The Cooling Stream

Mark 1:14-15

The Lord Jesus Christ had been prepared for His earthly ministry.

Let us look now at the beginning of His Galilean ministry.

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The Framework Of His Message (14a)

Prior to His Galilean ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ had been ministering in the southern parts of Israel in Judea.

That 1st year of our Lord’s public ministry is called The Year of Obscurity.

It is found in the Gospel of John.

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The Lord Jesus Christ came into Galilee after John the Baptist was put into prison.

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The Focus Of His Message (14b)

When the Lord Jesus Christ came into Galilee, He came preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God.

He came declaring the message of God.

It is a message of hope and glad tidings.

It is the good news of the kingdom of God.

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The Lord Jesus Christ came preaching a message of hope to a people trapped in despair.

They were hungry for a message of hope.

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The Force Of His Ministry (15)

The message preached by the Lord Jesus Christ was a message of urgency.

It was a message of confrontation.

The Lord Jesus Christ called upon His hearers to make a conscious decision to follow Him.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”

The Lord Jesus Christ was preaching for immediate life change among His hearers.

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“Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

These two phrases reveal the heart of the Master’s message.

Repentance is a change of mind regarding the nature of sin.

Sin is seen as dark, dangerous and offensive to God.

Sin is to be avoided.

Sin is a pathway to destruction, death and Hell.

Believe is to regard the Gospel message to be true.

The message the Lord Jesus Christ is life changing for everyone who hears it and believes it.

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The message of the Lord Jesus Christ is a message of hope and salvation!

It is a message filled with promise, power and potential.

But it is a message that must be believed!

It is a message that must be accepted.

It is a message that must be proclaimed in these days!

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Have we repented of our sins and believed the Gospel message?

Have we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior?

Can we sense the urgency of the hour?

Time is of the essence!

Repent and believe the Gospel so that we can be saved.

Come today. Come now.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved today!

2 Peter 3:1-10 (NIV)

The Bible is worthy of our faith and acceptance. Every word in the Bible is inspired by God. Every promise God gave in His Word is worthy to be believed. It will come to pass just as He said. And when the Lord Jesus Christ promised to come back again, He meant that too!

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The Assurance Of The Scriptures (1-2)

The Bible is a perfect Book. It is the perfect revelation of God’s will to men. We can count on the Word of God!

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The Bible is a prophetic Book. Throughout the Bible, there are prophecies presented and fulfilled, over and over again.

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The Bible is a preserved Book. Every word in the Bible will literally come to pass.

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The Ignorance Of The Scoffers (3-7, 10)

The Doubt

They doubt the reality of Christ’s coming on the fact that nothing seems to change! All things continue as they have for ages. Therefore the threat of the end of the world may not be true! They fail to remember that God has already judged and destroyed the world once, and that God is not bound by time as men are.

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The Denial

They deny God’s revealed truth. They deny that God can and will judge the world.

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The Discovery

Why do they deny the teachings of the Scriptures? It is a problem of the heart. They do not wish to understand.

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The Patience Of The Savior (8-9)

God Is Punctual

God will come when the time is right for doing so. God never tarries. He will come swiftly, at the precise time and He will judge decisively.

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God Is Patient

The reason God waits is to allow lost men and women ample time to repent and to turn to Him.

It is not God’s design or desire to see us die lost and go to Hell. He desires to see us saved, so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Therefore, He waits, and calls, and gives us ample opportunities to get right with Him.

One day, God’s patience will be exhausted, and He will return to this earth. Then it will be too late to repent; there will be nothing more to look forward to but an eternity in Hell!

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God Has Promised

God will come again, just as He said He would.

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Are we ready to meet God? This message ought to make us consider the terrible danger we are in and cause us to run to Christ in repentance. These truths should stir our hearts and make us want to get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as we can get so that in the time remaining, we might be used by Him to touch this world. There are multitudes all around us who have never received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. We might be the one to reach them.

1 Peter 2:9-12 (NIV)

As believers, we are pilgrims and strangers.

This world is not our home.

We are pilgrims passing through earth on our way to Heaven.

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We are to be heavenly minded.

We obey the laws of the land.

But the law and will of God is far superior to that of this world.

We are to live like heaven born people!

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The apostle Peter gives us some reminders as to how we are to conduct ourselves in this world.

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A Reminder Of Our Past Situation (2:9-10)

We have a dark past.

When the Lord Jesus Christ came to us, He found us in the darkness of sin.

He found us when we lived as we pleased and were unaware of the bondage of our sins.

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We have a despised past.

When the Lord Jesus Christ came to us, we were outcasts!

We were a fallen race of people.

We were enemies of God.

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We have a deadly past.

When the Lord Jesus Christ came for us, we were totally unworthy of the mercy and grace He extended to us!

we deserve to be in Hell!

It was grace that reached down into the hell of our darkness and delivered us from such a wretched existence!

It was grace and grace alone that made the difference in our lives.

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A Reminder Of Our Present Standing (2:9)

We are a new creation.

We are a chosen people.

The glorious and gracious God has reached into the world of lost humanity and chose for Himself a people.

And He did this according to His own will.

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We have a new communion.

We are a royal priesthood.

When we were lost, we were totally separated from God.

Now we have been brought near to God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have unrestricted and unhindered access into the presence of God.

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We have a new character.

We are a holy nation.

God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has produced a change in us that allows us to be holy!

We are given a new nature.

Now, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can produce works of true holiness, pleasing to the Lord!

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We have a new classification.

We are God’s special possession.

We are His precious people.

God paid a high price for us.

Now He possesses us and we are precious to Him.

And God will keep a close watch on us.

He will look after us with the greatest of care.

He will protect us and shelter us.

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A Reminder Of Our Present Service (2:9-12)

We are from another world.

We are ambassadors from heaven to this world.

We are to do all we can to share the culture of our homeland with the earth bound people living around us.

We are to show and tell them how the citizens of Heaven live their lives!

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We are to declare the truth about our Savior.

We are to “declare the praises of Him”.

We are to vocally declare what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.

We are to declare God’s excellent qualities to a lost and dying world.

We should be a vocal people in our willingness and our desire to share Him with the world!

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We are to demonstrate the truth of our salvation.

We must have a pure walk.

As citizens of Heaven, we are to avoid living like the citizens of the earth.

We are not to have our witness ruined and our lives enslaved by the power of the lusts of the flesh.

We must be a powerful witness.

We are to live right in front of a lost world.

They may criticize us for the standards we have or for the things we oppose.

But if we are consistent and holy in our walk and dealings with them, they will be touched by our good works.

Some will even be saved as a result.

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Until the Lord Jesus Christ comes, we will be pilgrims and strangers in this world.

We are surrounded by people who need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and see His truth lives out by those who claim to know Him.

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We should seek to promote the culture of Heaven in this world.

Titus 3:9-15

The apostle Paul had given the young pastor Titus several instructions about running the church in Crete.

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Titus was to set things in order, to appoint elders, to rebuke false teachers, and to teach the believers that doing good deeds is sound doctrine.

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Now we come to Paul's final exhortation to Titus before closing with some personal notes.

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Avoid Controversies (3:9)

Titus was to avoid arguments because they are unprofitable and useless.

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Reject A Divisive Man (3:10-11)

Titus was to reject someone who spread private opinions around and causing division.

He was told to reject him or her after two confrontations.

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If someone has a different view, or cannot submit to the authority of the church, then he or she shouldn't stay and cause division.

He or she should leave quietly and alone, without mounting a rebellion and building a team.

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There is to be no tolerance for those who cause division in the church.

They are to be removed, rejected, and disfellowshipped until they repent and change their ways.

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Paul Made Some Personal Notes (3:12-15)

Artemas and Zenas are unknown to us outside of this reference.

But we can examine the ministry of Tychicus in the book of Ephesians (6:19-24) and Colossians (4:7-18).

Apollos is the best-known of the four.

He was an Alexandrian Jew who was a powerful Bible teacher.

He became an evangelist and a leader in the church after he learned the complete gospel message (Acts 18).

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Finally, Paul told Titus that true Christianity is not inactive or unfruitful.

It is to serve others.

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Titus' job as the pastor was to teach the people of the church to do good deeds and meet pressing needs.

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Real Bible teaching teaches the real body of Christ to do real ministry until there really is unity.

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May God's grace be with us all.

Titus 1:7b (NKJV)

Church elder is blameless.

Church elder is the husband of one wife.

Church elder is having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

Church elder is a steward of God.

Church elder isn't self-willed.

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The sixth attribute of a Church elder is he isn't quick-tempered.

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The Pitfalls Of Being Quick-Tempered

When a Church elder is quick-tempered, he will make a fool of himself.

A quick-tempered man acts foolishly. (Prov. 14:17)

When we let our tempers flare, we are guaranteed to act stupidly, rashly and do things we will later regret.

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The Benefits Of Being Slow To Anger

The Bible speaks of the benefits of not being quick-tempered.

One of those benefits is...

He who is slow to wrath has great understanding. (Proverbs 14:29)

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Church elder who is slow to anger always gets the whole story.

He will always get all the facts and can make a rational decision.

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Church elder who is slow to anger has the ability to calm things down.

A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention. (Prov. 15:18)

Being slow-tempered gives us the power to pacify a situation, instead of intensifying it.

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We Are Commanded To Be Slow To Anger

Not only is being slow to anger commended, it is commanded:

Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

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We can't achieve the righteousness of God by being quick-tempered because God Himself is not quick-tempered.

God is slow to anger, and as imitators of Him, we are to be as well.

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How To Be Slow To Anger

(a) Discretion

The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression. (Prov. 19:11)

What makes us slow to anger?

Our discretion.

Discretion is the freedom, the authority, and the power to make our own choices and make decisions.

God the Father has given us a new heart and set us free from that old bondage.

We have got a new heritage now as children of God and citizens of heaven.

We now have the freedom in Christ to walk in righteousness, and no longer enslaved by sin.

We now have the authority to deny sin and walk in victory.

We now have the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer our flesh.

In other words, our temper is at our discretion.

We have the freedom, authority, and power to make our own choice, whether to become angry or not.

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(b) Wisdom

A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back. (Prov. 29:11)

It is wisdom that will enable us to hold our temper back.

When we fear the Lord God, we will learn to be wise.

When we realize and recognize that God judges sin, we will desire to refrain from it.

Our true fear of God will cause us to hold back our temper.

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3) Self-Control

The third place of realizing victory is found in Proverbs 16:

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. (Prov. 16:32)

Being slow to anger is being able to rule our spirit and to have self-control.

And self-control comes from being filled with the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit.

When we follow the Spirit instead of the flesh, self-control will be a byproduct in our life.