Hi James and Ellen,
Titus is an instructional letter on sanctification’s functional role. Paul authored the Titus Letter. Paul sent his Titus Letter to an early disciple, a faithful friend and a conscientious helper whose name was Titus. Titus’ heritage was Greek. Titus’ dad and ma were Gentiles. At the time that Titus received the letter that Paul penned and sent to him – which was sometime between 63 A.D. and 65 A.D, and which became known by his name, Titus was on the island of Crete. When Paul sailed to the inland of Crete on his fourth missionary journey, Paul had Titus to go with him. When Paul decided to continue on his fourth missionary journey – after spending time on the island of Crete, Paul asked Titus to remain on the island of Crete to organize the embryonic Christ-follower fellowships that Paul was instrumental in initiating there. About twelve years before Paul had the letter that he penned during his stop in the city of Philippi on his fourth missionary journey sent to Titus, Paul – when he finished his second missionary journey, had Titus travel with him to the city of Jerusalem. While Titus was in the city of Jerusalem with Paul, Titus became the center of a heated controversy. Traditional adherents of the Mosaic Law or the Torah who were living in the city of Jerusalem demanded Paul to have Titus circumcised. When Paul refused to acquiesce to the guys – who were called Judaists, who appointed themselves to be enforcers of the Mosaic Law or the Torah, Titus became the Gentile exemplar of an emergent belief paradigm – which centered on the life, death and resurrection of an incarnate man, that accepted Gentile guys and gals through their faith in the incarnate man – whose name was Jesus Christ, for what He did for them when He suffered and died after being mercilessly hung on and nailed to a cross.
Paul in the three chapter letter that he sent to Titus telling Titus to appoint in every Cretan town where he had gone to and where he had ‘birthed’ a Christ-follower fellowship an elder who met the qualifications that he overtly outlined to Titus in the letter that he was sending him. Paul knew from the time that he spent on the island of Crete that disreputable, untrustworthy guys and gals were the norm on this Greek island. Paul wanted to have guys who had honest reputations and untarnished testimonies to be the elders in the Christ-follower fellowships that were on the island of Crete. Paul wanted to have guys as elders who would sternly rebuke a guy or gal who was comporting himself or herself in a Christ-follower fellowship in unscrupulous, dishonest ways. Paul then tells Titus in the letter that he sent to him to do everything possible to insure that each Cretan Christ-follower guy and gal conduct daily his or her life in ways that will show off a life that is filled with vitality and hope. Paul knew from his own life that as he understood more and more how God’s unmerited grace replaced a searching, hopeless life that he had been living before he became a Christ-follower with joyful, hope filled expectations when he became a Christ-follower that this is the life that every Christ-follower guy, gal and kid will experience more and more as Christ-followers. Paul ends his letter to Titus by telling Titus that the Cretan Christ-follower guys and gals – as obedient Christ-followers, were to respect and honor God-placed government authorities or officials as well as to always show unreserved kindness and compassion to the unlovable and underprivileged guys, gals and kids who God will place in their life paths. Paul also reminded Titus to not to react to and to shun away from foolish questions and to be deliberate about rejecting by refusing to be around any guy or gal who is persistently factious and argumentative.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa in recent years have become more and more intentional in helping guys and gals discover their God-gifted hardwired gifting. Your grandmaa is especially enabled by God to clarify to a guy or gal the results of a personality or gifting assessment or inventory that the guy or gal has taken. Your grandmaa uses power point presentations to help her disseminate over at least a couple of days the information from personality and/or gifting assessments on inventories that guys and gals have taken. In less than two weeks, the two guys and two gals who are planning to go to Yei, South Sudan to do ministry there are going to spend three days at the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa live at which time your grandmaa is going to help each guy and gal discover better how God has uniquely hardwired him or her so that he or she will bring honor and glory to His name as He is individually venerated through continual thankful and praise filled thoughts, as He is given the oversight throne that leads to actions and attitudes that demonstrate and witness a Christ-centered micro expatriate community and as He is seen through lives and is heard through words that testify of hope and joy. Your grandmaa has already done this with seven gals who are already in India or who are going to India through a mission agency called Rehab’s Rope. It is apparent to your grandpaa through how Paul used Titus that he utilized Titus’ God-given hardwiring to confront actions that were negatively affecting developing Christ-follower fellowships. Paul’s main purpose for leaving Titus on the island of Crete was for him to deal with corrupt Cretan Christ-followers. Paul – about nine years earlier, had Titus go to the city of Corinth to deal with quarrelsome Corinthian Christ-followers. Later – while Titus was in the city of Nicopolis, Titus dealt with belligerent Dalmatians. God expects guys and gals to use His hardwiring of them.
Titus