Israel got far off course. God called them to be His people but along the way they were distracted, they pursued gods that lead them away from the one True God. They lost their love and made God their obligation. Hosea is a wonderful analogy of God's faithful love to Israel even while Israel was pursuing it other loves.

Today we welcomed Phil and Martha Ozinga, missionaries to Honduras, to our worship time. Phil preached on Mathew 21:18-19, the story of the withered fig tree.

In the last verses of Titus, we see Paul giving final instructions to the people he had lead to Christ, personally descipled to carry on the work of the ministry. Among them were Timothy and Titus as well as other men mentioned in this passage. All of them were charged with what Paul had told Timothy-to pass along their faith to others and prepare them for service through discipleship.

We can either be profitable - benefitig God's church or unprofitable - hurting it and tearing it apart. The determining factor in which one we are is how people we rub shoulders with are inspired by us to treat others. We want to be those who do what is good - not those who divide and hurt others.

When we respond to the gospel, we immediately experience the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. He washes us through rebirth. We are also renewed, the internal change which begins at the moment of conversion.

When you understand God's grace, it is an unparalleled message. Salvation has been offered to all by God's grace. Grace is God freely giving something that is not earned or merited in any way. Man, because of his sin, stood separated from a holy God. Because of His great love for us, He sent His Son, Jesus, to become both man and God, to offer Himself on a cross to pay for our sin.

Paul warns Titus about false teachers who come into the church to complicate the simple truth of the gospel. He instructes Titus on the need to have a working knowledge of the Word of God in order to refute and silence those who would do harm to the church by distorting the truth of the gospel.

Titus' role as a representative of Paul was to complete the formation of healthy, solid churches in the new area of church planting in Crete, a place where the culture was noted for being course and difficult. Paul instructs Titus in the way to select goldy men to serve as elders who could, in turn, serve as leaders to shepherd the church God placed under their care.

Today we begin our study in the book of Titus. Paul wrote this letter not only to the young leader in the church on the Island of Crete, but for all churches every where. And the message is that we should grow in our faith and knowledge of God to develop godliness in our lives.

The resurrection of Jesus confirms Jesus' victory over sin and death and guarantees His ability to give us life. We must receive the truth of the resurrection and the truth of Jesus both with intellectual assent and personally, as our own position of faith.