Week ten: Titus 3.8-9 THE LIFE

By Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

8a [This is] a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.

Paul uses similar calls to heed important things in his pastoral epistles as well. I Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11.

This passage is a good text to show that good works will not bring salvation, but that good works are important in the believers' life. At the same time, we must not overemphasize works to the point that we make people believe that salvation, if by grace, must be worked for to maintain it. This is the falsehood of the Seventh Day Adventist.

Years ago I worked with a very nice Seventh dayer. We talked of things spiritual with much agreement. One day we were talking about Eph 2:8-9 ("For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.") and we agreed completely. I was shocked at his agreement. I finally went through it again to be sure he understood that I believed that salvation was truly all of grace and nothing of works, and he

again agreed with me.

Finally, I went through it a third time and as he was agreeing with me, it dawned on me what he believed so I said, "Then you believe that salvation is all of grace and none of works?" He said, "Yes." And I said, "But you have to work to keep it." He looked at me and sheepishly said, "Yes." as if he understood that he had been misleading me.

Now, having said all of this, let me tell you JOKINGLY that I wish that the Bible taught that we had to work to keep our salvation. That way the believer would feel a compulsion to keep his spiritual house in order. HOWEVER, God wants our service to him to come from our love for Him and not our fear of his condemnation. The reason I like the concept is that it would take preachers a lot less work getting his members to do good works if they had a little fear in them of loosing their salvation. That would not lead to the peace and joy of salvation that God wants us to have however.

"Affirm constantly" is also a little stronger than that. It can be "affirm strongly" or "affirm confidently" - in short this is a strong confident affirmation that Paul wants.

"Have believed" is a perfect tense, they believed sometime in the past, they now believe and they always will believe till a completion of that belief sometime in the future - a sure thing. This relates to the salvation, heirship and eternity that we spoke of in the last session. I won't rub it in, but it rather smells of eternal security in my mind.

Actually Paul adds "in God" as if to ward off the belief in works salvation that the Judaizers were touting.

"Might be careful" has the thought of giving thought to being careful, within its meaning. You take thought before hand to be sure you do, or careful thought to continuing in your good works. This might give emphasis so that we don't use that tried and true excuse, I didn't think of it, or I was just to busy to realize -- if you think "carefully" before hand, you will be more open and

ready to do good works.

The verb is in a present tense and active mood, which requires that it be a continuing action and the active mood suggests that the person involved is the acting participant in the action. In short you would be in error to blame it on the Spirit for not moving you, for it is you that should be moving you. That seems to require a time for thinking about the good works that we might do, it requires time to do the good works as well. The question - how do we accomplish this in our lives?

1. When we rise in the morning, have a time with the Lord to prepare yourself for the day and ask Him to guide and direct your works for the day. You might take some time to think through whom you might meet during the day and how you might be able to minister to them. You might consider your bank account and understand whether you have some financial assistance that someone might need.

Just allow God the moment or two it would take to lay things on your heart that He might have in mind for your day.

2. As you walk through your day, attempt to concentrate on what others are going through, rather than your own situation. When someone is down and wanting to talk, that may be just the opportunity for you to flourish in the good work's department.

3. Try to evaluate people that you meet; are their ways to minister to them? If you meet someone that is down, maybe a question or two would get them talking and you might find words of comfort.

4. When you see need, evaluate whether you can fill it. I was told by a pastor once that a missionary came to his office with a load of troubles. The man was due in another city for a meeting and his car had broken down. It had serious problems and he had no money to pay for the repairs. He had come to the pastor to ask for prayer. The pastor immediately said let's pray. As the pastor began to pray, he realized that he had an extra car that he had planned to get rid of - he stopped praying and said, "This is not right. I have a car you can have; there is no need for us to pray for this." God has already answered your need.

5. When at church you can normally tell when someone is troubled, maybe that would be a good time for a cup of coffee after church or an invitation to your home might be appropriate.

Just take time now and then to see what God might have you do.

8b. These things are good and profitable unto men.

"These things" refers to what? The good works - those grand and glorious things that you do for God.

One of the problems with this is the lack of positive or negative feedback that you get in certain ministries. I am positive that most pastors get all the negative feedback they could ever want, but little positive. This is sad. Encourage those gentlemen any chance you get.

Others, like teachers, missionaries and evangelists often don't see this positive/negative; they just see the blank looks on faces. While on deputation I saw many many people, but there was little feedback except on the immediate scene. Words of "good message" etc. were forth coming, but due to being there for only a short time there was little opportunity to see if there were any real

spiritual blessings in peoples lives from the ministry of the Word.

This has been one of the frustrations of my life - have I really impacted anyone else's life for the positive - what results have there been? I have many times reminded myself that it is not up to me to see the results, only to minister. God will see to the results He desires.

As a teacher, students came and went with little indication of positive results. One wonders, but God knows and that is the key. Also, this passage makes it clear that good works result in profit - fact - your ministry profits, no matter if you know of the profit or not - God gains as do those that you minister to.

What a promise - what you do in this life for good will profit others. That is quite an encouragement to do as much good as you can so that as many as possible are blessed.

This is a backside of a philosophy that I was challenged with years ago in college. A professor read a quote from a "Success" course he had taken. The quote related to spreading your influence. It was called your sphere of influence. The wider you spread it the more successful you would become. Though this is a business concept, I recognized it as a good philosophy of life for the believer. That day in class I committed myself to widening my "sphere of influence" at every possible turn.

I did not do this to gain success in ministry, but to gain the widest influence I could for God. I accomplished this through the years by never turning down an opportunity to minister God's word to people. There were many times when I was tired and way busier than I should have been that I took an opportunity to minister in spite of the rigor of life. God has never allowed me to come up short due to my ministering for Him.

The more good works you do the wider your "sphere of influence" will be. Your outworking of God's will can only bless and profit those that you minister to.

"Good and profitable unto men." Whether lost or saved, the teachings of this book and this passage are profitable. If a lost person were to set himself to live in the shadow of the Word, he would find much peace of mind and happiness of life. True, the lost person cannot really understand all that the Bible teaches, nor can they know the true joy and peace of the Christian life, however, they can have a relatively peaceful and joyful life.

My Father was crippled when he was 21 years old and lived a relatively good life. He shuffled his way through this life supporting his body on two canes, shuffling his paralyzed legs along. This was before the handicapped laws; he made his way wherever he needed to go on his own. It was often embarrassing when he would fall in public and he would not let my brother and I assist in getting him up. (You can picture that one, two burly over six feet tall guys watching their old father struggling to get up off the floor.)

He had many struggles, but let little stand in his way of doing what he wanted. His life was that of a believer as far as works and lifestyle were concerned, yet when he was on his death bed his thought was - "I hope that I have lived a good enough life to get into heaven." He was a calm and peaceful man, and seemed to really enjoy all that he did. He did not seem to dwell on what he couldn't do, but on what he liked to do. I don't know if he ever accepted the Lord or not, but he did hear the Gospel several times, and knew what the Bible said about entrance into heaven.

Good works and good living profit everyone, but to the believer there is a double profit – they will also be rewarded for their good works one day future.

We, in our society have a little harder time with how and whom we help. We have many in our society that are too lazy to work and they live off of society. Just where do we draw the line between helping someone that is in need and enabling them to use the system? I have seen this topic on internet message boards a number of times and I have seen few really good answers. Not that the participants on the boards were lacking, they were just lacking in good answers - there are no really good answers.

The main answer is allowing the Spirit to guide and direct you. If you find that you have a bad sense of people, maybe you should call someone alongside that has a way of picking out the stinkers from the needers.

In relation to churches helping people that come by seeking assistance I have a "deacon's fund" policy that might give you some pointers. I will include this at the end of the study, but here I would like to settle in on how we as individuals can pick and choose those we help and those we pass by.

1. Know that it is God's will that we do good works. That is the key to all decision making. Do not allow this fact to escape what you are doing or thinking of doing.

2. Review the passages at the end of the deacon's fund policy included below. There are other passages that deal with our fellow man and how we should treat them.

3. Look at each situation and evaluate the best you can, then act. God will take care of the culprit if he is conning you, but he will also care for you either way. We do need to be good stewards of our works and possessions, but if we do as best we can then He will care for the rest.

Be assured if you are taken, He does not allow that to go unnoticed and the person will answer for their action in the future.

Don't second guess what you have decided. I was approached by a man that needed a buck or two to get home - he was honest looking, he looked a little concerned and I honestly thought he was on the level, but said no and continued walking. I turned a moment or two later and saw him walking off very dejectedly as if he had lost his last chance. I was in the midst of second guessing my decision when I saw him turn from his dejected path toward McDonald's for - breakfast most likely :-)

4. Realize that God may have directed this person across your path so that you could encourage or assist them. We need to remember God's sovereignty over all situations. Allow Him to lead your actions as best you can.

5. Don't be afraid to take time to witness to these people, they need the Lord just like we did at some point in our lives.

6. Understand also that circumstances could put you in the same place as they, in the blink of an eye. Many of us are only a few pay checks away from being on the street. With health care costs so high and wages often low, it isn't hard to understand how people can end up on the street. Yes, many are there by choice, but many are there because they have no choice.

7. Consider food certificates instead of cash. Consider taking them into a cafe and paying for their order. Many will refuse and then you will know their real need. Some carry groceries in their car to offer those that ask for help. Again, many will refuse, wanting cash only.

8. When you assist someone and they abuse you, do not take it personally, and do not hold a grudge, for God will deal with them in His own time.

In short, start your morning out with God on your side, and keep in tune with the Spirit rather than yourself throughout the day and He will guide you into those good works in which He would like you involved.

Verse 9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Some have relegated some of the great doctrines of the Word to this verse. Paul is attempting to warn the people of things that take away from the good works that were previously mentioned.

True, some do get side tracked in life by things that they love to argue about. Years ago we met a seminarian that was returning for his senior year at Dallas Seminary. He read a book that drew him into false doctrine to the point that he could not function. His professors tried to help him through his confusion, but all of the foolish questions of the false doctrine consumed him. He never went into the Lord's work.

Some suggest that predestination is one of these foolish questions. NOT SO! Predestination is a doctrine of the Word. Paul was speaking of questions that come from man and his uncanny knack for perverting things for an argument. Examples of foolish questions: Can God create a rock that is too big for Him to lift? This could be discussed for ages. How many angels can stand on the head of a pin? Again, the discussion could go on for quite awhile.

These types of questions only spend valuable time and detract from the Lord's work. They are good to consider for a time, but don't make them a major part of your quiet time.

Others have suggested that the thought of separation comes under this category of foolish questions etc. They suggest that separation is a doctrine of man and that we ought to be "ONE IN THE LORD" with everyone that knows the Lord.

Separation again is a doctrine of the Scriptures and not subject to rejection because someone thinks that it is foolish.

Avoid these things - they are unprofitable and vain, or worthless.

"Avoid" is a concept that we believers tend to avoid - "avoid" is making conscious thought to steer clear of something. This actually requires some watching, some consideration, some evaluation and then a conscious decision to go around that item you have considered.

Make a conscious effort to not get involved in these things. It is a waste of your time and will only cause problems. One commentator suggested it be translated "stand aloof" or, as I would suggest, stand away from with a cautious eye.

"Foolish" is the Greek word "moros" from which the word moron descends. Something that is really foolish and it can even relate to "godless" though it is never translated that way. In Matthew 5.22 we see the word translated fool, but it specifically relates to a godless fool. "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the

judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

The word is also used as "the foolish things of the world" that God uses to confound men.

The term is even used of God, if you can believe it. I Cor. 1.25 "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Of course it isn't a trait of His, but if He could be foolish, then this is true.

Don't get caught up in foolish, or maybe worldly, might give you the idea - avoid these questions and genealogies and contentions.

"Questions" is a good translation of the word - it is the "seeking of" - seeking of knowledge, seeking of answers etc. It is taking time to question, seek information and to ultimately make a decision.

"Strivings" is probably a little weak for this word which actually relates to combat and fighting, this is really getting into some serious dispute about things.

"The law" is a general term for law or lawyer, and it can relate to a New Testament time person that teaches the Mosaic Law.

Evidently there were some that were getting to the point of combat over their lineage and over their interpretation of the law. Paul labels this as unprofitable and vain. Those two terms will be of interest for application.

"Unprofitable and vain" - you know, when I read this passage I had a picture come to mind – a picture of one of the hundreds of sports altercations that have been televised over recent years. Such contention, such combativeness and such unprofitable and vain actions. True this context does not relate to sports, but I think that you get the point. Anything that comes to worthless battle is to be avoided - don't just get a little bit involved - don't get really involved - AVOID it. That is the only Biblical solution.

I am hearing more and more of near combativeness within church meetings - people disagreeing so violently that they nearly come to blows. Paul is telling Titus to train the believers not to be that way, while in America we are starting to see it happen.

Why does it happen - in my opinion it comes to that last word - "vain" it comes from the vanity of man trying to see himself as more than he is - something that can make him feel important. Indeed, isn't most church strife based on self uplifting and a desire to be right? After all if I am right, I am more important.

I trust you don't miss the contrast in these two verses. Good works are profitable and good, while disputing is unprofitable and vain. I think Paul's point is clear. Stick to the good works, they are what is important in this life as well as the next, while that worldly stuff may profit you some here, it certainly won't advance your standing in the next.

Another clear picture comes to my mind when I read this passage. Many pastors have come to churches that are functioning quite well and immediately institute contemporary services. Now, I won't belabor this point, but how does that fit into this passage. Contemporary services are about vanity and often times uplifting of the performers, they are contentious because they pit believer

against believer, they are about what "I" have been taught and about what "I" think is best for the rest of the church, and for the most part they are unprofitable to the church as a whole.

True, there may be a numbers gain, but there is almost always also number loss. The number gain may be an overall gain, but what of all those believers that are leaving the church – normally they are the mature believers that have built the church, supported the church, and committed themselves to the church and for the loss of these we seek the gain of people that may not even be saved, people that will seldom come to church other than the feel good services, people that will take years to disciple and people that will flock to another church when their services feel better than yours.

Yes, these are generalities, but for the most part this has been the observation of this author in many churches across the country. From my perspective contemporary services have cost the church greatly in the loss of mature believers, the cost of church holiness, and the cost of loosing the Biblical concept of "worship in the Spirit." It is our spirit that should worship God, not our physical. If you take time to study the term "worship" in the Bible, you will find that it is private, and often, on the face time, with God.

Even in the traditional worship churches, when you can find one, they bring the congregation to thoughts of God via a call to worship, maybe singing the Doxology, then a hymn or two and then they really add to the worshipful atmosphere with a - "Hey, lets greet our neighbor time," and the congregation begins milling around like cattle greeting the people that they have ignored prior to this appointed time for friendliness, and the pastor has to cut it short or he will lose some of his preaching time.

I thought the church was about God and uplifting Him, I thought church was about the people and ministering to one another with good works, and I thought church was about reaching out to the lost to draw newborn believers into the church for feeding and care, instead I see the church as a place to uplift some musically talented people, a place where we don't talk to one another except during the greeting time, and a place that is totally self centered and geared to gaining

numbers.

May we concentrate on the profitable and the good in our lives, in our homes, and in our churches?

APPLICATION:

1. Verse nine mentions genealogies. I am sure someone might suggest that searching your family tree is wrong. The context is foolish questions that detract from ministry. Searching your family tree is not this sort of thing. The genealogies that are mentioned relate to trying to prove that you descend from someone important in the Jewish linage.

If you are searching for family information so that you can benefit them or yourself spiritually, then yes this is wrong. The Mormon Church baptizes the dead so that the person can have a larger family in eternity. They search and search for more and more people to be baptized for. What a false teaching, requiring a lot of time, searching your family for all the wrong reasons.

Doing your family history might be of interest to you, but don't let it detract from what you are doing for the Lord. I have done considerable work on my family tree and it has been very interesting, and I'm sure some of my descendants will enjoy knowing a little about their ancestors, but it is a side light - something I do for enjoyment, not spiritual gain.

2. The last part of verse eight states "These things are good and profitable unto men." These things relating to the DOCTRINES just stated. Good and profitable. Barnes turns this to state that these doctrines can produce happiness in a person that knows them. Consider the import of that concept. If doctrine can cause happiness in man, why are so many preachers avoiding teaching doctrine. Many today turn up their nose at doctrine and theology - they nearly disdain it. If these things can produce good and profit for man and they will, according to Paul, and if there is a possibility of it causing happiness, why wouldn't preachers flock to the preaching of doctrine? It is beyond me. The Bible IS DOCTRINE thus if you are preaching the Word you are teaching doctrine.

On the other side of things, if good doctrine causes good, profit and possibly even happiness, then the things in verse nine that are unprofitable and vain most likely would cause unhappiness. It is true if you find someone that is embroiled in disputing, they are seldom happy. They are usually up tight and frustrated.

Keathley is clear that the word used here for "good" has the thought of something that brings beautiful feelings to the person. It is used of Citizens speaking of their beautiful city and the feeling they have for that city, thus the thought of happiness would certainly apply here.

Stick to the DOCTRINE and leave the arguing to others.

3. Gill suggests that the good and profitable relates to the doctrine rather than the works but certainly sees works as good and profitable. "These things are good and profitable unto men: which is to be understood not of good works, though these are good in themselves, and profitable to men in their effects;"

Keathley on the other hand suggests that the good and profitable are definitely relating to the good works, however it reflects back on the doctrine.

It would seem both are very important.

4. Let's consider the problems of verse nine a little further.

Paul had confronted this problem with Timothy and his people as well as here with Titus. II Tim. 2.23 "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes."

Gill relates the following about the passage: "But avoid foolish questions,....and genealogies; of their elders, Rabbins, and doctors, by whom their traditions are handed down from one to another, in fixing which they greatly laboured; see 1Ti 1:4 [" Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: [so do]."] and contentions and strivings about the law; the rites and ceremonies of it, and about the sense of it, and its various precepts, as litigated in the schools of Hillell and Shammai, the one giving it one way, and the other another; and what one declared to be free according to the law, the other declared forbidden; which occasioned great contentions and quarrels between the followers of the one, and of the other, as both the Misna and Talmud show: and agreeably to this sense, the Syriac version renders it, "the contentions and strifes of the scribes"; the Jewish doctors, who were some on the side of Hillell, and others on the side of Shammai; as well as went into parties and strifes among themselves, and oftentimes about mere trifles; things of no manner of importance; wherefore it follows, for they are unprofitable and vain; empty things, of no manner of use, to inform the judgment, improve the mind, or influence the life and conversation."

Humm, not unlike a couple of major disputes of our own day that consume tremendous amounts of time and money for the church. The Calvinism/Arminianism debate as well as the Covenant Theology/Dispensational theology dispute. Well you could add the Pre-trib/Post-trib/Amillennial dispute as well.

I don't want to minimize the importance of these discussions but book upon book have been written on the topics. Multiplied days of time are spent on these subjects on internet boards discussing them. In fact, there are a couple of reformed boards where I have read that discuss these things among themselves - if you don't agree with their view you cannot post on the boards so they are discussing their system and the systems of those they ban for hour upon hour. Nothing is going to come forth from this except perpetuation of their system and the distorted, misinformed views of the other positions. They twist and distort the other man's view and teach it as the way the other guy believes when this is not the case. They basically set up false straw men, and then shoot them down to make themselves look important to the cause.

I am not sure just what you might want to call this practice, but it seems disingenuous and unethical at the least if not just plain perpetuation of falsehood.

I think we see this laying of importance on genealogy in Iraq. We see the different factions and different groups, and all go back to some great teaching/teacher. Even within their subdivisions they have groups that follow a certain, important leader and usually view other leaders and groups as somewhat of from true Islam.

5. This whole passage reeks with the importance of how we live our lives, how we appear to others that might be watching us. If we are to be witnesses in this world, we must live like Biblical Christians.

Sadly, many are the Christians that I have heard about from unsaved folks. The impression that many Christians leave is one of worldliness, inappropriateness and tactlessness. I have been told by lost people how they will never listen to a particular person due to the ungodly life they live, or the two-faced life they live or the nastiness of the life they live. Agreed, these comments may have been based on a time when the believer was at a low spot spiritually or at an unguarded moment, but it calls to mind the importance of being a proper example of Christ at all times.

You can be assured when you are at your worst, someone is watching and filing in their memory banks with just how you are acting, how you are responding to a situation, or how you are not practicing what you preach.

If you realize someone has caught you at your worst, it might be well to apologize and suggest that your behavior was inappropriate. This might bring them to realize you are only human and that you do make mistakes, rather than writing you off as a two-faced Christian.

6. The obvious is that verse eight speaks of what Christians are and the ninth verse speaks of what we ought not be, but in today's Christian society it is more like the ninth verse is who we are and the eight verse is who we ought to be.

We as believers have kind of lost our identity. We are to be like Christ, but for the most part we are more like the lost. We often get wrapped up in the same things that the world wraps themselves in. We often watch the same filth on television that the world enjoys; some even go to the theater to watch the latest filth that is offered up from Hollywood.

By the way, wouldn't you like to know what percentage of those millions of dollar box offices each week are paid by believers? Some Christians are helping finance the filth that comes out of Hollywood. Indeed, watching it a year later on television isn't much different either in the moral or the financial grounds.

7. Another stark contrast between these two verses is that in the former the person is being careful, even planning to do good, while in the other the person is to be careful, even planning to not do something bad. Is this not the crux of the Christian life?

I suspect that those that are so down on "legalists" - those that want people to live by a certain code - is that they may see that the so-called legalists, try to avoid the don'ts and forget to do the dos.

We are to do both, we are to plan for doing good and we are to plan for avoiding bad. Some might suggest that if you concentrate on doing the good, you won't have time to do the bad. Others would suggest that actively avoiding the bad will automatically cause you to be doing good. The point Paul makes is that we ought to give concerted effort to doing both as we walk through life.

As we draw to a balance on this duo, we should find happiness with our life no matter what is going on in our life. We should be able to know that what we are doing and what we are not doing are good and pleasing to God. These are the things that make us worthy before our God and beside our Brother Jesus Christ. These are the things that cause us to be worthy of a listening ear when we begin to speak to a lost person about their possible inclusion in the family of God.

DEACON'S FUND POLICY

In that the Scripture is very clear that we are to be in the custom of assisting other believers in need, and in that the Scripture is very clear that we are to be in the custom of assisting widows and orphans, and in that the Scripture is clear that we are to be in the custom of assisting strangers, we hereby institute this policy to assist us in this ministry to those in need. (See footnote at end of policy for references.)

Each person seeking assistance will be interviewed by two of our deacons/elders and their concurrence will result in help. There is no need to INVESTIGATE a request for help other than to talk with the person involved to gain a sense that the need is valid. (We will trust God to guide us in our decisions and allow Him to deal with those that misuse our ministry.)

1. The fund shall be financed by an offering taken in the mission's bowl after the Lord's Table service each month.

2. The fund shall be dispersed under the guidance of the deacons.

3. The funds will be distributed by gift certificate as much as possible or by cash/check if the need is not available via certificates.

4. A grocery closet will be maintained at the church via the donations of the membership. It will contain sealed goods that can be stored for extended periods of time.

5. If the fund is depleted, and a seemingly valid case exists the deacon and pastor may go before the church for a special offering/general fund expenditure for the assistance.

6. A list of social service agencies will be maintained and a copy of that list shall be given to each person requesting assistance. (It is assumed by this policy that much of our tax money goes to support social services, so we should make use of those services for the assistance of those in need.)

7. A total value for each assistance shall not exceed $50. (Groceries need only be approximated.)

8. The above is not to say that every person that requests assistance is to be helped. It shall be at the discretion of those talking with the person that may or may not determine to extend help from the church family.

9. If there is a choice between church family members and those outside the church, then the church families' need should be met first.

FOOTNOTE:

Heb 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

I Tim 5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed. 4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Matt 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty , and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed

[thee]? or thirsty , and gave [thee] drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.

RESOURCE LIST FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE:

(Go to your yellow pages and look for service agencies in your area. Look to your city/county for resources that you can list. Often there is one agency that can look at a person's problems and recommend the correct place to go.)