0:00
Are you this morning? Good. All is well? It is. It is well.
0:04
Would you stand with us, and we're gonna sing. I'm gonna invite Scott if he'll come forward and handle the tenor section of the choir that's looking at us and we're going to sing, how about when we all get to heaven? A couple of the songs lined up today from our first service and second service is one of them. When we all get to heaven, hymn number seven seventy two. Sing it like you know it.
0:27
Sing it like you mean it. How about that?
1:58
When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory.
2:18
How great thou art. This song always is good, but man, doesn't it resonate in this valley? I think of this all the time when we went through the woods and forest glades, I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the book and feel the gentle grief. Let's sing it together.
2:39
Hymn number one forty seven. You can sing off the wall or sing your party if you want to. Feel free.
2:44
Off the wall. I like the sound of that. And sings my when I with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my soul. Then I shall
7:03
Y'all sound great this morning. Have a seat and we'll have a few announcements. We'll get back to praising. So, today, there was a discovery class. If if you are here and you're thinking, what I need to know about this place, this church.
7:16
Some of you have been attending for a while but are thinking about membership. That's the place to go. A discovery class that happens in between services on the third Sunday of the month but we'll schedule one for you at a different time if you'd like. So, discovery class happened today in my office during the in between times and I want you to look at this. This is the old church building.
7:35
This was the congregation on dedication Sunday at Jackson. This is the old church building which is still being used as a church. The Southern Baptist Church across the street from the hospital, that's the same building. This building was moved, I think, three different times around the square, two different places on the square, then over here, and then it moved over to where it is right now in front of hospital but this is a part of our history. That building right there, that's it, right there and this is what the square looked like.
8:06
Yeah. Not a whole lot of commercial stuff going on right there at the time, was there? But this is this is the church building that that church building and this is a part of the history of this church. Amanda McMullen, who grew up in this church, grew up here and is back as an intern. She's been through a program with the navigators while she's in college and she is just on fire for Jesus And she is helping us by helping out in the office.
8:30
But she has taken it to herself to digitize our history. So if you look at the firstbjackson.org website, all of these old pictures and things are up there. She has uploaded all those for everybody to enjoy. It's got pictures of this building being built by a bunch of hippies. You know what I'm saying?
8:47
It's like, it's really cool to look back on things and see this how we have progressed. Now, I've mentioned this last week and I'll mention again. We have a pretty good history of the first one hundred years but the church is one hundred and seven years old. So, if you feel like I was talking to Jean earlier in the week and there's something about that prayer meeting that has gotten going in the past few years. It's been longer than seven years but it's not included.
9:12
So, I said, would you tell that story to Amanda and have her include that in the history of this church? Not all of it will go online but it'll be something that we can keep up with. How has this gone? Rather than just being pastor's name, right? Pastor so and so was here for two years.
9:26
So and so was here for six years. So and you know, we would like to know more of the stories of the church. That's the history of the church. Teton County Fair service. We are doing our normal church service at 11:00.
9:40
We're gonna do it over at the Teton County Fair. And this year it'll be at 11:00. It's in the same place where the Lions Club does their breakfast. So I told the 09:00 crowd, hey, come on, go have breakfast with the Lions Club at 09:00 and then 11:00 we're going to do church. Carl and the first service band are going to get up and we're going to do some old hymns and we're going to whatever Carl picks is what we're going to do but we're going get up and play the, you know, the stand up bass and we're going to have a band there for our song service but it's July 29, two weeks from today, 11:00.
10:14
It's after the Lions Club breakfast. If you come to church on the twenty ninth, come there. Okay? Drive there. Park there.
10:22
Because if you if you come here, nobody's gonna be here. Okay? Does that make sense? Alright. And this is where it is.
10:28
So this is Snow King Avenue and this is north over here. So that you know that's where it's gonna be. It's in between Karnes and which is where the ferry is. All the rides will be right here. And then it's gonna be up under the Lions Club tent.
10:41
It's gonna be a bigger tent this year. So it's the big top. Is everybody with me? You got it. Woo hoo.
10:46
Thank you John. Hi C. Alright. The Lagoon trip is happening August the tenth and eleventh. That's a youth trip where they go down and spend the night and then go to the Lagoon Amusement Park the next day.
10:57
So if you'd like to send someone or if you want a chaperone that trip, let us know. Turning Point's Annual Gala is happening this Thursday night, July the nineteenth at 05:30PM. That's at the Gill Ranch. Is there anything you want to add to this announcement, Judy? Yep, if if you would like to come, there may be space still available and so if you'll talk to Turning Point, they'll get you lined out.
11:25
So, thank you. Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center, if you don't know what that is, it's a great, great ministry that helps actually bring together all the churches in town in service of the community. It's a great ministry. Monday nights at First B is happening. Carl is leading has been leading this.
11:40
Tomorrow night, Mike, our youth director will be speaking. He'll be doing the preaching. Florine will be doing the music. And so this ought to be a really good meal, music, and a message on Monday night. That's every Monday night, meal, music, and a message.
11:52
06:00 down in the fellowship hall. And there is over that, you can see that overlay right there. It says Peter Halder. Would you stand up, Peter? And I'm grab you a microphone.
12:06
Peter Halder is with Youth for Christ in Bangladesh. You all remember. A lot of y'all remember him. I forgot him in the first service and did not give him any chance to say anything. We love this brother.
12:16
I just didn't ever connect eyes with him. I would like for him to introduce himself a bit.
12:19
Yeah. It's my joy to be here this morning with you. I come from Bangladesh. I was born and a native, and I'm working there. And in ninety two thousand six, I was going to Jackson, Mississippi then I got lost.
12:35
I was found in Jackson Hall, Wyoming. So that's my story. And the lady was sitting in next to me in my plane or flight, so we talked to each other and when I landed I found that I'm in a wrong place. I said, Judy, I'm in a wrong place. So she said, You're going with us.
12:53
I said, No, no, no, And after nineeleven, you know, everybody's scared and especially with this skin color. But you are awesome. Jackson Hole. So I invite you to come to Bangladesh. Youth for Christ, we don't call youth for Christ, we call it youth first concerns because Muslims country.
13:14
But God has been so good, and he blessed us. We are now celebrating twenty three years. But twenty twenty, March, we are going to celebrate our twenty fifth celebration. Pastor, church, I invite you to come and see what God has done with your partnership. He cannot believe it, you know, until he come here.
13:36
I can't go there. So, you can pray that this year, I I'm living with you to prayer request. We are having a women's, prayer conference, especially for the moms, October 25 through twenty seventh, three days. We are inviting 400 moms. Actually, they'll be praying for their kids.
13:58
And by two thousand twenty twenty two, we are expecting 25,000 mother will be in our prayer group. This is called intercessory prayer. Moms, wake up Deborah. So you can pray. And then secondly, you can pray that our country having 1,000,000 refugee from Myanmar, 1,000,000.
14:20
40,000 children became orphan. From the month of September, US government, US embassy in Bangladesh to Bangladesh, they said there'll be no food for refugees after August. There's no food at all. Our ministry is praying how we can feed 40,000 orphan kids for four month. Why four month?
14:48
September, October, November, December. I have a desire. Christmas day, we can have a celebration, and that's the day we can share the gospel with these 40,000 kids. By the way, our government even told the Muslims not to preach even Islam among these refugee. But I am praying that we should take a chance Christmas day so that you can pray.
15:15
Once again, thank you so much, pastor. I really appreciate for your time and your fellowship, your love, and concern, and support. God bless you abundantly. Thank you.
15:26
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, brother. Amen. I hate that I missed that the first service. I'm very, very sorry for that.
15:35
If there are any other announcements or prayer requests, they should be in our bulletin. If you have a prayer request, let us know. Let the office know and we'll put em in the bulletin but other than that, here are no objections. I think we're going to go on. So, would you stand up and oh, there's one more.
15:50
I knew there's one more. Oh, gone it. I did that. If it's not written down, I'll forget about it.
15:55
Good morning, you all. My name is Anne Stalker, and I am here because in your bulletin, they say people don't read it, but please read it, open it up, and first thing you see something about community Bible study of Jackson Hole. So this is a parachurch kind of idea that's been going for forty five years. Started at as a single, prayer group in Washington DC and has grown to all the continents on the planet except for Antarctica. They're in a 100 countries, 70 different languages, and there are 700 classes all over The United States.
16:33
And so we, in Jackson, are hoping to get up beyond our first year of crawling, just crawling. We are a prayer group, one of 65 in The United States, and we are hoping to fly, to soar, to expand beyond just, women during the day to a coed offering at night, imagine Bible study with your spouse. Imagine grandparents bringing their grandkids and studying the Bible together. It's really cool. And two people in this room were a part of it.
17:08
The lady on the piano over there and, Bev Babcock. So find them after the service and talk to them. Anyway, the the vision of community Bible study is transformed lives through the word of God. Their mission is to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in our communities through caring in-depth Bible study available to all. For all I know, it's in Bangladesh as well.
17:35
I actually don't know. But it is interdenominational, ecumenical. It's for people of all ages, and there are two information sessions as we're trying to promote it. One at my house on Tuesday evening. I my road should be called West Dairy Lane.
17:53
So you go down High School Road. I mean, that it is it is Westerly. It should be West High School Road. So you go to the end of High School Road and just keep going and second driveway on the left. And then Casey McCooey out near the airport is sponsoring something on Wednesday at at eleven.
18:11
So I hope you will entertain that. And if nothing else, pray that part of the third great awakening in The United States CBS can be a part of. Amen.
18:21
Thank you, Anne. I appreciate it. Thank you. I love community Bible study. Tanya was a part of that South Carolina.
18:30
It's a great time of growth for everybody. Would you stand and greet one another quickly? Alright.
21:08
Soul
21:16
soul Amen. I know y'all are looking up here and not at the book, most of you. But the last couple of measures on that, it says, when it goes into that last repetition of it is well, it is well with my soul. It says, with confidence. Amen.
21:31
Sing that with confidence. With, it is well with
21:33
my soul. Amen.
21:34
We're going to sing freely, freely. The only way to receive is freely.
21:47
My sin I've been born again and
21:59
in
21:59
Jesus name in my name and because you others will know that I live all power is given freely you have received freely go in my name and because others will know Amen.
23:35
That's a great song. The two verses, forgiveness of sin to begin with salvation and then, sanctification, that last part of service. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going to invite the frontline team to come forward and Peter, would you mind coming and praying for us? The operatory prayer?
23:51
That's not really a make good for missing you in the first service, but I would appreciate it because our love, I hope, extends to Bangladesh, I would like for you to pray this operatory prayer.
23:59
Okay. Even I'm going to pray in my mother language, then a little bit in English. That way I can sense my mother language. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, father, we thank you so much for your son who came into this world to save each and every human being.
24:31
No. There there is no boundary. And your church, the body of Christ, can go everywhere end of the world. So preach can preach your gospel, your masses, good news, salvation. As we come before you now, Lord, you have given us so much even beyond our imagination.
24:54
Now you bring our our gift to you. Accept it and use it in mighty way to proclaim your gospel all over the world. Thank you so much, Jesus. We love you. Here we are.
25:10
I humbly pray each and every one, we can walk with you in our daily life faithfully. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
28:32
Thank you. Amen. So, we are up to Titus two in our chronological study. Now, I occasionally, I think about this and I think, how are these people still dealing with this? After six straight years of going through a chronological study of the New Testament, are you still with me?
28:51
Are we still together on this? I gotta preach something, right? I feel like there's order to present this way. We're going through expository. So, exposing what's there.
29:02
And we're just going chronologically in the order that the New Testament books were written. Life of Jesus, book of John, life of the early church in the book of Acts served as a framework and here we go forward and we're up to Titus about sixty four AD. So, 6364 right in there. Nero is the emperor. We are going into Titus two.
29:25
Titus was serving on the island of Crete. He was left behind by Paul, the apostle Paul and when he was left there, he's left to put in order the things that remained and appoint elders in every one of the churches and so, as he's teaching through, there's some bedrock foundational stuff in Titus and he doesn't have a lot of minced words, no niceties, it's just straight. He gives it to him straight, immediately, starts off. This is what I want you to do. Appoint elders like I pointed out and we covered that last week and the week before.
29:56
Now, we're up to Titus two. This is a household code. That's what the terminology and most of the commentaries call this household code. You can compare this to Ephesians five, the submit to one another out of reverence for Christ passage five twenty two to six nine or Colossians three eighteen to four one. First Timothy two, three, or five, first Peter two thirteen through three seven.
30:20
Those are all different household codes. They're similar, if not, the same. They're pretty similar, but they're regional in their application. Now he is sending this letter to Titus in Crete. He had just sent that last one to Timothy in Ephesus around the same time period, '63 or so AD.
30:40
And as we study this kind of unchanging truth of God, I want you to see something. I I try every week to study as much as I can. I tend to be pretty exhaustive on what I read. And so this is just the stack from this week of reading. I didn't read all of these books this week.
30:57
I read part of each of these books that are about this. But what's interesting to me is as I read, I don't usually see a lot of differences in what it says. People tend to agree about what it says. But when it gets to the application of it, it changes and I don't think that it should change as much as it does. So, I'm looking for the eternal truth of God's word in the context that it was originally written and how that applies to our context today and so each one of these guys who wrote these commentaries were doing the same thing.
31:28
Now, this one was written originally in 1956 and then it was revised in nineteen seven five. So can you think of 1956, what this country was like? And in '75, what had changed? There was a revolution that happened. We mentioned all the time sexual revolution happened somewhere in late sixties, early seventies.
31:46
And then the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment comes in '75, so that's a big difference. So he rewrote, I'd love to read the '56 right next to the '75 and see what was changed. This is the '75 edition. The 56, this one was written by William Hendrickson. Kistemacher finished the series for him later, but that's a heck of a book right there, isn't it?
32:07
He wrote this in 1957. So 56, 57, this is great. This is really good commentary. Our society looked very different in 'fifty seven, and Germany's society looked very different in 1957. This was originally written in German.
32:24
And so this was something that I feel like he nailed exactly what it says application wise. It looked more like that society than it does our society. Are you with me? Nineteen seventy four, I love this series. This this particular book right here was written in '74.
32:41
It bears traces of fingerprints of the times, Definitely a little dated, but it's very good about what it says and how that should be applied individually. Really good. 1994, I like this one. This fellow had written a previous volume that called the goal of our instruction. He was specifically talking about first Timothy, second Timothy, and Titus, pastoral epistles and he's saying, what is the goal of the pastor?
33:06
That's the original book he wrote and then he went back and wrote a accompanying commentary on first, second, Timothy and Titus in '94. It's pretty good too. I like this one. This one, and I use this commentary series a lot, is the NIV application commentary. This does great on the original context, and it does great on what it says.
33:30
And then it wimps out on application. Because in 1999, applying this passage was very, very difficult, and he shied away from it. I try not to shy away from difficult passages. I try to just face them. It's not always easy, but try to go forward.
33:45
I thought this was wimpy, wimpy, wimpy, quite honestly. 1999. And part of the reason that one was wimpy, because this one was also written in 1999. And this guy, William Mounts, is the guy who's written the Greek grammar that most seminaries use as their Greek grammar series, you know? I know I'm a word nerd.
34:06
This guy's really, really good. He says exactly, exactly what it means. He doesn't hold and he doesn't try to apply it so much. So this stands true. I use this more than most anything else because I want you to hear what it says.
34:19
And then we will seek to apply it in our own lives. Gonna try to point you towards what I think it says. But this one's really good. It makes the other one look wimpy. And then the last one, and the reason I bring this all up in the first place, I was reading this one and it made me wonder when all the rest of these were written in our society at our time.
34:36
This one was written in 2013 by guys that I really like. David Platt wrote Radical. He's written a few really, really good books. I love his writing. Daniel Aiken has you know, been president of a seminary and he's been very active ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention for a while.
34:51
Good, good, solid, scriptural, authority of scriptures, very strong in his writing and then, Tony Merida, these guys wrote this book together. I like all the guys but my goodness, it sounds so mean. It just sounds downright ugly. Now, the they're saying this, this one's written in 2013. I just got it in 2018 and I was reading it and going, man, this sounds so countercultural as to be mean.
35:17
Now, they said exactly what it says. This guy says exactly what it says. This one even says exactly what it says. All of them do. But the application of it can come across as being really mean depending on the condition of your heart.
35:32
And this one, I think their heart was actually right, but they're in opposition to the loud voices that are speaking in this day and time. Does that make sense? So a corrective sometimes will overstate its case. Does that make sense? Okay, we're gonna actually go to preaching here in just a second, but I wanted you to hear all of that.
35:51
I buried myself in this for the last few weeks, and we're gonna walk through it. Titus, as for you, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. He's he says, there are lots of false teachers and people falling after irreverent babblings and Jewish mythologies and endless genealogies. But as for you, Titus, you teach what accords with sound doctrine. And now the teaching is important.
36:15
I highlighted sound but teach this. God is sovereign. He put the law in place that was in place at this time. He put Titus in this place and though the Roman law, which is one of the next thing we're going to get to, is not God's absolute rule, we are supposed to obey it. Does that make sense?
36:40
According to Romans 13, we are to submit ourselves to the authorities over us. So, teach this. It is in line with the law. Teach this, what accords with sound doctrine. The word for sound there is where we get our word hygiene.
36:54
It is healthy doctrine. You would not go into an Operating Room without scrubbing up first. And he's saying, Titus, make sure that what you're preaching is hygienic. Don't bring any extra bugs into the room. Don't bring any extra germs in here.
37:10
Teach what accords with healthy doctrine. He immediately kicks in to this household code. Older men. Starts off, older men. Now older men, it's interesting that he says this.
37:23
He doesn't say elders. He's already talked about the elders in the first chapter. This is everybody that is a Christian that is also an older man. Actually, it says aged man, but that stepped on some toes. They changed that translation to older man.
37:39
It can mean older but aged men. And in the Roman times, that would have been considered to be 60. That was a major threshold. 60 years old was what considered one to be an older man. It was 50 for women.
37:51
So women, double standard. You know how that goes. Women, it was 50. Men, it was 60. Older men.
37:58
And this is the law of the land. Patria Potestas or the Patafamilius rule. Patafamilius is the father of the family. And that means the oldest male father in the family is the one who gets to make the decisions. All of the decisions.
38:22
Like the children of the potterfamilias can't really decide who it is that they will marry. The potterfamilias gets to decide who they will marry or whether they will do what they want to do or not. He also has the right in his household to beat or kill a slave. He has the right to sell his own children into slavery. And the child must go along with this because it's the law.
38:49
He does whatever the child, the father sold him in the slavery to do and he can do that up to three times before the child has anything really to say about it. After the third time that the child has been sold into slavery, he can say, you know what? I don't anymore of this potterfamilias. I'm going out on my own. Now, doesn't have any protection on his own and if he's not married, he doesn't have any potterfamilias status for himself.
39:11
It's kind of an ugly law but it was the law of the land. It was what the folks in Crete were supposed to be living under. So the Poter Familius is very different from our context now. Would you agree? All right.
39:24
This is what he's writing into though. Original context matters. So he says to the older men, presumably these would be the guys who are the Potiphar Muse. People didn't live as long then, and they'd be the ones who have survived past the age of 60. Older men, you are to be sober minded.
39:41
Now was it the law that he had to be? Not really. I mean, public drunkenness was frowned upon but sober mindedness was not something that the pottery, the potter potter familias could do basically whatever he wanted to. He act however he wants to act under the law. Older men are to be sober minded, Paul says.
39:59
So, he's kind of flipping the script on what the law is. He's saying, yes, you do have the control. Yes, you are in the position of leadership but you're to be sober minded. You are to be dignified. Dignified.
40:15
You should stand out for your sober mindedness, your dignity, and your self control. That's highlighted because self control is mentioned four times in the passage. Now, on your bulletin, it says, we're going to verse 10. I think I'm going to skip verses nine and ten and I'm going to go to 11 from there. This I told the first service.
40:35
This is kind of like a Kit Kat bar. We're going to break off a piece if we have to, okay? And we'll revisit it next week but this sermon, I mean, this passage is a household code. It goes through older men first and this is what they're to be. Sober minded, dignified, self control but self control is mentioned for the older men.
40:56
It's also mentioned for the younger women. It's also mentioned for the younger men. It's mentioned then in the justification too. Self controlled, the word there is sofrona. It's actually, I've mentioned this to you all before, the word where we get for our diaphragm which regulates everything, our breathing, our heart rate.
41:13
It's a regulation that is good. In fact, acting in God's definition of balance is a good definition for Sofrona. It makes someone genuinely temperate, not overworked in either direction, well balanced from God's perspective. True balance is not a one size fits all. Not not every not everybody.
41:35
Everybody. Everybody has has to be exactly the same. There's room there to have passion but it's a passion that's in line with God's perspective being well balanced. True balance is not blandly static either. So Fron describes a man who does not command himself but is rather commanded by God.
41:54
Does that make sense? I think that it's interesting that we can, in some ways, kinda control what our diaphragm's doing, but it's gonna do it. Whether we're asleep or awake or whatever, it is a regulation. And if that's not regulated, it's not working properly, we're sick. We're not healthy.
42:08
So sofrona, self controlled, sound in faith. So, should be older men. You should be sound in your faith. You should understand what the gospel is mentally and have accepted it in your heart and be living it. Sound in your faith.
42:26
You understand it. You get it, right? Sound also in love. So that's healthy in faith, healthy in love. Now, did the pot potterfamilias have to love his kids?
42:37
For crying out loud, if you could sell them into slavery and did, it was fairly often that they did. No, he didn't have to love his kids. It was not regulated that he had to, but Paul is saying, you should, in all goodness and godliness, you should, older men, love soundly in a healthy way, your kids. You should love everyone in a healthy way. Be sound in your love.
43:02
Be sound in your steadfastness. So, doesn't that sound like somebody that's well composed and put together? All of those things describe someone who's not living in either ditch, the legalistic ditch or the license ditch. They're right there in the center of the gospel recognizing with humility that they're put in the position that they're in by God and they should then be sober minded, dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, sound in love, sound in steadfastness and that is the list for the older men. So in their day, that was 60.
43:33
You might list it. I I think it's funny to look back at shows that happened in the fifties. You know, the father knows best type shows or Danny Thomas the show. Those guys were older guys. And they were respected typically.
43:46
And it's changed to where who's in charge now? Is it the older man? Maybe. Maybe. But the focus of our society is youth culture.
43:56
It's younger people. And they write people off and call them old before they're old, before they're aged. Older men are to be sober minded and dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, sound in love, sound in steadfastness. And then he goes right into the next group, older women. So older women, likewise.
44:14
So that includes the first list. Likewise, you're to be reverent in your behavior. All of those things that he said about older men, sober mindedness, dignified, self control, sound and faith, sound and love, sadness, steadfastness are reverent. That's a reverent way to live, right? To behave.
44:30
He goes further and says, not slanderers. So that's not someone who would use words to defame someone or tear someone else down. Not someone who tears down. Now, if you start looking at what is the older man's temptation, it may be not to be sober minded. It may be not to be dignified and just be undignified because you you're the guy in charge.
44:53
You can do whatever you want. Maybe to be out of control for men. Maybe just to ignore the faith. Does that happen? It happens a lot where people just don't pay any attention or they don't really understand their faith.
45:07
They're not as loving. When he gets to older women and says, be reverent in your behavior, not slanderers, he's talking about a temptation. A temptation towards cutting other people down, whether by a lie or by the truth, because you can do either. You can tell the truth about somebody. We are limited and we do have flaws.
45:26
And if somebody exploits our flaws and points them out and tears our character up, that's a bad thing. He's saying, older women, don't be slanderers. He also says, older women, don't be slaves to much wine. He's already mentioned this for elders but I want to mention again, aged men, aged women is the way this starts off. It's all Christians.
45:46
It's not just the leadership of the church. This is for everybody. So, older women, don't be slaves to much wine. He says it. They, that's older women, are to teach.
45:57
Again, Titus, teach these things. Older women, they are to teach what is good. And they are in this way. So in this way, they are to train the young women to love their husbands and their children. So taking for yourself a wife or your pot of amelios deciding who your wife would be, bringing her into the family.
46:18
Was there an expectation of love? Not really. Didn't have to be but Paul is saying, whatever position you find yourself in, you are to take that and live it out as a Christian. That means older women teaching the younger women how to love their husbands and their children. So, that's the list.
46:40
For older men, it's right there. For older women, that's what it is. Reverend in your behavior, not slanders, not slaves to much wine, teaching what is good. And that includes, if you live that way with those top four things, it will be also training the younger women. And specifically, it says to love their husbands and children.
46:58
The modeling that you do towards your husband will make a difference in the younger people around you. Does that make sense? I keep saying, does that make sense? This is more one of those teaching ones but I think before the end of it, it's going to be pretty preaching, okay? There's proclamation of the truth of the word of God and then, the way that it works itself out.
47:20
If you're an older man, pay attention to that first list. If you're an older woman, pay attention to that second list and then, I think this really starts the younger women too. Young women are to love their husbands and children. Seems like in our society, we just think, well, everybody does that. That's that's what, no, they don't.
47:38
And it is the word of God that you should love your husband, your children. It was an expectation that people would marry early. Actually, under the potterfamilias law, the the potterfamilias, the head of the household, was the guy who was in charge and the government depended upon that structure. He was both the governing person of that family and was held responsible for how his family acted and he's also the religious person of the family. He was to be the priest of the family.
48:10
Under Roman law. Now, at this time, Christians were not viewed very well. They were viewed as atheist because they rejected the emperor as a god. They rejected the other gods of Rome. Only having Christ, only having God.
48:25
Young women, to love their husbands and children and to be self controlled. There it is again. Now, in the likewise, in the for the older women, we have it in the men. We have it for older women. We have for younger self control.
48:36
That same regulated type of life that is not out of balance. Now, I got a text since the first service. He said, shouldn't self control be self? Wait a minute. What was it?
48:49
Shouldn't it be self disciplined? Because self discipline seems to be something that's possible. Self control, control is an illusion. I can understand where that's coming from but this is something where we are to have since we're Christians, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the power that is at work within you. We have access to the throne of grace.
49:11
We have access to the power of God at work in us. We do have to submit our will. We do have to submit humbly to him. Self control is not the illusion that I can get my hands on this. I can pull myself up by my bootstraps.
49:26
It's more, lord, help me to maintain control and balance in my life and not let things get out of whack. Okay. Self control. I'll mention it again. I promise because it's going to come up again in the text.
49:39
Pure, particularly pure in this case was pure as to sexuality. It is chaste, faithful to their husband, pure, working at home. It does mean that it it specifically the best translation for this is a keeper of the home. Now I didn't say housekeeper, but that is a part of this. A keeper of the home.
50:07
The husband may go out, do business, and everything else, but like Proverbs 31, she handles the affairs of her household well. She goes into the city gates. She does keep things central. I would say that where the guy may go out like an electron and come back in, she is to be a part of the nucleus, the keeper of this family. Does that make sense?
50:28
The keeper of the home. Working at home. Whether you work outside of the home or not, it doesn't exclude that, but it definitely says you should be working within context of home for the younger women. To be self controlled, pure working at home, and kind. Oh, how underrated kindness is.
50:47
If you can just be kind to people, it makes all the difference in the world. I know a few customer service folks. One of them is in here right now, and he's the kindest, most gracious person to even the most foul and ugly person that comes into the business. Kindness makes a huge amount of difference. For the person who is being and practicing kindness but also for the other person.
51:11
It's a grace that you can offer people And it's really good, and it's really effective. In your relationships, it will be better if you'll be kind. Teach these things, Titus. Teach the older women to teach the younger women to be kind and to be submissive to their own husbands, the hideous, their own husbands. It's not just in general, all women are subject to all men.
51:38
It's not like that. It's not supposed to be like that. Although Roman law pretty much had it that way. It is more, you are to be submissive to your own husbands and you're to love them. So, that's the list for the younger women and actually the submissive to their own husbands has a a purpose clause behind it.
51:56
A henna clause, the so that the word of God may not be reviled. Does that make sense to you? They are promoting the kingdom of God. They're promoting the word of God and so, in accordance with the position that God has put you in, you are to live this out so that the word of God may not be reviled because what chance do people have to be saved? It is going to be by the word of God.
52:23
It's going to be by the good news of Christ's sacrificial death and if we do anything, as Christians, older men, older women, younger women, younger men. If we do anything to keep people away from it, that's a problem. So, younger women, particularly, that's your list right there. And the last one has that little so that the word of God may not be reviled. I think that that can kind of be extended back through this whole list.
52:49
And then we've got one more set, and that's the younger men. He says, likewise, Titus, just in the same way, likewise, urge, encourage, prompt them, urge them, the younger men to be self controlled. And then that's the end of the list for young men. That's it. I put these up here in this order so you could see what looks like a really an imbalance, doesn't it?
53:12
All this list, and all this list, and all this list, and then that guy. But let's be honest, what do young men struggle with? Self control in pop in just about every facet of self control. And the first service I said, so let's list them. What are the things that we can have out of whack in our lives that can just take over as as it concerns self control.
53:37
Drinking was the first one somebody named. Video games. Almost anything that gives us a little sense of pleasure. The dopamine centers in the brain, right? For some people today, it's checking out Facebook and having a new message, or having a new little blurb that you can read, a new news item.
54:03
It could be Fox. It could be CNN. It could be the little blurb that makes you either angry or ecstatic. Self control. That regulation has to come from God to keep you in the center of his will.
54:19
Now, you can be passionate about something but it must be passionate about something that God is passionate about. So, self control is the only thing on that list and I think what happened here is pretty obvious. Paul is is probably dictating. He may have been writing, but he's dictating and the fellow's writing as fast as he can. He's going through there.
54:37
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm up with you. I'm I'm I'm with you. Submissive to their husband because of this, and then self controlled. And then Paul says, Titus, oh my goodness, show yourself, because this switches gears just a little bit. Show yourself.
54:49
You are a younger man, and I do trust you. And I left you in charge for a reason because you do exhibit these qualities. Show yourself in all respects, Titus, In everything, show yourself to be a model of good works. Live out an example that is a Christ like example and do good. Titus.
55:12
And in your teaching, again with the teaching, teach this, stick to what it says. Don't let it shift based on where you are on that island of Crete. In your teaching, show integrity. Now integrity here means with no corruption. Don't let it, again with the hygiene situation, don't let any bugs get into this properly.
55:35
It is no corruption. Unable to experience any deterioration. Incorruptibility is lacking the very capacity to decay or constitutionally break down. The truth is the truth is the truth is the truth and don't let error slip in. That's what he's saying.
55:50
In your teaching, show integrity. Stick to the faithful word just as it was taught. That's what was from last week. With dignity. You can hold your head up and you can present this because this is the truth.
56:06
Be dignified in how you do it and and sound. That is healthy. Again, hygiene, sound, healthy speech that cannot be condemned. What he's saying actually was all good under the Roman law. It went further in some ways.
56:22
The loving nature, the kindness of it was more than just kind of the social contract about governance. He's saying, speak healthy things that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. They said plenty of evil about the church. They said that the communion was cannibalism. Because Jesus said, this is my body, right?
56:47
And so his disciples saying, this is my body and then eating it. They're like, oh, they're cannibals and they're atheist because they reject the emperor. Well, they can say that stuff, but that wasn't true, obviously. It wasn't true. So that the poem may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
57:02
We start right here into something else, bond servants, and it is one minute till twelve. So next week, I told you this was a Kit Kat bar sermon. We're breaking off a piece. We're saving it for next week. Bond servants, I have had a kind of a new realization that was not quite cooked.
57:16
It wasn't ready to come out this week, come out of the oven, but it's cooking. I think it'll be ready by next week. So, I'm going to drop back to verse nine next week. Go nine and ten but I'm going to skip right now up to verse 11. And 11 gives the reason why this household code in the first place.
57:35
Why is it that we're even looking at how different parts of society, different parts of the body of Christ should function. Why this household code in the first place? And he starts right here and he says, for the grace of God has appeared. God's grace is sufficient for what? For this, bringing salvation for all people.
57:54
It is an effective call to all who will answer. About salvation. Bringing salvation for all people. And training us, disciplining us to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions. That is about sanctification.
58:14
For the grace of God has appeared, and it trains us to renounce ungodliness worldly passions and to live self control. So, I said, I'm going to keep on explaining self control throughout because it's about everybody. Throughout the message this morning, we kept coming back to that, the self control. Is there something that you're struggling with? Is there some area of your life that is undisciplined or uncontrolled?
58:44
And you're finding that you're powerless against it. I I wanted to go into this in the first service and didn't. The first step is admitting your powerlessness over what it is that's out of control. God, let's go to this. For the grace of God has appeared for all people who will answer.
59:04
All people to live self control. So, I think that salvation, yes, if you have not trusted in Jesus, please come see me during the last song or afterwards and we'll talk about Jesus and we'll talk about salvation and get first things first. That is a requirement for the Holy Spirit to be active in your life but if you have trusted Jesus and you're still struggling, we also mention that for the grace of God has appeared for all people to be able to live self control, to renounce that. First step in the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is, I'm powerless over this. Second step is, but I recognize that there is a higher power.
59:41
There is God and he is not powerless. He has the power. The third step is, I'm going to let him use that power in my life. The fourth step is very important. It's where almost everybody gets stuck is a fearless moral inventory and that fearless inventory is going to show you what is out of control in your life.
1:00:02
If you're fearlessly looking at your own self, your own self, you try to evaluate where you're living life and where your thought life is. Whether it be under control or not. If we're honest, we probably have something that God needs to reign in. Are you with me? Okay.
1:00:22
So, I'm going to leave this with you. This week, Imma leave it with you. Last two after we sing our last song and Judy, you can come on up. After we sing the invitation hymn, the altar is always open if you want to come forward. I'll turn my mic off and talk to you or you can just duck and pray if you want to.
1:00:39
I'm going to leave you with this and next week, we're going to come back to bond servants and I think that that little bun in the oven that's cooking will be something that's ready for next week. The grace of God has appeared for all people to be able to live self controlled and a holy life. So, that's the fourth time it said that 11 verses. I can't skip any more forward, Blake. He would go to the next last song and would y'all stand?
1:01:03
Scott, would you come on forward? Take my life and lead me lord
1:02:42
So,
1:02:48
I've got two benediction slides this morning and I want you to think about this. If you are struggling with something, it's a lack of control or whatever in your life. It's out of whack. I think that part of that is recognizing and this verse says that, restore unto me the joy of your salvation. Recognize that it's your salvation.
1:03:05
God, you're the giver of all life. You're the giver of salvation. So, restore to me lord the joy of your salvation because when we're living in that recognized fact that we have sinned and God has forgiven. That's a great place to live. There's a humble place to live.
1:03:22
Restore to be the joy of your salvation and grant to me a willing spirit, a willing spirit to be in compliance with what your spirit would have me to do. If you try to do it on your own, you will fail. But with Jesus, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave and with a group of Christian friends. Praying for you, walking through it with you. You can survive.
1:03:48
Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me and then the next slide, and God. He's showing us this. Walk in wisdom towards outsiders. Making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, kind, right?
1:04:04
Seasoned with salt so that you may know how to you ought to answer each person. So that the word of God may not be reviled is what the text said today. The way that we live our life makes a difference on how people receive. The only help that they have available. So, in Jesus name, lord, would you bless this week as we go?
1:04:24
Would you reflect your love? We can love because you first loved us. Would you give us the grace to accept the good in people along with the bad because lord, you're the only one that can purify hearts. In Jesus name, would you give us a greater faith, a more healthy, and more sound faith And Lord, I pray that that would overflow onto the people around us. In Jesus name, amen.
