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Welcome to the Hope Community Church! Hope is a multi-site church community with locations around the Triangle in Raleigh, Apex, Northwest Cary, Garner, and Fuquay-Varina. We are here to love you where you are and encourage you to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ! We strive to speak the truth of the Bible in a way that is easy to understand, helpful in your current life circumstances, and encouraging. No matter who you are or where you come from, you are welcome here!
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Hey, hope.
How you doing? Why don't we staying to our feet
and we'll give the Lord praise.
Let's dance like David did,
Huh?
There's a song that never season, day,
night never ends.
The elders and living creatures
lay their crowns
before there's a sound of worship
rising to the king
Of maje,
Of resounding declaration.
Hear your sing.
Praise.
Praise
The rocks. Cry
in.
We won't hold back anything.
We, the two weeks old
the king be
Lives
Of power
and on our praise now and forever
Ing The
Of And
now and forever.
Praise
lives.
How you doing? I hope. Well,
Why don't you do yourselves a favor?
Why don't you get to know somebody that's next to you,
find out where they're from,
what they're doing this week, uh,
And
but there's a
Who,
holy
Jesus Christ
Throne.
Jesus Christ
is worthy
Only You.
Who is who Is worthy.
Only
You Jesus.
Only you Jesus
Of all.
Oh, you're,
yes, you're
Us.
How high I
turned and spoke your name
into the night, then through the
darkness
Soul.
So great.
The
Your Forever.
Jesus Christ,
Salvation in Your name, Jesus Christ,
hallelujah has lost His,
That
The
hall has lost,
have salvation.
Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ
Church, can we sing that chorus again?
Just one more time together.
Sing Hallelujah.
Praise The Who Send Me Free
has lost its Grandpa, you
salvation, in name Jesus Christ.
Father, we thank you that you are our living hope
we can celebrate because of what you have done in our lives.
Speak to us now as we open your word.
Father, we love you and we give you all of our praise
and your precious and holy name.
Amen. Church, it's been so great worshiping together.
Why don't you grab a seat?
Oh, I love that song. Jesus Christ is our living hope.
I don't know if you really, really have thought about that,
but hope is powerful.
You know, I was reading in a book recently
and it really challenged me
'cause I've always thought of myself
as an optimistic person, a you know,
half glass, full kind of person.
And at moments I've prided myself in optimism.
And this book was saying, you know,
optimism at the end of the day.
Although it, it, it's helpful, it's a feeling.
But the difference in optimism
and hope is hope is actually anchored in something.
It's not just a feeling. It's anchored in our future,
especially for us as believers in Jesus Christ.
If we've accepted his salvation, our hope is anchored
in a future with him forever and ever.
And it's also anchored in the past,
in his finished work on the cross
through his death and resurrection.
So much more than a feeling, hope is powerful.
And Jesus Christ is my living hope.
And if you've placed your faith in him,
he is your living hope.
Hope is real. Hope is good,
and I think it's a pretty good name for a church as well.
So welcome to Hope Community Church.
It is so good to be with you guys.
I'm thrilled to be with you today.
If you're in the room, welcome. Thank you for coming.
If you're watching online, thank you so much
for taking time from your busy schedule to tune in
and be with us for these moments together
where we worship God, where we learn from his word.
If you're new in the room
or online, we would love to connect with you online.
You can just put there in the chat, Hey, I'm new
and we would love to connect with you online.
If you're here in the room, we would love to connect
with you after the service at an area
that we call our next steps area.
So when you're leaving, just look to your left
and you'll see our next steps area.
And we would love to help you with any questions
that you have or online or in the room.
If you simply text the word new to 7 2 9 8 9, we can connect
with you that way as well.
Well, today, this weekend is our final installment in this
incredible series that we have been in called Field Notes,
just going verse by verse, chapter by chapter
through this letter
that Paul the Apostle wrote over 2000 years ago
to a particular pastor named Titus.
And isn't it amazing that these words
that were written primarily to one person,
but also Paul meant for it to be shared with others,
and it was shared with us so many years later,
and the word of God is still rich and powerful,
and we're learning so much,
and we're remembering so many good things.
So I'm so glad that today we get
to learn some more from this powerful little letter,
and we're gonna hear from one of our pastors
and my good friend Dave Lenti
Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ
to Titus my true son in our common faith.
I write to you now with instructions on how to equip
and establish a local church fueled by God's grace.
We must strive to be equipped
and established in sound doctrine, qualified leadership
and godly living
Well, hey, I am Dave.
It is an absolute honor to be with you guys here today.
If you brought your Bibles, you can turn with me to the,
the very tail end of Titus, like the very super, super end,
the part with all the names and the places
and the personal greetings.
That's gonna be our text for today.
And while you're turning there, I have a quick word directly
to any NC State fans in the house.
Do we have any of those? Uh, any, okay, I see a few.
That's good. That's good. I I'm an NC State fan.
Um, but I gotta confess to you, sometimes it's hard
to be an NC State fan, right?
We've been disappointed once or twice.
We've been conditioned where
after the a, a bad first half that we can kind
of think like, yeah, I think I've seen this one before.
I know how this ends, I'm out of here.
Well, we're not gonna do that to tie this today.
We're gonna stay in the stadium.
We're not gonna empty it out like Carter Finley Stadium,
when you guys go and you tailgate
and all that, we're gonna stay and finish this thing out.
And the the truth is, many people get to the ending of,
of any book and their reading plan,
and they're like, yeah, I'm just gonna skip over that.
That's not important for me.
But I think what we're gonna see as we make it through
to the end, that God has some really important
truths for us to learn today.
Let me read our text. I'm starting in, uh,
Titus chapter three verses, uh, 12 through 15.
It says this, when I send Artemis Ortus to you, do your best
to come to me at Nelo for I have decided
to spend the winter there.
Do your best to speed Xus the lawyer
and Apollos on their way.
See that they lack nothing.
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works.
So as to help cases of urgent need
and not be unfruitful all who are
with me send greetings to you.
Greet those who love us in the faith, grace be with you all.
Let me pray. Father, I'm reminded today that all
of your word is God, breathed God.
All of it is useful for, uh, training us up for teaching,
correcting, uh, or training us up in righteousness, God.
So as we look at this, this past, uh, this last few words
that you wrote to t this God,
may your Spirit point us toward the truths that you want us
to hear today.
We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.
It tells us who we are in light of who he is
and what he's done on our behalf.
But what does the gospel look like today?
Is the gospel something that you can point to and say?
Yeah, there it is. That's it.
Is it something you can observe in action
or is it something that's just merely believed?
I think the text today is gonna help us answer
that question, what the gospel looks like today.
And we're gonna take it verse
by verse like we've been doing throughout this series.
So go back with me to verse 12.
It says, when I send Artemis Ticus to you, do your best
to come to me at Nelo for I have decided
to spend the winter there.
Do your best to speed Zeus,
the lawyer in Apollo on their way, see
that they lack nothing.
So the first field note,
the gospel looks like sent people sharing God's message.
The gospel has been from the very beginning
and always will be central to the church of Jesus.
Christ is the gospel that rescues us, that redeems us
and transforms us.
It's the message by which we make disciples.
Disciples are followers of Jesus.
There're those who have put their faith
and trust in what the gospel teaches about Jesus'
death and resurrection.
And so with all the, the names
that we see in these first few verses, uh,
of our text today,
we get this real life like historical account of
how people have responded to the last words
that Jesus ever said before he ascended into heaven.
We can read those words in Acts one, eight.
He says, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria into the end of the earth.
It's vital that we understand this is our mission.
You have been sent to be his witnesses.
We have a gospel sharing mission.
And as we do this, and as people repent
and put their faith in Jesus Christ and his death
and his resurrection, they become disciples.
And we're called to do this. We're sent
to do this in our homes, in our communities
and in the next town over and to the very ends of the earth.
And also with all the people we see in this text,
we see like from the very beginning
that this has never been a solo effort.
It's never been a solo mission. It's always included.
All of us, all of his church people are being sent all over.
That includes you. And this is still ongoing today,
and you might have missed it,
but in verse 12, there's this,
this huge significant plot twist here for Titus.
I mean, imagine for a moment that you're Pastor Titus
and you get this letter from the Apostle Paul
and you're like, oh, great, the Apostle Paul.
I mean, this might be in the Bible one day.
This is really cool. Let's see what he says.
Let's see the things that he says I need to set in order.
Okay, he says, um, I need to choose some elders
to help fill the leadership void in the church.
Yep. All right, that sounds like a wise plan.
Let's see what else. He says. Ah,
he heard about the false teachers
that we've got running around here.
He says, I need to silence them
and rebuke them that that's not gonna be fun.
But I agree that needs to be done.
Let's see, what else does he say?
He says, I need to teach sound doctrine
to every family in the church,
to husbands, to wives, to children.
Well, I mean, that seems important.
We gotta have healthy families. Let me make a note.
Looks like it's time to start a reengage
and hope for parents again.
Let's see, what else?
Ah, there's some, some reinforcements coming.
There's some new pastors coming that I need
to make sure I take care of before I leave the church
and move to necropolis.
Wait, what? I'm leaving. I'm being replaced.
That's right. Pastor Titus finds out right here
that he's being replaced
as the pastor in the church in Crete.
I think we can agree none of this stuff that, uh,
Titus has been commanded to set an order is gonna be easy.
None of it is gonna be comfortable for Titus.
And I think if we're honest, we all tend
to move toward what's comfortable,
what's familiar, what's easy.
I know I do, but when we rightly understand the centrality
of the gospel mission that we have, that we're on,
we can't hold too tightly to our, our current circumstances,
to their comfort of the familiarity.
You see, the the place
where you're living might not be the place where you,
you retire in the, the job
that you have today may not be the job that you have
tomorrow, the health that you're enjoying today.
It, it might change completely
by the time you go to the doctor.
Next. God often calls his people
to new things into new places, and it's never by accident
and it's often uncomfortable.
In fact, it's worth asking.
If you think God is calling you to something
that's really familiar and really easy
and really comfortable, it's worth asking, is it God
that's actually calling you to that?
Or is it just you? And I'm not saying
that comfortable things and,
and pleasures and all that is bad.
If God has given you those, praise him. Enjoy him.
Give him glory for that.
But as I look through scripture, what I see is God has,
I can't find one example of God calling someone specific
to something really easy and familiar and comfortable.
And if there's any parting shots that Paul gives to Titus
before he signs off this letter, I think we can agree.
It's in verse 14. He says this, let our people learn.
In fact, this is the last command, the last imperative given
to Titus in this letter.
Learn that the people of God need to be learning.
And by extension that pastors
and church leaders need to be teaching.
This is not a new idea he's
introducing here in in the closing.
In fact, if you've been tracking along, he,
he shared this idea throughout the word teach has
already been used three times.
The word taught past tense.
Another time the word doctrine, which basically means
biblical teaching four more times the command
to remind them three more times.
It's clear from start to finish of this letter that pastors
and leaders of this church need to be teaching.
And that everyone here needs to be learning.
And the command form of learn in the Greek, it's manino.
I love this, that it's a cognate
with the word disciple itself, meaning that followers of g
of God, disciples are by nature learners.
I think that's really cool. And since we're commanded
to learn, we, we need to be reminded how disciples learn.
Well, before I was a pastor, I was a teacher for 11 years.
And basically a teacher's job is
to make sure students learn that's what they do.
And so, uh, my job, um, is to teach these kids.
And, and in my observation,
what I've learned is there's three basic
ingredients needed for learning.
You need instruction, you need observation,
and you need practice, instruction,
observation, and practice.
Let me give you an example. My son recently
learned to play the guitar.
And actually he's getting really good,
but he didn't learn to play the guitar just
by reading a book about guitars.
He didn't learn by, uh, uh,
by just getting together in a men's group
and talking about guitars.
He learned through instruction and observation and practice.
So, uh, for instruction, he's got this app that he goes to
and he can look up the chords to all the songs he wants
to learn for observation.
He goes to YouTube and he watches these
master guitar players.
He sees the shape of their hands
as they form these complicated chords.
And he observes the songs by listening to them over
and over hearing the rhythm and the tempo.
So he knows how they're supposed to sound,
and then he practices repetitions are required.
He practices and he practices
and he practices until it sounds just right.
Instruction, observation, practice.
Paul has been saying these same things from start to finish
of this book that disciples in the church need instruction.
We need observation, we need practice.
And our instruction comes right here.
Biblical doctrine is our instruction.
This is why we gather weekly to learn what God's word has
to say because we so quickly forget.
It's why we teach classes like re-engage
and hope for parents so that you can see
what biblical doctrine has
to say about the most important relationships in life.
But we don't just need instruction.
We also need observation.
We need strong parents modeling what it looks like.
We need strong husbands, strong wives.
We need strong single men and strong single women.
We need, uh, pastors and elders
and mentors in place that are living out the kind
of godly living that we are to observe
and model our lives after.
We need to observe and learn from them.
And we need practice. We need repetitions.
We need to practice what we're learning is true,
what we're observing in others.
And thankfully, life gives us those opportunities in every
single interaction, in every single relationship.
We simply just need to learn
to see the people God puts in front
of our eyes every single day.
Instruction, observation, practice.
Okay, so what are we supposed to be learning?
Well, let's look back at verse 14.
This might sound familiar if you've been tracking along
with us throughout the series.
He says, let our people learn
to devote themselves to good works.
The gospel is not an intellectual pursuit.
Field note number two,
the gospel is lived out with good works.
We're not commanded to learn just for the sake of learning.
We're commanded to learn sound doctrine for the purpose
of living it out.
The gospel isn't just our means of forgiveness.
Gospel living is never intended to be passive.
The gospel invites us.
It it invites us to, to enjoy that freedom in a response
by leaving our me centered way of, of living behind
and enjoying the abundant life
that good works can provide for us.
The gospel demands of response from our lives.
Jesus taught this idea in John 14.
He says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
In other words, if you love me, then you'll live this out.
Look at what Jesus' brother said, uh, James.
He said, what good is it? What good is it my brothers?
If someone says he has faith
but he does not have works, can that faith save him?
What good is that? So also, faith by itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.
Still not convinced. Look at
what Paul says in Ephesians two 10.
He says, we were,
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
For what? For good works.
Bonus one, the Apostle John,
I don't know if we have this on the, on the side screens,
but he says in one John two, four, that if you claim
to know him but you aren't obeying his commands,
that you are a liar.
Well, that's uncomfortable.
Devoting ourselves to good works is not just
what we're supposed to learn.
It's why we're supposed to learn.
And it's how we're supposed to be living our lives.
And this is all about the gospel. Don't misunderstand.
It's all for the mission.
If you're lacking purpose, as you sit here today,
the gospel supplies that for you.
Think about what devoting yourselves to good works does.
First in your own heart.
I mean, we saw it last week in the, in the,
in the previous paragraph, uh, right
before this text that we were once foolish, disobedient,
let astray slaves to various passions and pleasures.
See, apart from the gospel,
before the gospel entered our lives, the way
that we walked was in service
to our own imaginary tiny me kingdom.
This tiny kingdom, a kingdom of one, you living
for yourself, devoting yourself to yourself
and expecting everyone else to devote themselves to you too.
So with every good work that we do in response
to the gospel, we're reminding ourselves it's
actually not about us.
That we can set aside our selfish ambition and vain concede,
and even just for a moment that we, we would learn to live
for others as we serve them.
Paradoxically, this is where you find joy in life.
And, and then that's what it does in your own heart.
But think about what devoting yourselves to good works does
for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of those
who are hearing the message.
We're trying to share this message that you've been called
to share the good news of Jesus' death
and resurrection, the forgiveness
that he offers by his grace.
We're, we're not called to just walk
around and tell people this.
We're we're commanded to live it right where you are
in your homes, in your community, at work,
in the grocery store, at the soccer field,
every single day in each interaction,
in each relationship in life.
Paul is saying, we have to learn
to devote ourselves to do this.
In fact, the gospel sharing mission depends on this.
There's absolutely nothing mystical to this field.
Note number three, we need to learn to align our lives to
what we already believe is true about Jesus Christ.
There's a gap. What good is it if we claim
to have faith, but we're doing nothing about it?
It's no good at all. Paul says, it's fruitless.
James says it's dead.
John says, you might be a liar if you claim to have that.
Be careful. There are eternal implications here.
A sincere claim to faith is not synonymous
with a sincere saving faith.
The evidence of saving faith is good works,
or perhaps more strongly put.
The evidence of inauthentic faith is a lack of good works.
In other words, it's possible to,
to have good works apart from faith.
Just look at every single humanitarian
organization on the planet.
But it is impossible to have true,
authentic faith apart from works faith
and good works are inseparable with true faith.
Good works aren't a burden, they're a joy.
But Paul is saying they have to be learned
because it doesn't come naturally to us with our me kingdom.
Selfish hearts.
So notice Paul suggests
that some needs are more urgent than others.
And, uh, whatever campus you attend, you need to know
that there are urgent needs that need to be met by you so
that we are not seen as unfruitful.
There's needs that you can meet
and your campus pastors can tell you more about that
as the at the wrap up or go find them and ask them.
But I wanna look, I wanna examine what are the good works
that Paul is telling Titus that he, his church needs
to devote themselves to,
because I think we can learn from these as well.
Well, to do that, we gotta go back
and look at the whole letter as a whole.
And the term good works
or works itself is used eight times throughout this letter.
Okay? He's not introducing something new.
And, uh, as we go back
and look at that, uh, you might think that good works.
I think our mind naturally goes toward these large scale
humanitarian efforts like, uh, feeding the hungry
and finding shelter for the homeless.
Those things are good and,
and they're talked about elsewhere,
but they're not here in this text.
Those aren't the good works that Paul is talking about.
Go back and look at them. You'll see that the good works
that he describes are all lived out in our daily
interactions with other people.
We'll see that the good works he talks about are all about
character in our relationships
that good works are never impersonal.
That in every interaction
and every relationship that we would learn
to devote ourselves to good works
by showing godly character with others.
Let me remind you of some of the good works.
Paul calls out specifically, he says, showing integrity,
dignity, sound, speech, that that means just speaking
what is true, self controlled, obedient, quiet,
not quarreling, gentle showing courtesy to all people,
showing hospitality, not arrogant, not quick temper,
not violent, not greedy.
These are, are just a few of the kinds of good works that,
that Paul has told Titus he needs to teach.
And we could look at each single one of them and,
and preach a sermon on every single one separately.
But for today's purposes,
we're just gonna look at one self-control.
We need to learn to devote ourselves to self-control.
This term, uh, appears four times in this letter.
So that repetition alone should get our attention.
The, the word self-control.
It means, uh, temperate, moderate in passion,
sensible curbing one's, uh,
tendency toward overly emotional outbursts.
We need to learn to be gentle.
We need to learn to be courteous, not angry.
People holding up signs at rallies, not fighting
for what's right with, with violence, not engaging in
loud heated debates all over the place,
not posting long angry rants on social media.
We need to learn to devote ourselves
to a different way of life.
By the way, I I have never once argued or debated
or fought someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I've never seen that happen.
And Paul is saying the same thing.
We should live different than that.
We should be quiet, we should be dignified,
we should be self controlled.
And don't misunderstand me.
I'm not saying that we should be passive.
In fact, I'm saying that we should actively pursue
godly, uh, good works.
That we should be pursuing good deeds all
for the sake of the gospel.
That every interaction, every single relationship on earth
as we go about sharing, uh, these good works with them,
that the gospel itself would be
so much more clearly communicated
than our words could ever do.
I mean, you guys, how are we supposed
to share a compelling gospel?
The greatest story of love this world has ever seen?
If we're walking around angry
and arguing with everyone, our lives need to match
what we believe is true in the gospel of Jesus.
We don't want to give people an easy excuse
to dismiss the message because our lives don't match up.
This is a, a good point for me to pause
and to confess, I need to devote myself
to learning self-control.
I like to think of myself as a passionate and direct person.
Uh, the pastors around here, in fact, they find my level
of passion and my level of direct directness like hilarious.
Um, and sometimes in meetings they will intentionally say
things that they know will fire me up just,
just to amuse themselves.
They, they do this. I I am a passionate person.
They know that actually Pastor
Dwayne, he's the worst at this.
Um, sometimes I say things that are true, but
because I lack self-control, they should just,
they're things that are better left unsaid.
You want to hear a confession, uh, of one
of the dumbest things I ever said as a pastor
of, of course you do.
It might be the only thing you remember today, right?
Um, one day back when I was the Apex Campus pastor,
this woman walked up to me after service
and she was really mad about something.
I honestly don't remember what she was mad about.
Something what I thought was trivial.
Either it was too loud or not loud enough or too hot,
or not hot enough or too much haze or maybe not enough haze.
I don't know. It probably wasn't, not enough haze.
No one's ever asked for more haze.
But anyway, she was really mad
and she actually asked for an apology.
She said, you need to apologize to me.
And I found that really aggressive. And so I did.
Here, here's what I said. I said, you're right.
I do owe you an apology. It actually is our fault.
Somewhere along the way, we made you think that our services
around here are all about you.
I'm so sorry about that. Yeah, that's what I said.
Her jaw dropped and then my jaw dropped,
and I thought, oh my gosh, tell me that.
I didn't just say that, that I was just thinking that,
please, but no, I said it.
And no, I never saw her again at a hope service
ever again, as you can imagine.
And also side note,
I am no longer the campus pastor at Apex.
Uh, um, Doug is way nicer.
He is way more self-control than I could ever be.
The point is, I'm still learning.
I need to devote myself to learning self-control.
It's hard, right?
I mean, even when we have instruction,
even when I read God's word every single day, even when,
when, uh, I have mentors around me, people that I look up
to, to observe from, even when, when, when I have practice
and every interaction and every relationship, learning
to devote ourselves to self-control is just hard.
Let's just confess that.
I mean, how are you supposed to learn to show self-control
to your spouse or to your ex-spouse
when they disappoint you or they hurt you?
Again, students, how are you supposed
to learn self-control when you walk into class on the first
day and you see that kid that's been bullying you online?
How are you supposed to learn self-control with,
with the simple things, the everyday things like posting on
social media, things
that make us look better than we actually are.
We need to learn self-control.
And sometimes instruction, observation
and practice aren't enough.
We inevitably fall short.
In fact, maybe you're sitting here today
and you're thinking, yeah, I know that I fall short.
In fact, I know there is this impossibly huge gap
between the way I'm living my life and,
and the God that I say I believe in.
And I hope no one else will find out how big that gap is.
Well, the truth is, we all have that gap.
None of us measures up.
And so there's one more thing we need in order to learn
to devote ourselves to these kind of good works.
Paul gives it to us in the last five words of this letter.
He says, grace, be with you all.
Grace is good news, you guys.
And Paul knew we needed one more reminder of his grace.
Grace is the undeserved love of God to all people
revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
Feel. Note number four, God's grace closes the gap between
how we live our lives and
what we believe about Jesus Christ.
For the Christ follower grace fills every gap.
What we don't know, grace teaches what we don't have.
Grace provides what we are not. Grace makes us.
You guys look at this verse. It's incredible.
Uh, it's from two Corinthians nine, eight.
Paul says, God is able to make all grace abound to you so
that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,
you may abound in every good work, all things, all times.
That's how big his grace is.
And we've seen throughout Titus that God's grace,
it teaches us, uh, it it teaches us in two directions
that not only saves us, it teaches us to say no
to certain things, to renounce bad behaviors so
that we can say yes to better things.
His grace encourages us
and enables us to do what we couldn't do without it.
But we have to be careful. This relationship that exists
between work, uh,
and grace in the gospel is often misunderstood.
There's some bad theology traps that we can fall into.
So let me remind you of a few.
The first one is this, that, um, that we could think that
by our good works, we could somehow earn some credit into
our God accounts by what we're doing, by serving
or by tithing, that we could somehow tip the scales in our
favor or climb the rope on our own
effort to get into heaven.
Well, let me make this as clear as Paul does in scripture.
We are saved by grace, not by our good works,
but for our good works.
Good works don't make us acceptable to God.
That's the opposite of what the gospel teaches.
Jesus didn't come so that he could teach us how
to make ourselves acceptable to God.
Jesus came to save those who
by their nature are unacceptable.
That's the gospel. That's the good news.
And there's another trap that we often fall.
And there's people here that say, you know what?
I don't have to do good works. This isn't for me.
Since God has executed a not guilty verdict on my life,
because of the grace of Jesus Christ,
I don't have to do good works.
His law doesn't matter to me. In fact, I'm not under law.
I'm under grace. And that last part is true.
It comes from Romans six 14.
But the fact is this, that the law
of God is written on the hearts of his children in order so
that we might know what it is to love him.
That's Romans two 15.
See, God's law and God's grace,
they're not an opposition to one another.
Grace and obedient works.
They, they go together like two petals of a bicycle.
I wanna explain what this looks like in my own life.
Uh, God's grace humbles proud hearts like mine.
When I remember God's grace, it teaches me to ask
for feedback in areas that I'm weak, like self-control.
His grace teaches me daily to pray and ask for his help.
His grace teaches me to apologize
to my wife when I've wronged her, his grace,
it also encourages me.
It spurs me into action.
When my life is getting lazy
or sloppy, it starts to close the gap between what I believe
and how I'm living my life.
And his grace allows forgiveness.
I don't know that there's anything better than I can tell
you that because of the grace of Jesus,
if your faith is in him, you are forgiven.
I'm forgiven. And God made a way for for us to walk in
that forgiveness every single day.
Your debt has been paid in full, his grace,
it saves us, it trains us up.
It transforms us.
This is the story that the Bible tells from
Genesis to Revelation.
The Bible is a story of rescue.
The Bible is a story of redemption.
And perhaps above all the, the Bible is a story
of God's loving grace for you and for me.
The Bible tells us that we were created in God's image,
not not an accident by some primordial sludge
that came together and started living and, and thinking
and breathing and loving.
Like that's crazy.
No, that God spoke and we were created in his image.
And because we're created in his image, that means
that every single person on earth has
dignity inherent in them.
That we should treat them with respect just
because they're also made in God's image.
But sadly, tragically, we see that the image of us,
God's image, uh, in us rather has been spoiled.
It's been tainted by our sin.
And after sin enters into the story, we see
that God doesn't just give up on us and move on that.
Instead, we see God
as this relentless pursuer and lover of people.
And he puts this plan of action into place,
this rescue plan, this plan of redemption,
this plan of grace.
And by grace, God gives us his law.
He gives us his commands.
These are his grace that he gives it to us.
It's not to, to keep us locked up in a box and not have fun.
God's law teaches us what's right and wrong.
It keeps us away from the things that are,
that are gonna hurt us from the guilt and the shame
and the suffering that sin causes.
God's law is a grace to us.
The problem is none of us is able to keep it.
Each of us have failed over and over.
We're all found guilty.
And so by his grace, God sends his only son Jesus Christ,
God himself in human form.
And nobody lived like Jesus lived. You should see the grace.
You should read about it in the
gospels, the grace He showed others.
No one lived like him. No one loved like him.
He was obedient to all the places in this that we failed.
He was victorious in every way that, that we were defeated.
And then amazingly astonishingly by his grace,
Jesus willingly hung on a cross for you and for me.
He endured a brutal execution, taking our place, one perfect
sinless sacrifice in exchange for all of us.
And Jesus didn't stay dead
By God's grace, he rose again.
He's alive. We sang about it today. He is our living hope.
He's a he's resurrected.
And the moment that we confess that the moment
that we believe, the moment we confess with our mouth
that Jesus is Lord,
and we believe in our hearts
that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.
Titus says in three seven
that we will be justified by his grace.
Justified. That word I I was taught years ago
that justified, meant, justified, never sinned.
I gotta tell you, it's so much better than that,
that we were, when we're in Christ,
we're not put back into the way that things were with Adam
and Eve before sin.
It's so much better than that.
We learn that scripture teaches us that he
who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so
that we could become the righteousness of God.
You guys, that's unthinkable the victory that we sang about,
that Jesus, uh, accomplished his obedience, all of
that is credited to our account if we are found in him.
That's good news. This is by grace, not by work so
that no one can boast.
And having accomplished all that he set out to do,
he ascends into heaven.
And he's seated right now at the right hand of the Father,
the, the, the writer of Hebrews.
He says, he's upholding the universe by the word
of his power, by grace,
he's holding everything together in your life.
He's giving you the breath, you're breathing,
he's sustaining it all.
We learn that he lives in constant
intercession on our behalf.
It's like he's seated at the right hand of the Father
and he is saying, yeah, that one
right there, that's our boy.
That's our girl. Holy and beloved and righteous and pure,
because I paid the price for them.
They're debt is paid.
And Jesus doesn't leave us by going to heaven.
He doesn't leave us alone. By his grace,
he sends the Holy Spirit that when we put the moment,
we put our faith and trust in Jesus, the Spirit indwells us.
It lives He, he lives within us. He transforms us.
He molds us. He shapes us.
He's growing us up into the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Ephesians four,
his grace is closing the gap between
what we believe and how we live.
His grace is in planning in us a new hope and a new purpose.
It's allowing us, uh, this new mission to share this grace
with others, that as,
as we join in this worldwide rescue mission,
as we live out these good works, as we share the good news
of Jesus' death and resurrection, that we will get
to experience this life change in other people.
That we will see people right in front
of our eyes move from death toward life.
They'll find freedom by grace.
His family of families is growing today by grace.
His kingdom is expanding.
We celebrate it every time we celebrate a baptism.
And by grace, his story is not over.
Jesus is coming back.
And when he does make no mistake, evil
and all of his proponents are gonna be
judged and punished forever.
But those of us that remain faithful to the end, and I pray
and I'm found among them, I pray my wife
and my children are found among them.
I pray that you remain faithful to the end.
No matter how hard the world gets, no matter
how shiny the things of the world are, remain faithful
to the end because if we do,
his word teaches us that we are gonna be exalted,
we're gonna be glorified, we're gonna be
with him forever in eternity.
You gotta read about it in Revelation 21
and 22, that what we've been after, what God's been
after from the very beginning will become true.
That we will be as people
and he will be our God forever the way that it was designed
to be, except this time without sin ever having a chance
to separate us again from the love
that is ours in Christ Jesus.
It's a story of grace
that we read about from beginning to end.
It's a story of the gospel. It's available to you.
I wish I could describe his grace better to you.
I wish I had more passion. I wish my words didn't fall flat.
I hope I sing about his amazing grace until the day I die.
I'm glad you stayed with me to the end.
I'm glad you didn't leave early
to go tailgating like an NC State fan after halftime.
Otherwise, you might have missed one last reminder to Titus
of his amazing grace.
The gospel demands a response.
Imagine what it would look like if we all responded
by living the gospel, by sharing the gospel.
It demands a response. So how will you respond? Lemme pray.
God, I thank you for your grace.
I ask today, what does the gospel look like?
I think it looks like your son, Jesus.
God, I pray that we wouldn't just people that walk
around talking about Jesus,
although we probably need to do that more.
God, I pray that we would be people that live your gospel,
that we devote ourselves to learning these good works.
God, that in every interaction
and in every relationship,
that we would see the people right in front of us, God,
that all of it would be for your glory and for our good.
Thank you for your amazing grace, we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Such A good word.
Such a good reminder. And Paul, the apostle,
so faithfully reminded Titus, which these
so many years later is continuing to remind us
of his amazing grace, I hope the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ still amazes you.
Or maybe for the first time it clicked tonight
and it amazes you.
And if something is happening in your heart, in your life,
and the grace, the unmerited, kindness, unmerited favor
of God, not about your good works to earn something,
but about how much he loved you and gave himself for you.
If that's making sense for the first time, man,
don't leave here without talking to one of us
or going to next steps.
Or if you're online putting something there in the chat
ham beginning to understand his amazing grace.
And I love how Dave showed us so clearly
that it's his amazing grace that closes,
that gap closes man.
And I need that grace daily that closes that gap between
what I believe, what we believe and how we live.
And one of the ways that we live out those good
works is in serving.
Dave talked about urgent needs
because that's what Paul talked about,
good works and urgent needs.
And at each of our campuses here at Hope,
we have urgent needs for people to step up
because we are a family
who loves God follows Jesus and shares hope.
But how we love God, how we follow Jesus, how we share hope
happens through our family responsibilities.
Some might call them family chores,
but those responsibilities are good works.
And those responsibilities sometimes look like welcoming
people into the parking lot
or into our church as a part of first impressions.
Sometimes those good works, those good responsibilities
that serving looks like raising up the next generation
by pouring into them in kid city
or in middle school ministry or high school ministry.
We have urgent needs.
And if the Holy Spirit is working on you to get involved in
what he's doing in
and through this church, I wanna encourage you just do this.
Text the word serve to 7, 2, 9, 8, 9.
It'll take you to a link. You'll be sent a link.
And then on that link, first thing you do,
put the campus that you attend.
And as soon as you put in that campus, you will see
those urgent needs at the top of the page there.
We would love for you by the grace of God. Don't worry.
And don't worry about not being equipped to do it.
The grace of God fills that gap. And we'll help you out too.
I know some of you are planners in this place,
and so you like to plan things far in advance.
So knowing that we wanted to leave you today with some dates
to save that are coming up in the month of August,
two very important dates to put on your plan.
The first is August 10th.
It is our Vision Night, our All in Vision Night.
It's going to be at 5:00 PM right
here at the Raleigh campus.
It's where all of our campuses come together.
We're gonna worship together, we're gonna pray together.
We're gonna hear from Jason, our lead pastor, some
of our elders about where God has us, where he's taking us.
And we are in an exciting season.
So please plan to join us on the 10th for
that all in Vision Night.
And two weeks later on the 24th, it's going to be similar,
but it's what we're calling a campus family
prayer experience.
And at that time, at that gathering,
that prayer gathering families
of the campuses coming together, praying together,
hearing from the campus pastor
and other campus leaders of what God is calling us
to do specifically in our communities.
So please be with us on the 10th of August and the 24th.
If there's anything that we can do to serve you
or your family, please let us know if you're here
with us today and your new stop
by our next steps if you're joining online, thank you
so much for being with us.
And as Paul said, as he ends the letter and we end tonight.
Grace be with you all. Amen.