Jeremiah 49:23-50:46, Titus 1:1-16, Psalms 97:1-98:9, Proverbs 26:13-16
Today is the 26th day of this month of October that we are in. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we prepare our hearts and minds to take the next step forward as we’re moving through the Scriptures, step-by-step, day by day. And that will lead us into the book of Jeremiah as we continue to round the corner and head for home on that book and then we get to the New Testament we will be beginning another of Paul’s personal letters or pastoral letters. There are three of them and we just completed two of them, first and second Timothy, and there’s one more, named Titus and we’ll begin that today. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is today. Jeremiah chapter 49 verse 23 through 50 verse 46.
Introduction to the letter to Titus:
Alright. So as…as indicated at the beginning of the of our time together today we’re at the New Testament and yesterday we concluded second Timothy, which is thought to be the final writings of the apostle Paul’s life. So…so it’s a little strange because we reached the end of Paul’s life but now are back with Paul again in another personal letter, the third of what is known as the pastoral letters. And this is a personal letter…letter written to a son in the faith, named Titus. And Titus, he…he was one of the early converts in the apostle Paul’s ministry and…and then he remained a part of Paul’s ministry from then on. He was trusted enough to go with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to attend the Jerusalem Council, which we read about in the book of Acts. And this is the Council where the church leaders were making a foundational and a very pivotal decision about whether conversion to Judaism, including circumcision was going to be required for Gentiles to be accepted into the community of faith following Jesus. So, Titus was a Gentile at this Jewish Council and his presence at the Council was instrumental in the outcome. The irony is that Titus isn’t mentioned in that story in the book of Acts. Like, we only know him through Paul’s letters, but this is what Paul tells us in his letters. So, the most likely scenario for this personal letter to Titus is that Paul was released from his first imprisonment in Rome and Titus accompanied Paul to the island of Crete after that in order to share the good news. And it seems as if the cretins, the people from Crete, had never…had the message of Jesus had never reached them and that they were notoriously carnal. So, when Paul preached new faith sprang up and a church community began to form. But Paul just couldn’t stay there. Like, he left Titus to form leadership among the churches that were forming and to navigate the culture and the crush of it that was already happening among the believers. And Titus was good for this job. Paul had sent him as an ambassador carrying all…all sorts of letters into fairly complicated situations. And, so, Paul sent this letter to Titus on the island of Crete, probably after he departed about the same time that he wrote the first pastoral letter to Timothy so as if he’s writing to them both on the same voyage or shortly thereafter. And the letter was certainly supposed to encourage Titus, but it was more than just a word of encouragement. It was to give him apostolic authority. Like, he was putting in writing authority given to Titus to do the work that was being assigned him. So, Titus was authorized to act in Paul’s name in doing the work of organizing the newly forming communities on Crete. And in doing this Titus is going to need to appoint pastors and he’s gonna need ordain deacons. And, so, like in first Timothy, Paul gave these criteria for those who would seek ordained ministry. And it’s, you know, probably Titus and Timothy both knew…like knew these criteria, they had both ministered with Paul, but writing it down and sending it in a letter put it in writing from the apostle Paul. And, so, they had some authority, the authority of the apostle Paul, as these things are being formed. So, Titus gives us an intimate look at the instructions given from the apostle Paul, a spiritual father to his spiritual son who he had asked to do a pretty big job in a pretty short amount of time. But Titus had been faithful and successful in all that Paul ever asked him to do. So, Paul wanted Titus to be empowered, confident to complete the task. And as we mentioned in first Timothy, today most denominations throughout the world, they consult these letters and use the instructions as part of their ordination processes. And, so, we’ll get to review that. This is a treasured letter for…for those who are in pastoral leadership but also gives us insight into the formation of the early church and the way that our faith advanced forward all the way till today. And, so, we begin, Titus chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us through another week in Your word. This is the final full week of this month. And, so, we thank You for bringing us through the final full week of this month and we turn our hearts and minds towards the future and look forward to the changing of the months in the next week and we thank You for Your faithfulness in our lives. Come Holy Spirit and lead us forward into all truth we pray. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Dear Lord Jesus maker of heaven and earth, dear Lord I pray for the leaders in this world. I pray for the leaders of Turkey and Syria and Russia. I pray for the leaders of China and Hong Kong and Japan, Korea, North and South. Lord we’re it not for your staying hand we would be destroying ourselves. Most of all, together we pray Lord for the leaders of the United States of America and all the leaders in the Western Hemisphere. Oh Lord, please come. Please come and give these leaders unexpected compassion. Reach their hearts Lord. Like Elijah __ given this fervor to do what’s right, to send the fatherless and the week. We pray these things in Jesus name Lord. We pray for all the leaders of the European countries and Africa and India. Come Holy Spirit with unexpected compassion and __ of people in power. Reach them in Jesus name we pray. Candace from Oregon.
Hello this is Christy in Korea I called back in June to give a praise report about my little baby who’s now 27 weeks old. You can probably hear him making noises. I am still behind, like three months, and it is currently pregnancy loss and infant…pregnancy and infant loss awareness week and this week I’m in July and I heard the father of the baby Orson Scott who lived less than a month and…a few days ago…and I just keep thinking about it and I wanted to tell him that months have passed and he’s not forgotten and this little one you here is one I had after a loss and I was thinking of Job that I want you to remember that Job lost everything even all his children and God restored them and I wanted you to know that I’m praying for you and God will restore you. It might not be another child and it might be. And it might be in ways you never expect and when you never expect. And I just wanted you to know that you are not forgotten, and your child is not forgotten. And I always just wanted to thank Brian for reading the Bible. And I have always thought I’ve known the story and I realized recently I never knew about Paul traveling around Asia or around Rome and all that and I really enjoyed reading that. So, I wanted to thank you for that as well. And this little guy is very happy and I listen…I’ve listened to him through my pregnancy…I’ve listened to you during my pregnancy with this guy. Anyway, thank you for everything and I try to pray and good night because it’s night here.
Hello from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio this is Daniel Johnson Junior. Shout out to all my fellow Cincinnatians that are listening to the Daily Audio Bible and those from…in Kentucky and around the world too. God is so good. I just wanted to praise Him for a few things. One of them is just right now, my mother-in-law, she’s 83 years old, recently diagnosed with cancer in her bone marrow…in the plasma cells in her bone marrow. It’s a rare form of cancer. She’s been in the hospital ICU most of this past week. It’s Saturday, October the 19th as I’m calling, and she was discharged from the ICU into a regular hospital room. She is on dialysis and will need to get some chemotherapy, but she wants to live. Even at her age she wants to live. And she’s praising God. It’s like…because…she’s been out of most of this week and just last night when I went to visit it’s like she was just making up for lost time talking and praising God. So cool. God it’s just been…she’s so neat. Continue to pray for her. Her name is Carrie. And then also just today’s Sweetish day I got to thinking, “man, roses…roses as a guy just don’t really last that long but the way that it affects my wife and others that when I give them it’s just…it’s worth it”. And I got to thinking, God made male and female and it’s like, God you’re like too…you’re like the priest and all I need to do is just look at the leaves changing. I need to look at the sunrise and just see, yes, God is really into making beautiful things. And you know what? We are beautiful things being made by God too. So, just wanted to share that with you all. God bless you from beautiful Cincinnati Ohio. Make it a great day.
Hi DABbers, this is Keira from Denver and I’m just calling for prayer for my boyfriend and I and our relationship. Every time we talk about religion or God or Jesus, going to church, we get into a fight and I mean he’s a believer and he’s been that way for a long time but he hasn’t gone to church and we did lots of lots of drugs together in the first four years we were together but we’ve been off of that for the past two and the past two that’s I just met…met Jesus right at the time that we quit and it was through his mom and I just haven’t…I’ve…I…I’ve been enthusiastic about it but personally on my own but I haven’t you know I…I’ve been going to church regularly and I don’t know it’s…it’s just…I don’t know…I…it’s just… it’s just… __ hard our relationship. And, yeah, if I could just get prayer for that. Also, __ just __ my son too. I still want prayer for my son Nish __ Albuquerque. Thank you guys. I love you so much.
Hello DAB family this is Victoria __ from Maryland and sometime during the year…during the week I heard Sinner Redeemed call in. Brother, just wanted to let you know that I’ve been praying for you and asking God to, you know, that everything is well with you. I remember the day that you changed your name from Sinner to Sinner Redeemed. I’ve also been praying for other listeners over the years that we haven’t heard from - Jamaal from Baltimore, Natasha from New York, and Ru from Florida. Along with those names I’ve just called I pray for everyone daily. And just remember that God supplies everything that we need according to __. So, it’s not our job, it’s not our bank account, and it’s not our bounty. Who is your Lord? Is it God? Thank you, Brian and Jill for this podcast. And remember family, we always win. This is Victoria __ from Maryland
hi this is Pamela from Christchurch. I’m so desperate for prayer for my brothers. I have three brothers. They all have their own issues. I ask for forgiveness in their relationships with each other. But my oldest brother, he can’t see his kids because of lies and making the wrong choice of a woman. He loves his kids, but he can’t see them. Because of lies they don’t want to see him, and he is broken. He was telling me that he was out riding on his motorbike and he felt helpless. He…he doesn’t have a purpose because the kids were his purpose. He really needs a breakthrough. He is one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet. Gosh. He really needs God, but he really needs a breakthrough. He really needs…he really needs a breakthrough. Thanks.