Leaders and the Future of CBC

Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word in Titus chapter 2 verses 1 through 8

But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching Older men are to be self -controlled

Worthy of respect sensible and sound in faith love and endurance in the same way

Older women are to be reverent in behavior not slanderers not slaves to excessive drinking

They are to teach what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children

To be self -controlled pure workers at home kind and in submission to their husbands

So that God's Word will not be slandered in the same way Encourage the young men to be self -controlled in everything

Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching Your message is to be sound beyond report reproach so that any opponent will be ashamed

Because he doesn't have anything bad to say about us. Let's pray Heavenly Father.

We thank you for your word and for your church Lord. I pray that That the message that Josh preaches

Would be empowered by your Holy Spirit and that would cut us to the heart and Lord where we feel the pain of your word

Lord I pray that we would submit to it Lord Let us be a people of your word who are molded shaped by it who are guided by it and act on it

Lord as we do approach those who are against you Let us not be ashamed and let us be bold and confident to know that they have nothing against us

Because we stand behind the king of perfection Behind King Jesus Lord, you have made us righteous by your own blood

Lord And you conquered death rose and walked again and they're seated behind the father or beside the father

We're giving us power through your Holy Spirit Lord. May we use that power for your glory.

It's in your powerful name We pray amen You may be seated Well today is a big day.

We're going to Vote as a congregation This afternoon on for the first of what we hope will be many times on the ordination of a new elder and a new deacon

We're going to add these two leaders and the composition and even the vision the way that these leadership boards work is going to change

It's going to be different From this point forward. I'm looking forward to not having to consult with myself to make decisions as far as the church goes

It is not good. It's not good for an elder to be alone There are times when we have to carry on that way, but I hope that that doesn't happen again here at Covenant Baptist Church I am excited about what's going to happen

We know that we have been a little bit hamstrung for the last few months Proverbs 11 14 says where there is no guidance

The people fail but in abundance of counselors there is salvation and I am very much

Looking forward to that reality very much and I've had a taste of it the last few months as as Corey and I have gone to weekly meetings and Kelsey can tell you that I come out of those meetings ready to chew through a wall make war on everybody go crazy

And I can hardly calm down and then I have to go to school and calm myself down a little bit to do the day job on September 3rd of 2023

Which was before we publicly opened it was pretty shabby in here If you think it's shabby today, it was way shabbier back then

I preached a sermon that was called elders and the vision of Covenant Baptist Church that sermon focused on the qualifications of elders the specific tasks of elders and how elders are crucial to church planting in fact

We continue to believe to this day that qualified elders are the most limiting factor in church planting.

I Commend that sermon to you as an archive. It's in our archives, and I'm not going to cover much of that same ground today today

I want to lay out what scripture tells us about the responsibility of the church leaders to put things in order and what a church put in order is going to look like and that involves us looking at what's going on around in here and Boldly addressing what's good and what's out of order and Understanding that where things are out of order it hampers the mission and it cripples us and it puts us behind But first I want to talk about somebody

It's not us so I can I can bag on them pretty good without hurting our feelings too much point number one is out of Order Cretans.

We know that Cretans are evil lazy gluttonous liars. That's it. That statement is true Paul affirms it in chapter 1 so I'm gonna look really quickly at Titus chapter 1 and I'm gonna key in on this verse

It is verse 5 if you will look at it Paul writes for this reason I left you in Crete That you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you

So a little bit of background. We're gonna fly through Titus 1 and 2 this morning. You don't know your danger

I was tempted to just do an 8 part series in Titus after this week. There's a lot of gold in there

But here's what I want you to see Crete was an island a large island They had Christians who were scattered across the island and these

Christians they were divided. They were leaderless they were confused and there the enemy was at work to confuse them even further and Here's where I see the connection.

I think in our day in America and more particularly I think in Northwest, Arkansas in Springdale Fayetteville Bentonville Rogers Farmington Prairie Grove, even

Lincoln all of these places We have people who have a profession of faith

But they don't know anything. They're confused. They are leaderless They don't they are not baptized

They do not understand the fundamentals of the faith and they are starving for order and they go from church to church

Until they get disappointed and they move on somewhere else and they crave order they crave a man of God to stand behind the pulpit and tell them what the

Word of God says I Have never been confused with being somebody that's very interesting

But what I can tell you is that I believe what I'm saying here and that I'm earnest about it And it's about cutting the

Word of God straight So we have in our day a bunch of Christians in this area who are unchurched and the reason they're unchurched is because they don't

Know anything in my ministry just over the last 10 years the majority of the people that I have

Baptized have been people who said that they have been a Christian for 15 or more years and have not been baptized

And the question I was always asked is how could you have been in church that long and not be baptized?

And the reason is we are out of order there is people are doing what seems right in their own eyes and especially in the church and It should not be

See the fundamentals are this and I want you to test yourself against this Christian if you proclaim the name of Christ today

Do you understand clearly what the gospel is? Do you understand why we take communion? Do you understand the significance and the command of baptism?

Do you understand the Trinity and God's Attributes do you understand the uses of the law and your duty as a

Christian? See I will submit to you that many people call on the name of Christ and do not know the faintest thing about those fundamentals of the faith

So the church needs to put things in order and where there are Christians and where they are leaderless

Jesus said himself that the enemy would try to strike down the shepherd so that the sheep would scatter and the wolves could ravage them

And that's what was going on in Crete Crete was full of men who were masquerading as Christians They were rebels they were empty talkers they were deceivers

Especially Judaizer heretics what they were doing is they were disturbing families by saying you might claim the name of Christ But you're not following the

Old Testament laws and the circumcision So who are you really and people were disturbed it is the big war of the

New Testament letters is this Judaizer heresy and These men who were masquerading as Christians you might start to see the connection today

They were self -aggrandizing they were talking about how smart they were they would lure you in to endless debates about genealogies about arcane theologies about Jewish mythologies

Look how smart I am They wanted to maintain a distinction between teacher and listener and that distinction was you can never come over here because you will never be smart enough

These men were disrupting families for filthy gain They made use of sophistry legalism and jargon

Does it sound familiar? Is that not how many of the reform pulpits act?

Where we try to use $30 words where nickel words would suffice Why you have to ask why and the reason why is this because we want to can protect our gain?

We want to protect this place from you By letting you understand at all times that if you come at me what you must understand is that you are not trained

You don't understand what you're talking about Trust me and be quiet and this disrupts families see an agent of the enemy as Tolkien was hot on the trail an agent of the enemy often looks fair and feels foul and So it is today that polished pastors

Who are far better speakers than you could ever be will stand up and they will use all of the words of Theology and they will make you feel like you're an inch tall and then as soon as you say something

That's a little bit out of line. They will gut you This is the pulpit of the day.

We are in Crete. It is out of order So we have to ask the question.

This is what Paul is charging Titus to do over and over again You will see him to telling Titus to preach sound doctrine.

What sound doctrine means is hygienic doctrine This is clean Doctrine so that your family would be clean so that your church would be clean so that your men and your women would be clean

That they would be pure that they would be healthy Because when you preach unsound doctrine, it causes disease it causes unhealth it breaks apart families

It destroys churches and it leaves men acting like women women acting like men and children neglected

That is the fruit of bad doctrine So, how do we know the bad guys when there are so many?

How do we know the good from the bad when there are so many bad guys and then there's good guys in the mix Well, there's three ways to look

The works of good men align with Scripture and they heal people good doctrine heals

Breaks in family the words of evil men are for money and they do not match their works above all a church officer who is worldly is

Unfit and he is using the gospel for personal gain. It's very difficult to discern Sometimes many bad men many unfit men many undignified men will preach a true gospel

But their life does not match up with what they preach whatsoever and they are using the gospel as a tool to gain money and When they do that their fall is coming

Because what will happen is the world will end up winning over the gospel in a hypocrite's life

Look out for men who love the world Look out for men who talk all the time about worldly things who derive all of their pleasure from the comforts of this world

All we have to do to recognize evil is to look at it and call it what it is And you can see the problem that we have today is we haven't done that What we've done is we've looked at evil and we've excused it

What we've done is we've looked at charlatans who are so smooth and so polished and we thought well

He must be a good brother because he knows these things and over and over again You have to understand that Christianity is not primarily a faith that's based on your intellectual prowess

Christianity is a faith that is given by God of a regenerate heart and it is a miracle of God where he takes your heart

He changes it to desire his law and he changes you Dramatically you start to not love the things of the world and you love the things of God Titus 115 says this to the pure all things are pure but to those who are defiled and unbelieving

Nothing is pure. I Want you to hear that If you are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure even true words even good sermons

Even awesome Christian music none of its pure Because both their mind and their conscience are defiled

They work as a vessel of wrath or even the good works Just increase the wrath that God will pour out on them because they do not do it to glorify their

Lord They do it to glorify themselves understand church that a godly man can make mistakes and This is a great litmus test that God has given us in our day

God withholds repentance from the proud. I have seen it over and over and over again

It's an astounding thing to watch when a man and especially a pastor gets caught dead to rights in a lie in Misdeeds and what he will do is double down triple down Quadruple down and then cut you down This is a tool and a discernment weapon that God has given his people today

And that is this that a godly man will be quick to own His sin and his mistakes and he is not going to be burdened by these strange mythologies

He's not going to use sophistry to cover up his sin Friends if you're in this church long enough,

I'm going to sin against you and I'm gonna make mistakes And I get to admit one today in the members meeting, okay, and I'm just gonna tell you

God gives the gift of repentance to his people and It's a way that we can tell

So let's move into the meat today which is Titus chapter 2 and this is the order and what you will see in those first eight verses is

That there is a quadrant of people inside the church and that quadrant is older women younger women older men younger men

We need all four of these to be functioning properly and within their roles for the church to be able to be strong to be

Healthy if we do not have one or more of these areas working then the church is unhealthy by definition

This is what Paul is to do He is telling Titus go shut down these men who are disrupting families

And then when you do appoint elders in every city and they start to put things into order then in chapter 2

He starts to turn to what does it look like when things are put in order and what it looks like is these four groups?

acting this way That's where he is talking about So if a church is healthy, then you're going to see older women behaving this way younger women behaving this way so on and so forth

So let's talk about men first because Paul does talk about men first He says he first addresses elders and he's going to sandwich this he's going to talk about Elders and then he's going to talk about Titus at the end of his younger men

Talk so he says elders who speak proper proper and sound doctrine They model good works and are sound in the word so that the opponent we put to shame if you want a healthy church

You have to have elders who do this Right, if you don't have elders who speak proper and hygienic doctrine who don't model good works and are sound in the word

Then your church is not in order and it never will be If you have fairy men who are telling mythologies

Pointing at the self telling good TED talk stories about how their week went and seven good seven helpful steps to have a better marriage run

Run away, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise These are unsound men who are disrupting families and you should leave their churches and you should tell people to leave their churches

But where we have men of God Then you should flock to that Where you have a man who will preach the scripture you should flock to that and then he moves to older men

Older men what are older men to do if you look at verse 2? He says older men are to be dignified sensible sound in the faith

So the signal the sign of an older man and in his rubric an older man would be a man who does not have children

In the house anymore. Okay, the children are gone The older man now presumably has less of the cares of a family in his day -to -day life

And so he's going to be he's going to be indicated by faith love and endurance

Sound older men healthy older men are great in their faith They are great in their love and they are great in their perseverance and endurance because they've endured for a long time in the faith

We contrast that with what culture wants older men to be which is this

We see it all the time the culture wants older men to be selfish grumpy or In the most distasteful way to try to relive their teenage years when they're in their 70s

That is unseemly and it's disgusting Men, you shouldn't be riding around jumping on pogo sticks when you're 65 years old

You should not be sipping milk out of a sippy cup. I'll go down that well you should be growing in doctrine

Okay, you should be sensible you should be dignified you should be venerable and you should have dare

I say this word you should have gravitas when you walk in the room There should be a feeling like there's some weight in that room and people are afraid to say foolish things in the presence of an older man

Now I have a tremendous model in that way And my father has examined that there has always been an element of fear

With my father in the right way that I don't want to say stupid things around him Okay, that's because of gravitas.

That's because he is a dignified older man And that's what we should strive to be we should be less like the boomer who is spending all of his inheritance on cruises

So that he can take away his inheritance because if I don't spend it now you can't take it with you you should be less like that and more like the older man who is investing in his

Grandchildren and who is more like Caleb from Scripture who's not laying around in cave But at 87 years old says no send me up to take my land

I will make war on the people up there see older men We need to recapture this picture older men are not to be trifled with they have walked a long time in the faith

They have seen many things they are not jealous of younger men But instead they see the success of younger men as their lineage

They want to promote the success of younger men They are tough heavy hitters who use the benefit of their emptier houses to serve and grow up the next generation of men

Now let's flip to younger men real quick and we're gonna do a check on both groups younger men

We have one thing they are to be sensible Sensible that's verse 6 that word means that they are to be self -mastered

Self -mastered do our younger men have Self -mastery and what this means in context is that the younger men are going to be urged

Repeatedly, they are going to have constant reminders from the older men and from the elders to be self -controlled they along with others are to look to Titus as an example to follow as Self -control is a chief character trait of elders if you want to boil down What is the character trait of an elder if you boiled it down to one thing it would be self -controlled

Elders are self -controlled. They do not give in to the lust of the flesh They do not give in to the natural impatience that can come from dealing with sometimes seemingly trivious trivial problems

They have to be self -controlled. They have to master their anger Master their overreaching empathy and to do well to hook in to shepherd their flock

So young men were given one word sensible In other words be like Titus is what

Paul tells the younger men be like Titus Have we done that or as elders in the church?

Have we held younger men at arm's length and said wait a little bit skippy. I don't think it's time for you

You're not nearly ready What we should be doing is elders is we should be constantly reminding our young men to be

Self -controlled to grow in self -control to grow in mastery so that you will be very dangerous

So you will use your strength to be dangerous So let's do a check real quick.

How are we doing older men? Let me ask you the questions Are you investing in the lives of those who are younger?

Specifically younger men who need these reminders about self mastery. Are you doing that?

When's the last time you reached out to talk to a younger man? When's the last time you offered correction for a younger man

See in our culture, that's very difficult Because we are very very effeminate in this culture

Very can I put one more in there? Extraordinarily effeminate where what happens is the worst thing that we can possibly do in this culture is

To make somebody upset with us Man that cannot be us and older men

I beg of you it cannot be you if you see a young man acting like a fool it is your responsibility to step in and to tell him he's acting like a fool and to tell him why and even if you acted like a fool for most of your life and You have been saved by grace today

You still have something to offer because the negative also gives Experience and wisdom and we do not use this cop -out in our homes.

I don't look I'm not gonna look at my teenagers and say Well, you know, I was a real basket case when

I was a teenager. So you shouldn't even listen to me No, we don't do that. That's ridiculous What we do is we teach them from the mistakes that we made.

Why are we afraid to do that? Do you think younger men are going to despise you for the mistakes that you made as a young man yourself?

No, it's going to grow them It's going to rebuke them and listen most of the world's problems would be solved if simply put younger men would listen to older men

I See this every day as a high school teacher. It's not that I'm so great but I am a lot greater than 16 year old boys and I'm just gonna tell you right now if they would do what

I say, they would be successful It's really that simple. They wouldn't have divorces They wouldn't have fatherless children

They wouldn't be bouncing from job to job and as I jokingly say they would definitely not be sitting under the bridge with a crack pipe

It's not gonna happen But what happens over and over again? The foolish young people don't listen.

And so the old people withhold the pearls of wisdom So older men check yourself look in the mirror be sober minded about this.

When's the last time you invested? Who is that guy? Who is the one you're investing with if you can't answer that question, you're not doing your job

It's that simple There has to be someone and for some of you guys for some of you guys

There's gonna be more than one because our capacities are not all the same Remember some people some of those so or some of those seeds that grow up They bear 10 30 or a hundredfold some men are gonna bear a hundredfold.

That means that they are gonna be very very busy You don't grow a hundredfold from sitting around on your bed playing video games or going on cruises

The young despise the old in our day and this problem is both ways We have to get it in order.

We can't have that Older men check yourself. Are you venerable and wise or are you petty pouty and undignified?

Do you throw temper tantrums? That's unseemly of an old man. Are you the get off my lawn guy?

These Cultural stereotypes are tropes because older men have bought into these things and they are grumpy and they are petulant

And we shouldn't be that way Are you living a life older men that other men want to follow?

One that displays the fruits of sanctification and expertise of learning the faith for years because that's what you've done

You've had the faith in action for years If you know a lot, are you a master of good

Christian deeds men? Have you grown in doctrine over years and has that doctrine translated into good works if it hasn't stopped being mediocre?

We should not accept that I've been a Christian for 35 years. You better know something I've been a

Christian for 40 years. What are your good works? See Christianity is a faith in action

Why why have we lost the world? This is why no action

We get in churches and we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit And what we do is Lord keep us so safe and we don't look outwards and that is expressly against the intention of this church

That's why it's called leaders in the future of CBC because if we want the future at CBC We need to be far less concerned with our own safety and survival and far more concerned with the aggressive action

The Great Commission commands us to do and these are the way the Great Commission works Titus 2

Older men the culture is going to sell you on living for hobbies buying toys and worrying about your 401k instead of a spiritual legacy

Be a man that others will follow and I'm just gonna tell you it's real easy. You know, what men will follow courage

It's really that simple men love courage men love hardship men are called to action by courage

Godly character that is honed and hardened is magnetic I See it men who simply tell the truth are magnetic.

I see it every day in the high school Why do kids sign up for my class because I tell them they stink and then

I tell them how to fix it That's what they want See There's this part.

I always remember it in Braveheart. There's something Mel Gibson knows about manliness. There's an older bat older, man

He's white haired. He's grizzled and his son is a stud His son's name's

Hamish and he is nasty, right? He's a dangerous guy but in this battle the older man the father he gets stabbed with an arrow and the arrow is going to have to come out and What they're gonna need to do is they're gonna need to cauterize the wound so he doesn't get infected

And there's a series his son comes up and he goes. No you do it I'll hold him and then the next man says no you do it and I'll hold him and though so those two hold and the

Ignorant guy grabs the cauterizing of hot iron and he stabs him with it cauterizes the wound the old man jumps up punches him in the face and then says that'll wake you up in the morning boy and What every man who was in that would see is

I would follow that guy anywhere Right that gets men going. That's what an older man is to look like.

That's a Caleb. So young men. How are we doing? Are you self -mastered? Do you have fearful strength that's under control?

Do you have exuberance and boldness? That's not quenched Do not give in to the enslavements of fleeting pleasures

Fleeting pleasures they are fun for a minute But they're not fun tomorrow and the treadmill continues

We know the scourge that I'm talking about the two big ones in our days young men are pornography and video games

That's the two big ones. Let me add a third mindlessly watching tik -tok or YouTube.

Okay? You know what it is Are you under control with that?

Are you giving in? You young men you will be the chief force in building the kingdom of God You are the most important of this bunch, that's why you're supposed to be like Titus So let me ask you are you planning ahead today how you will joyfully soar serve the

Lord by being a man of prayer loud? singing in action manly men fight

Manly men are under control manly men are fearful because they do have an anger, but that anger is under control

And you should be a little afraid of a self -controlled young man Take risks young men love the

Lord trust the Lord and be courageous Joshua says it over and over again in his book doesn't it?

Be a man be courageous Trust the Lord Young men the world is going to offer you many inducements to delay or to make you forego entirely

Self -mastery there's gonna be the envy the envy of a generation who bought cheap houses and has money.

I see it every day There's an envy of that generation. Don't give in to envy envy is foolishness.

It's sinful envy Envy is not loving and particularly it is breaking the law of honoring your father's

Don't give in to that. There's going to be a fear of asking the girl out and telling her the truth while mastering your desires

You have to do all of those things you have to ask her out You have to tell her the truth and you have to master your desires

Men older men if we failed in that regard tell the younger man you failed and why you failed

This isn't complicated. It is hard. Stay away from pornography Stay away from intoxicants

Stay away from recreation and scrolling your life away. These things are good in measure Well the recreations good in measure don't let it go out of its bounds

See young men are what our enemy is most afraid of today You can see it and in the last few months, it's palpable there's something happening with younger men and that could be good or it could be bad because there's a lot of rage and Young men are going to wake up and they are waking up and they're gonna figure out that they are very powerful

They are God has made it that way see young men frighten people and young men in our day have been despised for my whole life

The time has come for a fearsome generation of young men who have courage and Are self -controlled to lead these lines and advance the lines.

Are you gonna do it young men? My hopes are on you They are

All right women Here we go Older women verse 3 they are reverent and ready to teach what is good privately

Ready to teach what is good privately. What does an older woman look like in the church? Well, here's what they look like.

They have quiet wisdom that is gently given Here's the news flash men and women are not the same

We don't respond the same way. We don't act the same. We don't like the same things and When you start trying to act like a man and talk to women like a man, it doesn't go well

There is a need for women to be together and for women to talk to each other This is a place of violence right here and I'm a man and preachers are supposed to be men because they're gonna do violence with the

Word of God. It is a sword But women can come together and older women you should be completely absent of gossip you should not be enslaved to wine and You should be experienced in the home and child child rearing you should be ready to teach younger women to advance the craft

That's verse 4 That's what you're supposed to do. So there's the target you don't ever gossip

You give gentle quiet wisdom in private to younger women You teach them the craft of the home and child rearing and even if you did a terrible job of that You probably learned some things and can talk about the things you did that don't work.

It's not an excuse That is a stupid excuse stop using it Younger women, what are you supposed to do?

You are to work at home You're to be kind You're to be submissive to your husband and then you are the one group that has a warning

That warning is this do your job so that the Word of God will not be slandered

Think of it this way Young men being empowered by older men to go out and progress the battle

There's a huge amount of strength and wisdom with the older men propelling the younger men out With the women that is taking care of what's behind so that men don't worry about what's going on behind But that's the way it works in battle every time there's war women are taking care of the home front

So that men can go out and not be worried about whether the world is on fire back behind them

This is the way it works but young women you are the threat to the church and we have seen it over and over again as young women of both sexes have manned the pulpit and Completely inverted the whole hierarchy of what

God has instituted in the church See you are instructed and your job is very very difficult

It's super important just like with the younger men. Your job is so important of The two our hopes are pinned on these two groups, right?

What are younger women supposed to do? They need to love their husbands difficult to do ask my wife sometime

They are to love their husbands they are to love their children, maybe even more difficult to do sometimes especially if you got three -year -olds and Then you are to be led in sensibility by older women

See the culture doesn't like this at all. You can almost hear it already. Don't you? See younger women are to be oriented to the home

Younger women are to be quiet in spirit. They are to be founts of kindness and femininity femininity

So that's the goal young women about the home loving their husbands loving their children

Doesn't that imply a lot of stuff with it? It implies peace in the house, doesn't it? Do people love a peaceful home?

Do people love children who behave who are honoring their parents? Do they love well -cooked meals clean house?

Everything in order women are the queens of that home. They are the queen of the economy of the home

They are bringing it all together setting it into order So that it's a place of peace and comfort and nurture men can't do that but also women can't preach and I do mean they're unable

I Don't care what you know, you can't preach because women when they do violence, it's over -the -top

Think about the Democrat Party today It's over -the -top violence because it's run by women

It's really that simple and the other party is threatening to be run by women all the time

And what will they do? They will descend into over -the -top violence because there's no control on it because women are not given the gifts to control violence

It's really that simple. Okay, you ever seen girlfights? vicious Nothing off dude off off limits right

I gouging hair ripping out You know civilized men they'll put up fists right it's the way it works

So let's ask the question older women. How are we doing? Have you taken a younger woman under your wing to instruct her in homemaking and child rearing if the answer is no

You're not doing your job That simple there has to be a person Are you encouraging and positive with your words about others?

Do your words build up or do they tear down? Are you prone to gossip that so easily ensnares women?

Do you live life for your comfort as expressed in the time for yourself with a glass of wine in the bathtub with no?

Interruptions isn't this the picture that the culture paints you've got the kids out of the house now

It's time to have date nights every week We're gonna drink the wine and if anybody calls me I'm gonna be upset

Because I earned this Isn't that the mantra of the older generation today in America?

I earned this You didn't earn anything You earned the ability to work harder in a different way and in a different attitude in a different environment

So older women I see an obvious generational break in this chain Feminism has destroyed femininity

It's sold a lie It's sold a lie that the sort of work that Paul is describing to Titus is

Simultaneously, look, this is the problem. This kind of work is simultaneously worthy of worship

You should worship the mother That's on one hand, but on the other hand motherhood is bondage that's been devised by men to keep you down So kill the baby

Do you see the demonic? Confusion going on remember what's going on create confusion.

It's out of order So there is a destruction and you are at the front lines of fighting against this battle

You have attention you have attention older women You are not the parent of young children and teaching what is good could be could be refusing to raise your grandchildren

So your job is not to raise your grandchildren Your job is to train your grandchildren's mother to be better at raising her children

Your job is not to raise children Your job is to disciple younger women. The only one who can raise the children is the mother and the father

Obviously exceptions happen in edge cases, but they are edge cases and we do not make rules based on exceptions

Being present in the lives of younger women is essential to the health of the church and bringing order this area

We are wildly out of order in this area It's hard to even describe how out of order is this this particular section would get me

Run out of most churches in this area. Let's just call it what it is. You're not allowed to preach the women

So what does that tell you if you're not allowed to preach the women then the question that ultimately should rise from that is who?

Is running that church? That's the answer to ask it is to answer it

This job women older women particularly it's tremendously important and we are dying out here

We're dying Your life is not about arriving to get nice things in an empty nest

But it's to build your on your experience and to pass it down to the next generation Your job is not to take over the job of younger women

It's not babysitting to give them a date night It can be a part of it, but it's teaching and discipling those other things are nice on occasion

But listen our younger women need to develop the calluses and toughness That's required to do the job that they've been given they have a responsibility and if you take that responsibility away from them, you are retarding their growth and You're making them worse at the job and this perpetuates itself, doesn't it children who are out of control?

Perpetuate an out -of -control household and it's like pouring gasoline on the fire and it keeps burning hotter

Younger women, how are you doing? How are you doing? Do you buy the lie of the world and love your job with your mouth while hating it in your heart?

And your job is to be a mother is it not do you do you go on social media and say oh? being a mother blessed

Blessed well everything you think about in your mind is how to pawn your children off on your mother

Are you a hypocrite are you using your children for virtue signaling to gain the applause of the girl bosses around you?

or are you doing your job and Loving the Lord for giving you that job

See women. Let me break something to you. You are sinners and you are not to be worshipped

You have an extremely important job, but your job let me get this for you. It's not impossible and it's not unique Did you know that women have been having babies for the entire human history?

You are not the first to stumble across this job And in fact in your generation the average household has 1 .6

children in America your job because of sinfulness is Profoundly easier than all of the mothers who came before you

Imagine parenting 14 of them. That's what our mothers did

You are not a snowflake It's been done before So quit despising the work that God has given to you and embrace it and thank him for it

And then see what he will do Does God not power the Christian life yes

Are you spending time trying to make others believe that you are a homemaker on Instagram? While your children are going crazy in reality

I See it far too often See, there's a trope with men about being keyboard ninjas, right?

They would say things on the internet. They would never say to your face Here's what women do they present an image of themselves on Instagram?

That is a hundred and eighty degrees the opposite of what's really going on in the house Had a great day of family worship today

Meanwhile, the kids are burning it down It's unseemly and you're not fooling anybody your kids are your autograph everywhere you go

Everywhere you go. You can't hide it Because what I know is the profound rule of law and that is this if the kids are being bad in public

They're twice as bad at home. Are you gossiping relentlessly casting dispersions on the character of others young women?

How are you doing? We need you We need you let me end with some hope I knew this wouldn't go long.

It's okay. We need it. Here's the hope Man, this is a titanic piece of Scripture.

Let it wash over you this morning. Let me try to do it Just as I read it aloud Titus 2 verses 11 through 15 for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men

Instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires We should live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age

Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession zealous for good works

These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you

Church you understand the day that we live we live in the light of the good news the grace of the

Lord God has appeared to us What is that grace? That he has saved sinners and we who had nothing to offer in our sinful estate

That he came as a man and he died for us It's not like a fellow man dying.

It's like a man dying for his creation What an amazing thing God died and he rose again and he rules in power and you can hear you can hear

Paul pushing this to Titus He's appeared Do you see it? He's appeared the grace of God has appeared and everything's going to be made right

Titus You're about to do a very difficult job You're going into a place with all these bad guys who are gonna fight you you're going to a place that's completely out of order

But guess what Titus the grace of God has appeared to all men Wow Wow, and what happens when we see the grace of God it means two things

Christian You are eternally complete. That means that when it comes to justification and you're standing before God You are a finished product

God has saved you fully and forever and you will be with him and he longs to have you at his table

But it also means something else Do you see it? Do you see it? The grace of God has illuminated to us the character of God through his word through sound doctrine

Through healthy doctrine and that means that we deny ungodly desires and we live sensibly

Following the commands by what by the power of this grace God's grace If you are not an idiot or an imbecile

God's grace makes you profoundly thankful to the giver of the gift You are on a one -way destination to hellfire at Enmity and hatred with the

God who created you hopeless, isn't it? With nothing to offer but the grace of God appeared and he saved you from that and when he saved you he saved you out

Of lawlessness into lawfulness out of evil deeds into good works

Christian you are defined by your good works. You are not defined by the profession of your mouth

You are defined by your good works a tree is known by the fruit it bears So this grace had a purpose did it not and the purpose was no more

Than to deliver us from slavery and sin and embolden us to be zealous for good works

Have you ever been zealous for good works? I've been zealous to play golf.

I've been zealous to spend time with my wife zealous for good works

What does the church look like? Where the old men young men old women young women have such a focus on good works that they can't sleep at night if They're not doing good works

What will happen is that the vision of this church will be fulfilled and God will be uplifted by a little church in Springdale in a falling -down building

With a pastor who usually can't even get the words out right without stumbling all over himself and can't read scriptures without crying like a baby

That guy okay that guy we are going to unleash elders and we're gonna put everything in order in this area

Not because we want to do it, but because God has called us to do it. Do you believe it? Do you pray that God is going to accomplish his mission here and then don't be tossed by doubt and understand that he will and Understand that that is going to require something of us and it's going to require us to be zealous for good works

See we have to get our families in the war in order because this is fundamentals You will do nothing if your family's not in order.

You can't be a leader of anything We have to work as unto the Lord. We put away the fear of man.

We have to correct each other without reviling We have to confront with love and we do not compromise the truth.

Do not be passive -aggressive be aggressive How much better will our relationships be if we don't even have the trickle of a thought in our mind?

I wonder what he's got against me. Stop doing that If you've got something against your brother tell him if you've got something against your sister tell her

Tell her she's being passive -aggressive and sinful If you want to disparate disparage someone name them

Own it sign your name to it We can't have friendships Where we are worried about what the other person's thinking about us when we're not here and my best friends

I don't ever think that about ever Because I know they love me.

I know they're working for my good and they know that I'm doing the same That's what we have to have.

Can you imagine a church where all four of these parts are working? Zealously toward good works.

Can you imagine what our young men are gonna be? Can you imagine what our young women are gonna be and then down the line, can you imagine what our kids are gonna be?

Unbelievable now understand this guys. I'm gonna leave us with this Many people who are in this building many people who come are going to run away from here if we do this

They're going to leave and they're gonna say bad things about us Because in our day we are so lawless

That we say following the law is legalism and you're a fundamentalist Don't listen to that be zealous for good works

Many will run away. That's why this place can never be about butts in seats if you're here and you're visiting.

I'm glad you're here But our hopes are not pinned on getting more people to sit in here

Our hopes are pinned on being zealous for good works and trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit Those who stay those who stay will make a church that is on mission that is distinct

That is godly and will leave a legacy of faithfulness. Isn't that what we all want?

That's why we need leaders here Let's pray Lord your your word is active

It is living and it cuts down through the flesh into the very marrow of our bones

Or it divides ungodliness from righteousness We see in the words of your servant

Paul that there was a great need on the island of Crete your people We're crying out for you.

Your people were confused. They were scattered and They needed a leader to come and to put things in order

Lord, we see that in many ways and in many places our house is out of order Lord would you bring the tremendous conviction of your

Holy Spirit on us in our law -breaking? Lord would you not be able to let us keep us from being able to bear our sin?

But instead like David said that it would be iniquity that is ground down in our bones and where we are afraid that your spirit

Will depart from us so that we would repent Lord we need you so much

Lord the grace of Your son has appeared to all men and we are a people without excuse

We have less excuse than anyone in history and Lord we make excuses because we have a taste for lying

Lord cleanse us of that Lord may our church be characterized by discipleship

That is the heart of the Great Commission is making disciples and Lord if we're going to adventure it out there

We know that it has to start here. So would you bring that to our church? Would you make us aggressive and zealous for good works that we would do our jobs that we would not pawn it off on others

That we would not make the excuses that we would not grumble as those who were in the desert who had crossed through the Red Sea Lord we are ridiculous when we grumble against the job that you've given us take that away from us

Help us to see it for what it is and Lord that your people When we are empowered by your

Holy Spirit or that we would be a people that are different distinct holy And that we would be your people and you would be our

God We pray these things earnestly in the name of Jesus Christ our