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The Lord’s Day sermon text (Titus 2:3-5)continues Paul’s instructions for Titus as he served on the island of Crete. Titus (and thus the leaders of the churches) were required to use Scripture to teach every group of people in the churches how to live as Christians.

This Lord’s Day marks the beginning of our Lord’s Passion Week, traditionally called Palm Sunday. Our first hymn will reflect that. The sermon text continues Paul’s instructions for Titus as he served the Lord on the island of Crete. Titus (and thus the leaders of the churches) were required to use Scripture to teach every group of people in the churches how to live as Christians.

Paul instructed the churches on Crete to select elders who were men of character and men of the Word. They had a two-fold responsibility regarding the Word: strengthen God’s people and rebuke God’s opponents. In the sermon text for this Lord’s Day (Titus 1:10-16 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ), Paul identifies those opponents and gives instruction on how the elders must handle them. Paul’s guidance was not unique to the situation on Crete; it is still relevant today.

This Lord’s Day we continue our examination of the qualifications Paul lists for the office of overseer (pastor). The list contains only one qualification of a vocational nature—everything else addresses character. The vocational qualification is, “he must hold firm to the trustworthy word” (v. 9). We will look into this essential requirement for the church’s leaders.

This week we conclude a series on God’s providence from the life of Joseph. We have seen that God unassailably governs even the sinful actions of mankind, and that He accompanies His people in every new stage of providence. In Genesis 45 we will see God’s good purpose finally come to light and in such a way that His grace brightly outshines man’s sin.

Last week we began a series on God’s providence from the life of Joseph. In Genesis 37 we saw that God unassailably governs when our lives are touched by the sinful intentions of others, and He will bring about His good purpose. While Joseph’s life continues to demonstrate those truths, this Lord’s Day we will see from Genesis 39 that God accompanies us in every new stage of providence. His presence not only demonstrates His control but brings with it His favor if we will only trust Him.

One of the greatest challenges to our trust in God comes when we experience the evil actions of other people. We don’t understand why a good and all-powerful God would allow these experiences. God appears uncaring or non-existent. For the next three Lord’s Day mornings we will look at the life of Joseph from the book of Genesis. He endures all kinds of evil by other people, yet God not only accompanies him and eventually exalts him, but also moves His good and eternal purposes forward. God amazingly and mysteriously used the evil actions of other people to accomplish His good plan.

In the first chapter of Titus, Paul gave instructions Titus to lead the churches on Crete in the selection of church leaders. The pastors (elders) must meet specific qualifications. The sermon text for this Lord’s day addresses domestic and personal qualifications.

Last week we began a study of Paul’s letter to Titus. This Lord’s Day, we focus on Titus 1:5, the first verse of the body of the letter in which Paul reveals the purpose of the letter. This purpose statement centers the mission of Christ carried out through properly ordered local churches.

This Lord’s Day we begin a new study: the epistle Paul wrote to Titus. Paul assigned a task to Titus similar to the one given to Timothy in 1 Timothy. Though similar, there is a significant advancement in the themes of these “Pastoral Epistles.” First Timothy’s message was Protect the Gospel by Strengthening the Church. The theme of Titus is Strengthen the Church with Sound Doctrine.