holy scripture or church doctrine.
His handling of potential contradiction with scripture and doctrine was done with equal care, diplomacy, and boldness. In contradicting either scripture or the writings of Church Fathers, he faced charges of heresy - which would have meant the end of his work and possibly of him, too. He faced down scripture by stating that no person should make the mistake of depending upon "wicked distortions to suit their purpose." Thus, he indirectly challenges traditional interpretations of scripture that might conflict with his ideas - something that could also be taken as a challenge to the Church which reserved sole authority in scriptural interpretation. Copernicus was more circumspect in this challenge than Galileo was later on.
Copernicus then moved to forestall critiques based upon other Church writings like those of Lactantius who had ridiculed anyone who thought that the earth was the shape of a sphere. People like Lactantius were "celebrated in other ways, but not for mathematics. Mathematics is written for mathematicians." Copernicus really put this Church Father in his place, carving out a role for him which had no business interfering with the work of science and declaring a separate mandate for science, distinct from the claims and critiques of those without the proper education to understand.
Religious Threats
And he displayed a great deal of intellectual and moral courage by doing all of this to Pope Paul III, who had just reinstated the Holy Inquisition in 1542 and had authorized the order of the Jesuits in 1540,. Until this time science had long been a servant of the church, but that was about to change - and with it, persecution would begin as well. For about 50 years his discoveries were tolerated and even accepted by the church - repression would not start until later (it was not put on the Index of Banned Books until 1616), and even then began in Protestant countries.
Luther called him a fool, and Melanchthon referred to his ideas as an "old joke." He even went so far as to declare that "wise rulers should tame the unrestraint of men’s minds." This is a slogan which would reverberate down through the ages, and find a great deal of sympathy among many religious leaders in Europe and America in later times, including today. Repression from the Catholic Church was due in large part to the counter-reformation. In the effort to fight against the Protestant threat, dissent within Catholicism received less and less tolerance.
As a matter of fact, the Lutheran publisher in Nuremberg who accepted the manuscript became frightened by the radical scientific ideas it expressed, and attempted to have it altered via an unsigned forward from a Lutheran priest. This forward attempted to describe Copernicus’ theory as a mere hypothesis with simplified calculations, and that it did not mean to imply that the revolution of the earth around the sun was in fact real. …This forward deeply shocked Copernicus, as it contradicted his feeling that the revolution of the earth around the sun was indeed a fact. It also implied to him that careful scientific reasoning, supported by math, could not actually discover anything real or true about the world, and this stood against everything Copernicus believed. About this time, the 69-year-old astronomer suffered a severe stroke, and some suggest that the forward may have been the cause.
It is unfortunate, however, that this book never benefited from much popularity. Only a very few editions have been published in the past five hundred years - and I do not believe that it has ever been fully translated into English. Popularization of his ideas was left to other, later scientists and writers like Galileo. Prior to that, his work convinced primarily "men of ideas" - those who could look at what Copernicus proposed and see what implications lay there, even though the math was at times faulty and some of this assumptions, like that the planets moved in perfect circles, were simply incorrect.
In fact, his description of the solar system did not immediately yield better results than the Ptolemaic system - at least, not until those ideas were refined by later work by researchers like Kepler. Important here is that Copernicus worked out a full system which offered a real, testable, observable alternative to the dominant theory. This alternative opened new doors to later work - and, eventually, a truly accurate understanding of how our solar system works.
Revolutions within Revolutions
But changing the way people looked at the movement of the planets was by far not the only revolution in science which Copernicus instituted. The aftershocks of his ideas - and their eventual proof - range over a wide area. The first, and most basic, was to shatter the egocentric view of humanity as sitting in the center of the universe. Previously, man sat at the center of the earth, and the earth sat at the center of the heavens. Now, although humanity still saw itself as the center of the world, their world was just one of many circling one star of - as it later turned out - many billions. Copernicus also recognized that, since the movement of the earth did not alter the relative positions of the stars, they must then be separated from us by immense distances. Our place in the universe was seriously revised, and that is likely one reason the Copernican system received so much opposition.
Galileo picked up where Copernicus left off and he was eventually excommunicated from the church for his promotion of this theory of the Solar system. The Catholic church only reinstated him about a couple of years ago.
Introduction:
The key to success in life and in your profession has to do with the attitude you have toward learning from others. The success of the spread of the Gospel is connected with how teachable you are also. Many un-teachable people have hindered and hurt the message of the Gospel because of their narrow mind sets and legalistic attitudes.
Being “teachable” is addressed in both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament! If you are teachable, you are willing to be taught something new, willing to learn more about subjects and willing to receive instruction from those who have more knowledge and experience than you do in certain subjects.
Psalms 25:4, 5: Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
This passage reveals to us the kind of heart we need to have in our life. We need to be open for God to show us His way. The truth is according to one minister, “God is not limited, but we can certainly limit what He is able to accomplish for His kingdom, through us, if we are unwilling to learn! If we refuse to learn, it is disobedience! If we humbly pray and ask God to illumine His word, He is faithful and willing to do so!”
This text in Psalms reveals that David was human, just as we are, and his life was filled with many trials and temptations. Over and over again, David pours out his heart to God, and then he hands the problem over to Him because God certainly knows how to work all things out to his glory! David throughout the Psalms thanks the Lord for solving the problems of life. He always puts his faith in God and trust in Him that is how he handled the situation. He is so confident in the Lord to do this he sings to Him praises about how trustworthy and dependable He is. If we could follow the example of David, we would not limit God! If we ask the Lord to show us what He expects us to do and to say, He is faithful to explain His word to us, to teach us, to help us understand, and in this process mature us.
Psalms 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.”
God promises that those who are teachable will receive His instructions on the How, the who, the what, the when and the where. God promises that He will counsel us. This process is done through growing through life’s situations and having the Holy Spirit teach us and develop us through the process. This teaching also occurs when we learn from our mistakes. God uses failures and painful scenarios to teach us if we are willing to learn from them. This teaching also happens by us learning to listen to Godly counsel and direction from other mature Christian individuals. This process can also occur when someone is used by the Lord in a spiritual gift like “The Word of Knowledge.”
But the truth is God uses people, circumstances (both good and bad), His Word (The Bible), The Holy Spirit (Our Wonderful Counselor), our mistakes, our achievements, even writings from others to help us grow.
Who Are to Teach:
Parents (Deuteronomy 4:9-10; Deuteronomy 6:7; Deuteronomy 11:19)
Priests (Deuteronomy 24:8)
Levites (Deuteronomy 24:8)
Prophets (1 Samuel 12:23)
All Christians (Matthew 28:19-20; Colossians 3:16)
The Holy Spirit (Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13)
Gifted men (1 Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:2)
So our key today is to ask ourselves the question: “How teachable am I?”
Marty Williams a Pastor of Family Ministries asks the question that we all must ask ourselves today, “Am I Teachable?” He has 12 thoughts to help us discover if we are teachable:
1. I am willing to listen more than talk.
2. I admit when I am mistaken.
3. I observe before acting on a situation.
4. I am able to agree to disagree.
5. I desire information more than answers.
6. I enjoy asking questions.
7. I am open to suggestions and new ideas.
8. I feel comfortable asking for advice or directions.
9. I am patient and a willing “Student.”
10. I enjoy reading for information that is practical and applicable.
11. I seek out new perspectives on the questions of life.
12. I can appreciate criticism without being deeply wounded.
From Lists to Live By page 25
Elisabeth Elliot speaking about the “I know it all attitude” in our society stated: I think that it touches very closely on our pride. We think that we’ve arrived somehow, somewhere; and the Lord is teaching us that up until the very moment when He calls us home, He is our teacher. (So) Are you willing to be taught?
Today I want to highlight some of the thoughts promoted by the Bible in regards to making sure we are teachable.
1. To know if you are teachable answer this question, “How well do I listen to the Lord and to others?”
a. In the Old Testament there is a King who became known for his wisdom and insight into the things of life. His name was Solomon Son of David. Listen to how his willingness to be teachable led to others wanting to learn from him.
i. 2 Chronicles 1:7-10: 7That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 8Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1. Solomon could have asked for riches but instead he asked to de taught and to be given wisdom and insight in governing God’s nation.
2. Truth is God gave him wisdom and insight and Solomon listened as God directed and led him in his purpose for life.
3. Because Solomon was willing to be a teachable person he grew in wisdom and knowledge. His fame spread throughout the world and many leaders came to sit under Solomon so as to learn from him.
a. I Kings 4:34: Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
b. In the New Testament there is another scenario that teaches us why we need to learn to listen -- especially to the Lord.
i. Luke 10:38-42: 38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
1. We have a sister who wants to listen to the Lord and a sister who wants to serve him food. It’s interesting to note that the busy over worked one gets frustrated with the other sister because in her busy mind she should be helping her work not be just listening to the teaching of the Lord.
2. But notice what Jesus says to Martha, “Mary has chosen the better way!’
a. I really believe in our busy life today we have become very Martha like. But the truth is we need to become more Mary like-- good listeners and students of the Word of God.
b. I also think this applies across the Board in dealing with life’s challenges. Instead of listening and learning we keep doing the busy stuff but being busy does not solve the problem.
ii. Proverbs 1:5: “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.”
c. I honestly believe if our society does not stop being so busy and sit down and listen to the Lord’s direction then she will end up like the nation of Israel
i. 2 Kings 21:9: 9But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
1. The nation of Israel decided they would not listen to the Lord and therefore it led to their destruction.
ii. Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”
d. Larry King says, “I remind myself every morning: nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.”
e. Listening is the key to being teachable! So when was the last time you really paid attention to someone when they were talking to you?
i. How about right now- are you listening or snoozing? Are you today dreaming about getting out on the lake with your boat? Are you focused on the message? The points?
ii. Did you get the facts? Did you sense the feeling behind the facts? Did you understand the meaning behind the thoughts? Did you grab a hold of the undercurrents and apply it to your life?
iii. How well do you listen?
f. John Maxwell shares this story about Theodore Roosevelt:
i. President Theodore Roosevelt was a man of action, but he was also a good listener, and he appreciated that quality in other people. Once at a gala ball, he grew tired of meeting people who returned his remarks with stiff, mindless pleasantries. So he began to greet people with a smile, saying, ‘I murdered my grandmother this morning.’ Most people, so nervous about meeting him, didn’t even hear what he said. But one diplomat did. Upon hearing the president’s remark, he leaned over and whispered to him, ‘I’m sure she had it coming to her!’ The only way to find out what you’re missing is to start listening (80).
ii. “A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear” (Maxwell).
1. Good leaders learn the art of listening to others!
iii. Proverbs 4:5: Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.
T. S. – We need to learn to be good listeners because if we master this skill we will be teachable. But we also need be teachable through our mistakes.
2. To know if you are teachable answer this question, “Do I acknowledge that I make mistakes and then learn from them?”
a. John Maxwell in his book Failing Forward states, “In life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with your problems. Are you going to fail forward or backward?” (5).
i. Kyle Rote Jr. stated, “There is no doubt in my mind that there are many ways to be a winner, but there is really only one way to be a loser and that is to fail and not look beyond the failure” (Maxwell, 3).
ii. Maxwell in his book on pages 7, 8 gives us insight into how we need to learn from our mistakes and fail forward. He says, ‘look at the way any achiever approaches negative experiences, and you can learn a lot about how to fail forward. Read through these two lists, and determine which one describes your approach to failure:
1. Failing Backward Failing Forward
Blame Others Taking responsibility
Repeat the same mistakes Learning from each mistake
Expecting never to fail again Knowing failure is a part of progress
Expecting to continually fail Maintain a positive attitude
Accepting tradition blindly Challenging outdated assumptions
Being limited by past mistakes Taking new risks
Thinking I am a failure Believing something didn’t work
Quitting Persevering
b. The key to being teachable is the willingness of each us to admit-confess our mistakes then learn from them.
i. Romans 10:10: 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
ii. James 5:16: 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
iii. 1 John 1:9: 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
c. What also crosses my mind here is: Are you willing to ask for directions?
i. When you are lost do you admit you’re lost? When you’re lost to you seek out someone who can help you find the right way or do you just keep driving in circles?
T.S. – Learning from our mistakes tells us that we are teachable and sets us on the path of success in life but we also need to check to make sure we do not become dogmatic in our perceptions.
3. To know if you are teachable answer this question, “Am I able to agree to disagree with others and still love them when it comes to minor issues?”
a. Do I always have to have it my way?
i. Am I legalistic, dogmatic?
ii. Do I think all my ideas are right and everyone else’s are wrong on certain issues?
iii. Swindoll states: There are killers on the loose today. The problem is that you can’t tell by looking. They don’t wear little buttons that give away their identity, nor do they carry signs warning everybody to stay away. On the contrary, a lot of them carry Bibles and appear to be clean-living, nice-looking, law abiding citizens. Most of them spend a lot of time in churches, some in places of religious leadership. Many are so respected in the community, their neighbors would never guess they are living next door to killers. They kill freedom, spontaneity, and creativity; they kill joy as well as productivity. They kill with their words and their pens and their looks. They kill with their attitudes far more often than with their behavior. There is hardly a church or Christian organization or Christian school or missionary group or media ministry where such danger does not lurk. The amazing thing is that they get away with it, day in and day out, without being confronted or exposed. Strangely, the same ministries that would not tolerate heresy for ten minutes will step aside and allow these killers all the space they need to maneuver and manipulate others in the most insidious manner imaginable. Their intolerance is tolerated. Their judgmental spirits remain unjudged. Their bullying tactics continue unchecked. And their narrow mindedness is either explained away or quickly defended. The bondage that results would be criminal were it not so subtle and wrapped in such spiritual-sounding garb (Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, 3, 4).
b. Jesus faced these types of individuals in his ministry.
i. They were the Pharisee’s and the Sadducees. The religious legalistic leaders who killed others and drove people away from the true God they claimed to represent. They had a mind set and their mind set was right and Jesus (God in the flesh) was wrong.
ii. These people were grace killers as Chuck Swindoll would say.
iii. Matthew 23: 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5“Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’8“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.13“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 15“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. 16“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. 23“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.27“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
1. These un-teachable leaders sealed their own fates with God Almighty because they refused to be teachable and their know it all attitudes led to them being blind and foolish.
c. The Bible makes it clear that we need to be dispensers of grace and be teachable.
i. Galatians 5:25, 26: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
ii. Proverbs 19:11: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”
iii. Proverbs 23:23: “Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.”
d. Should we learn to be teachable and have the ability to agree to disagree?
i. The term agree to disagree is used (particularly in North America) to describe remaining friendly while holding differing opinions. As such, it is a misleading phrase: it would be better stated as recognizing that they disagree.There are some circumstances, such as in a democracy, where a concious decision to agree to disagree may be desirable, thus enabling important issues to be exposed to others who need to consider them for themselves. (Wikipedia encyclopedia)
e. Some other thoughts that come to my mind under this area of teach-ability.
i. “Am I open to new ideas?”
ii. “Do I loathe criticism and reject it or do I see if it’s valid?”
f. Chuck Swindoll states this if we learn to be teachable when it comes to showing others grace then great things will happen in our lives:
i. He notes that there are four practical expectations you can anticipate if you get a firm grasp on grace.
1. First, you can expect to gain a greater appreciation for God’s gifts to you and others.
2. Second, you can expect to spend less time and energy critical of and concerned about other’s choices.
3. Third, you can expect to become more tolerant and less judgmental.
4. Fourth, you can expect to take a giant step toward maturity (13,14).
Conclusion:
The Bible has much to say to us about the necessity of being teachable. For Example:
Twelve main things we need be taught in this life by the Lord :
1. How to control our tongue? (Job 6:24)
2. What I should say to God? (Job 37:19)
3. Which path should I take in life? (Psalm 25:4)
4. What is Truth? (Psalm 25:5)
5. What is God’s way? (Psalm 27:11; Psalm 86:11)
6. To understand that my days here on earth should teach me wisdom (Psalm 90:12)
7. What are God’s statues? (6 times: Psalm 119:12, 26, 64, and 68,124,135)
8. What is the way of His statutes and how we apply them to our lives? (Psalm 119:33)
9. God’s Judgments (Psalm 119:66,108)
10. Knowledge comes from Him (Psalm 119:66)
11. What is God’s will for our lives? (Psalm 143:10)
12. To learn how to pray (Luke 11:1)
Four Groups that God Promises to Teach:
Sinners in the way (Psalm 25:8)
The meek (Psalm 25:9)
Those that fear God (Psalm 25:12)
The godly (Psalm 32:6-8)
Matthew 28: 18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Teachable - Ray Krock, owner of McDonald’s states, "If you’re green you’re growing. If you’re ripe, you’re rotting."
