• Four things Paul prays for:

  • A love that abounds more and more

    • Knowledge: Romans 10:1; II Peter 1:5; 3:18

    • Discernment: Hebrews 5:14; I Kings 3:9

  • Being able to approve the things that are excellent

    • I Thessalonians 5:21; Romans 12:9

    • We need to test all things to see if they are worthy of our approval. This does not mean trying everything ourselves. We should learn from others.

    • We may sometimes have to decide between two good things.

  • Being sincere and blameless

  • Being filled with the fruit of righteousness

    • Galatians 5:22; I John 3:7; John 15:8; Hebrews 12:11

    • John 15:5 – There are consequences of not bearing fruit. II Peter 1:5-8

Titus 2:14

Introduction

• If we are to be zealous for good deeds, we must take the initiative.

Two people who took the initiative:

• David (I Samuel 17)

  • I Samuel 17:32, 37, 47-53 – David took initiative to go out to Goliath.

• Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1-6)

  • Nehemiah 1:1-4 – Nehemiah fasts and prays.

  • Nehemiah 2:5, 15-18 – Nehemiah prepares to work.

  • Nehemiah 4:4-6, 14, 17 – Nehemiah lead the people to work.

  • Nehemiah 6:15 – The wall is completed in 52 days.

How to take the initiative:

• We need to care.

  • Romans 5:8 – God took the initiative in sending Jesus!

  • Acts 17:15-17 – Paul cared for the people enough to begin talking to them.

  • Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”

• It helps to get others involved.

  • Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 – Companionship helps!

• We must find the need and act!

  • Luke 10:27-37 – The parable of the good Samaritan. We should be looking for ways to be a neighbor to others!

  • Why not me?

False analogy (continued)

• Romans 7:2-3 – Marriage, divorce, and remarriage

  • “Take two people and bind them with a rope. If you cut the rope, how many people are free? Both. So, if one is free, the other is free. Any divorced person can remarry.”

  • The rope is a false analogy. It does not accurately reflect the way God’s law works.

• Luke 15:18 – The parable of the prodigal son, or the older son.

  • “If my grown child falls away, I should not seek him out, appeal to him, study with him, etc. It’s his job to get up and come to me.”

  • The parable is about the response of the older son when his brother returned, not about how to reach out to a sinner.

  • Compare Galatians 6:1; Matthew 15:18; James 5:19. We should try to restore lost brethren.

Circular reasoning (begging the question)

• What is it?

  • A good argument provides a reason to believe that argument. Circular reasoning fails to do so – it simply circles back to the argument itself.

• Spiritual importance

  • Circular reasoning does not prove anything. We should be careful not to resort to this in spiritual studies and discussions.

  • Mark 2:1-12 – Jesus did not use circular reasoning to prove that He had authority to forgive sins. Instead, He offered actual proof by healing a paralytic man.

  • “That doctrine can’t be true because that’s what _______ teach.” (Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Calvinists, etc.)

  • “The Bible cannot be true because it contains miracles, and miracles violate the laws of nature!”

  • “The Bible cannot be true because it teaches that the earth is only thousands of years old; whereas, we know the earth is billions of years old.”

  • “Creation cannot be true because you would have to ignore all that scientific evidence.”