The Lord calls His Church to faithfulness to His Word. The Church is to appoint faithful men to lead and teach within the Church. Paul left Titus in Crete to carry out this task. We also must seek to find men who understand the times and who have knowledge of what should be done.

The people of Crete did not have the best reputation. Paul commissioned Titus to help establish the church and its leaders on the island. Paul makes clear in his letter to Titus that establishing godly leaders is critical to the mission of the church. As our world continues to say “NO” to godliness and “YES” to sin, we share in Titus’ situation (even if we are not on a Mediterranean island). Let us seek out faithful watchmen to minister in our day.

The Bible is God’s revelation to His people, and it contains far more than just a bunch of facts stitched together. Throughout the pages of Scripture, the history of God’s redeeming work through the ages shines brightly. The Lord Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father serves as the pinnacle of that redeeming Word. The Lord calls His people to proclaim the truth of the gospel and the hope of eternal life.

How do you know when someone truly accepts you as a close friend? Is it when you let them know all your blemishes, quirks, and flaws? There is great value in such a relationship built on honesty, disclosure, and trust; but there is also great responsibility. This communion moves beyond the surface to genuinely love and care for one another, as in family relationships, which aids in praising, worshiping, confessing, and repenting of sins together in prayer to God. Let us be receptive to such loving communion as the family of God.

“Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, seldom found in woman, never found in man.” This catchy proverbial saying has been around for some time. However, being patient for the coming of the Lord is incumbent on all followers of Christ. All believers are to live in the blessed hope of the glorious return of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. How are we to be patient? Why are we to be patient? What conditions are we to be patient? We will seek to answer them all!

The attitude of self-presumption is something we all battle from time to time. It comes in the forms of setting life goals, making future plans, even buying on credit based on present health and income. What often accompanies this attitude are elements of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Before we know it, we have dethroned God and enthroned self, as we forget that our life, breath, strength, and skills for living come from God, leading to more sinful practices.

Why can’t we all just get along? When we see evidence of so much division and skepticism in our world, this question arises in the minds of many people. But for people to get along, there must be agreement of principles for that to take place. Forced alliances by coercion, collusion or compromise are untenable. For Christians, any attempt to live in agreement with worldly standards, or its lack thereof, is disloyal to our citizenship in heaven. We will see why this is so.

Do you remember the children’s Sunday School song, “Oh be careful little tongue what you say . . . for the Father up above is looking down in love . . .so be careful little tongue what you say.” This song has serious teaching not just for little children but for us all. God is weighing out our words, and the substance of our words has eternal consequences with God. We will see why this is so as we think about our speech in light of James 3.

There is a saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This saying should never be applied to people who say they have a faith in God but have nothing to show for it. In this case, James has much to say about that sort of faith; for true faith will be accompanied by works of faith. In fact, James says, “faith without works is dead.” Let us be people who have a living faith producing works rather than a dead one.

In chemistry, there are substances that are immiscible, meaning substances that are not capable of combining together, such as the liquids of water and oil. So, faith and favoritism do not mix in the church. James speaks against showing favoritism based on anyone’s status in life. To elevate the rich over the poor by granting prominence to the rich and marginalizing the poor is wrong. There are several reasons why this is so, which we will carefully examine.