Chatham Christian Church

What if all you want is to be a good person, to live a good life, mind your own business, pay your religious dues, and go to heaven when you die? Can't you just settle for that? Maybe you can. But you should be aware of the danger of not going on to maturity.

If we're to go on to maturity in Christ and be what He wants us to be in the world, we've got to go beyond the ABCs.

I'm your preacher, but who's your priest?

We'll not fail to enter His rest if we've diligently examined His word, discovered our deepest need, and come to realize that the only way to find rest is by drawing near and holding fast to Jesus.

If we would enter the eternal home that's being prepared for us, it's essential that we hold fast to Jesus, learn from the past, and hold fast today.

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” That's the question the writer of Hebrews asked us last week.

The author of Hebrews... right in the middle of his teaching on Christ's superiority to angels, he pauses. And says in effect "Listen to what I am saying; it's important!"

Jesus is in every way superior to angels.

Jesus is God's final word.

This morning we draw our study of Paul's letter to Titus, a pastoral, personal letter to a young preacher, to a close.

We can be uncontentious, and gentle, and considerate of others if we'll remember how God has been, and continues to be, with us. Pastors and teachers can help us do that, but they're not the only ones who need to be involved in a ministry of reminding. We all do.

In one verse Paul made it clear that if Titus wanted people to take note of him, as a minister of Jesus Christ, he'd have to speak, exhort, and reprove with all authority.

If every other prophecy of the Messiah was literally fulfilled right down to the smallest detail, then why doubt this one, the prophecy about the resurrection?

Today we're going to bring both sacred seasons (Christmas and Easter) together by focusing on the reason the grace of God appeared.

Today Paul uses a new phrase, and changes his target audience, but the message stays pretty much the same as last week. He speaks of adorning the doctrine of God.

Our slogan is “Where God's Word is Taught…and Lived”. And I think that's a good slogan for Chatham Christian Church.

Christians do still notice impurity in the world and should do their best to avoid it. But when they find themselves caught up in impure thoughts, and even impure actions, they simply acknowledge their weaknesses and repent of their sins.

By its very nature as the purveyor of God's truth there can be no freedom to teach things in the church that are not true. And those who intentionally do so must be silenced.

What prompted Paul to write this particular letter to Titus? As we read on, we discover the reason was tied to Paul's leaving Titus in Crete.

This morning we begin a study of Paul's letter to Titus, one of his last letters, a letter that is one of three referred to as Pastoral Epistles, letters written to young pastors, namely Timothy and Titus.

(There is a brief audio cut out near the beginning of the video) A proper understanding of the second coming of Christ and its bearing on our behavior while awaiting His coming is the driving force behind Paul's letters to the church in Thessalonica. The young church had some fundamental misunderstandings about the second coming and it was affecting not only their confidence in what they had been taught but their witness in the community.

If a church is a praying church, it can handle whatever might come. Especially if it's praying for others, and it's praying for strength and direction.

When a good church, one that's growing in faith and love, comes under persecution, it doesn't make sense. Especially when the attacks come from people who claim to know and love God and from the community in which the church is seeking to minister.

The young church in Thessalonica was a good church. One for which the Apostle Paul could be thankful, one of which he could speak proudly, and one for which he could confidently pray. It was not, however, a perfect church.

This morning we begin a study of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians and find out how they were doing.

What is it you want to ask Jesus when He comes back?

It's been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus left this world and promised to return... So where is He?

We are coming to the close of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. At first glance it looks like he is simply closing with a series of unrelated admonitions and instructions for the church in Thessalonica.

If you drove home for Christmas with your kids, you probably heard, “Are we there yet?” And if their phones died, you no doubt heard an anguished, “How much further?” That might give you some idea how Paul must have felt when the Thessalonians started quizzing him about the second coming.

Paul touches on some of the basic concerns the Thessalonians had about those who sleep in Jesus. He doesn't answer all possible questions about those who have gone on before us, but he does tell us what we need to know and explains it in a way that can help us understand.

The love of God was shown to us through the sending of His Son and we celebrate that expression of His love every Christmas. But the world doesn't fully comprehend God's love until it sees it expressed between brothers. That's why we've been commanded to love each other and why we need to fully understand brotherly love.

Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus, and after seventeen verses that most of us pretty much skip over, he jumps right into the birth of Jesus. But he's the only one who tells us something very important about Joseph...

Paul told the Thessalonians how he felt about them, and we need to do the same to those we love and care about.

Some of the Thessalonians were so sure that God was speaking through Paul that they accepted what he had to say. They received his word as the very word of God.

So what do we look for in a leader... and how do you know if you've found one?

No one wants their witness for Christ to be in vain... I don't, you don't, and the Apostle Paul didn't.

The hope of Christ's return should be the primary motivator in every Christian's life. And if it were we too would be known for our work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope.

Make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don't leave anyone out.

All that remains is for John to bring the Revelation to a close, and he does so by affirming the truthfulness and the relevance of all we've seen.

Last week we were given a glimpse of the holy city, as John shared with us his vision of the new heaven and earth. Today that city comes clearly into view.

I don't think we're remiss in thinking of heaven, our eternal home, as a restoration of the original home God created for us.

How do you picture the final judgment? Does your picture frighten you? ...the final judgment doesn't have to be a frightening picture at all. At least not for those of us who are in Christ.

This morning we come to the most controversial passage in the most controversial book of the Bible. We come to Revelation twenty and the millennium.

This morning we come to Armageddon!

Don't let the wedding feast begin before you're ready for it. Don't make the king cast you into outer darkness because you failed to dress for the wedding.

We've all heard of Beauty and the Beast... Well guess what, we've got a beauty and beast story in the book of Revelation as well.

Justice demands that God act in the face of sin... and act He does.

They were already facing such monstrous forces of evil in the form of the Roman government. But to have their foes painted so vividly before their eyes must have been unsettling even for them. So what did they need to hear in the fourteenth chapter? How about the assurance of victory?

God is loving and merciful and gracious combined with infinite power. That's the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

God wants you to enjoy His supernatural peace made possible by the Holy Spirit while we are representative of Him on earth for this short period of time.

Satan's second ally, as revealed in Revelation 13, is the beast from the earth, and we want to focus our attention on this second beast this morning.