Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.

As we come to the book of Titus for our devotional today, there is one portion of this very important instruction from Paul to the church and it’s leadership that immediately comes to my mind. I am referring to Titus 2:12-13. These two verses tell us how to lay aside things that are bad and live that which is good. We do both, the negative and the positive as we are looking for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.

For another devotional, I'll spend time developing that formula for life in the last days. However, let us look with you now for the instruction Paul gives the local church in the last days.

Paul had commissioned Titus to travel to the churches and make certain they had good leadership and were defending the faith against the apostasy of that day. God's plan for winning the lost to Him is the operation of a local church. The local church has a two-fold ministry, evangelism and education. We must win them and then grow them in the things of the Lord.

Paul would send Titus to the different churches to ordain elders, the leaders of the local assemblies, verse 5. These men had to meet certain qualifications, verses 6-8, and be men who hold fast the "faithful word of God". These men were to teach others as they had been taught so that all members at that local church might have the right doctrines to stand up against false teachers and false teachings.

Paul warned Titus that even in the local church there would be those deceivers that church leadership must deal with as these "false prophets" endeavored to spread their "false doctrine".

In light of the central theme of Titus, "how to live right as we await the coming of Jesus Christ", the local assembly must have Biblical leadership in place to teach the right doctrine as we approach the soon coming of Christ. This warning of false doctrine, false teaching, and deception is the number one sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ, Matthew 24:4, 5, 11 & 24.

Please do remember, that the Rapture precedes the Second Coming by seven years. The Rapture could happen today!

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me to understand right doctrine, especially as we approach the time of Your return.