WeAreIBC

GO!

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Go do a work that fuels others.

Go do a work that fits you.

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Go do a work that fires you up. 

If your primary motivation is to make money or achieve a status you will never be satisfied. 

1. Work as a picture of the creator. 

2. Work to please the creator

Titus 3:14 14 Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

Unproductive – unfruitful or profitless.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-13 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

Work is good because it was given before the fall.

Genesis 1:28 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Work is good because God gave work to us.

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Work is good because it fulfills our purpose.

Eph 2:10 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

1) Live productively by having the right people in your life.

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

—Ephesians 2:19-20

2) Live productively by believing the right things.

3) Live productively by doing the right things.

Titus 3:1-8

1. Remember who you are.

2. Remember who you used to be.

3. Remember who saved us.

Wonderful Grace of Jesus

Titus 2:11-15

“Doctrine is the way out of a problem not the way in.” Albert Mohler

1. Grace has appeared.

Grace - unmerited favor of God toward unworthy sinners.

2. Grace is offered to all people.

3. Grace teaches us how to live.

4. Grace will return.

5. Grace liberates and adopts us.

Roman 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the

gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

3. Grace teaches us how to live.

4. Grace will return.

5. Grace liberates and adopts us. 

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special

possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

1 Peter 2:9 

Background: Titus was to appoint new mature leaders, confront wrong leaders, and guide the people to what a Christian household should look like.

Titus 2:1-10 ESV

1) We are called to be Different.

     Do they believe you at home?

     Do they believe you at work?

     Do they believe you when you have fun?

2) We are called to invest in others.

   Who could you invest in?                 .

1 Thess 4:3-5a

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

One Point: Belief without behavior is nothing to believe in at all!

What is your next step in being different from the rest of the world?           .

Refuting the Rebel

Titus 1:10-16

There’s a rebel within all of us

Rebel with the cause, not just because

“So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’”

Acts 4:18-20

Follow the admirable, obedient One who rebelled for our good

Tim Keller: “The very core of any gospel presentation is to show people that in some way or another they’ve been trying to save themselves, and they are failing.”

Elders Lead Us Toward Godliness

Titus 1:5-9

God’s plan for all of us is _godliness_   (Titus 1:1-3)

*Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. – Philippians 2:12-13

God intends for _elders_ to guide us toward godliness   (Titus 1:5)

*And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. – Acts 14:23

*Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them . . .

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for [shepherd / pastor] the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. – Acts 20:17-18, 28

What an elder must _be_   (Titus 1:6-8)

*Above Reproach – An elder must bear the character needed to be a steward of God’s people.

*Five vices

*Six virtues

What an elder must _do_   (Titus 1:9)

*Hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught

*So that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and

*Rebuke those who contradict it

Titus 1:1-5 (with a focus on 1-4)

He secured us. 

Slavery to Christ brings freedom from sin and freedom to obey

Slavery to Christ ends prejudices

Slavery to Christ is a table of grace

He picked us.

1 Corinthians 1:26–27

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;” 

He keeps His vows to us.

He shows up. 

“I have no question that God chose me. How can I be so sure? Because I believe in Him and Jesus Christ as my Savior. I could not have come to this belief on my own… It can only be explained by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s grace at work within me.” - Charles Spurgeon