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For all these years, good morning. Thank you so much for weathering the storm that we've been
having out there. And a side note on that, in the event that all our phones go off with a warning,
our kids have a plan for over there in building two. They'll enter into the inner rooms and hallways
away from any glass. And if you would just kind of filter off to the side and out into the hallway
or into the stairwell. And we'll just, in the event of that, we'll wait until something passes.
But don't try to be a hero and run over and get your child. They will take care of them over there,
hopefully and prayerfully. I emphasize prayerfully, that won't be the case. But in the event that
happens, at least we have a plan and you'll know what you'll need to do. As Joel mentioned,
Pastor Bo and the team are there in India. They'll begin their week this week. I mean,
they've been already doing some work, but have a full week ahead of them. And then I'll be heading
with a team back to Salt Lake City to work with our church planning partner, March the 26th. So if
you'd be praying for us as well. And then we've got our discipleship studies coming up. Hopefully you
see the card in the seat closest to you. Got another great group going on against the darkness that
Pastor Bo is going to be teaching about angels and demons experiencing grief. We've all either have
experienced that or will experience that in our life led by Chad Fry. And then get out of your head.
It's just a women's study led by Aaron Bradbury. We all battle thoughts in our, in our, in our head.
And, uh, so it's kind of guide, uh, through that. And then the ruthless elimination of, of hurry. Uh,
we've brought that one back and, uh, Lisa Van Ham is leading that one. It's a great study for men and for
women. Uh, and then world religions and cults, uh, that Mike Vaught is going to be leading covers a wide
variety of the world religions and cults that all of us, uh, either have heard about or have experienced through a
relationship that we know, uh, of a person. So just a lot of great studies. It'll start next Sunday. So
please be sure to go register for one of those studies as we begin our fourth session, as we head
towards the summer. Well, if you will turn to Titus chapter two, I'm picking up where Pastor Bo left off
in the second chapter verses 11 through 15. Uh, I do want to read this verse of scripture for us as we get
started Titus one chapter one, verse one, uh, just a reminder of one of the reasons that Paul sent this letter, uh,
to Titus. Paul is servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their
knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. So it's for your sake, for my sake, that God builds us up and
readies us to obtain the knowledge that he desires for you to, you and I to obtain for the sole purpose
of being godly, for the sole purpose of walking in the image of God that he's created you and I
to walk in. So if you will, let's join me in prayer as we dive in a little further to this passage.
Lord, thank you for the opportunity that you have given us to gather together this morning
to worship you in song and to worship you through the reading and the learning of your word and your
truth. Father, pray for Pastor Bo and the team as they minister, uh, these days ahead, Lord, that you
would just continue to protect them and continue just to open doors of opportunity for them to share the
gospel. Father, I pray for the team that's going to Salt Lake City, Lord, that you would continue to
the efforts that the team, uh, in assisting our church planner and Lord, what you're doing there.
Father, we pray for the folks who've been devastated by this storm, uh, that's come through, uh, Lord,
help them to find the hope that only you can provide where we know that nothing goes and happens in this
world without your knowledge of it. And so Lord, you're always there to love us and to minister, minister to
us. And so Lord, we, we thank you. We thank you for who you are and for what you do in our lives. We ask this
prayer in your name. Amen. Well, let's kind of go back a little bit. Let's kind of recap. Remember, Paul is
sending this letter to Titus, who is a young pastor. He is on the island of Crete. The island of Crete is
basically a very sinful place. And so there's a lot of churches there that are being planted and there's
a lot of new believers there, but there's also some conflict in the fact that there are false teachers
in these churches. And so the conflict arises with some of these new believers trying to discover what
is truth and what is false. And so Paul has appointed Titus with the task of bringing order to these
churches there on the island of Crete. But not only that, when we see in the rest of the part of chapter
one, he's asked Titus to select elders for these churches to help with the process of weeding out
these false teachers, to help with the process of confronting the false teaching there. And then
Pastor Bo shared with us in chapter two last week that Paul was encouraging Titus to teach sound
doctrine. And then we also discovered the important markers in a mature believer's life, an older man,
an older woman, as well as a younger man and a younger woman, the importance of having godly
characteristics in our lives. And so now you and I come to the second and final part of chapter two,
verses 11 and 11 through 15. So if you would join me as we read these five verses together.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the
present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself
a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things, exhort and
rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. So let's break this down. Let's go verse by verse
and see what it is that Paul is asking of Titus here. As he begins there in verse 11, for the grace
of God has appeared. That word for is so important because as Titus is reading this letter, it should
call him to go back and look at everything that he has just read in that letter. To be able to talk
about and to remember about false teachings, to remember about what it, what it, what the characteristics
need to be in elders, the qualities of godliness that needs to be in them. And so that word for is so
important. It connects going backward. But to see that phrase, the grace of God has appeared. The word grace
is that understanding for you and I that God's grace is the fact that we don't get what we deserve as
sinful people. But because of God's grace, he overlooks that. Because of God's grace, he still loves us and
forgives us. But what I found fascinating is this word or the phrase that Paul uses here that grace of God
God has appeared. What does he mean by that? It goes all the way back. You think about the Old Testament when
the prophecy that Jesus would come, right? And then we see in the Gospels, we see in Matthew that Jesus,
the Christ, was born. And we understand that in his birth meant that his name would be Emmanuel, that his name
would literally mean God with us. So that is what Paul is saying just in this simple phrase that the grace of
God has appeared, that Jesus has appeared. Now Titus would know that. Titus would know that because of the
teaching that he would have heard from Paul. It is interesting that when you look at that word appear in
the Greek, it gives this understanding that it's the image of the sun coming up. It's the image of the sun
breaking forth. Have you ever taken the opportunity that if you were ever at the beach or ever in a location
where you could see the sun rising up, did you ever take the opportunity to watch it? Whereas the sun comes
up over the horizon and this, the magnificence of that sun just exploding across the horizon
to let you and I know that a new morning has come. Now take that image and think about as Christ
entered the world, who's going to be our savior, who's going to be our Lord, who's going to be the one who
would take on the burden of our sin. And Paul says, grace of God has appeared. And then he connects with
that. He says, bringing salvation for all people. So not only would Christ appear, but he would also be
the one to bring salvation for you and salvation for me. And it's great to see that one little word there
before people, the word all that it's not just for a select few. It's not just for a group of a couple of
thousand people or a couple of a hundred thousand people, but the gift and the invitation of salvation
is for all people. No matter your walk of life, you and I and everybody else is included in that word.
All it's important for you and I to see that and to understand that it's not for a select group,
but God sent Christ into the world to bring salvation to you, to me, to everyone. Just as Paul reminds
Titus here, then in verse 12, he picks up and he says, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly
passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age. That word training,
right? They're so important for you and I, you see, we don't come to know God as our Lord and Savior and
say, I'm done. I'm good. I got everything squared away. No, you and I have to be about training our lives
into the things of God. You and I have to be about allowing God to mold and shape us. You and I have
to be about looking at the spiritual practices that we noticed in scripture and adding those and making
those a part of our life for the sole purpose of drawing us closer to God, for the sole purpose
of equipping us to be the people that God has called us to be. And then just that simple word of what it
means for us. It's Paul and Timothy, but it's also you and me. It's that phrase that Paul used earlier
in chapter one about common faith, that he and Titus were of common faith. You and I are of common
faith. So training us is so important. You see that word trained or training is used quite often in
scripture. In Luke chapter six, verse 40, we read these words spoken by Jesus. A disciple is not above
his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. That person has become
equipped to be able to teach and train others. First Timothy four, seven, we see these words that Paul is
writing once again to another young pastor named Timothy says in the chapter four, verse seven, having
nothing to do with irreverent or silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness.
Hopefully you and I know what training looks like in our lives, right? Training means that
that God's word becomes your manual for preparing yourself for now, but also preparing yourself for
eternity. That's what it means to train. Training yourself means that you connect with a discipleship
studies so you can learn another aspect of your walk with the Lord and realize other things about God's
truth. Training means connecting in a small group so that you can learn together what it means to walk
in relationship with God. Training means that you have somebody that you can go to for guidance that
you can go to, and they will speak God's truth into your life. Training means anything that you can learn
and grow because of your relationship with God. Training is one of those things that we just don't do the first few
years of our walk with God. Training is what you and I do until the day we die. Reading God's word doesn't mean we
just read it for a few years to kind of get a grasp of it. No, we read God's word and consume God's word over and over
again to the very last breath that you and I breathe. If you want to get good at something,
what do you and I do? We train, right? We stay at it. I remember our oldest son when he wanted to pursue
golf, one of the things that he did was get in our yard and we get in the front yard and chip balls into
the backyard. Thankfully for the majority of the time he used those wiffle ball golf balls and it didn't
break glass. But I noticed his short game was phenomenal. Why? Because day in and day out,
he just kept chipping golf balls, chipping, chipping, chipping. You and I, when we are constantly in God's
word, training ourselves for the things of God, God just begins to mold and shape us.
God re-refigures our mind because we're thinking about the things of God. God begins to work on our
relationships because we see in God's word, how we're to deal with our relationships that we have
here on earth. In the midst of training ourselves on the things of God, God does what he prepares to do.
But another thing that happens in your life and in my life is God prepares us for those
in the moment realities. Maybe it is we face something that is difficult, but because we spent
time in God's word, we've spent time training, we're ready to face those difficult times because
God has spoken into our lives because of our time spent in his word. See, God prepares us for the moments
in life because of the investment that we have made in our relationship with him and the investment we
have made in his word. In this verse, it also says to renounce, which also means to deny
ungodliness and worldly passions.
We had the opportunity this morning at nine o'clock to hear Jason Bush's testimony and in his testimony,
he used that word world. You see, anytime you and I see in scripture, the word world is usually an
opposition of what and who God is. So when you see the word world in scripture, it's not a good thing.
It's not a thing that you and I are to dive into. It's usually something that you and I are to guard
against or to you and I are to run away from. And just in this part of the verse that that Paul wrote here,
you and I are to deny ungodliness. So anything in our life that that represents the world, we're to deny that.
If it's a TV show that we shouldn't be watching, we should be saying no.
If it's a relationship that we're having, we should be saying no. If it doesn't honor God.
If it's a financial decision that we're making and it doesn't honor God, then we should be saying no.
Anything that does not represent God. And we don't want to get sucked into the worldly passions that are
so prevalent around us. We, we have everything so much in our hands nowadays with our phone. And
so it doesn't even, we don't even need the TV anymore. And so God doesn't want you and I to pursue
worldly passions. And like Paul is saying here to Titus, he says, deny those things in your life.
Hebrews chapter five, verse 14 says this,
but solid food, solid food, those things that go beyond just the biblical stories that we like to
tell about like David and Goliath. It goes deeper than that. It goes deeper into what those truths are
that surround those biblical stories of like David and Goliath. What do we want to see about who God is?
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment. Such an important word
right there, discernment. Because when you and I are training ourselves in God's word, we take on
spiritual discernment. Therefore we know what is right. Therefore we know what is wrong. Because we've
become a student of God's word and we know what God's word says about the things of the world. We know what
God's word says about our relationship with him and what he desires for us. Powers of discernment trained,
and listen to this word, by constant practice. The thing that I love about God's word is every word is
is carefully chosen and selected for you and I to get an understanding. Not just to throw a word in there
to make it sound good. Notice for you and I to get an understanding of what God wants us to understand
by constant practice. Not doing it on occasion, not doing it when you feel like it, but doing it
constantly. And as it says there at the end, to distinguish good from evil.
It's important for you and I to denounce, to renounce and deny ungodliness and worldly passions. And then
he goes on to say, so when you deny that this is now what you need to do, he says to live self-controlled.
You see, self-control is in that inner, our inner self. It's the inward reality of you and I
establishing in ourselves by our understanding of God and his word, what we will not do.
Going ahead and having the tools necessary to be ready to say, I'm not going to do that. That's
not the character that God would have me to do. And then Paul says and uses the word there upright.
The idea there is our outward existence, our outwardness to our family, our outwardness to our
friends, our outwardness to our co-workers. It's who we display as a believer in Christ. We display Christ to
them. And then Paul says and godly, meaning we represent our relationship with God. We understand that
we're to develop our relationship with God. So denying these things that look like the world, denying the
things that are ungodly, but taking on the idea of self-control, taking on being upright, taking on
living that godly life. And then he says in there in this present age. So in the very moment that you
and I are living right now in this moment is the present age, knowing that the age to come,
knowing that the future that is in front of you and I as a follower of Christ, spending eternity with God
is not too far off. Because when you look at verse 13, we hear these words of Paul.
Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing, there's that word again, the appearing of the glory
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, no show of hands, but how many of y'all got fidgety and
started squirming a little bit when you heard the word waiting? I'm not a very good waiter.
I'm that type of person that when I pull into a drive-through, I'm counting the cars.
I got five in front of me. It says a whole lot about me. If I get in situations, I start counting.
My wife will tell you, I'm not a good waiter.
But Paul says right here to Timothy, waiting for our, a Christ follower. If you can say that I
am a Christ follower, that word are means you. Waiting for our blessed hope. What is our blessed hope?
And he says it right here. The appearing of the glory of great, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let me go back. Cause I didn't want to miss this verse. Psalm 62, verse five, talking about weight.
The Psalmist writes for God alone. Oh, my soul. Wait in silence for my hope is from him.
For God alone. Oh, my soul. Wait in silence for my hope is from him.
You see, there's actually, when you look at the word weight in scripture, when you see some of these
verses, we're talking about weight. There's a calmness there.
There's a time of deep breathing and exhaling because you know who you're waiting on.
You know what you're waiting for.
And our waiting is to be active. It's not passive waiting.
It's waiting in anticipation of God. It's waiting in anticipation of God's return.
It says there, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
When's the last time you had that longing for God's return?
When's that last time you thought about God's return in a moment of, of joy and excitement?
I mean, that's the picture that you and I get here as Paul is writing this to time to Titus.
Hebrews, Hebrews nine verses 27 through 28 say these words.
And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment.
So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.
Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Will appear a second time.
And then that last part, eagerly waiting for him.
Are you and I eagerly waiting for the return of Christ?
Or does Satan get us so busy, so frustrated, so filled with anxiety that
we're just thinking about how to make it through?
You see, that's why it's so important with some of the spiritual disciplines we read about in the
scripture to, to push away, to get away for silence and solitude, because we get to push away the stuff.
And we just, we just get to be in the presence of God.
And he goes on to say in verse 14, referring to Christ, our great God and Savior.
And verse 14, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, who gave himself for us.
You see, what is in God's plan from the beginning of time, from beginning of creation, that he would bring you and I a savior who would save us from our sins.
And that Jesus willingly gave his life for you and willingly gave his life for me.
Do you remember when he was in the garden of Gethsemane?
He was having a conversation with God, the father.
And he says to him, he says, not my will, but your will be done.
If there was a way for, for Jesus not to have to go to the cross, he was wanting to do that.
But yet he knew because of surrender to his father, God, that was the plan and the destination.
He said, your will be done.
He willingly gave himself for you and for me to redeem us, to make us clean from all our lawlessness.
Think about that, all our lawlessness.
So my sins in my past, my sins in my present, my sins in my future, Christ with the cross to die and become a sacrifice for my sins,
to redeem and to make me right before God, the father.
And then it also says, Paul also says there to purify for himself a people.
First John 3, 16 says to you and I, first John 3, 16, by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us,
that Jesus laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
That's real love.
Jesus loved you so much.
He loved me so much that he willingly laid down his life for us to redeem us.
That word redeem, it means to buy out.
Jesus bought us.
He bought out to cover our sin for you and for me.
Then to purify us, to make us, to make us right, to purify us, to be that presentation, to be that person before God, the father.
Now that last phrase there, people for his own possession.
Don't be scared of that word, possession.
We think of that sometimes, we think, I don't want somebody to possess me.
I don't want somebody to own me.
But in this aspect, that's the best thing for us.
For you and I to be the children of God, to be heirs of God, to be heirs to his throne, you and I want to be possessed by God.
And that happens when you and I give our lives to God as Savior and Lord.
And then the last thing he says there in verse 14, he says, basically people, you and I, who are zealous, who are eager for good works.
So you and I, when we allow God to, and Jesus Christ to be in us the way he desires, and we live our lives according to God's word, as we read it.
We can't help but to be zealous, we can't help but to be eager to do good things.
We can't help but to do something for our neighbor.
We can't help to do something for our co-worker.
We can't help but to do something for our family member because God has wired us in that way when we became a believer.
God, as he continued to mold and shape us, we can't help to do those things because God has prepared us to do that.
Eager for serving and ministering to others where we live, where we work, and where we play.
And then Paul finally says to Titus, as he wraps up this part of the letter,
he says, declare these things.
Titus, everything that I've just written to you in this letter,
everything that you've just read and you've just pondered and you've just allowed to mull over in your mind,
he says, declare these things.
They need to be said.
They have to be reminded.
I know I do.
I know that's one reason why I continue to read God's word because I forget.
And there are things in my life that I need God to remind me of and he does that in his word.
Declare these things.
Exhort and rebuke with all authority.
Titus, make sure that you're encouraging people,
but Titus, make sure that you're helping people see the blind spots.
Titus, help people see that those believers, when they're not living the way they should be living,
help them to understand that.
Help them to realize that.
I mean, how else are you and I going to know our blind spots if somebody's not speaking into our life, right?
And that's what Paul is saying to Titus here.
And then he says, listen, don't let, don't let anyone disregard you.
Don't let anyone think that what you have to say is not of value.
It's an encouragement to keep on keeping on.
It's an encouragement that when somebody says, listen, I don't need to listen to you, chances are they need to listen to you, right?
There are times in our life we don't want to hear truth, but we know that we need to hear truth.
And just because someone may kind of shrug you off or say, eh, don't allow that to make you to give up.
Keep pressing on.
Allow God to continue to use you to make an impact and a difference in somebody's life.
So in wrapping up, I want us to kind of see some things that kind of stood out to us in this passage.
One of those is this.
We need to receive.
We need to be on the receiving end of God's salvation.
Receiving God's salvation.
It's the most important decision that you will ever make in your life.
So the question is, have you said yes to God's invitation of salvation, God's invitation of forgiveness, God's invitation to be Lord and Savior of your life?
Have you ever said yes to God?
If you haven't, don't let the opportunity slip away.
In a moment when we close together in singing, we're going to have our prayer encouragers on the side.
They're always there to pray with folks.
Whatever burden you have, whatever you're going through, decision to make, they want to pray with you.
But also, if you're here this morning and you've never made that commitment to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, they're there to guide you.
So when we start to sing, if that's the decision that you need to make, and you do, to be in relationship with God presently and in the future, then you go and talk to them.
The second thing there is this.
We have to continually deny ourselves while living for God in this present age.
Life is a series at times of battles.
Battling the worldly thoughts that we have or the worldly desires.
And God says, you've got to deny those.
And you and I have to realize that while we're here in this present age, we will go about denying ourselves those things that aren't good for us.
I mean, one of our mindsets needs to be when we read God's word is this.
Not only is it about our relationship with the Lord, but it's also about God loves us so much.
And in that God has direct or is directing us through his word for what is best for us in life.
So when we deny worldly passions, when we deny ungodliness in our life, it's for our good.
Another thing is this.
Longing and preparing for God's eternal presence.
Man, let us long and prepare ourselves for God's eternal presence.
Let's live in the moment now, enjoying the presence of God.
But let's not forget to long for and prepare ourselves for living in eternity in the presence of God.
And then lastly, declaring and standing up for God's truth.
Man, if there ever was a time in our life where we as Christ followers need to be about declaring and standing up for his truth, it's now.
Not walking away from conversations that seem uncomfortable, not walking away from our conversations where we know we need to speak up.
We need to speak the truth of God.
It's time for us to stand up for God and for God's word and for what we know of his truth.
God has continually and will continually reveal his truth to you and to me as we place ourselves in the scripture and as we read and learn from his word.
Will you join me in prayer?
Father, we know from your word that when we read it, when we study it, when we understand it, that it does not return void.
Your truth speaks into our life.
Your truth digs into our life.
And Lord, it molds and shapes us into the very person that you desire for us to be.
So Lord, help us not to forget that.
Thank you, Lord, for putting together this book that we call the Bible.
Because it is your truth and it is the only truth for life.
Lord, I pray that if there's anybody here this morning that doesn't know you as personal Lord and Savior, that Father, you would give your strength and courage for them to make the decision today for their life.
And to begin that process of growing and to begin that process of growing in relationship to you.
Father, if there's somebody here that is struggling with denying ungodliness or denying worldly passions, Father, I pray that through your Holy Spirit in their life, that Lord, you would speak the truth.
That Lord, you would give them through your spirit what they need to say no to those things in their life.
And Lord, to begin that healing process of washing away that sin, washing away that guilt.
Lord, thank you so much for loving us so much that you desire what is best.
We give all the glory, we give all the glory, we give all the honor to you for who you are.
Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We ask this prayer in your name.
Amen.
That's it for this week's message.
Be sure to check back next week for a new episode.
And in the meantime, you can visit us online at willowridgechurch.org
or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next week.