Bible Verse for Sunday Service March 23, 2025
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.
Announcements:
A big thank you to everyone who helped yesterday with our Awana Grand Prix. We appreciate those who help set up the track, check in the cars, run the race, and serve the meal. Of course, thank you to you parents who help the kids with their cars!
April 3 is our Awana awards night. On that day, we will be recognizing all those who participated, and helped in this year. Please be praying about new leaders to replace the ones that are leaving that will be needed for next fall.
Our Easter breakfast this year will be on April 20. Join us for breakfast on resurrection morning. We will have a short time of worship along with the breakfast.
Continuing our series of posts about church history, on March 29, 1778, Charles Wesley, the writer of over 5500 hymns died. Charles was born the 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. He and his brother, John Wesley, served together in a revival that swept England at America. What John Wesley preached, Charles Wesley Sang. Some of his greatest hymns were Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh for 1000 Tongues to Sing, and Christ the Lord is Risen Today.
Sermon:
Today, Pastor Jim continued preparing us for a new pastor by preaching on Titus 3:1-5 in a sermon titled “Responsible Living in this World.” Pastor summarizes these next verses, for us saying they covered Paul’s instructions on how Titus should shepherd his flock to live in the world, act towards the world. In a little anecdote, Pastor recalled that some people feel perfectly comfortable with loving mankind generally, but hating people. This is the opposite of Paul’s instructions to Titus. Instead, part of living responsibly in this world is to be a lover of people generally. Pastor covered these verses in three points.
In his first main point, Pastor remarked that Paul instructed Titus that the primary responsibility of a Christian in the church towards the world was to be a good citizen. Part of being a good citizen is to enjoy a reputation as a good citizen. One of the ways that early Christians were suspected of rebellion was their support of the kingdom of God. Non-Christians thought of this as a different earthly kingdom, and thus Christians were regarded as rebels. People generally had a suspicion towards them. One of the ways Paul thought that this suspicion could be removed was by Christian demonstrating perfect submission to the government. Christians should obey the law the same way they would obey God, unless the law contradicted God’s word. Another way Christians could show themselves to be above reproach was through service to the society. Christians in Titus’s church should be ready to do good works. Just as we should be today. Pastor noted that this phrase of doing good works is used six times in this small book of Titus. Pastor further noted that this isn’t the social gospel, salvation through good works. Instead, in gratitude for our salvation, Christians can serve others.
Secondarily, we have the responsibility to be good neighbors, to our actual neighbors. Pastor asked the rhetorical question why? His answer was that we have to live with these people, our neighbors, and that can be a challenging responsibility. It is a challenge because in Titus 1:12 Paul describes the people of Crete, Titus’s congregation in harsh terms, pointing out they were basically evil beasts who lied all the time. In other words, people of the world who are not saved, and more importantly us before we were saved. Now that we’re saved, we have a tendency to look down upon the unsaved. So part of what helps us love our neighbor is to remember we were in the same condition. This is a Christlike responsibility. Christ was perfectly able to love everybody, even in their sin and wish the best for them. Moreover, he was perfectly able to sacrifice for them to bring the possibility of salvation through believing in him. Therefore, we should always hold Christ as our role model in our actions towards others. We should always hold Christ as our role model in our actions towards others.
In a briefer third point, Pastor elaborated some on his last point by saying that we would have a responsibility to have a good memory. Now this isn’t just a good memory for daily living, but memory to remember what we once were. As we get older, we have a tendency to forget. And there are some things that we should never forget. For example, we should never forget who we were before Jesus saved us. We were exactly like the Cretans that Paul described. It helps us to remember that Jesus had a particular disdain for the Pharisees. The Pharisees always believed that they were better than everybody else, superior in every way. Next, we should remember what God did for us. He saved us by sending Jesus. When we remember this, we can do a better job of remembering what we have in him. We have his mercy, which means we are not getting what we deserve. Also, we have his grace, which is remembering that we get what we don’t deserve. In this we should always remember to think well and do well with others.
In summary, Pastor had a great quote from us from John Newton, the slaver turned pastor. In his later years, John Newton said that my memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great savior. As Pastor pointed out, we would do well to also remember these two things.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
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