 Good morning and welcome to New Testament survey, hello stand. Good morning and welcome to New Testament survey, BC103. So even before we could begin with our session, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer. Good morning Anthony. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord for today. Lord Jesus as we are going to study New Testament Lord Jesus. Lord give us more wisdom and knowledge to understand your word and Lord Jesus teaches Holy Spirit guide us. Thank you Jesus. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So today we're going to study on the book of Titus or the letter to Titus. If I could start with our session, let me project a PowerPoint presentation. I hope everyone can see Titus which is the right doctrine for the right leaders for right living. So what do we know about Titus? Who is Titus? From whatever you have known about him. Who is the Bible character? Who is Titus? Paul's disciple. Okay, anyone else? Okay, let's look at it. Titus is the book of ministry. It is about a book of character. It is talking about the character. Well, this though it is a very small letter consists of three chapters and chapter one addresses to the elders and to the enemies and it is setting things right. There are certain issues in the church like setting up the right leadership, then setting up a Godly order in the church and it is the first chapter talks about taking charge, taking the leadership in charge and chapter two addresses a specific group and it gives a instruction for a particular people with a good doctrine. It addresses, it's about giving advice to older men and women, young men and women, Titus and all the leaders. It also addresses about the slave and master. Chapter three talks about the Christians in children. It talks about the attitude of a believer, how a believer's attitude should be, how important his conduct is to uphold the conduct of it and we also see the chapter three talks about doing things rightly, what to do and what not to do. So with that, we will look into the man who we know as Titus. Who is Titus? Let me change the slide. Okay, this is not how exactly Titus looks. I just got the image from the internet because I didn't find the right pick. So all I know is Titus was a young leader. So I felt like this image may portray that Titus was a young leader. So yeah, you all can see it, right? So Titus was a Greek summer, Greek origin. He was a Gentile and was most likely a convert through Apostle Paul's ministry. When Apostle Paul was ministering at a church in Antioch, probably he would have visited there and he's converted. He got to know about Jesus Christ as a Lord and Savior. We can turn to the letter of Titus so that, you know, we can read few scriptures as we talk about. Okay, the Paul addresses Titus in Titus 1, chapter 4 as to Titus, a true son in a common faith. So just like Unlectimity, even Titus was a young leader who encountered Jesus through Apostle Paul's ministry. So he is like a spiritual son to Apostle Paul. And in Galatians chapter 2 verse 1 and 3, we see that Titus accompanied Paul and Barnabas. That is when Paul and Barnabas went on the first missionary journey. After that journey, they went to a council that was happening at Jerusalem. So Titus seemed to have accompanied Apostle Paul and Barnabas on this journey, that is on this trip to Jerusalem for the council as a Gentile fruit like Apostle Paul and Barnabas were going to address the council to talk for the Gentiles. Like, you know, how even a Gentile, the Gospel is even to the Gentile believers. When the Gospel has been shared, not just to the Jews, but even to the Gentiles, we see how the Gospel has transformed the people. The Gentiles have received the Gospel. So they are taking Titus along with him to show him as an example. So we see that Titus has accompanied Apostle Paul and Barnabas to a council at Jerusalem. Later, we also see in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, 23, we see that Titus was among Paul's company as a fellow laborer in the ministry. So he is a company Apostle Paul in the ministry as well. That's how a leader trains another leader. They keep them with them throughout the ministry. So as they teach, as they learn, they also learn through watching the leaders do the ministry. So Apostle Paul has kept Titus during the missionary journey, during the third missionary journey. And we also see Apostle Paul sent him to Corinth after he been trained. Paul has sent him to Corinth not only to carry the letter to Corinth, but also to assist some church related issues in the church. He most likely would have read the letter to the church members of the church elders and they would have also been in a place to bring certain order in the church. And we also see Titus reported back to Apostle Paul on the situation of the church at Corinth. And then we also see Titus carried the second Corinthians letter back to the church. Titus would have been involved in assisting the other gatherings when Apostle Paul was gathering the he was collecting the financial help to address the famine at Jerusalem. So Titus would have also held Apostle Paul in gathering the finance from other churches towards the Jerusalem's relief fund. We also see him accompanied Apostle Paul when Apostle Paul was released from the Roman imprisonment at Crete. And Apostle Paul left him to pastor the work that he was doing at Crete. Now what is Crete? Crete is an island. After this, we will talk about the island and the nature of the people in this island. So Apostle Paul asked Titus to join him and Nicopolis sometime later in the ministry. So as much as possible, we see that during when we study the letter, we see that Apostle Paul raised the leaders, he gave them the responsibility and the leadership and he also gave them the opportunity to minister correct and bring an order in the church that he planted. So he actually sent to her Titus and Timothy to minister to people. We also see Titus was with Apostle Paul in the second imprisonment at Rome for a short while serving Apostle Paul in the need. By then Apostle Paul was little old in need help. So we see that many young leaders was nurtured by Apostle Paul were helping Paul in the ministry and they were also helping him in any kind of support that he needs while he was in the prison. We also see Titus finish his life. So later part when you see look at Titus in the later he grew in his leadership. He grew in his leadership and he became a senior pastor at the churches in Crete and he was not handling one church. It is an island. Crete is an island. There are many church maybe I'm not too sure about Apostle Paul or Titus would have planted and then he was handling and he grew to be a senior pastor in that place and he died eventually with a natural death. So this book when we see the some of the scholars say when they look at their history this book would have written sometime in the second Roman imprisonment by Apostle Paul to Titus in between 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. Apostle Paul would have written a letter to Titus addressing certain issues how a leader should be, how Titus been a young leader at Crete, how we need to raise young leaders, what are the characteristics, what are the conduct that we need to look into a leader as he raised them. So with that we will move on to look at the place Crete. So this is a map we see this is the Asia Minor then we see how Apostle Paul's ministry grew from Asia Minor to Macedonia to Rome last finally but now we see there's an island called Crete. Can you see that in the Mediterranean Sea? Crete. So here eventually Apostle Paul when during his one of the imprisonment when he was traveling in the boat there was a shipwreck he landed there and he started ministering to people and also he left Titus there to strengthen the church to plant church minister to people to raise young leaders. So as he is appointed Titus as the leader at Crete we know about Titus and Titus is a young leader at the island called Crete. Now we need to know what is Crete? Crete is an island and what is the nature of the people in this island like when we went on missions recently to Mangalore you see the nature of the people is very different from the place where we are isn't it? The people are different the nature of the people are different the social lifestyle is different. So we need to understand the people and we need to minister and share the gospel loving to each. So we'll see what is the nature of people at Crete? So people of Crete had a very negative reputation when we read Titus chapter 1 verse 12 and 13 can I request one of y'all to please unmute and read 12 and 13. Be little loud. Be little loud. Thank you Prince. So what we see here the reputation of people people are known to be rude in nature. They have seen to be liars they seem to be you know lazy they're very slack in their nature they they always ready to fight ready to argue they didn't have a broad mindset they always had the island mindset that is the narrow minded they were not very open to the new ideas and philosophies so looks like Titus had a tough time to handle the people or to minister to them. We also see a poet from this place Epimenidus a Cretan poet says Cretans are always liars evil beasts lazy gluttonies. It is the poet's phrase that the nature of people. We also see in the classic literature if somebody addresses a person saying hey don't act like the Cretan that means don't be a liar that was a meaning of influence so they were known for that in the nature there was no integrity in them so people of Crete had the opportunity through Apostle Paul and Titus ministry to have exposure to the gospel where they can change their lifestyle and lead a life that is pleasing to God. So people from Crete were represented on the day of Pentecost so how did the gospel reach Crete on the day of Pentecost there were people from the surrounding region who came to Jerusalem and on the day of Pentecost they witnessed the gospel preached by the disciples there. So and also the second way could be as I said when there was a shipwreck when Paul was in prison he landed up on one of the island of Crete called Fair Heavens and they may have been ministered by Apostle Paul during that time. We also see that when Paul journeyed back to Crete in the Roman 2nd first imprisonment he started the work in several cities and he left Titus to strengthen the church and grow and bring the church in order. So it was not like something happened quick changing the nature of a person doesn't happen in a day or two takes time it takes time but Apostle Paul now Titus never gave up on this people but they continued to minister where they saw the fruit of it of their labor much later. So the key verse Titus chapter 2 verse 11 to 14 can I request one of y'all to please read. Thank you. Thank you Prince. Yeah this is the key verse of this as we read the key verse let's move on to the theme. There are four themes that has been addressed in this book first one is moral attributes second is the domestic qualification third is the spiritual qualification fourth is the leadership gifting. So as we're going to study each point from this letter can I request y'all to turn to one person please turn to 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 2 and another to Titus chapter 1 verse 6 please or 6 to 8 Titus chapter 1 verse 6 to 8 and 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 2 and 3 Are you able to hear me? Can you hear me? Titus chapter 1 verse 6 to 8 if a man is blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of desciption or anti-vote coordination for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God not self will not quick temper not given to wine not violent not greedy for money but hospitable a level of what is good so our mind did just holy self controlled. Thank you. One of y'all can you please turn to Titus chapter 1 verse 6 and 8 Rin can you read? You read Titus okay sorry okay can y'all please read 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 2 and 3 Thank you Rin sorry sometimes when you guys sit so far when you need you know I don't get to hear you what exactly you're meeting anyways I'm sure the students are online without heard exactly the scripture verse what he was trying to read so the Titus chapter 1 verse 6 7 and 8 talks about the again about the leader just like how in 1st Timothy we also see the same thing a bishop must be blameless we see a leader or a bishop must be blameless in nature a leader must be a good temporary you need to conduct themselves well you need to be sober minded but not highly puffed up you need to be good in behavior you should not be given into wine you should not be quick tempered you should not be covetous or having a very luxurious lifestyle of wanting more of the worldly things seeking for worldly comfort an elder is not to be choral sin you should not be choral sin where he argues for every word he should be you know peaceable with one another that is what even Peter says as much as possible be in peace with one another and elder is not to be self-willed so you know you need to be so pleasing with himself we will not be considering others ideas or others opinion and elder is to be is to be a lover of what is good you should not support any evil so in the greek word when we read Titus chapter 1 verse 8 Titus chapter 1 verse 8 it says you must be hospitalable hospitalable lover of what is good so be minded just holy self-controlled so the word here it's addressing them how a nature of a person should be you should be lover of what is good now with that we will move on to the second theme the second theme is about the domestic qualification and when we talk about the domestic qualification an elder must be the husband of one wife so when we read first Timothy chapter 3 2 and Titus 1 verse 6 what does it say it's it doesn't mean that for you to be in leadership for you to uh pastor to be a leader in the church doesn't mean that you have to be married because apostle Paul was not married it's not that but what it literally means here is an elder must be a man of one woman one woman man he must be loyal to his spouse living in a pure marriage relationship without any adulterous relationship or any wrong attitude with the opposite sex so God has never even when we look at the scriptures we see that God has never tolerated polygamy polygamy means a man getting married to many women okay that was not the idea of God for marriage God created one man for one woman so if he's a person divides his natural affection towards the worldly nature and towards the spiritual that means he is committing spiritual adultery so he needs to conduct himself well because the scripture clearly says if a bishop or a leader in the church he must be a man of one woman or one woman man and elder is to be hospitality a lover of strangers he needs to be welcoming new people strangers the shepherd the leader must be able to call his sheep by name so how do you call somebody by name that is by the relationship that you have you need to develop a personal relationship with that person Rin are you there and have them into his own the leader's home should be the center of ministry and a place of refuge for those in need and elder is to rule his own house well having those children in submission to his leadership so with you being a leader we need to see that we need to get our house in line our children should be obedient and willing so what happens most of the time the congregation eyes are on the pastor's children isn't it there's a high expectation over the children so pastors children are not angels okay they do also mistakes right but then what apostle Paul is trying to say is you need to bring a good character good characters develop with the child from a very young age proverb says if you do not take a rod you know you need to take the rod to I mean what is that scripture says you need to correct the child at a very young age and discipline him so that even when he grows old he will not get himself deviated that is what it means okay so we need to be we need to raise our children godly manner so that they will grow in obedient and submission to the parents as well so with that we will move on to the next theme that is the spiritual qualification which is very important we see an elder is not to be a novice or a young convert when we are raising leaders this is what apostle Paul is addressing Titus as he's ministering in creed as he's planting churches and raising leaders so apostle Paul is addressing how Titus need to raise young leaders you cannot raise a young young person as a leader now when we talk about a young person or a young convert we're not talking about the age but is age in the Lord spiritual age is more important than the physical age so a new convert does not have it does not have enough experience from hearing the voice of God you need to experience do you need to you know grow in the Lord he needs to get himself tuned in the Lord to hear more of God so that he can lead the church he can lead the people according to God's will and God's way so the main task of the leader here it says he needs to hear the voice of the Lord for him to be the head of the church so the person who's a newly planted do not have the opportunity to understand the vision of the local church and do accordingly so apostle Paul is encouraging Titus you raise leaders and keep them with you and train them so that they may grow in mature and spiritual with the Lord so an elder must have a good testimony Mendoza outside the church as a leader he also should be just and holy he needs to be patient he needs to be loving he must hold the faith in God and in the word he needs to be a person who will teach the word of God in the way it needs to be taught so with that we will move on to leadership gifting so leadership gifting is about an elder must be able to exhaust an elder must be able to teach and absorb the word of God and teach a sound doctrine so with that we will move on to the next point sorry what are the unique features let's look into the unique features of this book can I request one of y'all to turn to Titus chapter 2 verse 11 to 14 which was the key verse as well okay I agree for the grace of God that brings salvation is appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly righteously and bodily in the present age looking for the blessed hope and glory is appearing of a great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works speak these things absorb and rebuke with all authority let no one despise you so Apostle Paul is emphasizing on certain good works that a leader needs to implement in the church so we see that Apostle Paul is emphasizing on the grace of God he's asking like you know Paul also understood that the great that we are saved by the grace of God for the purpose of good work so Apostle Paul is encouraging in the book of Titus six things when he when he talks about good works he is addressing certain things what are the good works for all false ministries are to be avoided so during Apostle Paul's ministry time there were a lot of false teachers and ministry leaders were trying to corrupt the church that he was planting and ministering to so Apostle Paul is addressing Titus to groom the people groom the believers in the way that they avoid any false ministry or false teachers true ministers like Titus are to be the pattern of good work so what is he saying he's saying that develop your character your conduct should address the good work on the Lord so he's saying should be like Titus that means what you and I should be that living example when people look at us they should say he's a man of God he sets up an example that we can do for or we need to follow we also see in Titus 214 that God's people were set apart to be zealous for good work we need to be zealous for good work for God's work to flourish in the city in the place and we are in the nation that God has called us to and Titus 3 once says all believers are to be ready to do good work so this is what we believe at ABC that every minister every believer is a minister every believer is a leader you need to impact your world you need to inspire another person wherever you are you may be in the market please you may be in the ministry you may be a homemaker but wherever you are you need to inspire by your conduct all believers are to be careful to maintain good work so we need to be vigilant and conducting ourselves because it's very easy to give in to the bad works so we need to be vigilant or be careful to maintain the good work that God has implanted in us so all believers are to learn to maintain good works Titus 340 and reading Titus 340 to learn to maintain good works to meet urgent needs that they not be unfruitful urgent needs can be spiritual need it can be also through serving people the second point we see is as we emphasize on the unique features Apostle Paul is emphasizing on the example of the minister of Christ so a leader must not profess to know God but deny him with our deeds secondly he says a leader must be an example or a good or a pattern of what has been taught in the Bible that is godliness must be seen in every action that he carries out you a leader must look at his lifestyle is it Godly is it pleasing to God the third point we see in the unique features is the practical instruction given to each age and social group in the church so in the book of Titus chapter 2 we see when we read from verse 2 3 4 5 6 till 10 okay chapter 2 till 10 when you read you see there's a practical instruction by addressing to the old men old women young men young women and also to the master and to the and also in Titus chapter 1 verse 10 and 11 talks about the elder's task it says I'll read in 11 it says for there are many in subordinate both idle talkers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision whose mouth must be stopped who subvert whole household teaching things which they are not for the same of dishonest gay and also in Titus chapter 3 verse 9 and 11 we see that Apostle Paul is encouraging Titus to emphasize on avoid foolish disputes that means you know the cretins always were ready to argue now just because that's the nature of the people there Titus you being the leader you don't get into any kind of argument with them or genealogies don't go back into their family history or you have been addressed like this don't talk about them or their generation what they are addressed to no contentions and striving about the law this is what the law says no but they are unprofitable and useless if you go talking about all these or addressing this in the church there are useless don't do that reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition if you have encountered a man with this kind of attitude stop talking reject that person because he is causing dispute or division in the church knowing that such a person is brat and sinning being self-condemned so you have to be very careful in your leadership this is what Apostle Paul is giving the guidelines setting a guidelines for treatment of the heretics and other problems from this cretins that is addressing within the church so as a leader how Titus need to address how we need to avoid any kind of arguments that is coming against them or against the church but then focus on the gospel time and again reinforce the gospel and showcase the love of God don't get into any argument you cannot do that so as a leader you set as an example there will be a time where God will minister to that person to that individual and God will bring a change in them so with that we have come into conclusion reflection how seriously are we considering our beliefs about God in the overall idea of our life as a leader as you guys are the young leader stepping into the ministry so as a leader we need to build our character we're not born with a good character character is something that has been developed so the benefits of you guys being on campus is this your character has been developed as a ministry leader through you know adjusting living a simple lifestyle learning to live a godly nature it's not that we are perfect but every time we fall we have been strengthened by each other we pray together sorry this is something that we need to consider so Apostle Paul is reminding each of us through the book of Titus that our belief about God to impact every decision that we make in our life everything that we do word of God should be the final authority so in my bible I always write w o g f a any decision that you've taken your life check for the Lord pray and wait upon the Lord check for the word what does the Bible say about it does it please God don't be hasty in making any decision the word of God should be the final authority for us to make any decision in our life sometimes yes it may be difficult but then when you depend on God the Apostle Paul says he encourages the grace of God will empower you and me to make the right decision when we seek God he is our shepherd he will lead us he will lead us even as he is appointing you guys as a shepherd in your ministry just like how God trained Apostle Paul and how Apostle Paul in this ministry raised the young leaders like Timothy and Titus God is raising each of us in the ministry so as young leaders it is very important for us to groom ourselves to conduct ourselves in a right manner because we are reflecting Jesus in our life we need to hold on to the good character now there may be a times falsely we may be accused so leaders when you are a leader there are people around you waiting to find fault this happened even in the bible to the own leaders like Joseph Daniel Apostle Paul Peter the ministry they were falsely accused even Jesus who was sinless was falsely accused he was crucified so you and I even in our ministry even in our leadership we may be falsely accused but don't give up on the call that God has called hold on to the grace that God has given you seek God to be your defender and truly God is our defender God who defended Joseph and gave him the victory God who defended Daniel and gave him the victory God who was with Apostle Peter and Paul and gave them the victory in the ministry God was also with Jesus strengthen Jesus in the earth ministry same way God is with us he will strengthen us when we hold on to him he is our defender hold on to the grace of God that has been given to us this is what Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy because knowing the nature of freedoms they accused Titus with false accusation but Apostle Paul being the leader he never gave up on Timothy Emily Timothy and Titus he stood behind them with their leadership he reinforced certain orders in the church and he allowed Timothy and Titus to grow in the godly nature in godly character so that they set an example and he also encouraged both of them not to give up on the ministry what they're doing because of these false teachers or false ministry leaders accusing him sometimes even your own church believers may accuse you all your employers employ you with whom you work may accuse you but depend on God the God who was with these leaders he's the same God he has the same power even today he is the throne he will defend you and I so let's believe that and pray and ask God God build good leadership in us help us to develop this good character in us help us to have a good conduct in our life it's only by God's grace it's not by our our effort we cannot have that we cannot develop that so can I request one of y'all can I request Nina John can you please pray on this point please are you able to hear me are you able to hear me are we able to hear can one of y'all please unmute are you yeah I don't think you're able to hear can you hear no right yes Nina you can go ahead can you hear me now yes Nina can you hear me yes we can hear you now now we can hear you Grace is loving Father thank you so much Lord for this day and time that you gave us master and for impressing upon our hearts all that we were able to learn from Titus about the very character and what we have to be mindful of and also remember that it is the grace of God that enables us to do whatever we can do we pray Lord that we will grow in this knowledge the grace and knowledge of you and be able to do all that you expect of us and that we would have the desire Lord to be all that you want us to be for we ask in Jesus precious name amen amen thank you so much thank you Nina thank you so much each one for joining in today's session see y'all next week with the next letter thank you god bless