Ascend To New Heights With God | 1 Timothy 6:15-16

MALACHI SCRIPTURE JOURNAL: https://beresolute.org/product/malachi/ He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. — 1 Timothy 6:15-16 As Paul brings this conversation with Timothy to a close, he ascends to great heights with seven statements of praise to God. They are three names for God and four descriptions of God. Sovereign - God of all power. King - God of all people. Lord - God of all authority. Immortal - God is deathless and alive. Unapproachable - God is unreachable even in our imagination. Honor - God has the highest worth. Dominion - God has power demonstrated forever. But in context, the charge is for Timothy to pursue the things of God with the understanding that the God who is described in these seven ways is watching and that he is the motivation and the reason we live to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. This is precisely where followers go wrong. We get distracted by acts of self-centered disobedience or acts of self-righteous obedience. Both are signs we have forgotten God. The first method is evident because self-centered disobedience is always easy to spot. It's represented by the younger son in the story of the Prodigal Son. The second is less obvious because self-righteous obedience is allusive and deceptive and disguises itself as righteousness yet is undergirded with malicious motives that have gotten misaligned. It's represented by the older son in the story of the Prodigal Son, who put on a great show but sought many of the same things the younger son wanted. Still, he did it differently — through self-righteous obedience to earn the father's love and blessing. But the problem of both sons is that they failed to see that the father had endless amounts of riches and that all he had was always at their disposal, maybe because they were too focused on themselves. And Paul does this right here. He ensures as he ends this letter that Timothy understands that the only reason he can pursue godliness is because of God, and therefore he should keep his eyes fixed on him. He wants him to work hard, fight the good fight, correct heresy, and build leaders with his eyes on the summit and God. So how are you doing with this today? Are you focused on God? Or have you been distracted for too long by self-centered and self-righteous thoughts? If so, turn your eyes to the hills. Consider where your help comes from. The God and make of all things. ASK THIS: Have you been distracted by self-centered and self-righteous thoughts? DO THIS: Turn your eyes to God. PRAY THIS: You are my Sovereign, King, and Lord. You are immortal and unapproachable. Worthy of all honor and dominion. PLAY THIS: My Help Comes From The Lord. Check out other all Vince Miller's videos and audios for small groups at: https://beresolute.org/ Get Vince's most widely read resources The Daily Devotional at: https://beresolute.org/mdd Check out more ALL IN products like the one Vince is wearing at: https://beresolute.org/product-category/all-in-hats/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Connect with Vince socially: FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/millervince INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/vinceleemiller LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincemiller TWITTER: https://twitter.com/vinceleemiller