The Cooling Stream

Titus 1:1b

Paul called himself a bondservant of God.

He was also an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Paul was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ for two reasons.

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Firstly, it was for the faith of God's elect (1:1b)

Paul knew that it was essential for the people to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he also knew that the message of the Lord Jesus Christ must be distributed by the mouths of His followers.

Paul was sent by the Lord Jesus Christ as an apostle to preach the gospel so that the people would hear, believe, call on the Lord, and be saved.

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But Paul also said that his apostleship was specifically for the faith of "God's elect."

Paul knew that not everyone would respond to the message of the Lord Jesus Christ with faith.

He knew that some were not going to be saved.

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The message of the Lord Jesus Christ is not for the faith of those who choose God.

Rather, it is for the faith of those chosen of God.

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Secondly, it was for the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness. (1:1b)

The acknowledgment of the truth is very important for Christians.

We need to have a proper understanding of God's way, His will, His methods, and His character.

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God wants us to know the whole truth.

God's desire isn't just that we be saved, but that we also come to a knowledge of the truth.

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Believing is certainly the beginning.

But we are called to continue in the Word of God and to know the truth.

And the truth will make us free (John 8:31-32).

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The truth is according to godliness.

Knowledge of the truth is preceded by repentance.

And the truth is always based on godly living.

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We are not to treat God's grace with contempt.

Rather, we must show reverence and respect towards God in our behavior.

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God's chosen people must hear the gospel and believe it.

They must know the whole truth.

And they must live a godly life.

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We must be diligent to make our calling and election sure.

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The apostleship of Paul was for the combined purposes of evangelism and discipleship.

2 Timothy 2:11-19 (NIV)

2:11 Die To Sin

"If we died with Him, we will also live with Him."

The death here is a death to sin.

Since we are saved by grace, we are to deny sin in our lives.

We won't want to continue in sin.

We will desire to live a life pleasing to God, in love and thankfulness for His sacrifice for us.

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2:12 Endure The Trials Of Faith

"If we endure, we will also reign with Him."

There is an endurance that is necessary in the Christian walk.

It is a continuing and growing faith.

We can't give up.

We can't flake out.

We have got to keep going and persevering through trials and sufferings.

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And if we endure, we will be rewarded at the end of our race.

We will rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ as kings and priests in His new kingdom.

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"If we disown Him, He will also disown us"

If we fail to endure, we are saying that the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't enough to carry us through our difficulties.

We are saying that the power of His resurrection was insufficient.

If we have done this and are feeling condemned, we must repent of the sin.

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2:13 God Is Faithful To His Word

"If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself"

Even when people do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, even when they reject the gospel, God remains faithful to His Word.

He will never deny that He has promised salvation to all who believe.

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2:14-15 Don't Wrangle About Words

Pastor is to charge the people not to wrangle about words.

When Christians argue over trivial matters, it brings ruin to the hearers.

Being argumentative with other Christians will quickly turn people away from desiring salvation.

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Christians are to prove themselves to be honorable, trustworthy, regarding the Word of God, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed.

They are to handle the word of truth accurately.

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2:16-19 The Lord Knows Those Who Are His

If we are the Lord's, He knows it.

He also knows if we are not His.

Today, if we are not His, He is calling us to repentance.

1 Timothy 6:1-21 (NIV)

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6:1-2 Honor The Master

There were many people in Ephesus that had come to Christ when they were slaves.

Paul was telling Timothy how to address their situations.

They were to honor their masters.

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Although we are not slaves, many of us are employed by another person.

But do we honor our bosses, our managers, or supervisors?

Have we given them any reason to speak against Christianity?

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Some of us have Christian bosses.

There are many Christian employees that have a wrong attitude about their Christian bosses.

They do not show them proper respect because they are brothers.

They don't devote themselves to the proper diligence.

They don't honor their work commitment.

We should be serving Christian bosses even greater than non-Christians.

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6:3-5 Submit to The Word of God

So many false doctrines are easily recognized as such if we just hold them up to the light of the Word of God.

And the ones that are still questionable can be extinguished by holding them up to doctrines of godliness.

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6:6-10 Learn To Be Contented

Paul pointed out that godliness is a means of great gain if it is accompanied by contentment.

This great gain is not a financial gain.

It is a gain in the quality of our life and happiness.

Contentment is such a great gain for happiness in this life.

When we are not content, it will lead to all kinds of evil.

If we continue to love money, we are in danger of wandering away from the faith.

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6:11-19 Pursue Spiritual Things

Paul encouraged Timothy to flee from the material desires of life.

Paul wanted Timothy to pursue spiritual things that would affect him for all eternity: a righteous life, godly behavior, and a gentle spirit.

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6:20-21 Keep Guard

Paul gave the young pastor Timothy a final word of exhortation.

Timothy was to keep away from the pseudo-intellectual arguments of unbelievers.

Timothy was to keep away from small talk and time-wasting conversations.

Timothy was to focus on what really matters.

1 Timothy 3:1-13 (NIV)

Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

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An overseer, an elder or a bishop is responsible for the spiritual ministry in the church.

It is a good aspiration.

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The first thing about the overseer is he must be above reproach.

There shouldn't be anything in his life that would cause people to reproach him and the Lord Jesus Christ whom he serves.

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He must be completely devoted to the woman he married to right now.

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He must be sober and free from self-indulgence.

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He must be a respectable man.

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He must be friendly.

He must show care and concern for people.

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He must be able to teach the Word of God.

He must know the Word and is able to tell others what it says.

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He is to abstain from drinking alcohol.

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He must be gentle and uncontentious.

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He must be free from the love of money.

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He must manage his own household well.

His children may not be perfect.

But he will consistently discipline rebellion in his children with the proper seriousness, and raise them in a godly home.

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He must not be a new convert.

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He must have a reputation of a good man, a good Christian, a good employee, a good neighbor, etc.

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The next office in the church is the deacon.

He has to do with the physical ministry in the church.

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Deacon must be a man of dignity.

He must be sincere.

He must show proper seriousness when he ministers to the people's needs.

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He must not be addicted to much wine.

He must not get drunk.

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He must never accept or pursue dirty money.

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He must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

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He must first be tested.

He must pass the test of time, the testing of faith, the test of his life, etc.

If he is above reproach, then let him serve as a deacon.

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His wife must be worthy of respect.

His wife must not be malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

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He must be a man of one woman.

He must esteem marriage highly.

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He must manage his family well.

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He who serves well as a deacon will obtain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

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Are you interested to serve as an overseer or a deacon in your church?

1 Timothy 1:1-7

Paul is the writer of this letter.

He wrote this letter around the year 63 or 64 AD.

Paul was writing to Timothy, a young man whom Paul had left in Ephesus to pastor the church there.

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Paul calls Timothy "a true son in the faith."

Paul was Timothy's spiritual father.

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Grace is God's unmerited favor upon us.

There was nothing attractive or desirable about us.

But God loved us anyway.

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We don't deserve salvation.

We don't deserve heaven.

We don't deserve to have our sin freely paid for.

That is grace.

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When we finally understand the grace of God, we have complete peace.

People who don't understand God's grace don't have peace.

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We also need all the mercy we can get!

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Paul had ordained Timothy as the pastor of the Ephesian church.

Paul had chosen Timothy to be the pastor because he knew the Word of God and was like-minded with Paul.

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Paul knew certain men in the church who had strong opinions about unbiblical things.

They were Christians, but they were teaching strange doctrines.

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Paul told Timothy to pastor the church, and to instruct these men not to teach anything that deviated from the words of Jesus Christ, or the teaching of godliness.

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Many strange doctrines arise from myths.

Some strange doctrines come from endless genealogies.

And there are also strange doctrines that come from speculation.

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Timothy's job was to tell people the truth.

There is plenty of truth in the Word of God to occupy ourselves with for the rest of our lives.

Our goal is to teach people the Word of God so that they may possess love, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

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When people turn away from the Truth, they turn aside to fruitless discussion.

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What they really ought to be doing is studying the Word, gaining an understanding of the basics, then applying them to their lives.

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We really need to speak the Truth.