Tag: Christianity

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How to approach people who are in the wrong, part 2!

I have come to realise as I’ve got older not everything is what it seems.

A numerically growing church doesn’t mean all is well backstage.

A Christian who quotes the Bible doesn’t mean the Bible lives through their life.

I think of a lady I used to Pastor who passed away many years ago. I can picture her in my mind right now standing in worship with her hands in the air and yet at the same time her head revolving around (not quite 360 degrees) watching everyone else, it was quite amazing to see. Was she worshipping? In one sense we could say she was. Was she being nosy? Again in one sense yes! This wasn’t synergy. This was 2 activities working against each other.

I see that today in Christians and the Church. I see it in my own life.

There were things in this Corinthian Church that were not healthy. These Christians were wrong and yet there were aspects that were true and right: they were saved, they were filled with the Spirit and they operated with the gifts that the Spirit brings.

This letter did not start from verse 10 but verse 1.

What I mean is Paul didn’t start addressing what was wrong with their lives. He does and he certainly has a good go but he shows us how to get there.

This has become a very important leadership principle for me recently. Last week I was advising a Pastor caught in the middle of a difficult confrontational matter to firstly talk about Jesus; talk about all that Jesus has done for them; talk about the common ground; talk about the good. For starting with the positive is a good springboard to address the negative. 

As with the opening verses you would not believe that the following verses were to a Church that was anything but healthy. Paul does this deliberately.

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

So how do we approach people who are in the wrong, part 2!

  1. Point out the good that you see in them.

Paul reminds them that God has been generous to them. He can see that. He can see the grace that was given and experienced in Jesus. He sees the blessings that Jesus has given them. Jesus has given them everything they need. Paul builds a platform of thankfulness. He is attempting to lift them back on to that stage so that they themselves can see how far they have fallen from it.

  • Point out the growth that you see in them.

Paul says that the good he sees has come about because they responded to the testimony that he and his team had given them about Jesus. “I see the growth in your life. I see the lessons you have learnt. You were really listening to my advice/to my preaching!” This is a challenge to us preachers to preach for long-term growth not short-term response. It is also an encouragement knowing that even the Apostle’s preaching didn’t bring about a perfect church!

  • Point out the hope for tomorrow.

Everyone needs a future to live for. Paul is keen to show how God is faithful to them. They have hope because of God and it is found in Jesus. They are kept by Jesus. They have the presence of Jesus. Paul expects them to make it and so should we.

What a beautiful way to confront?!

One more thing. Let’s read the whole 9 verses again and let me identify something to you. Again this is Paul about to confront this Church for things that are not consistent with their faith.

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Every sentence contains God, Lord or the name Jesus. There are at least 16 references that are to do with Christ Jesus, God, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, God our Father, Christ, He, Son and Jesus Christ our Lord. So finally maybe the best way to approach people who are in the wrong if they are Christians is to get their eyes off themselves and others and get them on Him alone who can help to bring about any change that is going to be needed.

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But you/you however

Paul is about to write that Titus should give practical instructions to the different age groups in the church. Sound doctrine is not mere theory for it must flow into practical living for everyone. There are 2 words he uses to move into that section and they are really important for Titus and for us.

“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.” (Titus 2 v 1)

In the original it reads ‘but you’. The emphasis is on ‘you’ and the ‘but’ (or here in the NIV, ‘however’) is in contrast to:-

… rebellious people… meaningless talk … deception, v10; But you/You however …

… disrupting whole households … teaching things they ought not to teach… dishonest gain, v11; But you/You however …

… myths … merely human commands, v14; But you/You however …

 … corrupted … do not believe, … minds and consciences are corrupted, v15 But you/You however …

 … by their actions they deny him … detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good, v16 But you/You however …

But you/you however:

  • You don’t have to drift theologically.
  • You can live an authentic life.
  • You can be a disciple that is continually formed like Christ.
  • You can keep to a standard of evaluating what you hear.

You don’t have to follow suit.

You can stand in contrast to the culture around you.

You can make and be the difference.

You can walk into the same environment but speak differently.

You can create a better sound.

It can be said of you:- But you/you however.

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We have to start to focus on character and not gifting.

Paul had left a mission unfinished. But he left his spiritual son behind to complete the task. A mission which does not lead to an established is unfinished. An established church plant that has no leadership is unfinished. Titus knows his task. He is to find leaders for every church in every town they had established the church. He is to find them, appoint them and this letter will help him to equip them.

This is a wonderful letter from Paul that can probably be broken into 3 categories: organising the church, the belief of the church and the lifestyle of the church. The use of the word elder in v6 and then overseer in v7 is the same position. Every church today has different titles for their leaders who operate at different levels of authority within the community of believers. This letter is for them all and for the whole church for that matter.

“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1 v 5-9)

The task is still the same for us today. We need to find leaders. We must appoint them into positions and even take risks with them making sure we do all we can to equip them. The question is how do we do that? What do we look for? How do we appoint? What are the important things we need to teach them? All my ministerial life I have been taught that character is above gifting. We all know what that means. Yet here I am having certainly entered the second half of my life and I constantly see the search, appointments and leadership training being focused on abilities, skills and gifting. There is an assumption that those character issues have been sorted in a discipleship course attended years ago. We ignore to our peril that satan never attacks the gifting but always the character. It is staggering to think that we still are so focused on whether we can do and not whether we can be.

The attacks come and they are real and they attack these 5 areas of our lives. This is not only for leaders but because they have responsibility to care and lead the church then if they can bring a leader down the enemy has access into the church.

The leader will be attacked in who they are: v6 … blameless, v7 … blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not violent, v8 … self-controlled, holy.

The leader’s family will be attacked: v6 … faithful to his wife, whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

The leader will be attacked by temptations in their social life: v7 …not given to drunkenness, v8 …must be hospitable.

The leader will be attacked financially: v7 …manages God’s household, not pursuing dishonest gain.

The leader’s work will be attacked: v8 … one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. v9 … hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

These 5 areas are where the leader will be attacked. Our search, appointment and equipping needs to be focused more on these and not the offices, gifts, abilities and skills. If the enemy can bring us down through our character then he has removed those things that we have often thought is of most importance.

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Why are Churches old?

Titus is in Crete (1:5), an island which was not easy to live on as a follower of Jesus. But he was there as a light in the darkness. Paul had left him there to complete the work. He writes to encourage him to do so.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour, 4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” (Titus 1 v 1-5)

Paul was a Jew and Titus was a Gentile and yet the common faith meant that the Gentile was the true son of the Jew. He writes to his son but he knows this letter will be read to the churches in Crete and so he lays down his credentials in the opening of the letter: a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ and preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

Here he is his true son, Paul has at least another spiritual son, Timothy. But in the letters of Corinthians Paul describes him in other ways:-

My brother in 2 Corinthians 2:13 and my partner and co-worker in 2 Corinthians 8:23.

Paul’s visit to Crete is not mentioned by Luke in the book of Acts and so presumably his mission took place after his first imprisonment in Rome and after Luke had written his account to Theophilus. The task for Titus was to appoint elders/leaders for the churches that had been established in the mission of Paul.

The Church in 2024 needs more spiritual fathers (and mothers) who have spiritual sons (and daughters) but not that they lord it over them or suppress them, restricting them from fulfilling the call of God on their life. But these relationships should be seen also as brother (and sister), true family and even more than that, partners and co-workers. How can Titus a spiritual son be a partner and a co-worker of the Apostle Paul? Only if Paul understood the economics of God. The Church that has held back the younger generation and not released them to levels of authority looks around and wonders where that generation has gone to. The spiritual fathers and mothers who have acted with weak, immature and controlling parenting skills now have no one to pass the baton on to. The Church that is old and dying is the church that rejected its young.

I am excited going into this letter sent to a spiritual son and a brother, partner and co-worker, to someone who was given authority to lead when the spiritual father left him to do so.

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Paul responds to the allegation.

Paul moves us forward in his second letter to speak of the Anti-Christ and the return of Christ. But he does so with a background noise of false rumours. Though we need to understand what these false rumours are it may encourage someone reading these next 2 verses that Paul and his team had to handle allegations that were simply not true.

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.” (2 Thessalonians 2 v 1-2)

It would appear some false teachers had got hold of something that Paul had said or had written and twisted it completely. For example, Paul had said in 1 Thessalonians 5 v 8 that the believers belonged to ‘the day’ and so this must mean the day of the Lord has already come because we belong to it. If the day of the Lord has come and the persecuted are still here on earth then they must have missed His coming!

How did they hear of this rumour? Paul says it could have been a misquoted prophecy of Paul’s; or a preached message of Paul; a letter that Paul supposedly had written. We don’t know anything more about those 3 examples but Paul cites them as the possible means of which has unsettled and alarmed the believers.

  • There are times when you will experience an attack on what you have believed you heard from God. The NASB states, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us”. The word is pneuma which the NIV translates as prophecy but as you can see it simply means ‘spirit’ and so it could mean any kind of gift. The main point is that you can face an allegation that you have said something from God which you did not say.
  • There are times when you will experience an attack on what may have originally been a message of encouragement that you were bringing. To see people you love now being unsettled, alarmed and disturbed because some have twisted your message can be hurtful for you because it is the opposite of your intention.
  • There are times when you will experience an attack on being misquoted from something you have written. People can easily misread into what you wrote. You may wonder how on earth they can interpret what you wrote in that way but they can and they do. As you read what you wrote it stuns you to think how it can be read that way but it has been.

What do you do?

Go again. Repeat. Write another letter as Paul has done.

Bring it to the surface. Expose the false allegation. If it is a lie call it what it is. You may not be able to stop people speaking badly of you but you can do what you can do.

Paul used it to speak the truth of the coming of Christ and we will see that next. However, Paul wanted them to know what he hasn’t said and what he doesn’t believe.

“It is a lie. Don’t believe it. Don’t accept it. That’s not what I said.”

There are times when you just have to move on. But equally there are times to say ‘NO THIS IS A LIE’.

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International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church 2024

Here comes the encouragement for those who are suffering for their faith:-

“All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.” (2 Thessalonians 1 v 5)

God is right there in the centre of the suffering church. Perhaps if possible more so than the non-persecuted Church. We often think that where there is suffering then there is an absence of God. Paul believes the opposite. He sees the evidence of His presence. As a result of God being there then He is working this suffering through in their lives so that they will be known as worthy. The Persecuted are counted worthy! There are other things Paul will say in the next few sentences but today know that those you are praying for are worthy of the Kingdom of God.

1 in 7 believers face persecution worldwide. That’s 365 million people.

4,998 Christians killed worldwide for their faith in 2023.

14,766 Churches and Christian properties attacked in 2023.

One of our most prolific church planters in Elim is in Burkina Faso. In 2014 the nation was ranked 62nd but in 2024 according to the Open Doors World Watch List it is now ranked 20th.

Here are some startling facts about that nation and it is from the year 2023 alone:

Churches closed down: 1339; Churches destroyed: 90; Displaced Pastors: 1186; Pastors/Priests martyred: 15; Pastors still reported missing: 2

Let us remember and pray for the family of God suffering today.

There are more stories that we need to hear; more awareness and appreciation needed to be learnt; the worthy are waiting for us.

Watch this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3FuwKSmYB8

It is produced by https://releaseinternational.org/idop-2024/

Let’s pray!

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Christ who is returning is the Christ who died for us; 3 truths that promise our eternal security.

Yesterday I wrote about the hope of salvation that is ours. If you haven’t read it you should, it will encourage you! But how can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns? It is because of 3 truths.

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5 v 9-11)

How can we be so certain that we are saved and will be saved when Christ returns?

  1. God appointed us for salvation, v9. It was God’s intention that we wouldn’t be left out in the cold or rejected. God wanted us and He still does. He wanted us to be forgiven through the action of His Son, Jesus Christ. So how can I be certain? God decided that salvation be ours.
  2. Jesus died for us, v10. This wasn’t an act that simply is a benefit of kind. No. This is that Jesus died in our place, it was our death that He took. So how can I be certain? He was the substitute. So that we will never be in that place of death.
  3. We have a promise of living with Him, v10. Whether we are awake (it means being alive when He comes) or asleep (having died and immediately with Christ) how can we be certain? we have a promise of life with Jesus.

So the promise of eternal security is based on God’s decision and purpose for our salvation resulting in the Son of God’s death on the cross. It is not based on our performance of holiness for how much holiness would be needed to secure it? It is not based on our feelings for how do quantify feelings? It is all based on God, who He is, what He has said and what He has done!

This is what we should be continuing to encourage one another with, v11.

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Psalm 63

Psalm 63
Day 63: Be blessed
We all know what it’s like to be thirsty.
After some exercise or bathing in the sun thirst strikes and water is needed.
Our bodies according to some estimates are 80% fluid – and we need this, because if we stop drinking suddenly coherent thoughts vanish, skin grows clammy, and vital organs wrinkle. Deprive your body of water and it’ll soon tell you.

Equally, dehydrated hearts send messages around the body too. So many people are experiencing worry, guilt and fear, hopelessness, loneliness and insecurity. The reason being is that thirst is consuming them.

Treat your heart the way you treat your thirst. Take a drink. Where do you find water for the soul? Jesus gave the answer in John 7:37-38
‘if anyone is thirsty let him come and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’

Even when like David all around you is a desert, you can come to God right now and drink from Him. Let God penetrate the very core of your life. Let Him come deep inside, into the inner workings of your life. Don’t long for church, meetings, activities, doings, but Him alone.

Thirst after Him, drink from Him and be blessed.

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Psalm 62

Psalm 62
Day 62: Be blessed
Yesterday we acknowledged we all need somewhere higher to reach for, a mighty rock, a strong tower.
Perhaps with the continuance in mind David now writes that the higher place of God needs to be the only place.
My soul finds rest in God alone.
He alone is my rock.
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone.
God alone, no one else, all in all, you’re everything.
Yet we live in a world of so called stars and heroes who do not need anyone else. They do not sign up for allegiance to something; they just want to own everything. They run faster, climb higher and reach further not to belong, but to own. We live amongst a people who have become faithful only to themselves. They have lost confidence in their government, their family and friends, but not in themselves. They still believe that with hard work they can achieve, that with determination comes success and with great moral effort they can get what they want. Huge disappointment is just around the corner.
Let the song be sung very loud! It is God alone!
He alone is the way of blessing!

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Psalm 61

Psalm 61
Day 61: Be blessed
All of us need something higher than us.
We need something to climb, to reach for, attain.
We find ourselves distant, far away from where we want to be, drifting from Him who is a refuge and strong tower.
Yet at that place, faint and hopeless it may be, from within us comes a sound.
I call
I cry out
Right now, in this place of feeling so weak, so far away.
Lead me
Carry me
Guide me
The New Testament helps us understand the Old Testament ‘rock’; it is Jesus Christ.
Jesus has always been the answer and always will be.
He is the rock.