July 30, 2017
Scripture:
We read in John 19: 1 & 2 that they plated a crown of thorns for His head. Those thorns were a curse put upon the earth. It was as though man was trying to give back what God had cursed him with. But the Lord accepted that crown of thorns and went to the cross for us.
“Let’s Sing about Jesus” Hymnbook, 88 - There once was a wild little donkey
Prayer
Last time we spoke about buying the truth, and not selling it. This time, let’s look at Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give me thine heart.”
The word “heart” is mentioned 884 times in the King James Version. Most of the time, however, it doesn’t refer to our physical heart. It can mean our conscience, courage, affections, faith, or emotions. David was a man after God’s own heart, meaning he was living in a proper way. There are pure hearts, wicked hearts, _ hearts, and willing hearts all mentioned in the Bible. It describes the way people act and live, and their emotions.
The Lord wants us to give Him our hearts for salvation. That’s the most important way to give Him your heart. Not everybody accepted the Lord when He was here on earth, and that broke His heart. He died so that we could give our hearts to Him and be saved.
Acts 16:14-15. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart, and she accepted the salvation that Paul preached. She was saved and baptised. May we all do this! It’s the first step in giving our hearts to the Lord.
Next, we want to give our hearts to Jesus as our Lord. We sang about a donkey that was usually wild, and no one could ride. Yet he was quiet, obedient, and good for the Lord, and the Lord could use him. It’s an example of how we should allow the Lord to control our lives. We need to be submissive to Him in all areas of our life.
Ezra 7:10. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law and do it. That brings us to the second part of our verse: “And let thine eyes observe my ways.” Ezra prepared himself to study, learn, and apply the ways of God in his life. God is a loving Father, and He wants us to follow His ways so that He can bless us. It’s a process; we need to read the word of God, and ask the Lord to help us follow and apply it. We can’t do it ourselves! The Lord helped the donkey, and He can help us. We can also be thankful for Christian parents who want to teach us to do right.
Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord has drawn us to Himself by love and salvation, but wants us to draw even closer. Frances Havergal wrote:
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasured store.
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
We need the Lord’s help to give our hearts to Him in a way that will honour Him. May our hearts not be stolen by the world, but filled with the Lord’s love, and a desire to follow Him.
Titus 1
A lot of the epistles are written to assemblies, but after Thessalonians there are four books written to individuals. Titus is a message to an individual.
2 Corinthians 2:13
We don’t have much information on Titus. Paul may have led him to the Lord. So, by new life, Titus could have been his son in the faith. Timothy and Titus were two brothers in the Lord that Paul used, and assigned to an assembly or a group of assemblies to lead. Titus appears to be a senior brother in this assembly. Paul apparently had confidence in him. He was even concerned when he couldn’t find him in Troas. And in this epistle, he isn’t correcting like in other epistles; he is instructing.
Verse five was Titus’ special mission. “In every city” shows the possibility of more then one assembly. Paul was giving special instructions for the job.
2 Timothy 4:10, Galatians 2:1
He seems to be a faithful and useful brother. One Paul could look to and use. I’m not sure what time this epistle was written compared to the other references.
Paul, as always, starts his letter like we close ours. Darby translates it as, “Paul, bondman of God, and apostle of Jesus Christ according to [the] faith of God’s elect, knowledge of [the] truth which [is] according to piety;“. We look around today and see a godless environment. It’s no longer the subject of a Creator God, but rather the evolution of existence. Piety is being God like. Holiness, truth, and faith, can be connected to characteristics of God. We should live in power of this. Our distorted world tries to remove us from it.
“The faith” mentioned in verse one is the embodiment of truth. “The truth” is the rock. The faith includes belief. We must seriously search out and want to walk in obedience to faith.
In 2 Timothy 1:9 & 10, we have a precious mystery, manifested when Jesus came. See also Romans 16:25.
In vv. 2 & 3, we see that the preaching of the hope of eternal life was committed to Paul.
We also have in verse three “God our Saviour”. Then, in verse four, we have “Christ our Saviour”. We can see from the introduction that there are important things on the Apostle’s mind. These are issues concerning God that should affect us.
Hymn 367 - When He cometh, when He cometh
Prayer