Good morning. We were
talking about the Holy Spirit last time – whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be
made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Remember that John the
Baptist said that the One following him (Jesus), was the one who is going to
baptize in the Holy Spirit. We were justified by grace not by our works. Why –
that we might be made heirs. Paul wanted Titus to speak confidently so that
those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These
things are good and profitable for men. God did not pour out his Holy Spirit
upon us for us to just sit around singing worship songs. We are to get out and
do good deeds. We don't attract men to Christ by what we do in church; we
attract them by what we do in the world. I'm not aware of this happening at
church, but with one that big I would not be surprised that it goes on in
secret - reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that
such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. There is a fine
line between speaking out about something that is wrong going on in a church
and speaking out through selfish motives. Because the latter is so threatening
to the life of the church, we are trained to disregard and condemn those
statements as attacks against the church. At a previous church I heard that a
particular person was leaving because she believed that something was going on
in the church that was inexcusable. Of course I immediately dismissed it
because that is what you're supposed to do, and I had not seen anything wrong
happening. I later discovered that she was right. It was an economical thing.
Father thank You that You poured out Your grace richly upon the reader. He/she
is an heir according to the hope of eternal life.
Merry Christmas!
Good morning, and Merry Christmas! We are going to digress and look at the first Christmas. This was something that had been foretold centuries before; and yet people still did not understand what was going to happen. They were thinking that the Messiah was going to come as an adult and was going to re-establish the nation of Israel above all other nations. They were not expecting Him to come as a baby, supposedly born to a carpenter and placed in a manger. Many things had to happen at precisely the right time. You had to have the right person to be His mother and the right person to be His supposed father. You had to have a reason for them to be in Bethlehem on the night He was born – the census. It had to be when shepherds would be in the field near Bethlehem watching their flocks. And just at the right time – an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them...
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