Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• Read Titus 3:8-11
• How is this passage connected to Titus 3:1-7?
• What is the significance of the word “trustworthy” in verse 8?
• What is Paul’s goal for having Titus’s teach these things? Why?
• What does Paul warn Titus to avoid in verse 9-11?
• Why is Paul so adamant in this rejection?
• How does this passage fit within the big idea of the book (“a Gospel-centered church”)?

Prayerfully Meditate

• How does Paul’s attitude towards good works as being excellent and profitable compare to your own heart?
• In verse 8, how do you think church leaders “speak confidently” about the Gospel and the life it should produce? Describe how this would be accomplished.
• Read Philippians 4:8. How might these “excellent” thoughts bear fruit in “excellent” works as seen in Titus 3:8? List out actions that might stem from these thoughts.
• Write down different ways that good works are profitable for believers
• Read verse 9. What makes a controversy foolish? What makes a quarrel over Scripture worthless? What such divisions are in the church and your life today?
• Think through how verse 10 might be acted out today. What does it mean to “have nothing more to do with” (lit. “reject”) someone? Consider your role in church discipline and how this practice is beneficial for the gospel’s clarity.