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CONSIDERING GOD'S GRACE TO US - Study 8/2 -9/12

CONSIDERING GOD'S GRACE TO US By Bobby Harris Titus 3 (New King James Version) Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works....

Doing Good for the Sake of the Gospel - Study 7/12-19/12

Doing Good for the Sake of the Gospel By Bobby Harris Titus 2 1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. 9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try ...

Product of Salvation is Doing Good - Study 6/28-7/5/12

Product of Salvation is Doing Good By Bobby Harris Titus 1:1-9 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought 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 put in order what was left unfinished and appoint[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe[b] and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must ...

Become Complete and Grow Up - Study 6/14/12

Become Complete and Grow Up How do you really say good bye to the ones you love dearly? And what do you say at the end after you have said so much? We can all remember famous last words of people past gone. Last words are very important. Apostle Paul says good bye to the Corinthians in His Letter until he sees them in person. He is planning a third visit to the Corinthians. In the first visit he spent 18 months with them when the Church was established. Subsequently he made a short visit after writing the First Corinthians Letter. Paul has also sent ministers like Titus to the Corinthians to encourage them. We can see that he loves these people and has vested interest in their welfare as much as God does for His children. Like a good parent, Paul wants to see growth and progress from his spiritual children. Imagine the initial joy of a parent when a child is born. Then imagine the heart and anguish of that parent when the baby has remained the same baby-size and still in diaper...

Am I Really in the Faith? - Study 6/7/12

Am I Really in the Faith? On May 29, 2012, ABC News Good Morning America reported that a “Serpent-Handling West Virginia pastor (Mark Wolford, 44) died after his rattlesnake bit him during a church ritual, just as the man had apparently watched a snake kill his father years before”. Mr. Wolford thought he had faith in God but obviously his faith was in the snake and in himself. God did not fail him the snake failed him. He had faith but in the wrong thing and place. Many in the Church today are playing with “other kinds of snakes” and don’t know it. Many think they are in the “Faith” but are not. The Words of Jesus are so true today than ever before. “13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”….. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but...

I want you not your possessions - Study 5/31/12

I want you not your possessions Most of us would like to be friends to the wealthy and famous. It is just natural and in fact Proverbs speaks about it. “20 The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends”. (Proverbs 14:20). The implication is that the rich have something that we want and hope that their wealth and connections will rob off to benefit us. This is the heart of the natural man/woman who walks after the fleshly human selfish thinking. The Corinthian Church was apparently well-to-do compared to other churches in that region. Corinth was a major commerce city so I would guess that some of the members of the Church flowed in money though there still some poor in their midst (see 1 Cor. 11: 20-21). Now we have a better understanding while these false “super apostles” flocked to Corinth to get their piece of the pie from the Church. Apostle Paul would have nothing to do with the wealth of the Corinthians. He said, “14 Now I am coming to you for...

My Weaknesses and God's Power - Study 5/24/12

My Weaknesses and God’s Power Webster dictionary has a couple of entries for the word “weak” and weakness being the state or quality of being weak: “Lacking physical strength, energy, or vigor; feeble. Liable to fail under pressure, stress or strain; Lacking resistance; Lacking firmness of character or strength of will etc”. We are not speaking about weakness as license to continue in personal sin. We are speaking about infirmities, weaknesses, disease, sickness or conditions where you lack the power to change the situation by your own strength and power. There was a fifteen year span of my life when I had the “infertility weakness”. God allowed my wife and me to go through this period of feeling helpless and powerless. A period when we wished things to happen that did not happen. Only God got us thru this painful experience by his power, mercy and grace. I now have other weaknesses and I am trusting God as I cry out to Him. Do you have a God-allowed weakness? Pastor Lon Solomon...