TITUS - CHAPTER 3 (08-26-10)

Titus only has three chapters, but there sure is a lot packed in to those three chapters. The following is what we shared and talked about last Thursday night.

Don't forget this week - bring whatever it is that God is using to speak to you and share. I think this is going to be one of our best yet. It will be so interesting to see how He may be speaking the same thing to us as individuals in different ways.

TITUS – CHAPTER 3

 

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD OUR GOVERNMENT

We answer to God FIRST but we must also obey our government and our leaders. The only time we are not to obey our government is when it goes against the will of God.

Romans 13:1 – Obey the government, for God is the One Who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God.

Acts 5:29 – But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than human authority.”

OUR CONDITION WHEN WE WERE LOST

We are ALL guilty of sin. Paul is reminding Titus (and us) how we were at one time living foolish and disobedient lives. We were not serving the Lord but were serving Satan and following after the lusts and pleasures of sin. The pleasure obtained from sin is short lived and then a price has to be paid. Jesus died and paid our penalty for sin. Paul says we were living in envy, full of evil and we hated and were hated. But for the ones who have accepted Jesus, we have been freed from the penalty of sin because of His great sacrifice on Calvary.

Ephesians 2:1-3

SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

In verses 3-8 Paul summarizes what Christ does for us when He saves us. We go from living a life full of sin to one of being led by God’s Holy Spirit. He doesn’t just wash away some of our sins – He washes away ALL of our sins and we have a new life through the Holy Spirit. We don’t get this because of anything we did or because we deserve it – it is God’s GIFT to us.

In verses 4-6 all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned because all three participate in the work of salvation. Based upon the redemptive work of His Son, the Father forgives us and sends the Holy Spirit to wash away our sins and continually renew us.

BELIEVERS SHOULD MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS

Verse 8 also reminds us to do good deeds all the time. We don’t do these deeds to “be saved” – rather we will WANT to do these good deeds out of love and gratitude for what He has done for us. We glorify the Father when we let others see our good works. How we ACT in front of others has a lot to do with how people view God and whether or not they want to be like us. We need to live a life that exemplifies Christ in everything we do.

THINGS THAT ARE UNPROFITABLE

Paul warns us in verse 9 not to get involved in foolish and unprofitable arguments. Not meaning that we shouldn’t study, discuss and examine different interpretations of difficult Bible passages. He is warning against getting involved in petty quarrels, not honest discussion that leads to wisdom. When a foolish argument develops, it is best to turn the discussion back to a helpful direction or politely excuse yourself altogether.

Throughout verses 9-11 we are instructed to warn anyone that is causing division that threatens the unity of the church. This is not to be done in a “bullish” way but in a loving way. If that person refuses to accept the correction after two warnings, then we should have nothing more to do with them as they are condemning themselves.

PAUL’S PLANS FOR WINTER

Verses 12-13 are about Paul letting Titus know that he was planning to send Artemas or Tychicus to Crete to relieve him. Paul wanted Titus to meet him in Nicopolis so they could spend the winter there and also instructed him to bring Zenas, the lawyer, with him, as well as Apollos.

DESIRE TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS

Paul tells us that we should not have unproductive lives. We need to learn to do good by helping others who have urgent needs. God wants us to be fruitful. If we never lead a soul to the Lord or make efforts to reach the lost, we are not being fruitful.

I don’t believe this necessarily means, going up to everyone you meet and trying to lead them in the “road to salvation”. I believe God gifts us all in different ways of leading others to Christ. Some of us may do it in talking, some may lead others to Christ through songs they sing and others may lead people to Christ simply by the life they live. There are several different ways to lead others to Christ. And I also believe that we may not even necessarily know when we have led someone to the Lord – not on this side of Heaven, anyway – we may not know til we get there just how many people we led to Him by our influence.

**********************************************************************

Special thanks to David Parham and also the people that put the notes in my Life Application Bible. I got most of my above notes from those two places.

TITUS - CHAPTER 2 (08-20-10)

On Friday we met to discuss Titus, Chapter 2. This chapter was full of instruction for us also. Below are the notes that I took from this chapter. This week - Thursday, Aug. 26, we will be discussing Chapter 3 of Titus.

Next week, each lady is to bring anything that God is using to speak to her right now - a song, a Bible verse, a poem - ANYTHING that is being used to really speak to you right now and share it.

TITUS – CHAPTER 2

Friday, August 20, 2010

I need to teach by my actions as well as my words.

Do I have any self-control at all?

If I want to teach someone to act a certain way, then I must be sure to live that way myself. My life must reinforce what I teach. Does it? It can’t be a “do as I say do, not as I do” kind of thing.

Verse 9 speaks of slaves/masters but this can be translated to our time by employer/employee. I must always do my best for my employer. I must be trustworthy at all times.

My power to live as a Christian comes from the Holy Spirit. I can’t do it on my own. God gives me the power and understanding to live according to His will.

I can’t just turn away from sin – I must also live actively for God.

Jesus gave His life to free me. Am I living in that freedom? Am I totally committed to doing what is right? No matter what the cost?

My job is to teach and encourage others and, when necessary, to correct them. Whether they are older than me or influential in the community or wealthy – no matter what – they should not intimidate me.

I am not to let myself be threatened when I am ministering to others!

*****************************************************

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night :)

TITUS - CHAPTER 1 (08-12-10)

Last Thursday we finally got in to our study on Titus. I thought I would do something different this week and let a couple of ladies share some of their thoughts from our discussion and reading of the Word. Then, I will finish up with my own.

Samantha shared these thoughts from the reading of the Word:

What do we know about Titus? It is compact, only 3 chapters long, easily overlooked and full of insight as to God's expectation of a leader. We took the first chapter apart and opened the floor to interpretation.

During this period in Crete, we see teachers that are far too focused on the little things of God such as circumcision. Crete’s own poets and profits speak of the Cretans as liars, evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat, are useless, hateful and refuse to obey.

Paul leaves Titus in Crete to appoint Elders/Pastors with some strict guidelines to continue on the preaching and teaching.

Qualifications for Elder/Pastor: (According to God's Word - not ours)

Not guilty of doing wrong, have only one wife, have believing children, the children must not be known to be wild or disobedient, he must not be selfish in nature, must not cheat anyone or be quick to anger. He must not drink excessively, he must welcome guests, love wisdom, live right, holy and be self controlled. An elder must use the true teaching to show and be able to show others their mistakes.

Samantha shared these thoughts from the discussion:

After several laughs and jokes as to why Paul so passionately dislikes Cretans, we realize that we could also be called Cretans. We have all had moments of anger, gluttony and disobedience.

We took a closer look at welcoming guests. It is thought that it expands to mean, in our time, a person who is available for his people. He must be approachable in nature and enjoy a flexible schedule. Someone who is willing to visit a bed side late at night or willing to take action immediately when needed, regardless of the hour.

We looked into why having one wife is a qualification. Perhaps, that meant exactly that, one wife without concubines. It could also be perhaps one who has not been divorced or one who is a widower.

Having believing children was a given. How can a leader lead others if his own house is in disarray? It gives a funny thought to the old saying that the preacher’s kid is usually the worst behaved.

Our elder/pastor must be bold enough to set these Cretans/us on the straight and narrow with the truth.

***********************************

Jessica shared these thoughts:

In the reading and discussion of Titus, Chapter 1, I learned that God was not at all happy with the Cretans. I also learned that we, as Americans, are a LOT like the Cretans were back then - liars, cheaters and lazy gluttons. I learned what God expects of a pastor and also what He expects of His followers.

***********************************

As we were discussing the "welcoming guests" qualification of the Elder/Pastor, it was mentioned, as stated by Samantha above, that we felt this could mean that he should be someone that is approachable. I kept trying to say something but absolutely could NOT think of the word I was trying to say about it. I think it was the next day when it FINALLY came to me - it was INTIMIDATING. You don't want your Elder/Pastor to be someone that would intimidate you. You must be able to feel welcome by them at all times.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Samantha and Jessica for sharing this week. They did an excellent job of summing up our discussion.

This coming week we will be studying in Chapter 2 of Titus. We are looking forward to this chapter, too.

Due to a previous obligation, however, we will be meeting on FRIDAY night this week because I can not be home Thursday night. We will meet at the same time (7:00 p.m.) and at the same place (my house) but on FRIDAY night instead of Thursday.

Thank you for keeping up with us here. We hope that you were blessed in some small way and pray that you will leave us a comment here to let us know you visited with us.

God bless you and yours and, if you live in our area, we look forward to seeing you at a meeting really soon :)

CONTINUING IN THE PSALMS (08-05-10)

We thought we were going to be studying in Titus last week but God had other plans for us. We continued studying in the Psalms as I felt that was the direction He was leading.


We read Psalm 23, 24, 37, 56, 63, 93 and 100. I was amazed at how He led us each separately to Psalms that all tied together.


He reminded us of His comfort, safety and that we can always put our trust in Him. Reminded us that we can come into His presence with no fear. Reminded us to wait on Him and, even though it may look like the wicked are winning, that He laughs at the wicked. He is on OUR side. When we are thirsty, He and He alone can satisfy our thirst. His faithfulness never fails and He knows what I need - and will supply it only as I need it, not necessarily when I think it is time.


I know that I could not have made it through the past year and months without His reassurance that He is with me and that He is in control. I am still trying to learn to keep my hands off things and give full control to Him instead of trying to "fix" things on my own. It is a hard lesson for me to learn, but I think I'm slowly getting there.


This week, (August 12) we are going to study in Titus - unless He changes our direction again. One thing I want is for us to ALWAYS be willing to go with HIS plan and not ours. I believe that is the only way He will be able to work in us.


If you haven't been able to attend yet, I look forward to seeing you as soon as your schedule permits. I missed the ones last week that have been coming but had prior committments and couldn't be here. I know God has called us together and each lady will be here in His perfect timing.


If you are reading this but you live too far away to join us, I am glad that you are keeping up with us here. I know this update was a short one but that's how it will be some weeks. Some weeks He will allow me to prepare something and have a lot to share and other weeks (like this past one), He will ask me to step aside and just let Him work - and I am perfectly okay with that :)

STUDYING IN THE PSALMS (07-29-10)

Last night's meeting was one of our best yet, I think. It was so touching and moving sharing our Psalms. I do not have liberty to share the other ladies' feelings, but I will share with you here the Psalm that God put on my heart to study and share. I used Anne Graham Lotz' technique from her Bible Study that I went through a few years ago - breaking it down verse by verse. I did a few verses each night and then yesterday, during my lunch hour, I took the questions that I had from each verse and started writing what God was saying to me.

PSALM 34:1-22

Psalm 34 reminds me that I need to praise Him at ALL times, no matter what my circumstances are. I must remember how much He has blessed me and let others know how good He has been and is being to me.

He is the only reason I can do anything. I must remember to lift up His name in praise. I must pray earnestly and seek Him so that I will know the direction He wants to take me. I must pray and seek Him so that He can set me free.

I have to quit looking to others for help or answers and quit trying to figure things out on my own. I am not in control and, as I was reminded last week, I am NOT God. I have to remember to look to Him for my help and my answers.

What am I afraid of? What do I fear? I need to take those things to Him and let Him have them so He can set me free from them. He is guarding me and wants to rescue me but He is a gentleman and will not force Himself on me.

When will I learn to truly trust Him? Why is that so hard for me? I will only be able to have true joy when I can trust Him with everything. HE is my provider. HE will take care of me; but, I must show Him reverence and honor Him. How do I do that? Reverence is not just sitting quietly – it is obeying Him. When I obey what He asks me to do, THAT is showing reverence and honor to Him.

If I do my best to do His will, then He will provide for me. He knows my heart and my intentions. He alone knows if I’m truly trying and if I’m doing things for the right reasons.

How do I go through my daily life? Am I careful of things that I say? Do I really do my best to get along with others and live in peace? I can not do these things in my strength but I can in His strength. (Philippians 4:13).

Have I intentionally done evil things before? Do I find myself still doing those things? He will have no part of it! He will turn His face away from me and “erase my memory from the earth”, (Psalm 34:16) if I don’t repent and stop doing evil things.

If I belong to Him, I will not want any part of evil. I will do my best to live for Him so that He will hear me when I cry out to Him and He will come and rescue me.

When I feel like everything is falling apart or falling in all around me, do I feel Him close? He is – as close as I will let Him be. If I allow my troubles to overtake me instead of calling out to Him, I render Him helpless. YES, He knows what I need but He will wait for me to ask Him for help. As I stated before, He is a gentleman and He will not force Himself on anyone.

He will not leave me or forsake me. He is always there just waiting for me to call to Him. He is in control and I can rest in the knowledge that He has redeemed and pardoned me.

************************************************

I found this neat little thing in my Bible about "Reasons to Read the Psalms" so I typed it up and gave one to each of the ladies in attendance.

Next week, we will be studying in Titus. I don't know that I've ever actually just read that book (all 3 chapters) and I'm looking forward to seeing what God shows me and the other ladies there :)

If you haven't attended a meeeting yet, please feel free to come any Thursday. We look forward to seeing you soon :)

FREEDOM (07-22-10)

This Thursday night's meeting we had Sheri Rose Shepherd as a guest speaker - well, okay, so she was here only on CD - LOL

That's right - we listened to "FREEDOM for His Princess" by Sheri Rose Shepherd. The Lord gave me a couple of 'visuals' to use while we were listening and also gave me several ideas of things to give the ladies to take home with them. One thing Sheri says at the beginning of her talk is.................

She goes on to talk about how a lot of times we go around as if we're holding a bucket in front of us, asking "people" to fill up our bucket and we are dragging a ball & chain behind us. The ball and chain being all the lies that the enemy tells us, all the while singing the song, "I am free to live. I am free to dance"........

She then goes on to talk about FREEDOM by using each letter of the word and giving scripture references.

Sheri Rose shares that the way to break free from the pain of your past is to 1) trade all the lies that you believe for the TRUTH of who GOD says you are and 2) let God love you even when you do not feel worthy of love.

It's up to you - you have to make the choice - are you going to walk in the enemy's lies or are you going to walk in God's truth?

Each lady in attendance was given a piece of paper to write down a lie that the enemy has told her. No one saw what was written on the paper except the person writing it. Each lady then took that piece of paper and put it in the shredder to symbolize that particular lie is now GONE and can not be put back together.

Another thing Sheri Rose pointed out was to DO THE ACTION, EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT. Do the action anyway and the feelings will follow. Praise Him even (and especially) when you aren't feeling it because when you continue to praise Him, the feelings WILL come.

She encouraged us to pray about fasting off the following for 7 days:

1) Saying anything negative about yourself
2) Saying anything negative about the world you live in or the people around you
3) The beauty and star magazines
4) The news - just get the highlights so you can pray for the world

If you weren't at this meeting and you would like to listen to the CD, just let me know. You can listen to it any time.

These are the "goodies" that each lady in attendance received: A bucket to remind her to "Let God fill your bucket with His promises"

These were the scripture references that were in the bucket - look 'em up:

And Sheri Rose also told us not to put a period where God has placed a comma in our lives and used Jeremiah 29:11 as a scripture reference, so each lady also received:

(By the way - those are commas and periods on each side of the 'frame' - lol)

And, last but not least, each lady also received a copy of the acronym Sheri Rose used for FREEDOM:

And all the goodies were placed in a little bag reminding her to GET READY to GET FREE on the front and our group logo on the back:

We discussed what to do in our next meeting and decided that we would each share a Psalm (or two or more) that God put on our heart.

It was a wonderful time of sharing and learning and we hope to see you at the next meeting :)

ARE YOU THIRSTY? 07-15-10

WOO HOO!!!! The Lord gave me the most wonderful logo for our group. Shared it with the ladies at the first meeting and everyone loved it! Here it is:

I gave a brief description of how WATER Group came to be.

I received in the mail, a sample of some water flavorings from Crystal Light. This was the package it came in:

So, I emptied out the samples, made a change to the 'bottom' portion of the package (which you can see below:

                                                  

And inside I placed all the scriptures we used that night.

        

Everyone got to take a set of the scriptures home with them.

I also found two wonderful articles online when I searched "thirsty for God-Alive". I shared parts from them that God laid on my heart to share. Some of those highlights were:

Jesus knows that deep in all of us is a longing that can  only be satisfied when our soul is in contact with the God who created us. He called this deep longing a thirst for God. (Someone read John 7:37 here)

This article also gave scriptures from Psalm that remind us of how thirsty we are for God. These scriptures were: Psalm 42:1, 63:1-3, 143:6, 73:26, 27:4, 84:10 and 119:57.

The main points from this man's article were:

1) REFRESH THE LORD - HE'S THIRSTY, TOO (The flow of worship)

2) DRINK IN DEEP (The flow of growth)

3) OVERFLOW TO FRIENDS AND STRANGER ALIKE (The flow of service)

In the conclusion of his article, he shared this: When we refresh someone who is thirsty, Jesus, "The King wil say...'I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink...' The righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink?'...Then the King will reply, '...Whatever you did for one of the least of these...you did for Me" (Matthew 25;31-46)

A cup of cold water is a little kindness you do for someone. It's something that ANYONE can offer from their heart.

As I was studying this, Angela Thomas (Pharr) posted on Twitter what she had seen Bob Goff post and I thought it went right along with what we were studying. Bob Goff had posted: "Jesus offered thirsty people a drink; most people don't want a speech, they just want a straw."

                                                    

So, we each got a straw to remind us that people don't want a speech, they just want a straw :)