June 30

Titus 1:9 (NIV84)
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Hold on and don’t let go of the trustworthy message that has been taught so the he has the ability (dunimas) to encourage people who need it - with the Word – with the sound doctrine that you already know – or he can refute and correct people who have bad doctrine. In order to refute people with bad doctrine you have to know the proper and true doctrine of the Word. We have to know our doctrine! We can’t just read for fun or personal benefit, we must study the Word to properly grasp the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation and so on. We have to know what is right in order to detect what is wrong, otherwise we will go off what we “think”.

Then we come to the encouragement. The most powerful encouragement is right from the Word of God! When I am struggling I need to hear the Word and not how cute I am! (Based on the assumption that I am cute – at least to my wife). People, learn the Word so that you possess sound doctrine and can give the greatest encouragement of all! Knowing the Word give you the POWER (ability) to encourage and refute. The Word is powerful stuff!