Calvary Bible Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan

49:12 minutes (22.74 MB)

The pathway to usefulness is consecration. That is the pathway that God had to lead Isaiah along. That is the pathway we all need to follow.

Only what is attached to God will last forever. Anything that is not attached to God needs to be detached from our lives. As we open to Isaiah 6, think about the balance sheet of your life. As one famous missionary once said while laying on his deathbed, "Only one life, t'will soon be past; and only what's done for Christ will last"! (Read More)

49:21 minutes (22.59 MB)

God's recovery program for fallen mankind is always sanctification.

Christ's New Testament church was born into a sin-warped, dark-hearted world of mixed-up marriages, sin-scarred lives, and confused families. 

As we open to the book of Titus this morning, never forget that is the context. Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, was writing a letter to Titus, the missionary church planter sent to the island of Crete. (Read More)

49:33 minutes (22.68 MB)

As we open to the book of Titus, remember that the New Testament has three letters written specifically to pastors, explaining how they are to teach and lead Christ's flock. Titus is one of the three, and is a book about how all of us are to conduct ourselves in Christ's church. I, II Timothy and Titus are these "Pastoral Epistles" where God explains the "How to's" for the churches that Christ is building. (Read More)

46:06 minutes (21.1 MB)

God has placed a "Help Wanted" ad online in His Word. He wants to enlist a special group of older and younger men to be highly useful to Him. These godly men, along with their counterparts among the older and younger women, will be highly compensated with eternal, unfading, personalized reward accounts in Heaven. That summarizes our portion of Scripture in Titus 2:1-8 today. (Read More)

48:36 minutes (22.25 MB)

God has explained the pathway to being highly useful to Him in the 24 words of Titus 2. God through His Word says that the second key ingredient is: a chosen way of life He defines as REVERENT.

Are you reverent today? Reverence is a mind and will that has learned to feel the "weight" of God in every part of our life and activities. (Read More)

47:24 minutes (21.7 MB)

As we open to Titus 2, listen as God speaks through Paul to each of us today, expressing exactly what He wants us to be. Paul wrote out this curriculum for Titus, it was to be taught to every person in the church as a personal map to a life of pleasing God. This letter explains the specific ways that men, women, boys, and girls can choose to obey Christ by responding to His Word. (Read More)

46:29 minutes (21.28 MB)

Earth's darkest hours are dead ahead. Jesus warned us that at the end of days, the world will be subjected to the most intense bombardment of deceptions, false teachings, and truthlessness ever poured out on humanity. How healthy are your beliefs about God? (Read More)

65:59 minutes (30.2 MB)

Love is the greatest of all the manifestations of God at work in the life of His children.

That is why Jesus warned His disciples that it would be increasingly harder and harder to maintain that strong and healthy love, in this ungodly world. (Read More)

46:15 minutes (21.17 MB)

As we open to Titus 2, we re considering the power of hope. When things get darkest in life, what one truth keeps folks going? It's the word: hope.

Someone once described us as humans in this way:

Humans can live 40 days without food; and 3 days without water; and 8 minutes without air; But only 1 second without hope! (Read More)

50:09 minutes (22.96 MB)

One of the most amazing dimensions of the Christian life is the liberating knowledge that we can know exactly what God expects from us as we live our lives on earth.

God has designed each of us who know and love Him, with gender-specific roles, and responsibilities. And each day we live we can either be obediently pleasing Him, or disobediently displeasing Him. Amazingly, neither obedience nor disobedience changes His steadfast love: it only impacts our eternal rewards (II Cor. 5:10), and status in Heaven (Matthew 25). (Read More)

46:17 minutes (21.19 MB)

As we each open to Colossians 2 this morning, I am reminded of the full and rich lives almost all of us lead. Our culture presses upon us with expectations, deadlines, stress, and a never-ending list of assignments and duties. So much so that, sometimes we rejoice just to get one item checked off, don't we?

When vital things in our lives are completed they give such a great feeling: a completed assignment so our work is done; a completely balanced diet so we are healthy; all our requirements completed, so the pressures are off. All of those areas of life make us feel: (Read More)

56:00 minutes (25.64 MB)

As we open to Titus 2, at this very moment, Satan is roaming the Earth trying to mess up God's plan. His methods of attack are very focused, and are revealed in God's Word by his many names. Each of Satan's well-known names describes a facet of his evil plan. He is called: (Read More)

45:13 minutes (20.7 MB)

Today we celebrate mothers. For a moment let's meet all the moms here this morning: all the moms, please stand; and as you stand, to all the moms here and those who are not, we all owe a debt of gratitude.

We all owe our very life to our mom.

May each of you mothers know the joy of your children rising up and blessing you. (Read More)

55:40 minutes (25.48 MB)

When we gather as we do today, and open God's Word, we are asking Him to speak to us. Sometimes what we hear touches on a small part of our lives, other times what He says is huge. This morning, the topic we have arrived at to study is HUGE.

The only way to understand the gravity of what we are hearing from God's Word today is to go to where it will matter. Open with me to the end of the Bible, Revelation 4. (Read More)

45:36 minutes (20.87 MB)

As we open God's Word to the end of Titus 2:3, we arrive at the single most powerful quality of the entire Titus 2 men's and women's lists. This single word in the Greek language, sums up the entire reason we live on Earth. This statement of God's plan for all women, in one word sums up all that will last forever. This word explains how to keep from suffering loss at Christ's Judgment Seat. This word ties together what God wants and how we receive His well done. (Read More)

44:04 minutes (20.17 MB)

As we open to Titus 2:4 look at the first three words: "that they admonish". This is the final quality God desires to see in every older woman of grace, which describes their lifestyle of admonishing, encouraging, or calling others to realize what God has clearly stated they are supposed to do. (Read More)

44:17 minutes (20.27 MB)

God launched His plan to train the women of Christ's Church using the godly older women He was already at work inside, and allowing their Spirit-led walk as they grew day-by-day, to flow out into the lives of younger women.

But the message that the Lord Himself asked these women to communicate must have sounded impossible.

Paul told them that the Lord asked every believing wife to decide and surrender to these twin concepts contained in the very first word of this list: (Read More)

50:18 minutes (23.02 MB)

When the believers in Crete listened to God's Word, they heard the voice of God asking them to start making specific, personal choices to obey His Word. Sanctification is when believers respond to God's plan as stated in His Word, and as empowered by His Spirit.

To the Cretan believers, those choices were a personal response to God's desires for their personal lives, their marriages, and their families. (Read More)

50:04 minutes (22.92 MB)

Nurturing love in a loveless world is our theme this morning.

On Christ's last night with His disciples, He said in John 13 that believers would be known by their love for each other. This type of love is supernatural, prompted by grace, empowered by the Spirit, and modeled by godly mature saints. Christ's church was built from the start with this powerful nurturing love. (Read More)

49:33 minutes (22.68 MB)

God's high calling for Titus 2 women of grace, is for them to express love that their husbands and children can feel. To most of us mature 21^st century believers that may sound wonderful. To them it must have sounded impossible. As we open to Ephesians 4, think about how hard it has always been to live pleasing to God,  in this ungodly world. (Read More)

35:01 minutes (16.24 MB)

In Titus 2, the first word of v.5 calls each of us to pay attention to our own, personal, spiritual mental health, for God's sake.

There are only two mental health providers in the Universe:

• the first One says that He came to give Life that is Abundant; and
• the other one came only to kill, steal, and destroy.

At salvation we go from the destroyer's control to Christ Jesus' life that is endless and abundant. However, we still live in fallen human bodies, in a cursed and sinful world. (Read More)

48:26 minutes (22.17 MB)

As we open to hear God speak from His Word this morning, turn with me to the words written to every man, woman, and young person in Christ's church. Those words are located in Titus 2:1-8. Before we go through this passage, let me ask you a question.

Salvation is described as being clothed with Christ's righteousness; and the Christian life is portrayed as putting on Christ each day. So each of us here today are literally, as believers: (Read More)

46:24 minutes (21.24 MB)

Our world is filled with homelessness. Not so much a lack of shelter for living and sleeping-but a lack of godly nurturing at the most basic level of the Christian home. To battle homelessness in the church God has called each married woman to accept His call to be a homemaker for His Name and Glory. (Read More)

32:20 minutes (14.81 MB)Life is full of many cares, struggles, and responsibilities, so God has kept the most important things very simple. There was only one word the Spirit of God inspired Paul to write, to describe all that will last from our entire life on earth.

One word at Christ's Throne is all that sums up anything enduring, eternal, and pleasing to God. What will be the test Christ uses to determine each person's eternal rewards? It is whether their words, actions, thoughts, and motives were good in God's sight. (Read More)

44:32 minutes (20.6 MB) 

Submission in Biblical terms is when we submit to wanting God's way.

Since the Garden of Eden, and mankind's Fall into sin-we humans have wanted our own way.

In Matthew 6, Jesus reduced life to one simple goal-seeking God's rule over each day of our life.

Remember Christ's simple yet powerful words? Please open there with me:

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. NKJV (Read More)

43:25 minutes (20.09 MB) 

If we gathered every young man in the church to give them the most important Biblical lessons they would ever get-what would those lessons be to prepare them for a life of blessing and spiritual influence, and show them the pathway to spiritual maturity?

These are the types of questions that Sunday School teachers, youth workers and pastors often ponder. (Read More)

46:54 minutes (21.47 MB)

Today, God asks for every man in Christ's Church to make daily choices to regain and maintain a sober-minded restrained life, surrendered to God's gracious sanctifying power. Open in your Bibles with me to Titus 2:6:

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded (NKJV) (Read More)

42:20 minutes (19.38 MB) 

As we open to John 10, we are looking at one of the most foundational truths of being born again Christians. Jesus made salvation eternal life and assurance of eternal security so SIMPLE. He sums EVERYTHING up with these words in v. 27:

John 10:27 (NKJV) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Salvation is so personal: we are His sheep; we can hear His voice; and-the way we know we are His comes from following His voice. (Read More)

51:13 minutes (23.45 MB) 

Do you remember when I asked you to share with me what you MOST wanted to be taught from God's Word? The top three responses were as follows:

• Prophecy/Book of Revelation was the most requested; and then
• Key Chapters/Overview of the Bible was second; and
• Biblical Doctrine was third.

As we return to Titus 2:7 we are looking at Paul explaining to Titus, how vitally Biblical Doctrine shapes the integrity of a believer's life. (Read More)

51:45 minutes (23.69 MB) 

Since the Garden of Eden, the Liar from the Beginning who wouldn't abide in the Truth has sought to corrupt the truth of God in humans with his devilish lies. Just like rat poison that is 99 1/2% good grain mixed with 1/2% strychnine is deadly, so just a small lie, a little error added into good doctrine can also become deadly to the soul.

Open with me to the first time deadly poison was added to God's Truth, the result brought death to all humans because of sin. Genesis 3 is where we begin with the Serpent from of old deceiving Eve in the Garden. (Read More)

49:27 minutes (67.92 MB)As we open to Titus 2:7, we return to the 21^st Century Men of Grace Series we have been studying this past year.

As you turn back to that little New Testament epistle of Titus, here is a quick overview and back ground to this passage: (Read More)

48:01 minutes (21.98 MB)As we open our Bibles to Titus 2:7 we come to what may be one of the greatest issues confronting our culture, our world, and our church this morning. We are watching humanity "rusting" from the inside out.

I well remember my first car. It was so exciting to own my very own $100, 1965 Oldsmobile F-85. The only trouble was that is was so rusted that it had to have large rubber mats on the passenger side so that when I went through mud and puddles of rain as I drove, it wouldn't get my passengers wet. (Read More)

51:26 minutes (23.54 MB)As we open to Titus 2:8 we are turning to the final quality God has expressed that He desires to see in every young man in Christ's Church. Amazingly, the final quality is about the type of communication that a young man cultivates for life.

Paul said, encouragingly exhort those young men to have healthy communication, healthy words and feelings that they express before a watching world. Those words must stand the test of a world that measures what you say against who you say you are, if those two don't match, they will have something evil to say about us as God's representatives. (Read More)

46:05 minutes (21.09 MB)

One day each of us gets to stand in front of Jesus who loved us, died for us, bought us, and asked us to live as His servants the rest of our lives.

He has already told us what He wants to say to each of us: "Well done, good and faithful servants" (Matthew 25).

He has already told us that everything in life we do, say, or think is either good or worthless (II Corinthians 5), and that the good He rewards and the worthless He burns (I Corinthians 3). (Read More)

51:31 minutes (23.58 MB)God has clearly communicated His desires in easy to understand terms. God wants 21^st Century Women of Grace who follow His pathway to life-long usefulness. This desire of God was embraced by generation after generation of believers, which led to personal spiritual disciplines, focused priorities and deeply impacted lives.

But in modern times, it seems we have lost that sense of urgency that earlier generations of Christ's church all seemed to share. (Read More)