Titus 1:1-4 - The Truth About Healthy Churches

Titus - Establishing Healthy Churches  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  49:47
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Pray

Father, thank you for allowing me to preach your Word this morning.
This is a weighty and wonderful privilege.
And I know that your Word changes us, it changes our hearts, softens our hearts to look more and more like Jesus.
I pray that you would use my feeble words to do this miracle in our hearts.
Because my words alone can’t do it.
Please use me as an instrument to make us all look more like your Son, Jesus through your Word preached and your Holy Spirit working inside of us.
I ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Intro

I’ve got a question for you.
Do you think GBC is a healthy church?
What determines if we as a church are healthy or not?
Is it how many people that attend on Sunday mornings?
Is it how much money we have in the bank or how much we bring in each month, or how well we steward our finances?
Is it how well we articulate the doctrines we believe?
Is it how well we guard ourselves from the doctrines we don’t believe?
Is it how loving we are to each other and to our community?
Is it how accepting we are of people and their baggage?
We’re going to be looking at the book of Titus over the next couple of months.
And the book of Titus is all about how to make sure churches are healthy.
This book is a letter Paul wrote to a fellow missionary named Titus whose task was making sure that the churches on the island of Crete were healthy.
And this morning we’re just going to look at the first four verses of this letter, the introduction, which very succinctly explains what determines a healthy church.
The truth about healthy churches.
So, let’s read Titus chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.
Titus 1:1–2 ESV
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
Titus 1:3–4 ESV
and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
In Paul’s introduction to his letter to Titus he gave a sort of snapshot of what a healthy church looks like.
And he’ll go on throughout the rest of the letter to show how to establish a healthy church or shift an unhealthy one to spiritual health.
In this introduction we see that healthy churches focus on Christ.
Paul highlights three aspects of Christ a healthy church must focus on: faith, hope, and fellowship.
And these aspects are all established in the church leadership, promoted in church discipleship, and accomplished as the church evangelizes their community together.
We see in verse 1 that to be a healthy church we must focus on…

Faith in Christ (1)

Specifically, faith that’s based on the knowledge of the truth in his Word.
Paul introduced himself here as the author of this letter.
But he did so by claiming to be a slave or bondservant of God.
As a slave of God he’s bound to do the will of God just like a slave is bound to do the will of his master.
He’s also bound to convey the message of God just like a slave would be bound to the same task for his master.
This letter is not just some random correspondence from one missionary to another almost 2000 years ago.
This is an authoritative letter from God to his churches through his messenger servant Paul.
And Paul also introduced himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
As an apostle of Jesus Christ he has the authority to tell the churches what to do.
The authority of an apostle is based on his eye-witness of the resurrected Christ and his specific verbal appointment by Christ to continue the mission.
Jesus’ 11 remaining disciples also became apostles when Jesus specifically commissioned them after his resurrection and sent them with a message to make more disciples.
A basic definition of a disciple is a follower-student, and an apostle is a sent messenger.
In John 20:21 Jesus specifically sent his 11 disciples with the message of the gospel.
And in Acts 9:15, after Paul saw the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, God commissioned him through a disciple named Ananias saying that “he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”
So, Paul has God’s authority backing what he says here as an apostle of Jesus Christ because these are God’s very words, and because Jesus Christ personally and specifically sent him to convey these words.
So, we, as one local expression of the universal church of Jesus Christ, must listen to what God has to say to us through his sent servant Paul.
Well, next Paul said that the reason he wrote this letter was “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth.”
He wrote it because our faith is of upmost importance to him and to God.
That’s because the only way we are reconciled to God is by faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who died in our place and rose from the dead so that we could be forgiven of our sin and have eternal life with him.
Jesus did all the work, and now the only thing we have left to do is believe, to put our faith in him.
So our faith is very important.
But it’s interesting that he said that this is specifically the faith of God’s elect.
I think “God’s elect” is more referring to the faith Paul is talking about than it is referring to those who have this faith.
Paul isn’t trying to draw a line between the “have’s” and the “have-not’s” the “elect” and the non-elect.”
He’s saying that the faith we have in Jesus proves that we are chosen by God, elected by him to have faith in Jesus.
The faith he’s talking about is faith unto salvation for all whom God has chosen whether present or future.
The people who have this faith, those who have been elected, chosen by God, either currently have this faith and need it strengthened and focused by God’s Word, or they don’t quite have it yet because they need it established by God’s Word in the first place.
Paul has both the current and future believers in mind when he says “God’s elect.”
And we ought to remember this when we think about God’s sovereignty in salvation.
Just because God is in charge of choosing whom he will save, that doesn’t give us the freedom to only care about the faith of those who already believe and ignore those whom God has chosen but who haven’t yet believed in Jesus.
We’ve got to also care about the faith of those God has chosen who haven’t come to believe yet.
We have to treat everyone as if they could be one of God’s elect.
Then he went on to claim that this faith based on the knowledge of the truth accords with, or results in, godliness.
The word for “godliness” here is the Greek word eusebeia (yoo-SEH-bee-uh) which encompasses the idea of doing what God wants you to do out of reverence, respect, submission, and affection for him.
The idea is that through knowledge of the truth of God’s Word we come to faith in Jesus Christ as one of God’s elect, and that knowledge and faith results in our obedience to God out of love for him.
We don’t obey God to earn anything because Jesus has already earned everything for us.
We obey because we want to please the one who has earned everything for us by doing what he wants us to do.
And it’s our faith, given to us by God as one of his elect, that fuels our obedience, our godliness.
Now, Paul is going to explain throughout this letter how this works in healthy churches.
It’s a top-down method.
It’s established in the leadership of the church as they study God’s Word, strengthening their faith, and resulting in a godly lifestyle that’s to be followed by the rest of the church.
It’s perpetuated in the discipleship of the church as everyone teaches each other God’s Word, strengthening each other’s faith, and encouraging each other to godly lifestyles because of our love for Jesus for all he is and all he’s done for us.
Then it’s accomplished in evangelism as we share the knowledge of the gospel which matches our godly lifestyle, and God gives his elect faith to believe in his Son and be saved.
First leadership, then discipleship, and finally evangelism.
So, we saw in verse 1 that in order to be a healthy church we must focus on faith in Christ based on the knowledge of the truth in His Word resulting in godliness.
Faith established in the church leadership, faith promoted in church discipleship, and new faith accomplished in evangelism.
Next, we see in verses 2 and 3 that to be a healthy church we must also focus on…

Hope in Christ (2-3)

Specifically, hope that’s based on the authoritative preaching of his Word.
Paul said in verse 2 that he also wrote this letter “in hope of eternal life.”
This is the eternal life that we have in Christ because he defeated death when he died and rose again.
Eternal life accessed by faith in Christ.
Now, we already talked about faith, but faith and hope are sort of two sides of the same coin.
Faith is what we believe based on the evidence of what we hope for.
Hebrews 11:1 says it like this, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Our faith is based on God’s track record of faithfulness, and the rationality and sense that the Bible makes regarding our experience in the world around us.
Hope is what we desire to happen based on God’s promises that have yet to be experienced.
Romans 8:24 gives us a glimpse of what hope is, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?”
These two concepts, faith and hope, are so closely related that we sometimes end up using these terms interchangeably.
Both are based on God’s character, and both look toward things that cannot be seen.
We hope in God’s promises because of his character, and we have faith that he will do what he has promised based on his character.
Biblical hope is mingled with our faith in God, our trust that he is good and he does good and he will do what he said he will do.
And the promise of God that we hope in is eternal life, living forever with him, in his loving and satisfying presence.
Well, then Paul went on to say that this eternal life was promised before the ages began by God who never lies.
This is where we get our hope.
God promised us eternal life even before the ages began.
In eternity past God promised this to us, though we weren’t there to receive the promise when he made it.
He told us about the promise and recorded it in the Bible so that we would have hope that our eternal life was always God’s plan from the very beginning.
Let me show you.
In Genesis 2:9 God planted the garden of Eden, “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Then in Genesis 2:16–17 God told Adam to eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””
So, Adam was allowed to eat of the tree of life that was in the midst of the garden, but what’s so special about the tree of life?
After Adam and Eve sinned God justly punished them and all of humanity after them, and then he said something curious in Genesis 3:22–24, “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Eating of the tree of life would grant eternal life, but God sent them away so that they wouldn’t live forever in sin.
He sent them away so that one day he would do exactly what needed to be done to cleanse them from sin so that they could live forever without sin.
He sent his Son to die, the very punishment God said would happen because of sin, and to rise again so that all who believe in him would not die but have eternal life.
So, the fact that God put the tree of life in the garden and told Adam that he could eat it proves that eternal life was always God’s plan even before he created everything, even before the ages began.
He also reminded us about this promise wrapped up in Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, the Christ.
Job prophesied in Job 19:25–27 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
David prophesied about the coming Messiah in many of his Psalms, and in Psalm 16:10 he said, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”
This is about the Messiah’s resurrection, but David wrote this knowing that he would also not be abandoned to death because the Messiah would conquer death.
Daniel recorded a prophecy from an angel who visited him to explain the tribulation and the final judgment, and in Daniel 12:2 he said, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Jesus picked up on this prophecy, and referring to the unrighteous, about those who don’t put their faith in him, he said in Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””
God also reminded us about this promise in the New Testament after Jesus was revealed to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who died and rose again.
But we’ll look at those reminders in a bit.
What I want to look at right now is the assurance we have that God didn’t lie when he made this promise or when he told us about this promise.
Paul said here in our passage that God never lies.
This is a statement about God’s character, about how you can always believe what God has told you because God never lies.
Deceit is completely against who he is.
In 2 Samuel 7:28 after God promised David that his descendant would reign forever, David said, “And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.”
David also wrote in Psalm 18:30 “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”
And his son, Solomon, picked up this same language and wrote in Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”
In the New Testament, this concept of God’s truthfulness rooted in his character is explained by John in 1 John 5:20 “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
And the same concept is found in Hebrews 6:18 which says that “it is impossible for God to lie.”
So this promise of eternal life has an infinitely solid foundation for our hope because God, who promised it, is entirely truthful and cannot lie.
It’s really going to happen, we really have it, there’s no possible way that we don’t have it, because God who never lies, told us that he would give it to us.
And in verse 3 Paul said that this eternal life was also manifested, brought into our experience in his Word, and specifically the preaching of it.
This is the preaching of the gospel, the good news that Jesus is the promised Messiah who died and rose again, and if we put our faith in him, then our hope for forgiveness and eternal life is realized.
Jesus taught and explained a lot about eternal life in him in the gospel of John.
John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 6:27 “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.””
John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””
John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
John 12:25 “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 17:1–3 “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Paul also explained a lot about eternal life as he was taught by the risen Christ.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2 Corinthians 4:17 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”
2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Galatians 6:8 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
1 Timothy 1:16 “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
There are a lot more references to eternal life in the Bible, but these should be sufficient to get the point.
We hope in eternal life in Christ which we have by faith in Jesus Christ who died so that we could be forgiven and he rose from the dead so that we would also be raised to new life.
A new creation having our spiritual eyes opened, having been given spiritual life even now that will last forever.
And also when this life is over, when we die or when Jesus comes back, we will continue our spiritual life for eternity.
And this eternal spiritual life is granted by faith in Jesus, by believing in Jesus.
And Paul explained the importance of preaching in order to believe in Jesus unto eternal life in Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
Preaching the gospel is a crucial part of the means God has chosen to save people unto eternal life.
Well, Paul mentioned at the end of verse 3 in our passage that this preaching of eternal life in God’s Word, preaching the gospel was entrusted to him by the command of God our Savior.
Paul was commissioned and commanded to preach the gospel is a very special way.
But all believers are also commissioned and commanded to participate in sharing the gospel.
Jesus gave this mission to his first disciples in order to make more disciples who would continue to do this because it’s for all of Jesus’ disciples.
Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
All of his followers from all ages, all who believe in Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life are commissioned and commanded to make more disciples by going to them with the gospel, baptizing them when they believe, teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded, and all of it done in the authority and spiritual presence of Jesus Christ himself.
This preaching of the gospel, the hope of eternal life in God’s Word, is established in the leadership.
All church leaders ought to be able to preach the gospel in some capacity.
But it doesn’t stay with the leadership as if its only the pastor’s job to share the gospel with people.
We all ought to promote this in discipleship,
We all ought to remind each other of the hope we have in the gospel.
And we all ought to encourage each other to share this hope with our community.
That’s how this hope is accomplished in evangelism, when all of us do what we can to share the hope we have in Christ not only with each other but also with our community.
So, in verse 1 we saw how healthy churches focus on faith in Christ based on the knowledge of the truth in His Word.
And in verses 2 and 3 we saw how healthy churches also focus on hope in Christ based on the authoritative preaching of His Word.
The leadership preaches this hope to the congregation.
And both the leadership and the congregation preach this hope to each other in discipleship.
And we also preach this hope to the community in evangelism.
Finally, in verse 4 we see that to be a healthy church we must focus on…

Fellowship in Christ (4)

Specifically, fellowship that’s based on the gift of salvation in Christ through his Word.
Paul told us here who this letter was written to, Titus, but he also explained a bit about who Titus is to him.
Titus is Paul’s true child.
This doesn’t mean that Titus is literally Paul’s offspring.
We know that Paul wasn’t married and he was never accused of adultery or anything even close to that.
So there’s no way that Paul had any children in the natural sense.
What this does mean is that Titus became a believer, a disciple, a follower of Christ through Paul preaching the gospel.
Paul led Titus to faith in Christ, and in that way sort of became like a spiritual father to him.
Paul began his ministry preaching the gospel to the Jews, but he quickly turned to preach the gospel to the Gentiles after the Jews rejected him and opposed him and the gospel so much.
Titus was a Gentile, one of those Paul preached the gospel to after he turned from preaching to the Jews.
And Titus put his faith and hope in Christ after hearing him preached by Paul.
Now Titus and Paul have a common faith, a shared faith, a fellowship of faith in Christ.
Paul has an affection for Titus as a spiritual father, but he also understands that they are both on the same level when it comes to what matters.
Our faith in Christ isn’t some sort of hierarchy.
Just because someone has been a Christian longer or they were the one to lead you to Christ, that doesn’t mean they have any different or deeper faith than you.
We all have the same faith, common faith in Christ together.
Peter made a similar statement in 2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”
A faith of equal standing.
If you have faith in Christ based on the Word of God, then your faith is of equal standing with the apostles!
Well, after identifying who he was writing to, Paul gave his greeting which is a sort of wish or desire that this letter would bring grace and peace to Titus from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
But this grace and peace didn’t stop with Titus as the recipient.
This whole letter was written to impart God’s grace and peace to a fellow believer as he established churches full of other fellow believers.
This grace and peace was intended to be imparted to all the believers, not just to Titus.
Titus was the leader who would be establishing other leaders in the churches on the island of Crete, so this grace and peace from God would issue from Paul to Titus and then trickle down to the other church leaders, and then to the rest of the believers, and then into the community.
Grace is simply an unearned gift, specifically the gift of salvation, from God because of our common faith in his Son Jesus.
Peace is the result of that salvation as we’re reconciled to God because Jesus made peace between God and man by the blood of his cross.
So, God gives us grace and peace because we have faith in his Son, Jesus, a common faith just like the Apostles, just like Titus, just like all of the believers in this room right now.
To be a healthy church we’ve got to focus on our commonality in Christ.
It’s easy to get out of focus when we spend so much time thinking about our personal relationship with Jesus, and we forget that all of us who believe have a common relationship with Jesus.
When we focus too much on our individual faith we tend to ignore a major part of what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Christ, a follower of Christ.
We ignore or downplay our love for each other, specifically how we ought to encourage each other in our common faith, the grace and peace we’ve received from God our Father, and Jesus our Savior.
And when we ignore that, then we’re not compelled or encouraged to share it with the community, to offer God’s grace and peace in the gospel through evangelism.
Another thing we tend to do is focus on our other commonalities like our hobbies or our likes and dislikes.
How many times do we get together for “fellowship” and we never talk about Jesus.
We end up talking about the 49ers or the Giants, or the cost of gas or inflation, or the latest political outrage, or the video game or tv show or book series we’re into right now.
Genuinely ask yourself when was the last time you truly “fellowshipped?”
When was the last time you encouraged someone to look more like Jesus or you were encouraged to do so?
When was the last time you geeked out over the gospel with someone?
When was the last time you talked about the stats of people coming to Christ all over the world?
This, our common faith in Christ, is what we need to focus on as a church in order to be healthy.
And just like before, it starts with the leadership and trickles down through discipleship to evangelism.
Leaders in the church must encourage this focus first as we ourselves are focused on Christ.
And as the leaders focus on Christ and encourage the rest of the church to be focused on Christ in our fellowship, the whole church does that with each other in discipleship.
And as the whole church focuses on Christ in fellowship together, we can’t help but talk about him with others in the community in evangelism.

Conclusion

This is the focus and the pattern of a healthy church, the truth about healthy churches.
Healthy churches focus on faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ from the leadership to discipleship to evangelism in the community.
This is what the entire letter from Paul to Titus is about.
And this is the focus and pattern that we’re going to follow as a church.
We’re going to establish a plurality of elders and more deacons to join me in leading GBC in faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.
We’re also going to promote growth in Christ among all of you here at GBC through discipleship as we encourage and exhort each other to greater faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.
And we’re going to accomplish the mission of Christ in evangelism as we invite our friends and family and neighbors and co-workers to church and as we talk with them about what is most important in our lives, Jesus and our salvation, our grace and peace, in him.
So, consider how you fit into this plan to grow GBC into a healthy church.
Has the Lord called you to join in leadership?
Has he called you to discipleship?
Has he called you to evangelism?
Some may be called to leadership, but all of us are called to discipleship and evangelism.
So, how can you encourage each other in discipleship to greater faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ?
We have a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights to do just that.
You can join us for prayer.
We also have a fellowship group at my house on Thursday nights that promotes discipleship.
You can join us for fellowship.
You can also start your own fellowship group.
We have Sunday School every Sunday at 9:45 before the worship service.
You can come to the Sunday School class and grow in your faith, hope, and fellowship.
We also have a women’s Bible study that the women can be a part of, and there are plenty of other opportunities to connect and grow together that we haven’t started yet.
Things like a men’s fellowship or Bible study, a new believer’s class, a broader scope for our children’s ministry, or more fellowship groups like I mentioned earlier.
And how can you participate in evangelism.
Our current fellowship group is designed to be an outreach as well, so you can invite people to come with you to my house on Thursday nights to hear the gospel.
But probably the best way to participate in evangelism right now is to find someone in the church who is doing it better than you are and learn from them.
Go with them when they talk to people about Jesus, and then join in with their conversation.
I know evangelism may be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
Just find the most comfortable way to talk to people you already know and love about Jesus.
I’ve found that the most comfortable way for me is to simply be available to answer their questions.
And if I don’t know the answer, I tell them I don’t know, but I’ll find out the answer and get back to them.
We have to focus on Christ if we are going to be a healthy church.
And focusing on Christ as a church means that everyone focuses on him in every aspect of life, not just Sunday mornings.
Focus on faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ…
at work,
at school,
on facebook,
on discord,
on your boat,
in your car,
at the park,
in your garden,
while you’re fishing,
while you’re quilting,
while you’re gaming,
while you’re parenting,
while you’re cooking,
while you’re preparing your taxes.
Everywhere, all the time, all of us, focus on Christ, and we will be a healthy church.
Now, if you are not a believer yet, then let me encourage you to believe in Jesus.
We’ve talked a lot this morning about faith in Christ, and hope in Christ, and fellowship in Christ.
The only way for you to be saved from God’s wrath against you for your sin is to be forgiven by putting your faith in Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus, God’s Son died so that if you put your faith in him then his death satisfies your death sentence.
And he rose from the dead so that by that same faith in him you have eternal life instead of eternal punishment.
And all it takes from you is faith, submissive repentant faith.
Believe in Jesus, and tell him in prayer that you believe, and tell us as well, so we can rejoice with you and welcome you to the faith, hope, and fellowship we enjoy together as the church.

Pray

Father, thank you for this encouragement to focus on your Son, Jesus.
I pray that you would help us all individually and as a church to keep Jesus at the front of our minds, at the front of all of our interactions.
Please help us to be a healthy church, a growing church, a church focused on faith, hope, and fellowship in Christ.
I pray that you would use us as a church to grow each other to be more like Jesus.
And I pray that you would use us as a church to reach the lost here in Eureka, and Humboldt county.
You have your elect, those you have chosen for salvation and eternal life here.
I pray that we would treat everyone as potential elect, potential believers.
Because we confess that we do not know who you have chosen to save.
I pray that you would give us boldness to tell others about Jesus, to tell them about the faith, hope, and fellowship we have in him.
And I pray that you start that off, Lord, by raising up godly leaders here at GBC.
I pray that you would make it so clear to us and to them that you have raised them up to lead.
And I pray that you would help us all to encourage each other in discipleship, to point each other to the sufficiency of Christ in every aspect of life.
Lord, as we grow more and more healthy as a church, I pray that you would allow us to participate in your mission here in Eureka.
We want to see revival, new life in Christ spread through this community like wildfire.
We ask all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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