Paul wrote both of the letters to the Thessalonians. He’s a guy who’d had a fabulous conversion experience, transforming him from a Christian Murderer to a Christ Follower and Disciple Maker. At the time of Paul’s conversion, Jesus said, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” (Acts 9: 15) As we follow Paul’s ministry career, we see that he did, indeed, carry God’s word to each of those three groups!.

When speaking to the children of Israel (Jews), he spoke in a language that they would readily accept – the language of the Old Testament. Acts 17: 2, Paul goes to the Jews in the synagogue and reasoned with them from the Scriptures (Old Testament), explaining and proving that 1) it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and 2) it was necessary for the Messiah to rise from the dead and 3) that Jesus is the Messiah.

We don’t know which Scriptures Paul used to persuade the Jews, but we can guess. Isaiah 53 gives detail about the manner in which the Messiah would suffer: “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

Paul used Scripture to prove that it was necessary for the Messiah to rise again after three days. In Matthew 12, after asking for a sign, the Pharisees were told, “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Paul knew the connection between the Old Testament story and Jesus’ fulfillment of it, so he may have used the Jonah story in his evangelism endeavors!

Lastly, Paul used the Old Testament to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He showed  that Jesus fulfilled the Law, that the prophets spoke of him, and that Old Testament was full of references pointing to him. Jesus himself said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5: 46)

We 20th Century Gentiles find it strange that anyone could be saved by an evangelist who uses only the Old Testament. But Paul proved that it could be done. Acts 17: 4 says, ”And some of them (Jews) were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks (Gentiles)!” Paul demonstrated that both Jews and Gentiles can be evangelized using the Old Testament!

Recognizing the value of the Old Testament will create a desire to study it! We won’t be able to stop ourselves from digging in when we realize that it is the base of our Christian faith!

Marking suggestions

After you’ve bought your pencils and markers, after you’ve pulled sheets and are ready to go, sometimes you may get stalled by wondering what symbol to use for a word.

There’s no right or wrong way to mark a word. However, your marks should mean something to you. I use purple for the Trinity because it reminds me of royalty. I use a triangle (and its variations) to remind me of the triune nature of God.

Prayer carries requests from me to God, and carries the answer from Him to me – so I use a simple bucket shape to mark “prayer.” “Rigthteousness” is a big deal, so it’s a great big blue “R.”

Remember that each character gets a color. Scribble Paul with his Paul color, then while that color is in your hand, put a box around his verb. Verbs are so great to mark – they tell you what the character did! God verbs are extremely important, and are easy to mark while you’ve got the purple in your hand.

As you begin, use my suggested marks, then let your imagination run wild and come up with your own. You have 12 colored pencils and any number of shapes that you can use, so your choices are limitless! There’s no way you can do this wrong, so don’t be afraid. You can do it!

Janine Bear is a wife, a mom of four teenagers, and a Pastor in Elk River, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the word, and does that whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars, and Bible studies.

The Inductive Green Dotted Line

One of the things that helps in inductive is to outline the commands with green dotted lines. The first thing we see in chapter three is a command: Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

Put a green dotted line around all of that, reminding yourself that this is a command.  There are a few questions to answer about this command. First, who is commanded to remind them? Furthermore, who is the “them” in verse one?

In writing this letter to Titus, Paul was telling Titus to do some things in Crete – remember he was to set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city? In Chapter 3 verse one we see another thing that Paul tells Titus to do – to remind them to be subject to rulers. Paul used an “implied” you when talking to Titus – he didn’t write “Titus, you be sure to remind them to be subject to rulers” but he implied that it was Titus’ job to do that.

Now the question of the “them” – who is to be subject to rulers?  We have to remember that Paul didn’t put the chapter divisions in his letter. Those divisions were put in much later in an attempt to help the reader more accurately understand the letter. However, sometimes chapter divisions confuse the reader because we assume that the writer’s thought has ended and he’s moved on. In this letter, Paul’s thoughts in Chapter Three are a continuation of what he had been saying in Chapter Two.

Look at chapter two again. Paul had told Titus to address several groups of people: Older men, older women, young men, and bond-slaves. Then he moves on in Chapter Three to talk to all the groups together – Remind them all to be subject to rulers.

Mark the commands throughout all of Chapter Three, making sure to use context to decide the subject of the command.

Cross-References in your Bible

One thing we haven’t talked about yet is using the cross-references that are in your copy of the Bible. Most Bibles come with some cross-references already done for you that are listed in a center column, in the margins, or below the text. The Bible publishers have done what we did with the Strong’s to find what the Bible says about a subject. There are a lot of topics that can be further studied with cross-references in Chapter Three, and a good place to start is with those in your Bible. Just remember that there are more – the Bible publishers don’t have room to make note of all the possible references, so they chose a few. Start with those and then move on to what you can find in your Strong’s

Finishing Up

I hope that you’ve had fun studying Titus. The method that you learned can be applied to any book of the Bible, and should be applied to any book of the Bible! I want to encourage you to keep studying – the thing I’ve found is that studying the Bible is very habit forming – once you start studying the Word, you quickly develop a habit of studying, and when that happens, it’s easier to study than to stop studying! That’s a good place to be in!

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teenagers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the Word, and does that whenever she gets a chance.  She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies.

Inductive always sees “so that”s!

Our next “so that” occurs in verse 5 in Chapter Two. It says that the older woman is to teach the younger woman to love her husband and her children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, be subject to their own husbands SO THAT the word of God may not be dishonored. Now that is amazing, when you slow down, study, and realize what that verse says! It says that what a young woman does in her house, while she’s alone, has an impact on whether or not the Word of God is dishonored!

What you do while you’re alone matters

Younger women love their husbands and kids at home. They are sensible, pure and workers – at home! They are kind and submissive to their husbands – at home! All of the things the young woman is to do, is done in the privacy of her own home; no one is watching. But yet the Word says that what she does when no one is watching keeps the word of God from being dishonored. “How can that happen?” you ask, and I tell you emphatically, “I don’t know!” but it does happen – the word of God says it does!

Let’s look at another scripture that reinforces the concept that what we do in private matters – 1 Peter 3: 1

You wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.

We see here that – without a word and by her conduct, the wife is able to win her disobedient husband to the Word. We need to notice, too, that this verse is for all wives, not just the wives married to unsaved husbands. None of us has a husband who is completely obedient to the Word, so all of us are to act this way – chastely and respectfully.

Then God goes on to talk about women’s adornment: Your adornment must not be merely external – braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it (adornment) by the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

Notice that her adornment is to be the “hidden person of the heart” which is precious in the “sight of God.” We learn from this that what’s hidden on the inside of us is what God looks at! Yes, He has the hairs on our heads numbered, but is not concerned with how they look – He’s concerned with how our insides look – and that is what is precious and imperishable to Him!

Application

We need to learn from this, ladies. There are a couple of thoughts that come to mind: It is the job of the older women to teach the younger women. It seems that today the older women have left the younger women to fend for themselves, or to find their help at Barnes and Noble. There are books on marriage, parenting, organization, exercise, self-improvement and household management, but books are not anointed of God to teach the younger women how to act! The older women are anointed of God to teach!

Another thought is the emphasis on the  importance of what I do in my house to love my husband and kids and to be a kind pure, sensible worker at home. What I do here is important. In ways that I can’t understand, God’s reputation in the world is affected by how I conduct myself when I’m all alone. I can’t explain it, but I believe it, and knowing it will govern my conduct in my home.

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teen-agers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the Word, and does that whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies/

Look at Titus Chapter Two

Once again, remember that we are always looking for things obvious.  The most obvious thing to me in Chapter Two is that there are several groups of people to whom Titus is to speak things fitting for sound doctrine. Look through your Titus sheet and make bracket marks in the margin, separating the sections devoted to each group of people.

You saw that there are instructions for Older Men, Older Women with  a subheading of Younger Women, Young Men, and Bondslaves. Make a list for each section of people, writing down how each is to act.

Your Inductive Lists

Older Men: temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, sound in love, and sound in perseverance. Do you wonder about the definitions of any of those words? If so, do a word study before you look the word up in the English dictionary.

Older Women: likewise (that means in addition to what the Older Men are to be) reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, not enslaved to much wine, teach the young women what is good: how to love their husbands, how  to love their children, how to be sensible, how to be pure, how to be good workers at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their own husbands.  

Notice things that make you go “hmmmmmm.”

How interesting is the list for the Older Women. They are to behave in a certain way “so that” they can encourage the young women. So the reason for the list of behaviors for the Older Women is to enable them to teach! That’s what an Older Women is to do!

We’ve seen the importance of  “so that” in the first chapter of Titus; the Elders’ qualifications ended with “so that.” I love “so that,” because it means “here’s why.” The elders were to meet certain qualifications in order to be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. The Older Women, too, are to meet certain qualifications in order to be able to teach the young women.

The things that they are to teach the young women are interesting, too. Teach them to love their husbands? Don’t women already love their husbands – especially young women? Young women think that  love just happens, that it’s the easiest thing in the world, and that their love will never die out.  Any of you who have been married a while know that the “in love” experience eventually gives way, and it’s at that point that a young woman gets to choose to love. She gets to choose to love through conflict and routine and life’s hurdles, and the ability to make that choice needs to be taught! It is not natural to put your husbands needs first, to put your own self down, to keep acting nicely when you feel wronged – but a young woman can be taught to act that way, and it’s the Older Women’s job teach her!

What about the “love their children” thing? Why would anyone need to be taught to love their children – that, more than anything, comes naturally, doesn’t it?  Well, a new parent needs to be taught how to discern what is best for their kids- most parents find that discipline does not come naturally, and so they need to be taught how to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Look at all the parenting books at your bookstore – obviously parents feel that they need help! Paul tells Titus that it is the job of the Older Woman to teach the young women to love their kids.

Continue listing the instructions to the groups of people. See what you find out about thier jobs and how they are to behave – do word studies if you wonder about a definition, and check back tomorrow for some more discussion!

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teen-agers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the Word, and does that whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies.

This is a very sobering verse. The implications of this verse are staggering – especially for a girl that grew up in the Word of Faith doctrine. The thought that what we do is more important than what we say is in direct contradiction with all that I’d been taught, but that’s what the Word says! It says that these bad guys said that they knew God – that they were close with him, that they prophecied in His name – but just saying it didn’t make it so. What they did proved them to be liars.

Inductive’s Question – what does the Word say?

All of us are capable of lying. We could lie all day long if we wanted to. But, if someone was interested in what we really believe, they’d look at what we do – and that’s what God does, too. He knows we can say things we don’t believe, but that we can’t act in ways we don’t believe.

Man on a unicycle

There was a guy who had the unique talent of being able to ride a unicyle on a tightrope. He set up his rope over a  deep canyon, hopped on his unicycle and rode across, to the amazement of the many onlookers. As they watched, he turned around and crossed  over to them. Their applause was loud and enthusiastic. As it died down, he asked the crowd, “How many of you believe that I could perform that same trick with a passenger on my shoulders?” They all shouted “I believe!” and “You surely can do it with someone on your shoulders!” He then looked at them expectantly and asked for a volunteer to be the passenger. Not one of the spectators stepped forward.  The silence was deafening.

Just like those spectators, we posses the ability to say that we believe  a lot of things. But our actions show what we truly believe. If the spectators believed that the unicyclists could cross the ravine with a passenger, they’d not hesitate to jump right on. But no matter what they said, they didn’t believe that he could. Our actions show what we believe.

James 2: 17 – 26 . . . faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show ou my faith by my works. . . You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

We all understand, I hope, that these scriptures aren’t saying that our salvation is as a result of works – what scripture is saying is that anyone can say they know God! The way God knows if they’re telling the truth is by what they do – because beliefs automatically lead to works!

Inductive Study’s most important step – Application

Titus 1: 16 causes me to reflect when I read it. Are there things I do that contradict my professed love of God? Would someone look at my actions and decide that I believe something other than what I say I believe? Can God believe me when I talk? Does He see my words and actions lining up? Those are the important questions to ask ourselves. Now that I know that it’s possible to deny God with my deeds, I need to be careful to examine my deeds and my words.

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teenagers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the Word of God, adn does that whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies.

Inductively looking at verses 12 through 14

Another frequent question that arises in studying Titus is the harsh statement in verses 12, 13,  and 14 of chapter one. They say: One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this cause reprove tehm severly that they may be sound in the faith . . .

The explaination to the mystery of these verses lay in understanding the pronouns and context. The first question is: Who are the Cretans? Well, we learned from verse 5 that Titus is in Crete, told to set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city. Cretans, then, are the inhabitants of Crete, the island of Titus’ churches.  And verse 12 says that they are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Hmmmmm. That seems to be a contradiction of the list of qualifications that Paul laid out for Elder selection. Remember, Elders are to be above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebillion, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. So Titus’ job just got harder:  he’s to choose Elders from a group of people who are liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons>  If it’s true that every inhabitant of Crete is a liar, evil beast and lazy glutton, Titus wouldn’t be able to find one man fitting the list of qualifications, much less more than one.

Studying Inductively Clears up the Question

The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. If we see an apparant contradiction, the problem lies with us, not with the Word. So, we’d better look again. The next quesiton to ask ourselves is, “Who said that Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons?”  Verse 12 says its “One of themselves, a prophet of their own.” Verse 11 says “They must be silenced because they are teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain,” and verse 10 reminds us of whom we are speaking: There are many rebellious men, empty talkers and decievers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced. Those are the Bad Guys, the ones we already have marked.

But look again – what makes a Bad Guy a bad guy? He’s rebellious, an empty talker, and a deceiver (or liar). A liar tells lies. So follow your marks again from verse 10 to verse 12 to see exactly WHO it was that called Cretans liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. It was a Bad Guy – a Liar – who called the Cretans those bad things. Does a liar tell the truth? No!

But, verse 13 goes on to say, “This testimony is true! Therefore, reprove them severely!” Alright, so we’ve just figured out that what the Bad Guy said isn’t true (couldn’t be, or there would be no Elders), but then Paul says it is true. Let’s look again to see what is true. If it’s not true that all Cretans are liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons, then what IS true is that one of the Bad Guys said they were.

What they said can’t be true, but it is true that they said it.

Therefore, who is Titus to reprove – the Cretans, or the Bad Guys? The Bad Guys! The Cretans already are sound in the faith (as evidenced by the fact that Elders can be chosen from among them) but the Bad Guys aren’t sound in the faith! Titus’ reproof, “Stop saying bad things about the Cretans” will lead them to being sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

Context and Pronouns

Do you see how using context and pronouns is crucial to correctly interpreting scripture? It’s because you mark pronouns, because you ask questions of scripture, and are led by the Holy Spirit that you arrive where Paul intended you to arrive. Simply asking the question, “Who said that?” helps immeasurably.

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teen-agers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the word, and she does that whenever she gets a chance. She is available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies.

Context Rules

If you were to get a letter from your Gramma, there would be things that she would mention that only you and she understand; shared experiences, familiar localities or the characters of other family members. If someone else were to read that letter years later, they would wonder about things that were obvious to you and Gramma. The same is true of this letter from Paul to Titus. To us, as outsiders, it seems that Paul has something against Jews. For us to have the same understanding that Titus had, we need to look at context, because context rules!

Context Rules – Who are “The Circumcision?”

Paul’s most passionatel message was about grace – unmerited favor – by which men are saved. He told people everywhere that they can’t earn their salvation, or work for it, or do anything, because they are saved by grace through faith. His biggest obstacle to that message was a teaching to the contrary – that people can earn their salvation – primarily through being circumcised.

Acts 15: 1

But some men came down from Judea (to Antioch) and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

The problem with circumcision is that it gives a person a false sense of security – “Unless I’m circumcised I cannot be saved; I am circumcised, so I am saved.” That goes directly against the doctrine of grace! The church leaders in Jerusalem came to that conclusion, too. In verse 28, the church leaders answer the question by saying, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us (church leaders) to lay on you (Gentiles)  no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and  from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourself from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

So then, the question was answered by the heads of the church – in order to be saved you do not need to be circumcised. However, that did not stop some men from spreading the false teaching. As a matter of fact, Paul mentions this false teaching in every one of his  church letters! This was a prevalent thinking that Paul worked hard to contradict!

If you put yourself in the place of the Jews during the first century, it may make more sense. They’ve spent their whole lives obeying rules. Then Jesus comes and tells them that they are saved an entirely different way – one that couldn’t be more different that what they were accustomed to! And they had no idea that the Gentiles were going to be involved with this at all – remember Peter’s complete shock when the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house are filled with the Holy Spirit? Acts 10: 45 – And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Hoy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles!” And when Peter was explaining this unheard of occurance to the church leaders in chapter 16: 17 “If God gave the same gift to them (Gentiles) as he gave to us (Jews) when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they (church leaders) heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” This was literally the first time that it had occured to them that the Gentiles were to be involved. Their logical thinking then was: in order to be a good Christian, you must first be a good Jew. It was that thought process that Paul worked against.

Titus’ instructions regarding “those of the circumcision”

1: 10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. They were teaching that you must be circumcised in order to be saved – and apparantly they were charging for the service!

Context really rules

In verse 14, Paul tells them not to pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. Again, he’s referring to false teachers who teach that all the Jewish regulations from the Talmud (oral traditions) must be obeyed – and anything else that men comes up with that is contrary to the doctrine of grace. He’s reminding them to live by God’s ordinances, not by men’s. That advice is very good for us today! We are to follow the Word  so it’s a good thing that we study it!

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of four teenagers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teaching people to study the Word, and does that by teaching whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars adn Bible studies

Those two jobs explain the reason behind the long list of qualifications – each of the qualifications helps the Elder to be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict! If his family’s a mess, if people are talking bad about him, if he is quick to stir up a fight, or is addicted to wine, he won’t have the time or the credibility needed to be able to exhort and refute. Every element on the list helps in his preparation for exhorting and refuting.

Paul also tells the reason for the Elder’s ability to exhort and refute: Because there are many rebellious men . . . who must be silenced. And whose job is it to silence them and to protect the upset families? The Elders’!

Inductive study – the next group of people

The elders are to exhort the Christians in sound doctrine.  “Exhort” means to call for, to exhort, or to encourage. Elders are to use sound doctrine to exhort, or encourage the brethren in their churches. Their other job is to refute those who contradict. “Refute” means to expose, convict, and reprove. So the Elder is told how to handle those who are behaving and those who aren’t.

Grab another colored pencil and we’ll begin to mark the “bad guys;” the guys who are contradicting, so should be refuted. Pick a color that you don’t like, so you’ll be reminded that they are bad!

Titus 1: 9

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.

One of the wonders of Inductive study is that you’ll never wonder about a pronoun again – that was one of the hardest parts of reading the Bible for me before Inductive. I couldn’t figure out who was talking or being spoken of. As you get the hang of marking, you’ll very clearly see the object of each pronoun.

Remember that the step that always comes after marking is listing! So let’s make a list about the bad guys:

Bad Guys Are:

1.  rebellious men
2. empty talkers
3. deceivers
4. of the circumcision
5. must be silenced
6. are upsetting whole families
7. teaching things they should not teach
8. teaching things for the sake of sordid gain
9. they have prophets
10. one prophet said that Cretans are always liars, evil beasts adn lazy gluttons
11. they are to be reproved severely
12. reproving them will cause them to be sound in the faith
13. reproving them will cause them to not pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men
14. their minds and consciences are defiled because they are defiled and unbelieving
15. they profess to know God
16. their deeds deny that they know God

Oh my! There is so much there, but for now, I want you to think about what you’ve seen – they profess to know God, but their deeds deny him.

Janine Bear is a wife, a mother of  four teenagers, and a Pastor in Rogers, MN. Her passion is teachig people to study the Word, and does that by teaching whenever she gets a chance. She’s available for conferences, retreats, seminars and Bible studies.

• Rule   –  1 Timothy 5: 17
• Are appointed by the Holy Spirit – 1 Tim 5: 17
• Preach –  1 Timothy 5: 17
• Teach – 1 Tim 5: 17
• Pray over the sick – James 5: 14
• Anoint sick with oil – James 5: 14
• Come when called to pray – James 5: 14
• Shepherd thh flock of God –  1 Peter 5: 2
• Exercise oversite with a proper attitude – 1 Peter 5: 2-3
• Are on guard for themselves – Acts 20: 28
• Are on guard for the flock – Acts 20: 28
• Shepherd the church of God – Acts 20: 28
• Are on alert for wolves –  Acts 20: 31
• Exhort in sound doctrine -  Titus 1: 9
• Refute those who contradict – Titus 1: 9