He was with Paul in Rome, and
like Timothy he was an evangelist whose work was to set in order
things that were lacking or wanting in the church, whose work was
to encourage the churches, whose work was to ordain elders and
preachers and pastors, whose work was to preach the gospel.
And Paul wrote to Titus this brief book, but blessed book,
and I see running through the book, I read it a number of times
today, and I read a few comments from other writers on this book,
and I see a two-fold theme running through this book. It's not just
written to preachers. What's expected of the preacher
is expected. But wouldn't you say that what's
expected of the pastor or the preacher ought to be expected
of all who name the name of Christ? Why should anything be expected
of him that's not expected of me and you? And I see a twofold
theme that reaches my heart, and I hope it reaches yours tonight,
through this entire epistle. In writing to Titus, Paul deals
specifically with two things, especially with two things. Number
one, sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. If you look at
chapter 1, verse 9, he talks about these preachers, pastors,
bishops, elders, holding fast the word of faith, the faithful
word, the faithful word of God, the word of God which is faithful,
as he has been taught. that he may be able by sound
doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Sound
doctrine. All right, look if you will at
chapter 2 verse 1. Here's the word again. Speak
thou the things which become or are suitable to sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. And then verse
7 of chapter 2, the word again. in all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity,
sincerity. And then again in verse 10 of
chapter 2, not stealing, but showing good fidelity, that they
may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, the doctrine which
is from God our Savior, The doctrine which is of God our Savior, the
doctrine which glorifies God our Savior. So this thing goes
right through here. Here you've got a little book
of three chapters and already four times he talks about sound
doctrine. Four times, over and over and
over again. Sound doctrine. That's more times than he said
you must be born again. Sound doctrine. I think the other
theme is a two-fold theme that runs together because you can't
separate the two as we'll see in a moment. The other theme
is a life, a teaching and a life, a message and a life, a life
in conduct, in conversation, in spirit, in attitude that's
in keeping with that doctrine. that is in keeping with that
sound doctrine, that is becoming to that sound doctrine, and he
says that twice, verse 2, verse 1, chapter 2, chapter 2, verse
1. Speak thou the things which become
or are suitable or are in keeping with sound doctrine. And then
verse 10, that they may adorn, and as I said the word adorn
is to decorate or garnish or make attractive the doctrine
of God our Savior. These two must never be separated. Sound doctrine and godly living. Sound doctrine and godly living.
You can't separate them from one another anymore than you
can separate believing and repenting. Mr. Spurgeon used to say, a man
can't believe who hasn't repented and a man can't repent who hasn't
believed. You can't separate those two.
Belief and repentance are like a piece of paper. You've got
to have two sides. You can't have a piece of paper
without two sides. You can't have belief without
repentance or repentance without belief. A man cannot turn to
God unless he turns from his idols. And if he turns from his
idols, there's nowhere to turn but to God. Because anything
else would be an idol. God is the only opposite from
idols. Everything else is an idol. So you can't separate sound
doctrine and obedience or godliness any more than you can separate
faith and good works. James tells us that. He said
faith that does not produce good works is dead. It can't save. It's like a body that doesn't
have life. It's dead. It doesn't have breath. It's
dead. It doesn't have a soul. So faith that does not produce
works is dead. Abraham was justified by works,
James said. What? That's what he says. Now
Paul says Abraham was justified by faith without works. But you
see, James is talking about the justification of our faith. Paul's
talking about the justification of our souls before God. But
James is talking about the justification of our faith before men. You
see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying, don't
you? Paul, when he talks about justification being by faith
without works, he's talking about the justification of the sinner.
The acceptance of the sinner by God or before God, and that's
by faith without works. But James is talking about faith.
He's not talking about justification of the soul at all. He's talking
about faith that's real and faith that's not real. He's talking
about faith that is saving faith and faith that is feigned or
hypocritical faith. And he says that that saving
faith is proven before men, justified before men. It's true faith. Men realize it because they see
it produces something. And faith that does not produce
works is dead. You see that? I don't see any
conflict between James and Paul at all, Romans and the book of
James at all. I know what Paul's dealing with.
He's dealing with the justification of my soul before God, the putting
away of my sin before God, the acceptance of my person in Christ
before God. And James is talking about my
faith. He said, you say you have faith? Well, show me your faith. Well, he said, I'll show you
my faith by my works. Faith that is alone without works
is dead. It's hypocritical. It's not saving
faith. You can't separate faith and works. You can't separate
love and mercy. John deals with that. He said,
why, he that says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.
You can't love God whom you've not seen and hate your brother
whom you have seen. Love without mercy is not love
at all. Love without forgiveness is not
love at all. Love without expression is not
love at all. That's what John talks about.
And hope without Christ, hope without a new creature, you can't
separate these things. Even so, sound doctrine ceases
to be sound doctrine if it does not produce a godly life. That goes without saying. that
there are those in our day who emphasize sound doctrine almost
to the exclusion of good works and obedience and love and kindness
and grace and compassion and affection and a right attitude,
motive and spirit. And you've been in churches that
are that are so straight, and so sound, and so disciplined,
and so ordered, and so dead. Brother Barnard used to say,
they're straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. You've been
in church, I've been in churches like that, I've preached in churches
like that. You had to vote everything just right, do everything just
right, walk just right. Everything had to be according
to the sound doctrine. You had to explain everything
you preached and explain everything you said. And you was afraid
to open your mouth unless somebody would find some fault with what
you said. sound doctrine, but no love, and no mercy, and no
compassion, and no tenderness, and no gentleness, and no affection.
And the only way you know they're saved is if they tell you. The
only way in the world you can tell that those religionists
are saved is if they tell you they're saved. You never could
detect it by living with them, or working with them. They're
hard-boiled, and callous, and graceless, and merciless, and
unforgiving, and strict, and harsh, and cruel, and that's
not it. And then I know there's another
group that emphasize love and obedience without doctrine. I
don't want that either. I don't want wildfire without
faith. I don't want either one. Why must we have one or the other?
Why can't we, as Paul says here, have both? Somebody says they just ain't
got no spirit down at that church. All they do is preach doctrine.
Well, you ain't got no doctrine. And I'll just about soon be in
that place that isn't your place. You see what I'm saying? Oh,
we need a little spirit. Yeah, we need some spirit and
we need some truth too. And truth without the spirit
is dead, and the spirit without truth is wildfire. And it's just
as damaging. Just as damaging. A man can go
to hell with a frown on his face, and he can go to hell making
whooping. Either way, it's wrong. A man can play at religion with
his cold, dead, dry, orthodox doctrine, and he can play at
religion throwing songbooks and clinking his heels, too. In both
ways, Miss Scott. They that worship God worship
Him in spirit and truth. In spirit, attitude, and in truth,
sound doctrine. And that's the theme throughout
this book. And you see it here in the first chapter, verses
5 through 9. Look at verse 5 through 9 of
chapter 1, when Paul told Titus, he left him down there in Crete,
that he should set in order the things that are wanting and ordain
elders in every city as he appointed him. And then he emphasizes the
requirements for these preachers and teachers and elders. And you see, what's this two-fold
requirement now? It's under two headings. Number
one, he said if a man is ordained to be an elder, preacher, teacher,
he's to be blameless. Oh, my soul, preacher, you mean
without fault? No, not without fault, because
none are without fault. Nobody here without fault. Nobody
here without sin. But what he's talking about here
is the elder or the preacher or the pastor is to be a man
of a good reputation. Not only in the church, but also
outside the church. He should not be a person who
will bring reproach on the gospel of Jesus Christ. A man of a good
reputation. A man who is a man, but a man
who is of a good reputation in the church and out of the church.
And then he says he's to be the husband of one wife. The Roman
Catholic Church says he's to be the husband of no wife. But
that's not what he says here, he's to be the husband of one
wife. Now let me say something here,
and I know we've got an old tradition that nobody who's been married
before can be a deacon or an elder or a preacher. I don't
know who started that mess, but that's what it is, it's a mess. What Paul is saying to Titus
here is this, that a man who is to be a preacher, or a teacher,
or an elder, or a deacon, is to have one wife, not two or
three wives, which was prevalent in that day. There were men who
had more than one wife, two or three or four wives. And the
man who is to be the pastor, the preacher, or deacon, or elder,
is to be a man who has one wife at this present time. I don't
know how in the world we ever got off on that in our churches
today. Preachers have a hard, fast rule. They won't marry anybody that's
been married before. They've got a hard, fast rule.
They won't ordain anybody that's been married before. A man could
be a murderer and get saved and still be a deacon, but he couldn't
be married before. Huh? How do you think about that? A man could be a thief. He could
be an out-and-out drunk and a thief. and be saved and be ordained,
but he couldn't be married before. That's foolishness. That's putting
a burden and a yoke on the back of men and women that they cannot
bear and God didn't mean for them to bear. And it's time for
us to quit walking in tradition and start walking in the light
of God's Word. And that's all this foolishness is, a bunch
of tradition. You bring me a man who's been
married before that loves Christ and knows Christ and been born
again and been saved by His grace and I'll listen to him preach
or teach or sing or pray or anything else. He can be my brother, and
I'm less than he is. I've just had one wife all my
life, but that doesn't mean I'm not less than the man that's
had six or eight. I don't know. Nobody has had
that many, but he's saying here the husband of one wife, one
wife at this time. That's what that means. And you
can twist it around and rest the Scriptures to your own destruction
if you want to, and put up barriers that dishonor God and make people
unhappy and saddle people with yokes they can't bear if you
want to, but I'm not going to do that. And then he says, having faithful
children, not accused of riot or unruly. What does this reveal? It reveals a man's control over
his household. That he is the authority in his
home. That doesn't mean that a minister
can't have unsaved children. That doesn't mean that an elder
or preacher can't have unsaved children. David did. David said,
although it be not so with my house, God's made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And his
house wasn't so, Absalom, Amnon, keep on naming them. But when
they went home, they were controlled. when they were at home, and that's
your obligation, responsibility, men, your household. Now what they do when they're
gone and outside, there's not much control you can have over
that, but you can order your home and the things of the Lord. And no man has any purpose or
right to try to lead the church of God who can't lead his home.
He has no right to try to rule the church of God if he can't
rule his home. And that's what he's saying, they're having children
in subjection that are not accused of riot or unruly, and having
his children in subjection at home and in the church too. Now
what I expect of your children, I expect of mine in this place
here. And what I expect of mine, I
expect of yours. And you deacons the same way. We're not partial
to our own, shouldn't be. And then he's to be blameless
as the steward of God. What is a steward? A steward
is a person that has charge of his master's possessions. And our master's possession is
the gospel. and the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the elder, the pastor, the overseer, the deacons of
the church, the leaders of the church, and the men of the church.
It's our responsibility to see that this church is ordered in
the things of the word of God, that we follow this book. It's
to be, and this is one thing I was telling my class Sunday.
This is what I don't like about these Footloose and fancy-free
organizations outside the church. These radio and TV preachers
that have no pastorate, they have no church, they have no
congregation. They have no discipline, Jack.
They have nobody to answer to. Somebody will say, well, they
have God to answer to. I know, but God set up the church. And
you are to see, when I preach the truth from this pulpit, you
are to receive it. When I don't preach the truth,
you are to call my hand. Cecil wrote you to tell me a
pastor that you better read that again now And the way we're and
some of you men done this and I appreciate it in the past.
This is not the way to go And I'm just I'm to see that you
Walk in the Word of God and the doctrine of God and you to see
that I am with there's a discipline of the local church Joe we believe
that And the discipline of the local church just doesn't mean
you keep an eye out for folks that are drinking or committing
adultery or going here and spying on one another. That's not the
discipline of the church. The spirit of God, the discipline
of the church, is to keep it in the scriptures. In not only
preaching, but life and attitude and godliness and holiness. We
ought to rebuke those that go astray. But that's not the only
thing that discipline means. And I'm responsible. This is
a church. And the only organization, as
far as I'm concerned, that the Lord has on this earth is the
church. And every preacher ought to be affiliated in some way
and under the discipline of a church. And people who are believers
ought to be in fellowship somewhere with a church. That's right. And have a pastor. And they're
to be stewards of God. Now look at this word, not self-willed. This goes for all of us. The
minister ought to be ready to ask and take advice, to seek
the will of God and the good of the congregation. I don't
know where this started, but it had a carryover into my ministry. Stubbornness. That's right. So many preachers I meet, they're
stubborn, they're inflexible. They set their minds on a way,
and they're going to go that way, come as Bob McNeil says,
flame or flood, they're going to go that way. That's self-love,
that's self-seeking, that's self-will. I know a preacher up in Michigan,
Brother Joe, that made a recommendation to the church, and they turned
it down, and he resigned. Well now, that's being self-willed. Self-will, and the first is not
to be self-willed, and you men are not to be self-willed. We're
not to be controlled by a stubborn, proud, inflexible, determinate
will with a vow to God's will. And then he's not to be soon
angry or quick-tempered. How unfit are men to govern the
church who cannot govern themselves. We need patience toward all men.
And as I say, what he's saying here about me and about bishops
and elders and deacons and officers, he's saying about every one of
us. Not soon angry, that's quick
tempered. We need to be patient, patient. Oh God give me patience. And
I think if I could see myself, I'd be more patient with others,
don't you? I could understand my own infirmities. Not given
to wine. There's a moderation taught in
the scripture. All things that are good are
not unlawful, but templates. Temperance is taught in the Word
of God. Care and temperance and moderation. Paul advised Timothy
to take a little wine for his stomach's sake and so forth.
And I know, and I think all of you have grown up and mature
enough in this congregation to know that wine in the Bible is
wine. Don't let some jack-legged preacher come along and try to
prove to you that wine in the Bible is grape juice. That's
foolish. That is a disgrace to my intelligence. A disgrace to my intelligence. And that's just going overboard
to try to prove what we want to prove. But what he's saying
here is not given to anything, not, the next line there, no
striker, that's not a brawler, quarrelsome person, a rough person,
contentious. Some preachers, I don't want
to be contentious. Deacons are contentious, elders
are contentious. Not given to filthy lucre. Now,
you see, not given to wine, not given to filthy lucre? That means
a preacher not to have any money? No, he's to have a living. It's
not meant that he's not to be properly cared for by the congregation. Here's what he's saying. He's
not to be concerned about material things. He's not to be given
over with an intent manner to material things. Nothing's more
unbecoming to a minister of the gospel than an intemperate minister who is interested in material
gain, who's interested in frivolity and wine and all of these things,
it's unbecoming to a minister of the gospel. Sound doctrine
and sound conduct, not given to filth. The church, I believe
this is taught in the book of Corinthians, the church is to
meet the need of the pastor and the missionaries and those who
minister the word. And if a church is properly taught, that church
will do that. And the pastor need not be concerned
with material things and but he's to be concerned with the
things of God, a lover of hospitality. Deacons and elders and pastors
and bishops are to open their heart to people and their hands
to people and their homes to people. Hospitality. Come on
in. Be my guest. I like a saying
they have down in Mexico. I went into a lady's house one
time down there in Progreso. I was over there visiting
with Brother Pledger, Brother Gruber, and Brother Coots, and
this lady, I don't know, somebody here in the States gave me her
name, told me to go by and see her. And I went by her home,
and when she found out who I was associated and connected with,
she pulled up a chair and she said, this is your home. She
spoke English. And when we went out, I asked
Walter, I said, what she mean by this is your home? He said
she meant make yourself at home whatever you want yours. You
want food or coffee? or you want to rest, this is
your home. That's hospitality. I like that.
We could learn to say some things like that. Some folks come in
our home and feel uncomfortable, you know, they shouldn't. Come
in, this is your home. This is your home. A lover of
hospitality, a minister, an elder, a deacon, a lover of good men,
that is good things, a man who is sober, That is, he's wise
and prudent, a man who's just or fair, a fair man. And he's a man who's holy, one
who loves and worships God, and he's a temperate man in all things. All right? You see, now that's,
as I say, that's one of the themes through this book, to preach
the things that are becoming the sound doctrine. And then
when he talks about this, he comes down in verse 9, and he
says, Now here, that's not all that this bishop or elder or
church leader is supposed to be, but he's supposed to hold
fast the Word of God. He's to hold fast the Word of
God as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine
to exhort. Now then, here's what Paul is
saying to Titus, and this is so important. I don't want to
sacrifice either one. I'm to be a man of sound doctrine
and a man of sound principle. I'm to be a person who teaches
the truth, the God sovereignty. and creation and providence and
salvation, the doctrine of man's ruin and the condition of man
by the fall, the doctrine of Christ's person and work, his
suretyship, his representation, his sacrifice, his burial and
resurrection, his ascension, his exaltation, his coming again.
The doctrine of salvation by grace alone, the scriptures alone,
Christ alone, grace alone. the doctrine of the church and
the church ordinances, the doctrine of home and marriage, and the
doctrine of law and grace, and to be sound in my doctrine, grounded
and settled and not moved, but and to do it in the right spirit,
with the right attitude and conduct. That's what he's saying. And
he goes on here in verse 10, and I'll make this brief, in
verse 10, he's talking about all the way down to chapter 2,
the aged men, the older men in the church. Brethren, this doesn't come overnight. This is a growth. This is a progressive
sanctification. Don't be discouraged if you don't
have, to a great degree, some of these things that Paul is
talking about. Young men in the faith will grow,
but older men have to grow too. And we ask God, Lord, make this
so with me. Don't ever say, I just can't
attain. No, we can't, but through Christ
we can. I just can't be that way. Do
you really want to be? I do. I do. And I believe by God's grace
he can do something for me. I believe he can melt the hardest
stone. I believe he can change the most
self-willed person. I believe he can, he can mellow
the hardest heart. I believe he can. I believe my
Lord's able. I believe he's able. And I want
to have sound doctrine. I'm not going to compromise my
doctrine. I'm not going to give in. I'm
not going to submit or surrender to the pressures of this world
or the world system or the religious system and surrender what I know
to be the Word of God. But I want to preach it in such
a way that if men reject something, it won't be me, it'll be the
gospel. If men and women and boys and
girls who know me, their quarrel has to be with Christ and His
Word and not with me personally. If you be buffeted for your own
faults, what plank have you? And let's say preachers and deacons
and elders and you men who preach and teach here and leaders, now
we're just supposed to be men of compassion and patience and
understanding. We're supposed to live not on
our own things, but the things of others. We're supposed to
greet people and make them welcome. We're supposed to be leaders.
We're supposed to be the representatives of Christ. We're supposed to
be men who stand for something and who believe something and
yet men who reach out with a tender heart and a kind spirit and open
hand to help the fallen and help the distressed and surely are. And then the ladies of the church. You know over here in Philippi,
I know we used to turn over every evening, a couple of ladies,
one got to talking about the other one, you know, one said
something about that one, and they got in a fuss, and it stirred
up the whole church. Ladies aren't the only ones that
talk, I know that, men talk too, and say things we shouldn't say,
and critical, and gossip, and take off on somebody's character,
or maybe the way they dress, or the way they raise their children,
or the way they don't raise their children, the way they run their
home, that's none of our business. And I believe every one of us
ought to, if we can't say anything kind and tender about a person,
just don't say anything. I think a good way is don't say
anything that you wouldn't say if that person was sitting there.
Now that'll curb that thing a whole lot, won't it? And we're to adorn
the doctrine, we're to make it beautiful. If someone sits and
listens to us talk and they say, boy, I tell you, they claim to
be Christian, but they just cut each other to pieces and criticize
one another and find that's not Christian. And husbands, we need
to love our wives. We need to be tender and kind
to them and speak well to them and of them. It's just, you know,
I've been in homes of preachers, and they've spoken so sharply
and harshly to their wives, and they just plumb mean. And I'll tell you now, he's the
fellow I don't want to hear preached. That's the one I don't want to
listen to. I don't mind listening to the fellow that used to be
married before, used to be a drunk, but I don't want to listen to
the fellow that's still that way. I still want to listen to him. Because
I don't know, he may know the doctrine, he may do me some good,
but somehow it just turns it sour. He's cruel to his wife,
and we can be tender and kind, and you children, I know we don't
say that a child's not saved who speaks harshly to his mother
and mistreats her mother and sashes her mother, but I'm not
saying she's not saved, but I'm saying I doubt it. I just can't
see Christ in that. I've been in homes and I've mothered
soulful children and cooked for them and washed for them. They're
their servants. And then some little flapper-tailed
girl of 16 or 17 comes in and sashes her mother and yells at
her. I want to slap her face. And that's not grace either,
is it? Brother Copeland says that's
too much Texas and not enough grace. But there ain't no grace
in that. And I'm not saying the kid's not saved, but she doesn't
know my Lord. Maybe that's saying the same
thing, I don't know. But if that child knew God, he'd change his
tongue to thanksgiving and kindness, right? And I'm saying this about
us husbands and wives. We're to stick together. I know
husbands and wives that don't defend each other before that
sort of thing. You stand up for your wife against
your children, against your mother, against your father, against
her mother and her father? That's right. The two are one
flesh. And that's your wife. She's one
with you and when somebody attacks her, you repel it. I don't care
who it is. It doesn't matter who it is.
You give her security and let her know she's appreciated and
loved and you're with her. And the same thing with the wives,
be in subjection to your husband. These things adorn the doctrine.
Children, obey your parents and the Lord. Workers, here's a man,
you hire a man to work for you and he's supposed to be a believer.
And you come over and he's sitting down doing nothing. And you say,
say, uh, uh, aren't you supposed to be working? Well, I'm just
kind of taking a break, you know. I'm just, uh, he doesn't do his
job. That's not a good testimony, is it? Uh, we go, and masters,
men who hire a fellow, pay him what he's worth. Pay him what
you want. I know a preacher, he makes a great big salary and
he pays everybody else nothing. There's something wrong with
that. He runs a school. And most of these Christian schools
don't pay their teachers anything, and that's a bad testimony. And
friends and believers, this is what he's saying. Read this whole
book. And like I say, and I want this
understood and made clear, our doctrine is our foundation. It's
the skeleton that forms the whole thing. But now let me tell you
something. Our spirit and attitude and our conversation and conduct.
And that's in this church, and out yonder on the job, and in
our homes between husband, wife, children, and parents, workers,
foremen. I've known men that, you Deacons
remember, we had a man here that he was a, seemed like a nice
fella, and he got a little authority. He got a badge, and I'm telling
you, he went crazy. He just got plumb mean. He got
a badge, you know, got a little authority. He started hammering
on. I shamed his member of this church. I tried to hide it, but
I couldn't. He just became an authority. He got rough on everybody. You
see, that doesn't adorn the doctrine. I think you know what I'm saying.
I think you know that the kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of mercy
and peace and love and joy, but it's built on a foundation of
Christ and the apostles. And I'm not going to surrender
either one by God's grace. I'm going to preach the truth,
the doctrine of grace. But I want God to do something
for me in my heart, in my spirit, in my home, in my dealings with
people I do business with, and people I meet on the street,
and especially my loved ones. You know this, let me tell you
something, you know this is true. You're harder on your children
than you are on everybody else's. You're harder on your wife than
you are on other people's, aren't you? You expect more out of her.
We're harder on those we love. Why are we that way? We shouldn't
be. And our homes ought to be places
of peace and happiness. I know we're going to have strained
relationships. You can't live that close to
anybody all the time, that once in a while have a strained relationship. But if we'll surrender our rights
and look on the things of the... I think that's the solution.
Happiness is in making people happy. And one of the greatest
joys in the world is to forgive and to show mercy and be kind. It just comes back to you. Love
begets love, and happiness begets happiness, and it can be done
in Christ by his grace. But I just talked on and on. This is a rambling sermon, but
you know this is what Paul is teaching Titus. Stand on your
doctrine and be a Christian. Be a kind-hearted believer. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another. God, for Christ's sake, forgive
you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I tell you, it's hard to
kiss somebody you want to fight. You can't do both, can you? So
don't do the other. Greet one another. That's what
he means by that. Greet one another with affection. Our Father, we
praise Thee for Thy Word, Thy Grace. We're not what we ought
to be. We're not what we want to be. We're not, by thy grace,
what we're going to be someday, by thy mercy. But I believe we
can say, by thy grace, we're not what we once were. We have
aspirations and desires and request and petitions that we
bring before Thee, O Lord, to make us lovable and gracious
and kind and forgiving. Let the Spirit of the Living
God dwell in me. Shed abroad Thy love in my heart.
Let it begin in me and let it spread throughout my home and
my Our congregation and among my friends, let the Spirit of
Christ be evident and prevalent for His glory and praise. And
Lord, establish us in the Word. Establish us in the Word. In
the name of Christ we pray. Amen. Ronnie, let's sing a suitable
hymn, please. Let's sing 393. Stand please. Take my life and let it be consecrated Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love, at the impulse of Thy love. Sing the last. Take my life, my God, I pour,
at Thy feet in treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever
only all for Thee, ever only