Previously, we have learnt that Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to ‘endure sound doctrine.’ Here he teaches Bishop Titus to speak of the same things and goes on to address what that sound doctrine might be for various groups within the church.

For example, he urges the aged men to hear words that will cause them to be circumspect (sober), sensible (grave) and moderate (temperate) men, which results in a solid faith, a love for works and an enduring hope.

Similarly, for the aged women and young people there is a need to consistently hear guidance. If this guidance is heeded by all and put into practice, their words and actions cannot be condemned.

Verse 8, “Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.”

Finally, he sums up the behaviour required, and the ultimate purpose of sound doctrine.

Verse 12-13, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

May the Lord teach us to value the sound doctrine we receive, embrace it, and respect the source.

Verse 15, “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.”

Protect our peace:  It is vital in the day we live to learn how to protect our peace. Our peace was purchased at the cross.

This powerful scripture reminds us of the price Jesus paid on the cross for our salvation, healing and peace.

So often, the focus of this scripture is placed on salvation and healing and rightly so. But our peace was also purchased on the cross and sometimes we overlook this important revelation.

The question here is that do we live with the same level of conviction that our peace was paid for at the cross? Just as our healing was paid for, our peace was also paid for by the death of Jesus Christ.

It is crucial to remember that there is a battle for our peace. The enemy will do everything he can to steal our peace, knowing the worth God has placed on it.

The peace that Jesus gives us is not like the peace the world gives (John 14:27) “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” It is a peace that surpasses all understanding, a peace that can only come from Him (Philippians 4:7) “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Spending time in the word of God and in His presence regularly will build our awareness of the peace He has already given to us. Aligning our thoughts with His, will clear out the chaos and confusion that often surrounds us. We must remember that we are the steward of peace in our life and we must actively protect our peace. We may not be able to control the chaos around us, but we can control our inner world through the fruit of the spirit. We can take back our peace which we may have unknowingly given away.

Jesus said John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” This Scripture shows that God’s peace will always triumph over the world’s version of peace because it is Himself, the prince of peace.

Continue to pursue peace just as we would pursue healing.

As the first and ultimate husbandman, God taught the importance of taking care in the sowing process due to the direct impact on the resultant reaping.

Upon this verse, we trust that, if we sow the truth of God’s word and the importance of scripture we will reap the benefits of scripture’s message. If we sow in Grace, we will grow in Grace. If we sow in God’s love, we will experience the love of God. If we sow in the peace of Christ, we will reap Christ’s peace in our hearts.

Apostle Paul extended this teaching from ‘what’ we sow to include ‘how much’. 2 Corinthians 9:6, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

He based his understanding on scripture which teaches that God already owns everything and what we have is on loan as a gift from Him.  Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.”

When it comes to the earth as God’s garden, and to the sower being Jesus Christ, the good seed of the gospel must continue to be planted into prepared hearts until the earth is reaped. Sowing will not always be an easy task. The seed may fall on rocky ground. We may face obstacles and ridicule when sowing the word, but we have this sure word of God to encourage us. Psalm 126:5-6, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Apostle Paul explains the true meaning of unity in this text. Unity means that there is a single purpose and direction for all concerned, working towards one goal. The end result of unity is harmony with and among all individuals in a group.

If we step back a little, we will find that to reach the final goal of unity there are many things that have to be in place. In our faith we believe that there is one God who is the Creator of all the things we see in Creation. This gives us a single starting point to work from. We will also see, in faith, that God has provided for all mankind the opportunity and the means to hear and understand the reward that is available to receive salvation and everlasting life with Him in His Kingdom. That should be our ultimate united goal.

There are a number of steps and goals to reach along our journey in this life, and we must realise that our life is indeed a journey with many obstacles to overcome. Individually we should not allow our shortcomings to cause us to lose sight of our goal. If we look around us, we will see many of our family and friends who are on the same journey and, as with all things through life, difficulty can be overcome if we support and encourage each other in tough times. Firstly, however, we look to God. As the Creator, He has power and control over all His Creation including us.

We are encouraged to put off the earthly ways of the ‘Old man’, Colossians 2: 5-11 “For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” We then need to put on the ‘New man’, Colossians 2:12-17 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”, full of the spiritual gifts and understanding shown to us by Christ through His teaching.

Unity with God, unity with Christ, unity with the Holy Spirit and through that, a unified body of people as the children of God, prepared to rejoice at the return of Christ to claim His Bride

This is a wonderful gift given to the Church. These angels enjoy working for the saints of the Lord. We see and meditate on the devotion and dedication that they do for mankind, they are from a group of sinless, eternal beings, that are higher than man, because man is made a little lower than the angels. Psalms 8:5. They also know that it is in God’s plan to give man glory that will place him above the angel and yet they go about their work in happiness, because they want to see the glory of God placed upon mankind so that Satan can be defeated. We have to go about our Christian life in that same way. We have to not become elevated and high-minded. We have to see others who are downtrodden and have no hope and help them to not only come up to our elevation, but if possible, above.

The access of these angels to be in our life, came about through the ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that was shown very clearly when Jacob had the dream of the staircase that went from the throne of God and down to earth, and he saw angels ascending and descending doing work in this world for God. (Genesis 28:12)  ^“And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” That staircase is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is now the intercessor. As He hung on the cross between heaven and earth, the sacrifice that He made, became a staircase between earth and God, and the angels could then ascend and descend, and they could give many benefits to mankind. As a workforce we enjoy our work and give of our best when certain conditions apply. And so it is with the angels of God. Christ said that if you are ashamed of Him in this life, then my Father and the angels will also be ashamed of you (Luke 9: 26).  ^“For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

We must never be ashamed of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We must never be ashamed of His role, of His blessings, of what He stands for. We must never be ashamed to confess to others that as Christians, we are baptised into His book of Life, and that we do value Him highly as The Saviour to mankind. How many of us would enjoy working for somebody who was ashamed of us? We also know that Christ spoke of how these angels can be told of us, where He said, (Luke 12: 8) “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.” If we live life as a testimony of Christ’s life and are prepared to show that we pray through this intercessor and that we are happy to work for the Lord and testify by our deeds. If we stand up for all of those things in this life that are Godly, then each time we do that our name is broadcast before the angels. In our own workplace we prefer to work for someone who will give us some recognition. So it is with the angels.

We know that in the workplace if we are joyful, then we enjoy doing our job.  Christ said, Luke 15: 10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” If we humble ourselves and repent and ask the Lord to forgive us, then we become a repenting sinner. In joy then those angels can minister unto us. Hebrews 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” To be an heir of salvation, we must look to the salvation of our soul and we become heirs when we are baptised and then have the right to be redeemed from the original sin, to be reconciled with God and work out our salvation through the Holy Spirit’s workings.

Apostle Peter writes 1 Peter 1:12 that the mysteries of God that are preached unto us by the Holy Ghost, are things that the angels desire to look into. We see by this that they will be close to those that attend where this preaching is done. Angels have great power. When Daniel went into the lion’s den, he prayed to God to protect him, and an angel came and held the mouth of the lions. Many times we put ourselves in the lion’s den, and if we pray to God, this gift of administering angels will come unto us and protect us. Apostles Peter and John learned of the power of angels, where they were cast into prison and an angel came and ordered them to stand up and move out and go and teach in the temple.

We often allow ourselves to be locked into things in this life and we think that there is no way out, but if we pray to the Almighty God through our intercessor and He sends but one angel, He can take us out of those positions. When we become depressed in this life with the cares of this world, we lock ourselves in a prison and are depressed and think there is no way out, remember if we pray to God through our intercessor, this gift of an angel will come, and it will work within us and the power and strength will tell us to stand up and make a stand against that which is ruining our lives. It is well for us to set in place the environment to allow these angels to get to know us in this life, for we read of the great day that our Lord returns, Matthew 24:31, and “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”    

We must never worship angels (Revelation 22:9) but worship God only through Christ as our Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25).                    

Timothy is an example and inspiration for us all, because he is described as a dutiful colleague and friend of Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul trusted this trustworthy man of faith with all the communities in Asia and especially Ephesus. Two letters were written to Timothy from Apostle Paul, wherein he (Apostle Paul) describes him (Timothy) as his son. The letters contained instructions and let us come to the conclusion that Apostle Paul gave Timothy instruction to stand strong against the hypocritical, bragging and conceited fans of the “Heresy”, as well as to earnestly contend and stay in this true Gospel. Timonthy received a plan of war in the world from Apostle Paul, and likewise we today receive guidance and instruction (2 Timothy 2:3). “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good solider of Jesus Christ.”

We, as the called children of God must not burden ourselves and let the worldly (flesh) worries overwhelm us, but we should realise we are Soldiers, chosen by God and we should keep Him who chose us, satisfied by our behaviour to earnestly contend for the faith. (3 John 1:3) “For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.” Let us then continue in the perfect manner of the teachings of Christ. Be Diligent towards God. (Hebrew 13:8) “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

The writing is clearly explained by the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit which is sealed within us and by this act we receive many gifts which we sometimes unfortunately forget. Ephesians 4: 30 “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Through this sealing we should become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. We then receive the right to eternal life. We become fellow citizens in the household of God and the Holy ones. Heirs of Eternal life! The Holy Spirit walks with us through this life and keep us in the community with the Father and the Son.

As soldiers, we need framework and a summarization which should be consulted in season and out of season.

1. John 1:9 “Be strong and know you are never alone.”
2. Colossians 1:28-29 “Warn your adversary of your power.”
3. Philippians 4:4-6 “Rejoice in the Lord and be afraid of nothing, God is near.”
4. Ephesians 4:3-7 “Through Unity there is Power.”
5. Galatians 3:3 “Submerge yourself in the Spirit.”
6. Galatians 4:9 “Be faithful.”
7. Colossians 2:4-6 “Stay in the order, specifically in the struggle.”
8. I Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Be a spotless Soldier without betrayal.”
9. II Timothy 2:5 “Fight within the Rules of the War.”
10. Hebrews 5:12 “Always remember your training as Soldier.”
11. James 1:6 “Pray.”
12. I John 4:1-3 “Know the Trinity God in everything!”

Forward Apostolic, Christian Soldiers, with conception of the only and true Gospel. Through the Sending of Jesus on this earth, we received the promise and opportunity to wear the Bridal gown. Let us all make it our main aim to keep our spiritual clothing immaculate and as white as snow.

Through the Holy Spirit we receive instruction from the Throne of God the Father and God the Son. (John 15:26) ^“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” The Holy Spirit is a gift from Jesus and His Love for us as His children. We became His through the Gospel and the three sacraments in the Church, to enable us to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, provided we stay steadfast and do not slumber. (Acts 2:42) “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Let us all live out the instruction from Jesus and make it our motto, John 17:16. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

Let us stay humble and do not build on the arm of flesh.

Our heavenly Father has chosen us before the foundation of the world and has called us to be His children. Through the sacraments He has made an eternal covenant with us. With this covenant we have received the promise that Jesus Christ will return to take His own unto Himself. Daily we pray that this promise may be fulfilled.

Already in our everyday life we are pleased when we receive a reward for some special service rendered or as recognition for a special effort. A gifted pupil that has learnt conscientiously is rewarded with good marks. A diligent worker finds recognition for his honesty and effort in the form of a higher salary. How great will be the joy of those on whom the promise of the Son of God will be fulfilled: “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). Our hope and joy in this day gives us strength and power to faithfully walk upon the strait and narrow way.   Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

In the parable of the talents, the Son of God made it clear what He expects of us: we should work with the talents we have received from God and use them in His service. In so doing, we are like the faithful servant to whom his Lord said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).

We also want to be faithful to our Lord and God. This we do when we remain steadfast in labouring, displaying the virtues of Christ, praying and offering. Thereby we have experiences of faith, gain insight and receive strength and joy.

In addition, we today already receive as a rich reward for our faithfulness the blessings of our heavenly Father. We do not take this for granted but see it as a gift of grace like all other gifts from God. For this reason, we take heed that we do not lose any of these gifts, so that we may receive a full reward: the crown of eternal life or, to express it differently: to be in the fellowship of God the Father and His Son for all eternity!

To fulfil the law of Christ we must know what that law is. Our Lord told us in simple terms that we can all understand (Matthew 22: 37-40) “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love, thy neighbour as thy self. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” These words are easy for us to speak but not always as easy to fulfil, both in our spiritual and our natural lives.

In the spiritual sense we bear a burden when we are not at peace one with another, and because of that, not with God. Often someone holds something against us and considers we have harmed them in some way by something done, or not done, said, or not said, and we are often not aware, except we see, and notice an uneasiness in our relationship. This is then a burden and according to our text we then must bear this one of another. The reverse could be we have done something against our neighbour without realising it.

Our Lord told the people while He walked on this earth, that what you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven. We see from this, that we have that power to ask Christ to loose others from something that they may be doing against us, which is building up a burden on their soul in the sight of God and He will loose that from them and hold it no more against them. They may never know until judgment day, but at that time, then to know all have been relieved from these burdens and that does not count against them, will certainly bring to light what Christ meant by the word love. A great example of this power is recorded in Acts 7:60 by Stephen when he was being stoned to death. “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” All those burdens were born by Stephen and no doubt taken away from those stoning. It is a wonderful gift given us that we should all be cultivating. To bear one another’s burdens in the natural life is so much easier for us to relate to.

A news item of an event at the Seattle Special Olympics caught the attention of the whole world at that time and really highlights our text. There were nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, lined up at the starting line for the 100-metre race. At the sound of the starter’s gun, they all started, not exactly a dash, but with the excitement to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and paused, then they all turned around and went back, every one of them. One girl with Down’s Syndrome, bent down and kissed him saying “This will make you better!” Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood and clapped and cheered for fifteen minutes. This is a graphic example on how we can bear one another’s burdens as we run the race of life. If we can follow this example, we can only imagine the joy of all God’s children linking arms and crossing the finish line, with no one left behind and the even greater cheer that will go up by the heavenly hosts and that cheer will not be for fifteen minutes, but for eternity.