1. “The Elect Need Respect!”
Titus 1:1-4

2. …His wife said, “Honey, you’d better get ready
…His wife said, “Honey, you’d better get ready. It’s almost time for church.” He replied, “I’m not going!”…

3. “The local church is like Noah’s ark
“The local church is like Noah’s ark. If it wasn’t for the storm on the outside you couldn’t stand the stench on the inside.”

4. God does not violate free will
God does not violate free will. It’s your choice to believe or not believe… However, it is God’s choice to have community of saved believers He can call His own.

5. to reemphasize the need to respect the local Body of Christ
Purpose:
to reemphasize the need to respect the local Body of Christ

6. I God Wants a People Who are UNIQUICELY His
A. He Has Always Wanted Such a People

7. Deuteronomy 7:6
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

8. 1 Peter 2:9-10
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

9. I God Wants a People Who are UNIQUICELY His
A. He Has Always Wanted Such a People
B. Why God Wants Such People

10. Titus 2:11-14
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

11. I God Wants a People Who are UNIQUICELY His
A. He Has Always Wanted Such a People
B. Why God Wants Such People
C. The Church is the Community God Has Chosen

12. Divine in pattern and purpose BUT human in preparation and practice…

13. Summary and Conclusion:
1. The Church is on solid ground when a right focus accompanies real fervor…
2. The Church is on solid ground when “reaching out”…
3. The Church is on solid ground when living grace accompanies teaching grace…
Christ’s Church in Eaton are “sermons” going out with the message…

14. Anybody can criticize the Church… Be careful putting the Church down…

15. II Building the Church COOP- ERATES with the PUR- POSES of God
A. Nothing More Significant Than the Work of the Church
B. Church is the Single Most Im- portant Community on Earth
C. The Church is Teaching, Im- mersing, and Teaching

16. III How to IDENTIFY the Elect of God
A. God’s People are People of Faith

17. (author and theologian)
“A disconcerting wide segment of American society succumbs to the premise that life has not come from God, it does not move toward God, and cannot be enriched by God.”

18. III How to IDENTIFY the Elect of God
A. God’s People are People of Faith
B. God’s People are People of Knowledge
C. God’s People are People of Righteousness

19. Ephesians 1:4
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.”

20. 1 Peter 2:11-12
“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the things in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

21. III How to IDENTIFY the Elect of God
A. God’s People are People of Faith
B. God’s People are People of Knowledge
C. God’s People are People of Righteousness
D. God’s People are People of Hope

22. Conclusion: 1. God’s People Value Community…
2. God’s People Keep Their Identity…
3. God’s People Live for Eternity…

23. One day Kelly went by Weaver’s office and said, “Weave, it sure is good to walk with Jesus.” Weaver didn’t look up and simply said, “That’s nice but I wish you would walk with the bases loaded.”