Sermon Nuggets Mon Sept 26- Ministry Matters
Verses - Titus 1:1-5
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Knowing your Plan
Last week I primarily looked at verse 1 where Paul was writing a personal letter to Titus to discuss ministry matters. Although the letter is referred to as one of the pastoral epistles, from Paul to pastor Titus and then 1,2 Timothy, there are truths that are applicable to all.
Paul begins by stating his call into the ministry as being a servant, an apostle, a minister to the church, a teacher, missionary.
But today I want us to focus on the one who does the calling.
I read this morning already about more of the republican debates. I didn’t watch them. As we get into the political preparations for another presidential election, I cringe because it seems so early and so long to listen to promise and ways to get our country back on its feet.
Politicians make campaign promises in order to gain our votes. Sales representatives make all kinds of pledges to win our business. In our lives we hear people make promises usually to get what they want. But when two or three politicians with contradicting promises try to work together, something has to give. Either one or the other will break his or her promises or there is a stalemate such as we are seeing in so many legislatures on national and state levels.
What happens when a salesman gives a promise for a product and discovers the company is out of stock. Maybe through no fault of his own he is forced to break his promise of having a product you wanted by a certain time. Emergencies happen so we soon discover very few promise are 100% guaranteed. There are no guarantees with people are there? There are too many things outside our control. Countless things can go wrong.
But what about God and the promises He makes? He promised Abraham that he would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Today millions can trace their family tree back to Abraham. God promised to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt and He sent Moses to lead them out. He promised to send a unique man to save His people – a Messiah saturated by God’s Spirit. And over 2000 years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. With God, a promise made is a promise kept.
Although Paul states his part in the program, it is based on his faith in a living and powerful God. He does not lie. He means what He says. He has the power to fulfill his promises and there are no surprises with God. We may not always understand his program but if there is one thing Paul discovered from Old Testament to then was all things were according to Gods greater plan and he delighted that he could be part of that plan in a significant way.
God makes sure people know about his plans. He even uses people like us to tell those who still don’t know about His promises.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Sept 27 Purpose
Verses- Verses - Titus 1:2,3
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
Know Your Purpose
We have been talking a lot recently about purpose in our church. We have identified our purpose as glorifying God. We expand that to include in our constitution: “The purpose of the Stanchfield Baptist Church is to glorify God through worship, obedience, and love; to equip and edify the body of Christ for ministry of service, fellowship, and spiritual growth; to proclaim Christ to our community and world by word and deed.” From that our planning committee produced the challenge to be united in Loving God, Growing in Christ, and serving in Spirit.
As we looked at last week Paul knew who he was and recognized the call of God on his life. He also knew God who keeps his promises and has a bigger picture in mind to which our world events are moving to the final establishment of the Kingdom of God.
Now he knows his purpose on earth. He is to bring this message of salvation to the world. He was specifically called to the gentile population.
“What is the purpose of my life”? One Christian writer lists five purposes for Christains:
· We were planned for God’s pleasure, so your first purpose is to offer real worship.
· We were formed for God’s family, so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.
· We were created to become like Christ, so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.
· We were shaped for serving God, so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.
· We were made for a mission, so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.
There is no question that Paul was excited about God and living for His pleasure. He writes to Titus that he might pick men capable of leading God’s church in their own fellowship on Crete. He has been the mentor to pastors Titus and Timothy as well as others to keep the growth going in the faith. He gives the their job descriptions and most importantly the character needed to do the work of the Lord.
It is good to time to time to re-evaluate the priorities on life through a Biblical perspective.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Sept 28 Goals
Verses Titus 1: 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
Know your Goals:
Stuart Briscoe said many people who want to get right with God go about it in two basic ways, One is to do your best and the other is hope for the best. For those who seek to do their best find it isn't good enough.
Paul knew his goals. First it was for the faith of the elect.
People of faith are those who understand the only way you can get right with God is by asking Him graciously to give them what they do not deserve. Trusting that God will save them by Jesus works and grace are people of faith. You start as one justified or made right with God by his grace and your faith in it, but then you go on from there. You also live by faith. We need to have as our goals bringing people to faith in Jesus Christ and once they are saved to encourage people to grow in their faith by trusting Jesus every day. Do you believe by faith that every single day God can intervene in your affairs by His Spirit through His Word in the fellowship of believers that enriches your life?
You are connected to God in all you do because you want Him at school with you, you want him at work with you, you want Him at home with you. Of course He never leaves nor forsakes you.
Secondly another goal for believers is knowledge of truth that leads to Godliness. This is to increase people's understanding of God's truth.
Paul had the apostolic calling to write what we now have as the truths from God. I am troubled that many in North America are more experience oriented than knowledge oriented. Most don't study at all and those who do usually study experience oriented things. Oh that we will be people who are disciples knowing more and more what God's will is by knowing more and more what the Bible says.-to learn it, memorize it, and then to live it. What good is knowledge if we don't use it?
Where do you and I struggle with godliness? Do you demonstrate growth in love, in patience, in gentleness, in forgiveness, in your conversation, in self control? That is all godly character? In your comings and goings to people see Jesus in you?
Thirdly, there is the goal of Paul to have believers live in the hope of Eternal life. v2 Faith and knowledge resting on the hope. Eternal life becomes the foundation of our hope. It is interesting to note that future blessing and reward is a motivating factor for faithfulness.
Like most people I am appalled at the inhumanity of torture during the holocaust. One of the main reasons some people in concentrations camps could keep going in spite of horrendous conditions is the hope that they would soon be delivered. For many who fought battles with heroic courage in spite of odds against them fought with the hope that victory was just around the corner. For the Christian to keep going when the going is so hard come from the hope that Jesus Christ is coming again and our rewards await us as promised. This hope of eternal life is given as one of the reasons for endurance and persuasion.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Sept 29 Strategy
Verses Titus 1: 3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Know your Strategy:
Well how does one begin to achieve their goals? It is developing a strategy. Paul knew that preaching was entrusted to Him. Preaching was God's plan for people to hear of His love. Proclamation is God's plan for people to grow in the faith, preaching is God's strategy entrusted to his people to proclaim knowledge that leads to godliness and preaching is the strategy to hope.
One of the strategies God has given to the church is the power of the proclaimed word. It is God’s will that pastors, evangelists, prophets to proclaim the truths of the Bible. It is a divine, God appointed task to be a preacher and to do it to the best of one's abilities. It is done by God's will. The strategy is taking the Word of God and preparing it and proclaiming in trusting God’s Spirit and filling to produce spiritual results. We must translate God's word so people can understand it, but it is still God's word.
Each pastor will be held accountable for what he preaches and teaches the people. It is a tremendous privilege, but it is also an awesome responsibility. Pray for me that I may declare it faithfully and have the illumination of the Spirit in interpretation and the power of proclamation. When I or others preach a different message than is in the book, we need to be rebuked, challenged, and corrected. Many have fallen to the temptation of a public forum to state all kinds of political ideas, social ideas, personal ideas, philosophies of man, personal dress tastes, or cultural traditions that have nothing to do with God's word.
Another strategy is discipleship. He writes to Titus his true son in our common faith. Paul is writing to one of his converts, with whom he has a relationship with closer than a biological son. It is not uncommon for us to feel akin to fellow Christians more than unsaved relatives. Jesus said that about the people who believed when his own biological family wanted him to stop his ministry. "These are my mother and brothers and sisters."
But part of the strategy to help people grow in the Lord is working with them to train and teach them to do ministry. When Paul left Antioch to discuss the gospel with the Jerusalem leaders, he took Titus with him
(Ga.l.2:1-3) Titus was a Gentile as a Christian yet without circumcision. In this relationship he watched Paul and assisted in the work by prayer and writing and sharing his testimony. Titus worked with Paul at Ephesus during the third missionary journey. From there the apostle sent him to Corinth to help that church with its work. He did the work and Paul evaluated it.
His strategies including having his disciple, Titus, become a disciple maker passing on the training to capable men to carry on the ministry and share in the call. Find men to be elders in every town. There were a number of believers around Crete and Titus could not do it all. It is God’s plan to share the load. Discipleship is training people to the ministry and grow in their faith.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Sept 30 Execution
Verses Titus 1: 5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you
Execute the Plan
All the plans preparation, goals and strategy in the world isn’t going to do a bit of good until or unless the plan is executed. There might be revisions along the way but get moving toward the goals. Paul may have had a wonderful blueprint, but results happened when he obeyed and did what God called him to do.
Paul does what he does out of obedience to God and people see that in his life. When people obey the Lord others will be blessed and grow. When you obey God at home your children and grandchildren will benefit. When you obey God at work your fellow workers will be blessed. When you obey at school the classmates will be ministered to in ways that you will not even be aware. Obedience is God's strategy to sharing your gifts that others will be built up in the faith, in knowledge, in hope.
In the remainder of this book we will study together some of the commands that are our responsibilities as God's children. We are commanded to use our various gifts unto the Lord and for the strengthening of the fellowship. We are to stay from sin, we are to encourage one another in the faith.
Following Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment he and
Titus worked briefly in Crete, after which he commissioned Titus to remain there as his representative and complete some needed work. We see at the end of this book Paul asks Titus to meet him at Nicopolis on the coast of Greece when a replacement arrived. Later as we understand in Timothy’s letter Titus went on a mission to Dalmatia which is Yugoslavia today.
The last word we hear about him 2 Tim 4:10. Paul's ministry was always pouring the work into others that they might learn and pass it on to others- training trainers to train trainers. That is discipleship. Discipleship It is helping them know their gifts and watch them develop those gifts of the Spirit. It is seeing someone's strengths and interests and let them loose with one important goal in mind. Each must look to Christ.
Pastor Dale
