Titus: Grace to You all

Sisters and Seekers,

Glad to have you back for the final installment of our study on Titus.  Looking at this letter in detail and breaking down the study for you has renewed my passion for God's word.  I love logging on to see how many are accessing this resource.  I hope it has been an encouragement and brought many new insights in how God is changing us to your life.

As typical of Paul's style in writing, he closes this letter to Titus mentioning travel plans and ministry partners.  Yet there is something deeper for us if we follow our study process of comprehension, interpretation, and application.

Titus 3:12-15

Comprehension
-seek to understand exactly what the passage is saying without adding any interpretation to it

• Define words you may have circled in the overview because you didn't know their meaning.  Look them up in a dictionary, then reread the verse.  After getting the context, write a definition in the margin or above the word you circled.

• If there is a verse you don't understand, read it in another word-for-word translation (see first week for recommended versions).   Make notes on your passage of any new understandings you have.  

• Write down question that emerge from reading.  This week has a lot of names and a place.  Do you know who/where all of them are? 

• Paul ends this letter reviewing instructions he has previously mentioned.  This ending thought means it's important to the theme of the letter.  What is thing that Paul wants the church to make sure they do? List all you learn about this instruction.  

Interpretation
 -take what you just learned about what the section says and discover the nuance of what it means

• Look up cross references for this section.  Add any notes that are helpful to interpreting what the passage means.  

• Apollos and Tychicus are mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.  Use the following cross references to find out more about the ministry and character of these men: Acts 20:4, Colossians 4:7, Ephesians 6:21, 2 Timothy 4:12, Acts 18:24-27, 1 Corinthians 1:11-12.  

• If you still have questions, read commentaries or notes in your study bible.   You can also ask me a question in the comments and I'll try to answer as best I can.  

Application

-what do I do with what I'm learning

• The church is an organization that is bigger than one place or a city.  God is constantly moving his people around and making connections different places.  How are you connecting with other churches in your area?  Do you see yourself as part of one big church or create divisions?  Mutual support and care for other church leaders is modeled for us in the closing of this letter. 

• Paul has been appointed to lead and that means sending and receiving people.  He must be someone that can see their gifts and knows where they should be and why.  If you are a leader, are you looking with a view of someone's potential and building them up or finding fault and criticizing?  

• Good works closes the instruction of this letter so it must be the most important thought to end the letter with.  Reflect--are you meeting urgent needs in the lives of those around you as they arise?  Are you bearing fruit when you serve?  If not, maybe there should be a tweak in your building up others.  

• Grace be with us.  We need grace.  Grace from God and grace for each other.   How could things be different if grace was all there was between us?  Then there would be no room for bitterness or envy.  How might this change the world looking on to have this trait lifted up when we meet together?