It Is A Process

Pastor Linda teaches us from Titus 2, that we are to teach from one generation to another the basics of sound doctrine. We are to have respect for humanity, self-control to do what is correct, integrity, kindness, endurance, love, trust, faith, purity, kindness, temperate, and be upright and godly. 

Now I apologize for posting this a week late. I was not able to attend church service last week, and I was not able to listen to it until this weekend. Within that time, a high school classmate of mine was on headline news. His vacant home was broken into by several teens, and used as a party house, and was damaged extensively. He has reached out to the offenders, since they posted their own offences on Twitter, hoping the teens would make things right. Only 5 teens have approached him to apologize. Of the remaining teens, some of their parents want to sue the homeowner for re-posting their childrens shame online. 

I brought this subject up because as I listened to Linda's sermon from Titus, I was reminded of this incident. How could 300 teens, from the same geographic area, not have been taught the basic teachings of sound doctrine, as described in Titus, and many other books of the Bible? How could the parents of these teens not be dragging their children by the ear, to the same home, and be begging for forgiveness from the homeowner?  Who are teaching these teens how to respect and be upstanding citizens? It takes a village to raise a child. How are the children of these teens going to be taught respect, responsibility, integrity, and self-control if the village let's them down? 

I pray that these teens, and their parents, can learn a reverence for God, and a respect for all people, and also responsibility to God, others, and self. I also pray for my high school classmate, that he may continue to lead by example, and continue to be forgiving to those that have harmed his property. He has such a Christian heart. They do not see that he is attempting not to punish them, but save them from themselves.

God's Servants

Titus 1

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.

Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good

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 be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. ⁸ Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

¹⁰ For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. ¹¹ They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹² One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”^{[c] 13} This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith ¹⁴ and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. ¹⁶ They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

"Last Days....Time for Action"

Luke 21: 8-36

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

¹⁸ Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
¹⁹ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
²⁰ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
²⁷ “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹ As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. ³¹ They spoke about his departure,^[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³² Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
³⁴ While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” ³⁶ When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

The Appeal of Love

Pastor Linda finished her series of sermons about Colossians and the tiny book of Philemon.

The apostle Paul had a dream long before Martin Luther King. Paul's dream was to value every human being as God created them. Deeper than human rights is the value of love. Master = slave. We are all worth the same, because we are set free from the slavery of sin through the life blood of Christ. As you do your job, remember you are not working for man, but for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are saved by Grace, through Faith, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, through the scripture.

Jesus, Our High Priest

August 18, 2013 was a terrific sermon by Becky Henry, inspired by Hebrews 10:19-25.
I apologize to her for not getting a blog post done last week. Sometimes a busy life gets in the way.

Hebrews 10:19-25 (NIV)

A Call to Persevere in Faith

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Love Says What?

Pastor Steve shares the morning with the youth of our church. The youth gave us a presentation from the Junior High Work Camp and the a presentation from the National Junior High Conference. As each one spoke, it sounded like they had fantastic learning and working experiences, made new friends, and had a lot of fun.

Then Steve gave us a brief sermon about love.

 

 

 

A Live Demonstration



 

 



Linda continues her series with Colossians 3.
Homework for next week is to read Colossians 4 and the tiny book of Philemon.

Welcome to all of our visitors. We were blessed to have a full sanctuary, and being that it was the first Sunday of the month, when we have special music, today we were blessed to have original music by the people who wrote the music. That music you may view below.

 

Be Still ~ Bill Caputo

 

 

Eternal Love ~ Mariah Neff

 

 

Breakdown Hideaway ~ Debbie Barnes

 

 

Anniversary Song ~ Nancy Wiles Nicely