BE A VESSEL UNTO HONOUR

Text: 2 Timothy 2: 20-21

A vessel unto honour is a person regarded as a carrier of good tidings. He or she is someone who is set apart for special purpose, someone precious in the sight of God and preserved for specific assignments. He or she is meant to deliver God's messages. The Bible says, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour." Some vessels are more precious than the others. Some are for special purposes and others are for common use. The vessels unto honour are for specific purposes, carrier of specific messages. As gold is more precious than silver likewise are vessels unto honour in the hand of God.
God places honour on such and gives him or her specific things to do in the kingdom assignment.

Few examples of vessels unto honour in the bible are Gideon, King Cyrus, King Hezekiah and Paul.

Gideon (Judges 6:12-14).

God sent him to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. God supported and empowered him to carry out the assignment successfully.

King Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1-6).

The special assignments God gave him were to allow Jerusalem to be rebuilt and to set the exiles free without expecting anything in return. He became a very useful vessel as he carried out these assignments according to God's instructions.

King Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:18-24).

He devoted himself to the re-establishment of the testimony of God. God used him mightily to deliver Jerusalem from the King of Assyria.

Paul (Acts 19:11-12).
Paul was mightily used as a vessel and it was recorded that God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul such that the sick that touched his handkerchiefs or aprons were healed and the evil spirits went out of them.

I pray I will be a vessel unto honour in Jesus name. The prerequisites to be a vessel unto honour are:

Sanctified: To separate yourself from all that is evil, sinful, unholy and impure; it is to dedicate your whole heart and life to doing the will of God; to surrender totally to Him and be broken completely. When you do these God will cleanse you and accept to use you.

Fit for the Master's use: “Fit” means to be devoid of pride, selfishness, worldliness and other hidden evils known to you only. It is to have the likeness of Jesus Christ and to exhibit godly character.

Prepared unto every good work: To be ready for any assignment in the kingdom of God. It is to desire to make a good work of whatever is given to you to do and to do it as unto the Lord in the best and most perfect way with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Diligence: To be very hard working and committed. God will only use someone who is diligent and has zeal for his work. He will not entrust special assignment into the hands of a lazy person/sluggard or anyone who procrastinates. Prov 22:29 says a diligent man shall stand before kings and not mean men. For you to qualify, you just have to be very diligent.

To have a good character: Your behaviour must be excellent and Christlike. Meekness and humility are necessary ingredients you need to be able to handle kingdom assignment. Prov 15:1 says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, it brings peace." It is rewarding to be gentle towards others with your words and actions. Our Lord Jesus Christ is meek and lowly in heart. The measure of your character is related to the measure of your success. You may have to work on your character to qualify for a vessel unto honour.

Willingness, availability and obedience are attributes that play a role too. If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the fruit of the land. God will use someone who is readily available, willing and obedient for his assignment not someone who is worldly, complains and grumbles. God will use somebody like Isaiah, who says, "Here am I send me." When God said in Isa 6:8, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Isaiah willingly said, "Here am I send me."

Brethren, it is honourable to be a vessel unto honour. Are your secular engagements standing in the way of God's assignments? As you try to obey all the conditions listed above God himself will cleanse you, make you whole and use you in Jesus Name. Amen

Matt 9:37-38 says, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of harvest therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field." Ask God to send you to his harvest field. You are preserved till this day for a purpose and I pray you fulfil it in Jesus Name. Amen

Jesus said in John 9:4-5, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work." In other words tomorrow may be too late.

Brethren, consider all it takes to become a vessel unto honour and ask the Holy Spirit to fill and prepare you for it. Benefits of being vessels unto honour:

It enables you to live a life of purity and holiness.
It helps you to be focussed as you will always be waiting on God for the next assignment to carry out.
It singles you out from the multitude because you are more honourable.
You become special and useful in God's hand.
He backs you up and supports you because it is his assignment you are carrying out just as He backed up and supported Gideon.
He makes you a victor and a winner.

Prayer
Father, create an opportunity for me to be readily available, willing and obedient. Grant me the grace to live holy and to be fit for your work. Help me to surrender myself and to submit totally to you so that I can be a vessel unto honour in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

You can be a vessel

Texts: Judges 4:4-9; 6:11-16, Isaiah 45:1-6, Jonah: 1 – 4

A vessel is a container but in this case a vessel is a person regarded as a vehicle for some purpose or task. Someone that can transport good message or that can carry good messages and deliver. A vessel can be unto honour that is useful or good or unto dishonour that is useless or bad. My prayer is that you will be a good vessel. To be a good vessel the requirements are very simple: Availability, Readiness and Willingess, Obedience.

Your family background, position in the family, your past, race or tribe, nation, position, wealth, education and gender are not even relevant. If you are obedient to God's calling and you are ready for kingdom work and available, you are the vessel God is looking for. There are many examples of people in the Holy Bible who were vessels God had used such as: Apostle Paul, Gideon, Prophetess Deborah, Jonah and many others. Till today, God is still using people in our generation all over the universe. We have Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, Prophets, Teachers and Missionaries in the various mission fields. Ephesians 4:11.

God has created you for a purpose and has given different talents or gifts to everybody. 1st Corinthians 12:8-10. There are gifts of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gift of healing, working of miracles, gift of prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues. It is your duty to know the purpose of your creation and also to discover your talent or ministry with the help of the Holy Spirit so that you can be fulfilled. Have you ever thought or wondered if there is work for you in the kingdom, or asked yourself if God can use you? Yes, He can.

Let us see how some of the people mentioned above responded to God's call. When God wanted to make use of Gideon as a vessel to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites who had oppressed them for seven years, God sent an angel to Gideon and the angel told him Judges 6:12, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior". Judges 6:14. " Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? The Lord promised to be with him even though Gideon considered his clan as the weakest in Manasseh and his position being the least in his family because God wanted to use him, He supported him and assured him of victory. Evidence of God support was demonstrated by reducing thirty two thousand men prepared by Gideon for war to three hundred men by God despite the great number of the Midianites. Gideon was instructed to destroy Baal's altar and to build another altar for God and he did. All these were possible because God supported him as a vessel. Afterwards the scripture says in Luke 1:37, "For nothing is impossible with God".

Prophetess Deborah, a Judge was used (Judges 4:4-9) by God despite the fact that women were not recognised in Israel. She was chosen to lead the Isrealites against King Jabin of Canaan and his army commander Sisera. Deborah with her army leader Barak, won the battle. Under her Israel was victorious and there was peace in Isreal during Deborah's period. Deborah encouraged her people to obey God.

God anointed King Cyrus through a gentile rule. Isaiah 45:1-6 because God had special tasks for him to perform for Israel: to allow Jerusalem that is God's city to be rebuilt, and to set the exiles free without expecting anything in return.

God did seven spectacular things for King Cyrus to empower him: God held his right hand to subdue nations, He opened doors before him so that the gate will not be shut, He levelled all mountains before him, Broke down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron, Gave him treasures of darkness and riches stored in secret places, Bestowed on him a title of honour, Promised to strengthen him and the king became a useful vessel and carried out God's instructions successfully.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah in Jonah:1-4 and despite the fact that Jonah was running away from God when he was asked to go and preach the message of salvation to them in Nineveh, God stopped him and turned him around. God allowed him to be swallowed by a great fish that eventually vomitted him on dry land. Eventually, he went to preach the message of salvation to them in Nineveh. God being a merciful God had mercy on Jonah and gave him another chance. Through him the people were delivered. Brethen, what are you waiting for? God supports His own programme. Be assured that if He calls you He will support you, give you the grace and the power to perform the task. Has God been calling you?

He can get to you through dreams, visions, reading the scriptures, through somebody's testimony, by listening to a sermon, through quickening of the Spirit, voice of the Holy Spirit, through the word of wisdom and knowledge, through an angel or directly from God. God can call you through any of the ways listed. Has He been calling you and you are saying the voice is not loud enough? Or are you running away like Jonah or are you saying you are not ready yet? Are you delaying until you accumulate all the worldly things? Luke 14:16-24 says you can be replaced. I pray you will never be replaced in Jesus name. Tomorrow may be too late. You may be another Esther who saved her tribe. You may be that person the Lord is waiting for to deliver his/her tribe, nation or to preach the message of salvation and deliver them from destruction.

Be like Apostle Paul who surrended as soon as he was called. His name was changed from Saul to Paul. He received his sight and was filled with the Holy Spirit immediately, he started the kingdom work. You can also be like Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8) who said when he was called "Here am I, send me". Be ready to be used. Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of harvest to send you into his harvest field.

Prayer: Lord, in the name of Jesus, make me a vessel. Grant me the grace to be available and the willingness to obey whenever you call me unto your harvest field. AMEN.