Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Two Men on a Mission, with Us Msg 2_11 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Two Men on a Mission, with Us Msg 2_11 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: You'll find an outline in your worship folder that looks
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  Speaker 1: like this, three-hole punch. It looks like you sort of
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  Speaker 1: shove that into a computer and out it comes and
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  Speaker 1: we do this every week. The outline alone represents about
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  Speaker 1: four hours work for you who wouldn't know. So we
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  Speaker 1: take it seriously. We follow it along as we work
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  Speaker 1: our way through the scriptures because in an expository style
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  Speaker 1: of preaching, you go to the text, you stay with
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  Speaker 1: the text, you finish in the text as you apply
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  Speaker 1: truth from the text. So as you have the outline available,
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  Speaker 1: locate Titus chapter one, and then we will have prayer
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  Speaker 1: and an offering and we'll get into God's word together.
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  Speaker 1: Titus one verse one, Paul, a bondservant of God and
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  Speaker 1: an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those
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  Speaker 1: chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which
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  Speaker 1: is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life,
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  Speaker 1: which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but
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  Speaker 1: at the proper time manifested his word in the proclamation
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  Speaker 1: with which I was entrusted, according to the commandment of
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  Speaker 1: God our Savior, to Titus, my true child in a
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  Speaker 1: common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus, our Savior. You who are sticklers for literature
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  Speaker 1: will observe there's only one period in all four verses.
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  Speaker 1: This is one long sentence as the introduction to the
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  Speaker 1: letter is given by Paul under the inspiration of the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of God. Our Father, we are gathered as a
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  Speaker 1: community of men and women, teenagers and children. We have
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  Speaker 1: gathered to worship your name and we have done so.
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  Speaker 1: We have gathered for the purpose of focusing on things
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  Speaker 1: eternal and laying aside things temporal. We've come to unload
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  Speaker 1: our worries and to reload our our spiritual lives with
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  Speaker 1: truth from the written word of God. My prayer is
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  Speaker 1: that you will take our lives and let us be consecrated, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: to thee. Take our lips and let them move at
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  Speaker 1: the impulse of your love. Take our moments and our
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  Speaker 1: days May they be filled with endless praise. And now
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  Speaker 1: take our silver and our gold. Not a mite would
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  Speaker 1: we withhold. Set apart these moments as we continue our
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  Speaker 1: worship and as we release to you our rights. Take
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  Speaker 1: our lives. Let them be consecrated to you. In Jesus'
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  Speaker 1: name we give and we pray. Everyone sit. Amen. Most
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  Speaker 1: communication today comes by way of electronic mail. Let's face it.
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  Speaker 1: It's fast. It's easy. They tell me it's simple. With
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  Speaker 1: a small movement of your index finger, we can transfer
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  Speaker 1: it and forward it to one or many or most
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  Speaker 1: of the people we know even. That's so simple to correct.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing to literally erase. All done electronically. All so impersonally.
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  Speaker 1: There's one thing you have to say for email. It
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  Speaker 1: is never... all that profound. It never has a personal touch. Now,
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  Speaker 1: as all of us realize, a handwritten letter is altogether different.
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  Speaker 1: The stroke of a letter, the slash of the pen,
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  Speaker 1: even a little smear of the ink, the lovely stationery
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  Speaker 1: with the embossed initial at the top, Sometimes the fragrance
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  Speaker 1: that accompanies the letter. If you've ever served time away
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  Speaker 1: in the military, you know there's nothing like a letter
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  Speaker 1: from your sweetheart or your spouse. You smell it before
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  Speaker 1: you read it. There's just that personal touch. No matter
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  Speaker 1: how well written an email may be, I have to
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  Speaker 1: tell you I've never seen one framed on a wall.
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  Speaker 1: But I have frequently seen not just handwritten letters behind
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  Speaker 1: glass and sealed in a lovely frame, but even typewritten
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  Speaker 1: or personally addressed letters to an individual that just meant
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  Speaker 1: the world to them. They framed them. There's something about
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  Speaker 1: a well-written letter that touches us. It was a 17th
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  Speaker 1: century English philosopher and author, Sir Francis Bacon, who once wrote,
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  Speaker 1: reading maketh a broad man, speaking a ready man, writing
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  Speaker 1: an exact man. And you know when you've gotten a
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  Speaker 1: piece that has been well written because there is an
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  Speaker 1: exactness to it. The wordsmith has worked over the terms
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  Speaker 1: and carefully shaped them to fit the flow of thought.
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  Speaker 1: Not always long, but always deep. When one writes like that,
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  Speaker 1: often it leads to the work of a book. And
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  Speaker 1: you and I know that most books today are not
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  Speaker 1: worth the price, not worth the time. But every once
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  Speaker 1: in a while, you find a classic. And you not
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  Speaker 1: only read it, you reread it. You quote from it.
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  Speaker 1: It was the same Francis Bacon who said this of books.
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  Speaker 1: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,
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  Speaker 1: and some few to be chewed and digested. I believe
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  Speaker 1: if God were commissioning the writing of his word today,
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  Speaker 1: if the Bible were still being put into print, I
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  Speaker 1: don't believe God would choose email. Nor do you. He
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  Speaker 1: would still honor the handwritten letters from those who under
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  Speaker 1: the inspiration of the spirit of God would write his word.
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  Speaker 1: and convey his truths and communicate his message. The New
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  Speaker 1: Testament is full of 27 books. 21 were handwritten letters.
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  Speaker 1: Paul wrote 13 of them over a span of about
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  Speaker 1: 15 years. John, toward the end of his life, wrote
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  Speaker 1: three small letters. Peter wrote two during a two to
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  Speaker 1: three year period. James and Jude wrote one each. And
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  Speaker 1: one remains anonymous, the letter written to the Hebrews. Profound, deep, meaningful,
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  Speaker 1: handwritten letters. They bear the touch of each individual writer
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  Speaker 1: and those who read the Greek know when they're reading
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  Speaker 1: this is Pauline in style. Or this is only the
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  Speaker 1: way John would say it. Or this has the touch
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  Speaker 1: of Hebrews and is like none other. It's that way
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  Speaker 1: with handwriting, no two are the same. That inimitable touch
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  Speaker 1: has found its way into three letters written to men
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  Speaker 1: who served as what we would call pastors. Technically, they
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  Speaker 1: were not like pastors of today, not literally. They were
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  Speaker 1: more like vicars apostolic. They were representatives of apostles who
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  Speaker 1: served as Timothy did at Ephesus and as Titus did
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  Speaker 1: on Crete. for a period of time only to move
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  Speaker 1: along to another assignment to carry out the agenda of
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  Speaker 1: the apostle. These pastoral letters communicate truth for the church
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  Speaker 1: and have done so down through the ages. Paul's next
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  Speaker 1: to shortest and next to last letter bears the name
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  Speaker 1: of Titus, written to a younger man whom he had
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  Speaker 1: led to Christ and nurtured mentoring him to maturity, traveling
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  Speaker 1: with him, and finally dispatching him to a difficult task
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  Speaker 1: in a difficult place. Without Paul's presence there to bolster
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  Speaker 1: him when he got low or to encourage him when
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  Speaker 1: he was criticized. This little letter to Titus is going
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  Speaker 1: to be for us home base for a period of time.
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  Speaker 1: And as we pointed out last time, we're not surprised
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  Speaker 1: that right out of the chute, Paul introduces himself as
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  Speaker 1: the writer. Notice the term I use. I've never once
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  Speaker 1: called him the author. To be technical about it, there
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  Speaker 1: is only one author of any book of the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. As he miraculously ignites the moment of inspiration,
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  Speaker 1: And through the personality and the handwriting of each individual writer,
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  Speaker 1: his truth is made known to those who would read it.
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  Speaker 1: This letter is no exception. Having been placed and called
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  Speaker 1: to this lonely place on this island in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the Mediterranean, it must have been magnificent for Titus
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  Speaker 1: to break open the first time the scroll that bore
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  Speaker 1: his name. just for him to read and ultimately to
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  Speaker 1: use as a document giving official authority from Paul himself
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  Speaker 1: to carry out his responsibilities. Paul. Paul's identity is set
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  Speaker 1: forth immediately in the letter. He calls himself two things.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things he calls himself, he never calls
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  Speaker 1: himself that in any other of his 13 letters. The
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  Speaker 1: bond slave of God Nowhere else is that found. Bond
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  Speaker 1: slave of God. It's noteworthy that he chooses this identifying
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  Speaker 1: expression as the very first description of himself. What's interesting
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  Speaker 1: to me is what he does not say he represents.
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  Speaker 1: He does not say a highly educated scholar trained under
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  Speaker 1: Gamaliel with several degrees. He does not say a Jewish Pharisee,
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  Speaker 1: a leader who was learned in Greek literature and philosophy.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't flaunt his inheritance of the Roman citizenship, which
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  Speaker 1: was envied in his day. Doesn't mention it. Doesn't brag
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  Speaker 1: about his having seen the risen Christ, having been appointed
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  Speaker 1: an apostle, having been escorted to the third heaven. None
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  Speaker 1: of that is mentioned. Doesn't even say he's a founder
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  Speaker 1: of churches or a possessor of multiple spiritual gifts, some
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  Speaker 1: of them supernatural. All of that very impressive and could
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  Speaker 1: seem very self-serving, but that's not Paul. Just simply Paulos
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  Speaker 1: doulos theou, Paul, servant of God. I've mentioned to some
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  Speaker 1: of you this marvelous work I'm reading, a 916-page tome
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  Speaker 1: on Lincoln's it's the story of Lincoln's choosing the men
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  Speaker 1: he chose to serve around him. It also gives you
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  Speaker 1: an inside story of the real Lincoln. And the more
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  Speaker 1: I read, the more I love him. The more I
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  Speaker 1: would wish that I could have known him as my president.
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  Speaker 1: He's the most unselfish public leader I've ever studied, except
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  Speaker 1: that of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul. He's a
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  Speaker 1: man who took the blame that others deserved. He's a
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  Speaker 1: man who remained surprised at his appointment. He was a
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  Speaker 1: man who lived completely unassumingly. A man who when victories
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  Speaker 1: were won as a result of his strategy, the credit
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  Speaker 1: went to the general. Who when individuals were promoted because
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  Speaker 1: of his decision on their behalf, they got the glory.
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  Speaker 1: Never was much to look at. I like that about him, too.
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  Speaker 1: He looked funny on a horse. His legs were longer
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  Speaker 1: than the belly of the horse, says the writer. And
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  Speaker 1: his clothes never fit right. Just couldn't get a tailor
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  Speaker 1: to make them right. Collar was pulled up or arms
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  Speaker 1: were too short or the leg was too long. He
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  Speaker 1: just didn't look like much. He just happened to have
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  Speaker 1: magnificent character. And he just disarmed his critics, never answering
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  Speaker 1: them back. Paul, slave of God. But don't feel sorry
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  Speaker 1: for him, as John Philip writes, the slave of the
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  Speaker 1: creator of the galaxies, of the God who is served
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  Speaker 1: by legions of angels. The slave of him who is
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  Speaker 1: enthroned in glory and absolute power. He, Paul, was the
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  Speaker 1: slave of the all-wise, all-loving, all-powerful, ever-present God. Paul could
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  Speaker 1: think of no badge of honor to compare with that.
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  Speaker 1: Far better indeed to be God's slave than to be
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  Speaker 1: a sin-enslaved Nero on the throne of the Roman world.
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  Speaker 1: Slave of God. And that isn't all. Paul, an apostle
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. Apostle. A special messenger with a special
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  Speaker 1: message sent on a special mission. The apostolos was empowered
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  Speaker 1: with authority from the one who sent him. In this case,
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  Speaker 1: the sender is Jesus Christ. Paul without a for a
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  Speaker 1: moment bragging simply announces, I send a letter to you
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  Speaker 1: representing Christ's message. Can you imagine the assurance and the
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  Speaker 1: invincibility this gave to Titus in his mid-forties alone on
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  Speaker 1: the island of Crete with the responsibility of setting in
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  Speaker 1: order churches that had gone wrong and exposing legalism among
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  Speaker 1: those who were blind to the fact that they modeled it?
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  Speaker 1: This is from the apostle. When I read that, I thought,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it interesting that Paul does this with Titus? Titus
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  Speaker 1: knows all of this. It's like my writing Mark Young
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  Speaker 1: and saying, Chuck, pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, husband of Cynthia,
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  Speaker 1: father of four children, grandfather of 10. I mean, Mark
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  Speaker 1: would go, I know that. But it's not like that
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  Speaker 1: at all. In this case, it's Titus' document. It gives
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  Speaker 1: Titus apostolic authority to say what he needs to say,
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  Speaker 1: to correct what he needs to correct, to confront what
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  Speaker 1: he needs to address with Paul's signature at the top.
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  Speaker 1: This comes from me, an apostle of Christ, writing under
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  Speaker 1: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as a slave of God,
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  Speaker 1: giving you God's message, and I go and take care
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  Speaker 1: of it. I think Titus must have curled up with
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  Speaker 1: this scroll many a night under the candle in his
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  Speaker 1: bedroom and read it over and over and over again.
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  Speaker 1: Now when you fish with Paul, you don't stay by
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  Speaker 1: the banks catching little catfish. You quickly dive deeply and
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  Speaker 1: before you know it, you're in way over your head
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  Speaker 1: and the waves are high and the currents are strong.
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  Speaker 1: I would say to you before I finished the scripture
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  Speaker 1: reading today, you were asking, what does that mean? Probably thinking,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad he's preaching and I'm listening. Well, let's see
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  Speaker 1: if we can unravel some of this. Look closely. After
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  Speaker 1: he identifies himself as a slave of God and an
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  Speaker 1: apostle of Christ Jesus, Paul states his purpose. We would
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  Speaker 1: call it his credo, C-R-E-D-O, his creed, his purpose. It
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  Speaker 1: was threefold. He existed for these three reasons. Look closely.
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  Speaker 1: Introduced with the word for. Number one, for the faith
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  Speaker 1: of those chosen of God. Number two, for the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth, which is according to godliness. Number three,
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  Speaker 1: in the hope of eternal life. Stop there. There you
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  Speaker 1: have his purpose. To lead to faith those who are
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  Speaker 1: the elect. From God's perspective, the elect. From our perspective,
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  Speaker 1: the lost. Paul spent his time leading people to a
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ. Called here, the
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  Speaker 1: faith of those chosen of God. Second, to equip them
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  Speaker 1: with the knowledge of the truth. They go hand in hand,
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  Speaker 1: coming to Christ, And then growing in Christ are two
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  Speaker 1: separate things. You don't become a Christian by gaining knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: You become a Christian by applying faith to the message
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  Speaker 1: of the cross. Christ died for my sins, paying the
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  Speaker 1: payment in full. He was buried. Christ was bodily and
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  Speaker 1: miraculously raised from the dead and still lives today. And
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  Speaker 1: believing in him, I have eternal life. I have faith
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  Speaker 1: in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, having passed that, having
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  Speaker 1: gone through the cross, I am now ready for growth, knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: Paul spent his years leading people who were chosen of
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  Speaker 1: God to faith and then equipping them with the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth, which leads, you will notice at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the first verse, to godliness. Truth that is
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  Speaker 1: embraced and understood if it is true. By that I
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  Speaker 1: mean not just someone's opinion, but truly God's truth will
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  Speaker 1: lead you to godliness. Paul's goal is And I would say,
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  Speaker 1: though I'm certainly not in his league, my goal in
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  Speaker 1: communicating the knowledge of the truth is to equip people
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  Speaker 1: to live lives that are more like God, more like Christ.
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  Speaker 1: If that's happening, it's the result of the knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: the truth landing inside of us and impacting our wills.
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  Speaker 1: But that truth must be known for there to be
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  Speaker 1: spiritual growth. Without it, we are the prey of Of predators.
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  Speaker 1: The cults have a field day. With an ignorant Christian. Cults.
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  Speaker 1: Fill their ranks. With people. Who once were in churches.
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  Speaker 1: That led them to Christ. But never equipped them. With
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge of the truth. And they became. Adult children.
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  Speaker 1: At the mercy of. Every wind of doctrine. Paul's desire
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  Speaker 1: was to develop a knowledge of the truth, which is
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  Speaker 1: according to godliness, in verse 2, in hope of eternal life,
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  Speaker 1: to remind all of the hope of the life God
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  Speaker 1: has promised, not only the quality of life now, which
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  Speaker 1: begins at salvation, but the quantity of eternal, lasting life
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  Speaker 1: at death. That, by the way, is the same purpose
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  Speaker 1: for every minister of the gospel. When you sum up
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  Speaker 1: the salient factors Of this opening statement, you find the
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  Speaker 1: faith of the chosen of God. You find the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the truth of God, and you find the hope
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  Speaker 1: of the life in God. And all three were his credo.
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  Speaker 1: That's why it's so essential that God's word be proclaimed.
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  Speaker 1: And speaking of that, don't miss his calling. In hope
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  Speaker 1: of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long
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  Speaker 1: ages ago. Literally, in ages eternal, in the eternal ages,
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  Speaker 1: God put all of the plan together in eternity past.
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  Speaker 1: Before there was Adam and Eve, before there was earth,
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  Speaker 1: before there was time, there was the Godhead, Father, Son,
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  Speaker 1: and Spirit, who put together the plan of salvation that
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  Speaker 1: would be applied to humanity as people came to live
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  Speaker 1: on planet earth. It was all planned in ages eternal.
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  Speaker 1: all promised by the Father who planned it, the Son
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  Speaker 1: who implemented it, the Spirit of God who ignited it,
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  Speaker 1: giving it power. Now look closely. God who cannot lie
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  Speaker 1: promised it ages ago, but in the proper time manifested
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  Speaker 1: his word. I regret the adding of the word even
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  Speaker 1: in the New American Standard text. While it's meant to clarify,
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  Speaker 1: I think it confuses. It's been added by the editor's
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  Speaker 1: So you're free to leave it out. At the proper time,
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  Speaker 1: it was made known in his word. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: as the Lord planned all of this, there was a
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  Speaker 1: proper time in which God's word began to be written.
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  Speaker 1: First by Moses, later by Joshua. Others came along in
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, including the prophets, ultimately all the way
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  Speaker 1: to the end of John's life. All the way through
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  Speaker 1: God's word was manifested. You have the manifestation of God's
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  Speaker 1: word in the text of the Bible. So that now
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  Speaker 1: that it's manifested, it must be proclaimed. And that brings
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  Speaker 1: us to Paul's calling. In hope of eternal life, which God,
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  Speaker 1: who cannot lie, promised in eternal ages. Verse 3. But
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  Speaker 1: at the proper time, he made it known. He wrote
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  Speaker 1: it down. He manifested his word in the proclamation with
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  Speaker 1: which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God
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  Speaker 1: our Savior. See the word proclamation? It means a message
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  Speaker 1: announced by a herald in a public place on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of a ruler. or the town council. In those days,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't have email. In those days, they didn't have microphones.
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  Speaker 1: In those days, they didn't have a telegraph system. Those days,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't have telephone. So if the king made an edict,
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  Speaker 1: it needed to be heralded. It needed to be announced.
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  Speaker 1: And the kerukma was the message that was announced. The
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  Speaker 1: proclamation became the public edict known and heard in the
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  Speaker 1: ears of the people who served under the king. Paul
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  Speaker 1: sees the gospel. as his calling. He is called to
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  Speaker 1: be a proclaimer. Let me say this very clearly and
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  Speaker 1: very carefully. Preaching that does that is expository preaching. The systematic, thorough,
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  Speaker 1: consistent explanation of the meaning and the application of Holy
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  Speaker 1: Scripture is the most effective method of proclaiming God's truth
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  Speaker 1: year in, year out. It isn't the only method. It
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  Speaker 1: is the most effective method of getting knowledge from the
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  Speaker 1: page of the Bible into the hearts and minds of
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  Speaker 1: the believers. Expository preaching. It is not the preacher's job
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: to be clever and cute. It is not the preacher's
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: job to be so creative that the message gets clouded.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: We are not to rely on our own manipulative skills
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: or our own personal charisma in order to attract and
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: impress or pack the house of worship. We are to
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: be accurate, clear, and practical in the teaching of the
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  Speaker 1: word of God. Because it is missing, churches are starving
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: for truth. Walt Kaiser, in an outstanding book, Toward an
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Exegetical Theology, writes this. It is no secret that Christ's
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: church is not at all in good health in many
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: places of the world. She has been languishing because she
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: has been fed, as the current line has it, junk food.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: All kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: substitutes have been served up to her. As a result,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: theological and biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: health is not damaged by using foods of products that
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: A worldwide spiritual famine results from the absence of any
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: genuine publication of the Word of God, and it continues
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to run wild and almost unabated in most quarters of
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the church. To that I say, amen, Walt, preach it.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing is more important for you to hear today than that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: The spine of this ministry, the life-giving nerve center of
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: any ministry is the proclamation of God's word. I would
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: say that if my calling were counseling, if my calling
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: were music, if my calling were administrative, I don't say
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: it because I'm the preacher. I have said it before
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I was the preacher. I will say it when I'm
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: no longer the preacher. I guess that's when I'm in heaven.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I will be saying it for all my life. Your
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: solid diet of meaty food is what you need the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: most to grow spiritually. It's not all you need, but
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: it's what you need the most. Just as a well-prepared
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: meal must include that which is nutritious for your body,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: for your diet, so your spiritual lives hang on good, solid,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: meaty fruit. Paul was committed to this. How do we
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: know it? Look at verse 3. At the proper time
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: it was made known, that is his word, in the
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: proclamation with which I was, there's our reason to know,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. It's
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a trust. God has entrusted to me the calling of
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: proclaiming his truth, says the apostle. And he reminds Titus
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: of it and indirectly says to Titus, the same thing
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: applies to you. I want you to hold your finger
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: here and go back to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians 1,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: another letter Paul wrote earlier in his ministry to the
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: people of Galatia, first century saints who lived there or
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: around there. I want you to look at verse 11
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: down through verse 17. Listen to the same apostle Paul
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: give a little more detail of his former life. Galatians 1, 11.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: which was preached by me is not according to man.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: For I neither received it from man, nor was I
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: taught it, but I received it through a revelation of
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. This was in the days when God was
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: revealing his word. It's called the doctrine of revelation. That
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: no longer goes on. God is no longer revealing his
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: written word. He revealed it for a period of about 15,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: 1600 years. He gave it to those who were inspired
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of God to write it. And the text that was
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: written became the autographer, the exact written first-time text of Scripture.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Paul says, I received a revelation from Christ. Probably when
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: he was in the third heaven, he received the revelation,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: verse 13. And then he goes back to his past.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: You have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: how I used to persecute the church of God beyond
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: measure and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, among my countrymen
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. This is
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: back when Paul was in Judaism, when Paul was fervent
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: about putting Christians on trial, when he was hoping to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: put all Christians, if possible, out of circulation and even
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: all the way to death. But notice his conversion, verse 15.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: But when God, who had set me apart from my
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: mother's womb, Hear the breaks? All of a sudden you
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: stop when you read that and you realize you've been
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: given a theological truth that you've got to understand. Paul says,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: my calling goes all the way back to before I
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: was born. When I was in my mother's womb, God's
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: hand was on me. In spite of the fact that
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: this is the way he acted out as an unbelieving
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Jew during his period as a Pharisee and as a
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: persecutor of the church. But all the while, God's hand
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: was on me. And God patiently was waiting for the moment.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: And it happened on the road to Damascus. And I'm
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: telling you now, from what God has revealed to me,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: it goes all the way back to before I was born.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: By the way, there are those who say people in
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the womb aren't living beings. Uh... Now let's go on,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: verse 15. And he called me through his grace. Not
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: only did he have his hand on me in the womb,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: he called me through his grace. And he was pleased
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: to reveal his son in me. Why? Look at the calling.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: So that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: didn't immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: go up to Jerusalem. But to those who were apostles
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: before me, or to those who were apostles before me,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: but I went away to Arabia and returned once more
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: to Damascus. He gives you a little bit of insight
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: into all of this calling and how it occurred. When
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: he came to Christ, the Lord had begun to do
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: a work that was preparing him for the man he
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: would be. And so he is doing that with you.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: The poet writes, when God wants to drill a man
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and thrill a man and skill a man, when God
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: wants to mold a man to play the noblest part,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: When he yearns with all his heart to create so
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: great and bold a man that all the world shall
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: be amazed. Watch his methods. Watch his ways. How he
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects. How he hammers him
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: and hurts him and with mighty blows converts him into
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While his
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands. How
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: he bends but never breaks. When his good he undertakes,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: how he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: fuses him by every act induces him to try his
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: splendor out. God knows what he's about. God knows what
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: he's about. And his hand is not only on Paul,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: it's on you. It's on you and it's on you
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and it's on me. God is at work, and the
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: most significant work is the unseen, invisible work. That's what
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: makes it so invincible. It will run its course, strange
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: and mysterious, though that course seems to us in this
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: little sliver of time called the present. But God is
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: at work. Titus begins to realize this as he sees
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: his name in the letter. He says, Paul, slave of
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: God and apostle of Christ Jesus, Committed to the building
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: up of the saints. Committed to the finding of the
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: hope of eternal life. Called to do the work of
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: proclamation to Titus. To you, Titus. And to you, saint,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: today in the 21st century. To me. But to Titus,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: my true child. I love the way that reads. My
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: true child. He really meant that. He was Titus' spiritual OB.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: He was there when Titus was born again. He was
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: a spiritual pediatrician. He helped him know even how to
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: read and how to write and how to walk. How
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: to conduct himself as a man of God. How to
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: carry out his calling. We have a saying here in Texas.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: We call folks that get real, real close to us.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: We say, oh, she's one of us. Or she's a
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: part of the family. Or he's one of our own.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: That's Titus to Paul. To Titus. One of my own. Interesting,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: isn't it? He calls him Technon. It's the word for
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: a child. Well, that's like you mothers do with your
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: 45-year-old sons. You can't believe my child would act like that. Well,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: I understand. Titus is one of his own children. But
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: you know what's great? He doesn't pull rank. He says,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: we are men of common faith. Titus, you're not only
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: a true child, we are connected at the hip in
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: a common faith. In that sense, no one can pull rank.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: We're together in this. The same Christ who led you
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: to himself led me to himself. The same cross I
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: understood and embraced is the cross you understood. The same
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: life that I'm to live is the life you're to live.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: We're in common in this. We have this in common.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Remember that when you're around spiritual mentors, before you get
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: too impressed, before you see them as some kind of
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: pedestalized individuals, you're in a common faith. And most of
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: them I know would remind you of that. We're in
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: this together. To Titus, my own child, in a common faith.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: And then he places the blessing of Greek and Hebrew
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: divine blessing on him. Karis, grace to you. Grace. God's unmerited,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: unsolicited favor, may it pour on you. May it mark
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: your life. May you be a man of grace. May
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: it characterize your ministry. May you be one who knows
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: grace inside and out. May it be the characteristic of
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: the tightest ministry on Crete. And peace, shalom. May that
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: peace be yours when you rest your head at night
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: after a day of labor. May you know a peace
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: that passes understanding. May the peace be yours because of obedience.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: May you know God's shalom. May you have his grace.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: May you know his peace. From God the Father and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus our Savior. These men were on a mission
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and in many ways were on the same and it
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: reminds me to apply it in these four areas. They're
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: simple but they're Four questions I have to ask you.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: And I don't know the answer. So they're for you
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: to answer. First, Paul's identity. He told us who he was.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: A slave of God and an apostle of Christ. My
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: question to you, what is your identity? What are you?
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: What marks your life? What is that inimitable characteristic? That
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: is yours. Spiritually speaking. Paul tells us his credo. Revolved
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: around three specifics. Faith of God's elect. Knowledge of the truth.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: And hope of eternal life. What's your credo? To what
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: are you committed? Stop and think. It's why you're left
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: on the earth.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: It's.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Forgive me if it's too harsh to put it this way.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: But it's why you lived and. someone else died. It's
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: why you've survived your brother or your sister or your
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: parent or your child. You're not left simply to grieve
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: in a crepe-draped home. You're left for a purpose. You
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: have a reason. It has nothing to do with what
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: you want. It's all about his plan from ages eternal, remember,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: as it unfolds in a purpose that you ought to
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: be able to articulate two or three things. Third, Paul
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: gives us his calling. The one specific thing that I
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: think of in the daytime and I dream of through
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the night, the one thing I work on regularly and
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: I'm committed to as a constant pursuit And I cultivate
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: is the proclamation of the truth. What's your calling? What's yours?
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: What is your calling? What are you doing? And while
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: you're doing it, can I even ask, do you still
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: delight in it? Do you still delight in it? Or
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: has it become a point of constant complaint? It's a calling.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: It's a calling. isn't a job, it's a calling. Finally,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Paul's relationship with Titus was deep and it was intimate.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: With whom are you cultivating a deep and intimate relationship?
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: You have a true son or daughter in the faith.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: You have someone with whom you spend an extra amount
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of time pouring into them and they into you. What
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: a dimension it adds. I love the words of V.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Raymond Edmond while still president of Wheaton College. Is there
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: delight deeper or more delectable than that of duty diligently done?
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: To no one's responsibility to face its circumstances, both favorable
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: and unfavorable, to follow the line of duty without deviation,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: caused by difficulties or distraction, and to fulfill the task
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: as assigned. All this brings great joy. Between finding out
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: our task and fulfilling the same, therein lies the discipline
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: of duty, often arduous and difficult, even to the point
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: of impossibility. Battle against the wrath of men, the waste
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: of years, the waves of despair, and the wickedness of
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the adversaries. Discipline of duty is not easy nor light.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Its performance is painful and perilous, but its culmination is delight.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: I'd like you to bow your head with me, please,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: as you pause following this message. God's handwritten word to
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: you today. We're all somewhere along the way in our journey.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: For you, you may have come to the arduous part,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: or maybe the perilous part, the river's wide and the
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: current's strong, the water's deep. Maybe there's some personal pain
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: connected with it. You've had to make some very unpopular
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: decisions that have caused others around you to misunderstand you
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: and maybe even malign you. In no way does it
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: change the calling. Hudson Taylor put it like this. It
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter how great the pressure is. What really matters
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: is where the pressure lies. Whether it comes between you
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: and God or whether it presses you nearer his heart.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: You may be physically challenged these days. Surgery follows surgery.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Difficulty follows difficulty. The word from the physician isn't as
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: good as you had hoped. But you're still alive. There's
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: still purpose. Still a calling. And if you've never met
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the Savior, my, talk about grace being applied to you.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: You could have perished last night. You could have died
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: on the way to church this morning. But you're alive.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: He's given you this moment to trust him. So believe
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: in him. Take him. And finally, if the cares of
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: this world are so great that they've heaped themselves upon
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: you to the point where you can't even find your purpose,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: this is the moment to release them. Let him have them.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Let him go. Thank you, Father, for your great grace.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: for your peace that is beyond understanding. Thank you for
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: the joy of your calling for the specific purpose of
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: our lives. Thank you for giving us an identity that
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: is beyond temporal. Thank you for linking your energy to
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: us through your spirit. May we live lives that show
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: a difference because of the way you are at work
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: through us and in us. Deliver us from the cantankerous,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: onerous stuff of our flesh so that we might become
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: sources of energy and encouragement to those who've lost their way.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Make us, our Father, into your significant vessels to do
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: your work. I pray finally for those who've never trusted
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: you that you would keep them miserable and restless and
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: awash until they find their peace with you through Christ.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: In whose name I pray. Everybody said amen.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Two Men on a Mission with Us,
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2006, 2007, and 2024. And the sound
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.