October 11,2023

Titus 3:10-11

Notes From the Pastor's Desk #notesfromthepastorsdesk

📖Titus 3:10-11 (ESV)
10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

📘Pastor's Note:
Division and dissension can rip a flock apart. It can devastate the church. No wonder why one of the most important directives to Pastors in God’s word is for them to watch and warn the flock. Protect the flock! I’ve heard it said before that unity in the church is hard to achieve and even harder to keep. What makes it so hard? Let me give you three things that make it difficult.

1. ​When people take their eyes off of Christ and “self” takes center stage. It becomes about “what I want,” “what I feel is right.” It becomes about “what I think” instead of what God’s word says. Division is rooted in self. Self-serving causes disunity.
2. Disunity arises when people take their eyes off of the church’s primary purpose…to make disciples. When the focus turns inward instead of outward, people start squabbling about secondary issues. This causes dissension. Their focus is not right; therefore, they focus on the temporal and not the eternal. The enemy knows that if he can get people focused on less important things, then the primary purpose and mission of the church will not be accomplished.
3. Lastly, attaining and keeping unity is so difficult because the enemy is relentless. He purposely uses vessels to stir up dissension to destroy the work that God is doing within a local body. The serpent wants to kill the witness of the church. If he can get people to start backbiting and lose focus on the eternal purpose God has for His church, if the enemy can get people to disregard God’s word, then he knows the church can be rendered ineffective for the Kingdom. The enemy is absolutely relentless. Satan never stops trying to disrupt the work God has for His church.

This is why God’s word is so very clear to promptly handle such divisiveness in the church. If it’s not quickly handled, it will spread like gangrene. Warn a divisive person once, warn them twice, then have nothing more to do with them. Very strong instructions from the Apostle Paul to Titus. This speaks to the absolute seriousness of a spirit of division within the body. It cannot be tolerated. It must be promptly handled.
Reading through the pastoral epistles this morning, this stood out to me. It’s a good reminder for us all how important it is to stay focused, to stay alert, to keep our hearts and minds bathed in the word of God. When we do that constantly, purposefully, prayerfully, we can all be of the same mindset.

Pray for me as I pray for you. 

🙏I'm praying for you always. ❤️

Pastor Jamie
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📖Read the Chapter:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus%203&version=ESV

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