Chatham Christian Church

What if all you want is to be a good person, to live a good life, mind your own business, pay your religious dues, and go to heaven when you die? Can’t you just settle for that? Maybe you can. But you should be aware of the danger of not going on to maturity.

If we’re to go on to maturity in Christ and be what He wants us to be in the world, we’ve got to go beyond the ABCs.

I’m your preacher, but who’s your priest?

We’ll not fail to enter His rest if we’ve diligently examined His word, discovered our deepest need, and come to realize that the only way to find rest is by drawing near and holding fast to Jesus.

If we would enter the eternal home that’s being prepared for us, it’s essential that we hold fast to Jesus, learn from the past, and hold fast today.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” That’s the question the writer of Hebrews asked us last week.

The author of Hebrews... right in the middle of his teaching on Christ’s superiority to angels, he pauses. And says in effect "Listen to what I am saying; it’s important!"

Jesus is in every way superior to angels.

Jesus is God’s final word.

This morning we draw our study of Paul’s letter to Titus, a pastoral, personal letter to a young preacher, to a close.

We can be uncontentious, and gentle, and considerate of others if we’ll remember how God has been, and continues to be, with us. Pastors and teachers can help us do that, but they’re not the only ones who need to be involved in a ministry of reminding. We all do.

In one verse Paul made it clear that if Titus wanted people to take note of him, as a minister of Jesus Christ, he’d have to speak, exhort, and reprove with all authority.

If every other prophecy of the Messiah was literally fulfilled right down to the smallest detail, then why doubt this one, the prophecy about the resurrection?

Today we’re going to bring both sacred seasons (Christmas and Easter) together by focusing on the reason the grace of God appeared.

Today Paul uses a new phrase, and changes his target audience, but the message stays pretty much the same as last week. He speaks of adorning the doctrine of God.

Our slogan is “Where God’s Word is Taught…and Lived”. And I think that’s a good slogan for Chatham Christian Church.

Christians do still notice impurity in the world and should do their best to avoid it. But when they find themselves caught up in impure thoughts, and even impure actions, they simply acknowledge their weaknesses and repent of their sins.

By its very nature as the purveyor of God’s truth there can be no freedom to teach things in the church that are not true. And those who intentionally do so must be silenced.

What prompted Paul to write this particular letter to Titus? As we read on, we discover the reason was tied to Paul’s leaving Titus in Crete.

This morning we begin a study of Paul’s letter to Titus, one of his last letters, a letter that is one of three referred to as Pastoral Epistles, letters written to young pastors, namely Timothy and Titus.

(There is a brief audio cut out near the beginning of the video) A proper understanding of the second coming of Christ and its bearing on our behavior while awaiting His coming is the driving force behind Paul’s letters to the church in Thessalonica. The young church had some fundamental misunderstandings about the second coming and it was affecting not only their confidence in what they had been...

If a church is a praying church, it can handle whatever might come. Especially if it’s praying for others, and it’s praying for strength and direction.

When a good church, one that’s growing in faith and love, comes under persecution, it doesn’t make sense. Especially when the attacks come from people who claim to know and love God and from the community in which the church is seeking to minister.

The young church in Thessalonica was a good church. One for which the Apostle Paul could be thankful, one of which he could speak proudly, and one for which he could confidently pray. It was not, however, a perfect church.

This morning we begin a study of Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians and find out how they were doing.