Discovering HOPE Paul Knight

This week Pastor Mason Peters takes us through the pillars of the mission and what the book of Titus teaches.


Pillars of the Mission:

1. Knowledge.

Titus 1:10-16


Titus 2:1


2. Character.

Titus 2:1-16


Titus 3:4-8


3. Purpose.Support Discovering HOPE

1. When we sense that God is silent, we are tempted to make the wrong conclusions.

Matthew 3:1-12


2. When we sense that God is silent, God is likely waiting for “Just the Right Time.”

Hebrews 1:1-3


Galatians 4:4


Romans 5:6


3. When we sense that God is silent, we can trust what we already know.

Matthew 28:20


2 Corinthians 12:9


Romans 8:28-39
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This week Pastor Mason takes us through the story of Jonah, when to go, when to repent, and when to celebrate!



When God says “Go,” go.


Jonah 1:1-17 NIV


1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”


3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.


4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.


But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”


7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”


9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”


10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)


11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”


12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”


13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. 17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.



When God says “No,” repent.


Jonah 2:1-10 NIV


From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:


“In my distress I called to the Lord,


and he answered me.


From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,


and you listened to my cry.


3 You hurled me into the depths,


into the very heart of the seas,


and the currents swirled about me;


all your waves and breakers


swept over me.


4 I said, ‘I have been banished


from your sight;


yet I will look again


toward your holy temple.’


5 The engulfing waters threatened me,


the deep surrounded me;


seaweed was wrapped around my head.


6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;


the earth beneath barred me in forever.


But you, Lord my God,


brought my life up from the pit.


7 “When my life was ebbing away,


I remembered you, Lord,


and my prayer rose to you,


to your holy temple.


8 “Those who cling to worthless idols


turn away from God’s love for them.


9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,


will sacrifice to you.


What I have vowed I will make good.


I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”


10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.


Jonah 3:1-10 NIV


Then the word of the Lord came to Jonaht a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”


3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh

This week Pastor Paul takes us through pride and it's consequences to our character.



The Ugliness of Prideful People


Obadiah 1:3 NIV


The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself…


Obadiah 1:6 NIV


But how Esau will be ransacked,
his hidden treasures pillaged!


Obadiah 1:7 NIV


All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.


Obadiah 1:8 NIV


“In that day,” declares the Lord,
“will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?


Obadiah 1:10-14 NIV


Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.



The Ultimate Destruction of Pride-filled People.


Obadiah 1:3, 4 NIV


The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.


2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV


For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.


Matthew 12:36, 37 NIV


But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”


Revelation 20:12-15 NIV


Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.



The Unwavering Confidence in a Day that is coming!


Obadiah 1:15-17 NIV


“The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds will return upon your own head. 16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,
so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.


John 3:16, 17 NIV


For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV


Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesu

1. Your response to my love has been CYNICAL

Malachi 1:1-5 NIV



A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’


“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” 4 Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’



2. Your worship of me has been CASUAL

A) Give your best in worship


Malachi 1:6-8 NIV



“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name.


“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’


“By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’


“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible.8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.



B) Don’t steal from God



Malachi 3:7-12 NIV


Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.


“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’


“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.


“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’


“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.



C) Correct your “what’s in it for me” attitude


Malachi 3:13-15 NIV



“You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.


“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’


“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.



3. Your relationships have been COMPROMISED

A) As Christ-followers be faithful to God’s Word.


Malachi 1:7-9 NIV (1 Peter 2:9-11)



“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”



Malachi 2:10 NIV



Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?



B) Don’t marry someone who doesn’t love the Lord.


Malachi 2:11-12 NIV



Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecra

Demise is the inevitable outcome of rejecting God


Lamentations 1-2, 3-4; Deuteronomy 28; Romans 1:18-30



It’s okay to admit it’s not okay and say it out loud


Lamentations 1-2, 3-4; Psalm 73



Justice and joy are right around the corner


Lamentations 3:21-33
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