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Voddie Baucham - The Sufficiency of Scripture in the Disciple Making Ministry of the Church · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Votie Bauckham
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: with the message, The Sufficiency of Scripture in the Disciple-Making
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Ministry of the Church and the Home.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Listen, in this last session, we have an opportunity to
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: again turn our focus to the sufficiency of scripture. And
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: in this session, we're looking at the scriptures and the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: sufficiency of scripture, um, as it pertains to the discipling
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: ministry of the church and the discipling ministry of the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: home and how that discipling ministry works together in a
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: sort of synergistic way. And if you're like me, the
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: term synergy is just something that you probably usually don't
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: like to use. And as a staunch, fire-breathing Calvinist, I
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: can't stand the word synergy most of the time. But
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to the relationship between the home and
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  Speaker 2: the church and this process of discipleship, there is a synergy.
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  Speaker 2: And it's important for us to grasp that and to
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  Speaker 2: understand that. And as we talk about this ministry of discipleship,
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  Speaker 2: if you were in the session that I did earlier,
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  Speaker 2: we talked about youth ministry. But one of the points,
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  Speaker 2: one of my problems is With youth ministry is that
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  Speaker 2: first and foremost, it has no basis whatsoever in the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: word of God. It is biblically indefensible. You cannot go
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: to the scriptures and make any coherent argument for systematically
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: age graded ministries. You can't do it. You can't do it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: And that's my biggest problem with it. And when you
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: start to talk about that and people try to defend
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  Speaker 2: age segregation in the church and these ministries that sort
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: of look like the school system in many ways, that
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: come from the philosophy of individuals like G. Stanley Hall,
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  Speaker 2: philosophies of individuals who are committed, committed Darwinian evolutionists, who
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  Speaker 2: believe in the recapitulation theory, and because of all of that,
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  Speaker 2: they believe that you have to divide people up by ages,
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  Speaker 2: not because of anything other than Darwinian evolutionary philosophy. That's
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  Speaker 2: where age-graded school systems come from, and that's where age-graded
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  Speaker 2: Sunday schools come from, and that's where age-graded youth ministries,
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  Speaker 2: children's ministries, so on and so forth come from. And
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  Speaker 2: people will often ask this question. Well, come on. It's
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  Speaker 2: just an hour a week. What harm can it do?
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  Speaker 2: It's just an hour a week.
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  Speaker 3: Really?
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  Speaker 2: What if you have a problem with pornography on the Internet?
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  Speaker 2: Just an hour a week. Well, are you saying that
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  Speaker 2: Sunday school is the equivalent? Not my point. Here's my point.
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  Speaker 2: You can't argue that something is harmless solely on the
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  Speaker 2: basis that it happens only an hour a week. That
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  Speaker 2: argument is as weak as well water. You cannot argue
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  Speaker 2: that just because it only happens for a limited period
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  Speaker 2: of time, that that means it's okay. Because if it
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  Speaker 2: is philosophically and theologically diametrically opposed to the biblical worldview,
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  Speaker 2: I don't care if it's half an hour a week,
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  Speaker 2: it's a problem. And let me clear up a myth.
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  Speaker 2: There's a myth that family integrated churches hate Sunday school.
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  Speaker 2: Family integrated churches think Sunday school is of the devil. Folks,
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  Speaker 2: there are family integrated churches that have Sunday school. They're
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  Speaker 2: not age graded. But nobody says that because you have
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  Speaker 2: a class that meets for an hour before church, that
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  Speaker 2: you're of the devil. If you want to have a
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  Speaker 2: class that meets for an hour before church, or for
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  Speaker 2: an hour after church, or on Thursday, or on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: or Tuesday, or whatever day you want to have a
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  Speaker 2: class for people to get together and sit down and
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  Speaker 2: study something, that's wonderful. But where, where, pray tell, do
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  Speaker 2: you find any justification for breaking it up according to
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  Speaker 2: ages and grades? I'll tell you where. Darwinian Evolutionary Marxist ideology.
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  Speaker 2: That's where. And nowhere else. Nowhere else. So as we
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  Speaker 2: talk about this process, let's just get the straw man,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: let's just bury the straw man, okay? This is not
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  Speaker 2: about arguing as to whether or not someone can have
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  Speaker 2: a class that meets before church or that meets after church.
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  Speaker 2: That's not the point. Let's bury another straw man, shall we?
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  Speaker 2: A straw man that says, you know those family integrated
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  Speaker 2: church folks, they believe that the church doesn't have any
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  Speaker 2: authority as it relates to discipleship. That the authority rests
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  Speaker 2: only in the home and that the church doesn't have
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  Speaker 2: any authority and that a pastor doesn't have any authority
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  Speaker 2: to do any teaching or any ministry or any discipleship
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  Speaker 2: or any counseling with anyone If they're part of a
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  Speaker 2: father's household, that's a straw man, people. Because in case
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  Speaker 2: you realize it or not, right now and throughout this
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  Speaker 2: entire weekend, your family has been taught. Amen. We didn't
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  Speaker 2: just say fathers come in here and listen and then
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  Speaker 2: go and dispense the information to your wife and children.
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  Speaker 2: I'm teaching everybody. Everybody. And that's what we do. We
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  Speaker 2: teach everybody. Amen? That's a straw man. It's a complete
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  Speaker 2: straw man. But what does it look like when we're
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  Speaker 2: doing discipleship and respecting those God-given institutions? What does the
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  Speaker 2: synergy between those institutions look like? Well, I'm glad you asked.
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  Speaker 2: Open your Bibles with me to the book of Titus.
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  Speaker 2: The book of Titus. We're going to look at Titus
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  Speaker 2: chapter 1 and Titus chapter 2. And we're going to
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  Speaker 2: start at the end and then go back to the beginning.
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  Speaker 2: Don't ask me why. Just trust me. We'll start at
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  Speaker 2: the end. We'll go back to the beginning. And you'll
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  Speaker 2: understand why. You'll understand why in just a moment. So
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  Speaker 2: we'll start actually in Titus chapter 2. We'll look here
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  Speaker 2: in Titus chapter 2. Let's look at the first part
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  Speaker 2: of this. In Titus chapter 2. Before I do this,
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  Speaker 2: let me give you these three things. I'll give you
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  Speaker 2: these three things and then I'll pull them out of
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  Speaker 2: the text for you and show you where these things
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  Speaker 2: come from. Three things that God has given us. It's
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  Speaker 2: sort of like a three-legged stool. I like to talk
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  Speaker 2: about it like a three-legged stool. It's a three-legged discipleship stool.
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  Speaker 2: God has given us these three gifts today. And through
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  Speaker 2: these three gifts, he has provided for us a wonderful
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  Speaker 2: mechanism and opportunity to be disciples. Those three are these.
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  Speaker 2: Number one, and I'm just giving it to you in
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  Speaker 2: this order because it's the order that we'll look at
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  Speaker 2: these things in. I'm not saying that this one is
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  Speaker 2: superior or first. I'm giving you these three because they're
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  Speaker 2: the order that we'll encounter them in the text. Number one,
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  Speaker 2: he gives us godly, mature men and women in the church. Godly,
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  Speaker 2: mature men and women in the church. And by the way,
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  Speaker 2: all of those words are important. Godly, mature men and
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  Speaker 2: women in the church. All those words are important. And
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  Speaker 2: I'll explain why all those words are important. That's number one.
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  Speaker 2: He gives us godly, mature men and women in the church. Secondly,
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  Speaker 2: he gives us godly, manly elders. All those words are
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  Speaker 2: important too. He gives us godly, manly Thirdly, he gives
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  Speaker 2: us godly, biblically functioning homes. Those are the three. And
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  Speaker 2: we'll look at all three of these in Titus chapter
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  Speaker 2: 1 and Titus chapter 2 and how the three of
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  Speaker 2: them work together as this three-legged stool. And you need
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  Speaker 2: all three, by the way. You need all three. They
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  Speaker 2: are important. It's imperative that we have all three. Why?
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  Speaker 2: Because God says so. We need godly, mature men and
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  Speaker 2: women in the church. We need godly, manly elders. And
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  Speaker 2: we need godly, biblically functioning homes. We desperately need these.
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  Speaker 2: If any of these is taken away, then there is
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  Speaker 2: great difficulty. Is it possible to do discipleship if one
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  Speaker 2: of these is missing? Yes, it's possible. But it's greatly
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  Speaker 2: hindered if any one of these three is missing. Look
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  Speaker 2: with me, if you will, in Titus chapter 2. But
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  Speaker 2: as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older
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  Speaker 2: men are to be by the way stop there and
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  Speaker 2: go down to verse 3 older women likewise are to
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  Speaker 2: be why is that important here's what you need to
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  Speaker 2: understand we're not just talking about people who by virtue
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  Speaker 2: of their age qualify for what's being lined out here
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  Speaker 2: in Titus chapter 2 Just being older is not enough.
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  Speaker 2: Just being gray-headed is not enough. He is speaking here
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  Speaker 2: about the character of godly men and godly women who
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  Speaker 2: have walked with God over time. So what we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about is the sanctification process as it matures, the sanctification
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  Speaker 2: process as it bears fruit over time in the life
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  Speaker 2: of a man or a woman. We are not talking
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  Speaker 2: about a person who merely is old, and by virtue
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  Speaker 2: of being old, they qualify as a Titus 2 man
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  Speaker 2: or a Titus 2 woman. Nothing could be further from
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  Speaker 2: the truth. There are two types of older people who
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  Speaker 2: aren't sinning like they used to, okay? There's one older
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  Speaker 2: person who doesn't sin like they used to because they've
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  Speaker 2: been born again. God has absolutely transformed their lives. He
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  Speaker 2: is working in them to will and to do his
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  Speaker 2: good pleasure. They are not who they used to be
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  Speaker 2: by the glory of almighty God. That's one type of
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  Speaker 2: older person. Here's the other type of older person. They
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  Speaker 2: don't do it anymore because they got too old. Can't
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  Speaker 2: say amen. You ought to say ouch. All right. They
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  Speaker 2: don't do it anymore because they got too old. Are
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  Speaker 2: they more godly? No, they're not more godly. They're just tired.
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  Speaker 2: They just can't get out there like they used to.
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  Speaker 2: So what we're talking about here is not people who
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  Speaker 2: qualify as Titus II men or Titus II women merely
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  Speaker 2: by virtue of gray hair or merely by virtue of age.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about a character that is formed as the
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  Speaker 2: gospel transforms a life, takes an individual from darkness to light,
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  Speaker 2: and then in a process of sanctification makes them more
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  Speaker 2: and more like Jesus every day because they've been walking
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  Speaker 2: with God. So we're talking about godly, mature men and women.
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  Speaker 2: And all of those are important. We're talking about godly
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  Speaker 2: men and women. We're talking about mature men and women.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking about men and women because God's very clear
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  Speaker 2: about men and women here and about the relationship of
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  Speaker 2: discipleship being very gender specific. And we're talking about in
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  Speaker 2: the church. We've heard about this already. We all listen
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  Speaker 2: to the charge on a number of instances on yesterday
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  Speaker 2: and on last night. about how desperately we need the church.
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  Speaker 2: We've heard that charge. You hear that charge, hear again.
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  Speaker 2: This is an epistle that was given to the church.
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  Speaker 2: This is about the church. This is about the structure
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  Speaker 2: of the church. This is about the ministry of the church.
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  Speaker 2: This is about discipleship in the church. These are about godly, older,
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  Speaker 2: mature men and women in the church. If we are
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  Speaker 2: divorcing ourselves from the church, we are divorcing ourselves from
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  Speaker 2: the mechanism and the blessing that God has given us
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  Speaker 2: for our own discipleship and sanctification. We need the church.
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  Speaker 2: And we need godly, mature men and women in the church.
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  Speaker 2: One of the problems that I have with many of
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  Speaker 2: the movements that are there, and we've heard several times
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  Speaker 2: over the course of this weekend about the emerging church
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  Speaker 2: movement and other types of church movements. One of the
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  Speaker 2: problems that I have with many of these movements, these
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  Speaker 2: burgeoning movements, is this. Is that they are monolithic as
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  Speaker 2: it relates to age. And basically it's just glorified youth group.
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  Speaker 2: It's young people. We're a church targeting 20-somethings. No, you're
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  Speaker 2: not a church if you're just targeting 20-somethings. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what you are. You can call yourself something else.
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  Speaker 2: But if you're just targeting 20-somethings, don't call yourself a church.
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  Speaker 2: The church is multi-generational in nature. Amen? We desperately need godly,
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  Speaker 2: mature men and women. What does that look like? You
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  Speaker 2: guys ask all the right questions. Older men are to be,
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  Speaker 2: here's the first one, sober-minded. Older men are to be sober-minded.
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  Speaker 2: Older men are to be dignified. I like that. There's
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  Speaker 2: nothing like an undignified older man. I mean, an undignified
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  Speaker 2: younger man is not too pretty. But an undignified older man,
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  Speaker 2: that just doesn't work. Older men are to be dignified.
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  Speaker 2: They're to be sober-minded, they're to have their head about them,
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  Speaker 2: they're to have their wits about them, and they are
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  Speaker 2: to be dignified. Why? Because they work really hard to
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  Speaker 2: be dignified? what's happening here is not Paul saying, here's
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  Speaker 2: what I want you to work real hard to get
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  Speaker 2: the older men to do. No, he is giving us
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  Speaker 2: the identifying marks of older men who belong to Jesus
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  Speaker 2: Christ and who are sanctified by the power of his
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  Speaker 2: spirit over time. One of the marks of a man
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  Speaker 2: who has walked with God over time is that he
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  Speaker 2: will be sober-minded and he will be dignified. It's one
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  Speaker 2: of the evidences that he actually belongs God self-controlled older
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  Speaker 2: men ought to be self-controlled in fact is this not
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  Speaker 2: one of the great differences between the older man and
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  Speaker 2: the younger man self-control the difference between the older man
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  Speaker 2: and the younger man can be summed up by a
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  Speaker 2: conversation that happened between two men as they sat at
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  Speaker 2: a red light they sit here at the red light
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  Speaker 2: and the older man is actually driving The older man
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  Speaker 2: is a car collector. The older man has a sports car.
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  Speaker 2: You pick the sports car, but it's an older sports car,
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  Speaker 2: but it will still flat out run. He sits there
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  Speaker 2: and the younger man is sitting next to him in
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  Speaker 2: this sports car that the older man is driving far
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  Speaker 2: too slowly for the younger man's taste. The younger man's
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  Speaker 2: sitting there going, why have all this under the hood
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  Speaker 2: if you won't punch it? And all of a sudden,
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  Speaker 2: another car comes up besides their car. Another sports car.
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  Speaker 2: Revs its engine. Looks over. Gives them the look. The
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  Speaker 2: universal symbol for less race. It goes something like this.
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  Speaker 2: Light turns green. Other car peels out. The older man
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  Speaker 2: just Gradually rolls off the light. The younger man sits
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  Speaker 2: there going, we could have taken him. The older man says,
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  Speaker 2: I know. So why do I need to? Self-control. Difference
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  Speaker 2: between the older man and the younger man is. You
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  Speaker 2: say to the younger man, I double dog dare you.
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  Speaker 2: And he'll try it. You say to the older, mature,
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  Speaker 2: self-controlled man, I double dog dare you. And he says,
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  Speaker 2: even if I could, I wouldn't want to. Self-control. Which,
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  Speaker 2: by the way, is not really self-control at all. Because remember,
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  Speaker 2: we are talking about the gospel taking root and taking
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  Speaker 2: hold in a man's life. We're talking about a man
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  Speaker 2: being genuinely converted. We're talking about a man over time changing.
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  Speaker 2: being conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ. So
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  Speaker 2: what happens here really only looks like self-control, when ultimately
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  Speaker 2: what it is is a yielding to the control of
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  Speaker 2: the Spirit of the living God. Sound in faith. Sound
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  Speaker 2: in faith. One of the marks of a man who's
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  Speaker 2: been walking with God over time is that he ought
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  Speaker 2: to be sound in faith. If there is anything that
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  Speaker 2: burdens me, it is this idea. In our culture, in
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  Speaker 2: modern American Christianity, we will not tolerate biblical, theological, and
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  Speaker 2: spiritual maturity in men. Let me say that again. In
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  Speaker 2: modern American Christianity, We will not tolerate biblical, spiritual, theological
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  Speaker 2: maturity in men. We just can't have it. Nothing above mediocrity. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: what do you mean? I mean, we're at this conference
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  Speaker 2: and we, I mean, of course we're all about this.
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  Speaker 2: We want men to be mature. We want men to
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  Speaker 2: grow up. Listen, I can prove it to you. In
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  Speaker 2: most of our churches, if you have a young man
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  Speaker 2: who's 16, 17, 18 years old, and this young man
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  Speaker 2: is reading church history and he's reading theology, He knows
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  Speaker 2: his Bible. He's studying his Bible. He has a passion
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  Speaker 2: for the word of God, has a passion for the
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  Speaker 2: things of God and a passion for the people of God.
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  Speaker 2: You know what happens in the average American church? They
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: look at that 16, 17, 18 year old young man
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: and they say, God must be calling you to preach.
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  Speaker 3: Really?
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  Speaker 2: Why because you love the Bible you love theology you
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  Speaker 2: love church history you're passionate about the things of God
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  Speaker 2: now what we ought to say is well that just
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  Speaker 2: means you're a Christian right no not in the modern
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  Speaker 2: American church and you know this is true In the
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  Speaker 2: modern American church, if a young man gets that serious
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  Speaker 2: about the things of God, immediately the mediocrity of manhood
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  Speaker 2: in the modern American church says, you need to get
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  Speaker 2: away from the rest of us because we will not
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  Speaker 2: tolerate your passion. You've got to go get a seminary degree.
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  Speaker 2: You've got to go become a pastor. You've got to
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  Speaker 2: put reverend in front of your name so that I
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  Speaker 2: no longer feel guilty about my own mediocre pursuits. And
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  Speaker 2: because of that, Modern American Christianity is the only place
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  Speaker 2: in our culture where we will tolerate this cognitive dissonance
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  Speaker 2: between a man who will say, I've been walking with
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  Speaker 2: God 30, 40, 50 years and I know nothing. Because
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  Speaker 2: anywhere else, I don't care what you name the field.
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  Speaker 2: Name the field where in our culture, and I'm talking
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: about just anybody, just lost pagans. Name the field. I
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: don't care if it's bricklaying. I don't care if it's
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  Speaker 2: truck driving, whatever it is. If there's a man on
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  Speaker 2: the job who says, I've been doing this for 20 years,
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  Speaker 2: 30 years, 40 years. And another young man comes to
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  Speaker 2: the job and says, hey, I've heard you've been doing
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  Speaker 2: this 30 years, 40 years. I know if there's anybody
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  Speaker 2: who can show me the ropes, you can show me
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  Speaker 2: the ropes. And we'd all say, yeah, of course, if
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: he's been doing it that long, you ought to be
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: able to come to him. He ought to be able
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  Speaker 2: to show you the ropes. But what if the young
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  Speaker 2: man comes to the older man who's been doing this
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  Speaker 2: for 30, 40, 50 years and says, brother, you've been
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  Speaker 2: laying bricks for 40 years and I've just started. Can
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  Speaker 2: I just come alongside you and watch you so that
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  Speaker 2: I can learn how to be a bricklayer? Because I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure you're a master at it now. Oh, I ain't
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  Speaker 2: no master bricklayer. I don't know nothing about no bricks.
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  Speaker 2: I see we laugh, but how about this? You've been
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  Speaker 2: walking with God 20, 30, 40 years. Sir, can I
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: come alongside you as a younger man and you mentor
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: me in doctrine, theology, Bible, and church history? What's the response?
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I ain't no preacher. That's the only place in America
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: where we accept something so ludicrous. Where a man can say,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I've been walking with God 30, 40 years, and I
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: proudly declare I know nothing. I'm ignorant. I'm a babe
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: in Christ. A 40-year-old baby, and I'm not ashamed of it.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Nowhere else is that acceptable. Only in the church. Only
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: in the church. But the text says, one of the
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: evidences of a man that belongs to God, who has
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: been walking with God over time, is that he is
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: sound in faith. He's sound. We're called to contend earnestly
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: for the faith that was once for all handed down
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to the saints. And yet we proudly proclaim that because
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: we don't have ordination papers, we're unwilling and unable to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: do it. If nothing else, just having read through the
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Bible for 40 years ought to make you somewhat of
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: an expert. Amen? Something. But understand, This is a gift
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: that God is giving. It's a disciple-making gift that God
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: is giving. Look at the next part. Sound in faith,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: in love. You look at that, and here's what's ironic.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Sound in faith and sound in love. Our older men, again,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: the modern American church, our older men, the ones to
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: whom we would look as examples of what it means
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: to be a loving Christian, That's almost laughable. No, no.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Older Christian men are not seen as examples of loving.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: They ought to be. When we look at Ephesians chapter five,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: wives be subject to your own husbands as unto the Lord.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: But what does it say to husbands? Husbands love your
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: wives as Christ loved the church. Folks, If there's a
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: man who is in Christ, who is born again, who
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: has been walking with God for 20, 30, 40, 50
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: years and walking with his wife 20, 30, 40, 50
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: years and his number one job description is to love
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: her the way Christ loved the church, he ought to
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: be the example of love for everyone in the church.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: But is he?
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: No.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: No.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: No.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Older men in our churches ought to out-love everybody. Sound
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in love. But that's not what we expect. That's not
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: what we anticipate. And in steadfastness. There's the picture. There's
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: the picture of the older man. The godly, mature man
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Man in the church that God has given as a
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: gift to his bride, the church, that over time begins
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: to mature, begins to take root by walking with God
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: and being sanctified. That's what he looks like. Older women
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: likewise are to be.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: What?
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Reverent in behavior. Just like an undignified older man is
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: a travesty, an irreverent older woman is a travesty. Amen, somebody.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: There's just nothing like an irreverent older woman. An older
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: woman ought to be, if she's nothing else, she ought
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: to be reverent. Well, I don't know, what do you mean?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: What is an older woman who's not reverent? What does
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: an older woman who's irreverent look like? Well, we don't
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: have time to go into all that, but can I
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: just tell you one thing? Here's one tip off. of
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: an irreverent older woman. You hear her long before you
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: see her. I'm going to leave that one right there.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Reverent in behavior, not slanderers. Not slanderers. Isn't it amazing?
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Women are known more for their words than men. Women,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: I believe, have a greater ability than men to both
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: heal and to harm with the tongue. And one of
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: the evidences that a woman has been walking with God
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: over time and being sanctified is that she is not
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: a slanderer. Her tongue is not venomous. She does not
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: speak words that tear others down. Or a slave to
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: much wine. Older women are not slaves to much wine.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Controlled by outward influences like that. They are to teach
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: what is good. This is the equivalent of the sound
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: in faith for the older man. In other words, instead
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: of slander, an older woman who's been walking with God,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: instead of having a quick tongue and a sharp tongue
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: that is slanderous towards others, what she's characterized by as
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: a result of her sanctification in Christ is that when
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: she opens her mouth, pearls of biblical wisdom fall out.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: When a godly, mature woman speaks, it is the word
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: of God. That flows forth. When a woman has been
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: walking with God over time. Being sanctified by him over time.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Her words are a source not only of blessing and healing.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: But they are a source of truth. As she has
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: hidden the word of God in her heart. That she
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: might not sin against him. And out of the abundance
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: of the heart the mouth speaks. Because this woman is
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: sound in the faith. When she speaks forth. She is
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: not speaking forth the words of Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Phil
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: or Dr.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Spock.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: But the words of Dr. Jesus. Why is this important?
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: She teaches what is good and so. He's going to
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: answer the question.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Is this so important and so train the young women
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: just stop there I know we know this we're familiar
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: with this but just stop there for a moment just
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: for a moment I want us to go through a
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: little exercise here instead of going forward with this stop
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: right there There's a statement that comes after this. But
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: we're going to put a parenthesis here and go to
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: the end of the statement. And so train the younger
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: women and then go down to the end. And it
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: says at the end of verse 5 that the word
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: of God may not be reviled. Now, stop there. If
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: you and I had never read this before and we
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: were to say, older women are to be sound in
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: the faith or older women are to... Teach what is
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: good so that they may train the younger women. And
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: you stop and there's a parenthetical statement there. Whatever training
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: these older women are going to give younger women, the
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: purpose of it is that the word of God would
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: not be blasphemed. The word of God would not be defiled.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: What sorts of things would we put in that parenthesis?
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: older women i'll teach younger women you know um theology
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: bible um apologetics um whatever there's so many things that
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: we would put in that parentheses if we're saying our
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: goal is that the word of god would not be
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: defiled but that's not what god puts in that parentheses
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: what does he put there And so train the young
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: working at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands, that
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: the word of God may not be reviled. There you
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: have it. So what's the undercurrent flowing here with the
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: relationship of the older woman and the younger woman? Here's
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: the undercurrent. It's the home. You notice that this goes
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: straight to the home. So God says, I've given you
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: this in the church. And one of the reasons that
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: I've given you this in the church, godly, mature men
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: and women is so that in the case of older women.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: They open their mouths and pearls of biblical wisdom come out.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: And as a result of the pearls of biblical wisdom
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: coming out of the mouths of older women, younger women
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: are better equipped to do in their homes what God
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: has called younger women to do. Here's what's sad. We
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: take Titus chapter 2. And by the way, notice this.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: Titus chapter 2 does not say, An older woman should
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: teach the younger women in the church. No, it says
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: older women. Titus 2 is not a model for women's
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: Bible study. Let me say that again. Titus 2 is
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: not a model for women's Bible study. Even if the
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: women's Bible study is studying issues like Loving your husband
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: and your children and being sensible, pure and a worker
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: at home. Not a model for that. Why? Because women's
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Bible study is an older woman singular standing before a
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: group of younger women, plural and instructing them in a
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: pastoral manner. As we'd say down south, that ain't in
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: the book. That's not what this text teaches. This text
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: teaches what older women, plural, are to teach younger women, plural,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: and the context of it is relational, not formal instruction.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: So do not run to Titus chapter 2 for an
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: excuse for your women's Bible study group where you have
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: a teacher who Teaching a bunch of other women. That's
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: not what this text teaches. It's not here. It's not here.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Did I say that a woman can't teach another woman
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: something that comes out of the scriptures? Folks, nothing could
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: be further from the truth. When an older, godly, mature
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: woman opens her mouth, scripture is what comes out. How
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: is a godly woman supposed to train a younger woman
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: in the area of loving her husband and her children
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: without the word of God being the source? If the
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: word of God is not the source, then the woman
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: is the source, and that's a problem. But this is relational.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: This is not formal instruction. So note here, the first
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: leg of the stool. Godly, mature men and women in
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: the church. And God using godly, mature men and women
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: in the church for the benefit of the younger. By
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: the way, this is one of my biggest problems with
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: the whole age segregated ministry model. How does Titus 2
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: relational ministry happen if the senior adults are over there
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: in that building and the youth are over there in
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: that building? In fact, while we're meddling, how does this
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: ministry happen if we have our traditional service at 8
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: o'clock and our contemporary service at 11 o'clock? And the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: older women and older men go to the traditional service
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: at eight. And the younger women and younger men who
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: desperately need ministry from them go to the contemporary service
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: at 11. While we pretend that we're one church instead
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: of two lying to everybody who will take five seconds
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: to acknowledge what we're doing. Got that one out of
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: my system. All right. So here's the picture. This is
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: what God has given us. Godly, mature men and women.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: This is the first leg. It is a relational discipling entity. Godly,
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: mature men and women are a gift that God has
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: given to his church. They are these jewels that God
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: has been shaping over time and they are of great
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: benefit to us. Let me ask you a question. if
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: you're a young couple and you're a young family, have
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: you spent as much time trying to find a godly
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: older couple as you have trying to find Vision Forum
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: or Votibachum Resources? Here's what I see. What I see
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: everywhere I go is people who are just So grateful
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: for everything Vision Forum is doing. So grateful for what,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: you know, all of the speakers who are here today
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: are doing. So grateful. You've been a lifeline for our family.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: You know, that's wonderful. But here's what I want to know.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Number one, do you have a church? And number two,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: are you seeking out godly, mature men and women, not
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: just to write books that you can read, but who
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: will be in your life? Or have you so isolated
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: yourself that our materials are all you have? If you have,
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: that's a problem. If you have, that's a problem. Well,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: you just don't know. There's just no churches like that
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: in my area. Let me just again, I'm going to
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: tell you this because I love you. I really do.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: I love you. I love you. So just hear me
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: on this. Here's what I can't wrap my mind around.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: People who on the one hand read the Puritans and say, oh,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: thank God for men and women who would get in
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: a ship and cross the Atlantic for months at a
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: time so that they could come here and worship God
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: in freedom. But you won't move to the next county.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: God help us. We idolize people who face death to
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: cross the sea. But we stick our thumb in our
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: mouth and cry rather than move across town or to
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: the next county because spiritual fellowship is just that important
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: to us. Instead, I'm just going home church for a while.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: We need God's people. We need God's people desperately. And
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: we sit here as fruit of the heritage of individuals
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: who gave up everything and were willing to go anywhere.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Enough already with sulking because of what we can't find
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: or because of what we're unwilling to start. While we're
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: on the subject. It amazes me that on the one hand,
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: we will say we do not need the school system.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: We're free from the school system. That bondage is gone.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: We educate our children in our home and we can
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: do it and we can do a good enough job.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Who needs all that certification and this and that and
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: the other? Great. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. You got
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: a church? No, no churches in our area. Why don't
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: you go start one? I don't have any certification from
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: a seminary. I get whiplash, people. I get whiplash. On
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: the one hand, This staunch rejection of the whole idea
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: of the certification. But when it's time to stand up
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: and lead. I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have any papers.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: He gives us godly mature men and women. I got
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: two more to go. We're going to make it though.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: You just got to listen faster than you've been. Here's
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: the second one that he gives us. He gives us
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: godly manly elders. Godly manly elders. Here's what's interesting. You
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: look there and then the next verse says likewise urge
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: the younger men to be self-controlled. And that's it. There's
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: no list. There's no list, people. There's no list. The
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: women got their list. The men, there's no list. And
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: the men are sitting there going, I was robbed. I
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: got no list. And the women are saying, yeah, I
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: was robbed. I got no list. Men are walking around going, yeah,
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: I'm looking for it. Proverbs 31 woman and Titus 2 woman.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: And women are walking around going, I'm looking for it. Ladies,
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: can I give you a list? Can I give you,
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: let me give you a list. Here's a list. You're
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: looking for Titus 1 man. Wait a minute, time out. Whoa,
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: wait a minute. Because I know my Bible. Titus 1,
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: those are requirements for elders. Uh-huh. And they're the requirements
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: for every man.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: No, no, those are requirements
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: for elders. Listen.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: Listen.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: There's no list for young men in Titus chapter 2
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: because the list was already given in Titus chapter 1. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: I understand, but that's a list for elders. Okay? Let
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: me explain this to you. Why the list in Titus
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: chapter 1 is the list for young men. Three reasons.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: I'll give you my weakest one first. Number one, because
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: there's no list in chapter 2. And if that was
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: my only reason, I wouldn't even bother to bring it
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: because it'd be a weak reason. However, that's not my
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: only reason.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: Okay?
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: There's no list in chapter 2. Here's my second reason.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Elders are commanded in 1 Peter chapter 5 to be
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: examples to the flock. Right? Be examples to the flock. Now,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: try to follow me on this. If there's one set
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: of requirements over here for elders that look nothing like
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: the requirements over here for regular men, How's that guy
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: an example for this guy if they have different lists?
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: The answer? He can't be. The only way the elder
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: can be an example to the flock is if his
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: list is the exact same list that every man ought
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: to be striving for. So that's my second argument. Here's
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: my third argument. There is not one thing in the
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: list of qualifications for elders that any one of us
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: is willing to give up on for our own sons.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: Not one thing. Don't believe me? Let's go through it.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Titus chapter 1. This is why I left you, verse
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: 5 in Crete, so that you might put what remained
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: into order and appoint elders in every town as I
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: declared to you. Men who've been to seminary. I'm sorry,
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: there were no seminaries. Men who've been Christians for 30,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: 40 years. I'm sorry, there hadn't been Christians for that long.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: Verse six, if anyone is above reproach, the husband of
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: one wife, his children are believers and not open to
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: the charge of debauchery or insubordination. Many translations say has
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: faithful children. It's a better translation of the word here,
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: the word that we have. For faith and believe, same
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: word translated here. The argument is not that all of
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: the man's children have to be converted. If that was
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: the case, every time a new child was born into
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: an elder's home, he'd be disqualified. It's that he has
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: faithful children. Why? Why are we looking here? By the way,
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: I want you to notice where we start. We start
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: with the elder's home, with his marriage and with his household. Now,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: which one of us is willing to say, a husband
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: and one wife? No, not my son. Faithful children who
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: are not open to the charge of debauchery and insubordination. No,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: I want some wild, out-of-control grandkids. Thank you very much.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: Next part of the list goes to his character. We
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: move from his household to his character. Verse 7. For
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or drunkard or violent
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: or greedy for gain. Anybody willing to give up on
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: any one of those for your sons? Okay, now we
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: get the opposite. Here are the affirmative ones. But hospitable,
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. Is
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: there anything on that list that any one of us
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: would be willing to say is not of the utmost
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: importance for the young men that we are raising in
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: our homes? Not one. Oh, yeah, but I know you're
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: about to get to the one now because this one here,
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: that's about the teaching type stuff. And he's not going to. Really?
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: You think this one doesn't apply? Go to verse nine.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: Look at verse nine. He must hold firm to the
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: trustworthy word as taught. Anybody want to raise a heretic? No,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: you want your sons to hold firm to the trustworthy
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: word as taught. Do you not? so that he may
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: be able to give instruction in sound doctrine. Anybody willing
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: to say, no, my son doesn't need to be able
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: to give instruction in sound doctrine. Are you serious? Fathers,
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. How
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: do you do that if you're not capable of instructing
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: in sound doctrine? Every one of us wants our son
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: to grow up and instruct his household in sound doctrine.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: And lastly, to refute those who contradict. Jude makes it
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: clear that that's the responsibility of every believer to contend
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: earnestly for the faith. Peter makes it clear that all
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: of us are to set apart Christ as Lord in
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: our hearts, always being ready to give an answer for
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: anyone who asks us the reason for the hope that
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: is in us. In other words, even on the teaching
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: aspect of the elder's responsibility, he is to be a
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: model because everything he's called to do from the pulpit,
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: he is first called to do from his home. Young ladies,
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: hear me. Start begging God for a Titus 1 man. Fathers, mothers,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: hear me. Start speaking to your daughters about the beauty
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: of the Titus 1 man. Start challenging your sons. By
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: the way, there are a lot of people who thought
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: that my latest book, What He Must Be If He
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: Wants to Marry My Daughter, was all about courtship. Newsflash.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: It's all about biblical manhood. Applied biblical manhood. This is
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: what we're looking for. For the longest time, we had
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: no idea. When it came to a young woman for
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: our sons, you know, go to Proverbs 31, son. Go
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: to Titus 2, son. When it came to a young
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: man for our daughters, we had nothing. Just find you
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: a godly man. We had nothing. But the Bible couldn't
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: be clearer. Right here in Titus chapter 1, we have
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: a picture of godly manhood. By the way, here's the
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: next half of my argument I talked about earlier in
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: my message on feminism. My position on male headship in
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: the church and in the home. Male leadership in the home. Folks,
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: this passage right here is one of the reasons I
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: argue vehemently against female pastors. This is a man in
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Titus chapter 1. Not only a man, but he's a
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: man's man. Manly pastors. Here's what we've done. We have
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: so transformed our understanding of the pastor. That now the
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: pastor is this sort of intellectual nerd who spends all
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: of his time in his office, who has all of
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: these academic credentials, who is in touch with his feminine side,
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: who is this loving, soft, tender speaker of the word.
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: We don't even like the word preaching anymore. He gives
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: talks and messages. No wonder we're willing to have women
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: step up and be pastors. We feminize the position. The
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: office of pastor is the office of a shepherd. And
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: if you think shepherds weren't manly, you've never met one.
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: A shepherd is a bad dude. Don't think so? How
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: about you go fight a wolf with a stick? The
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: office of the elder is an office for a man's man,
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: a real man. who is an example of what manhood is.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: You know why many men don't want to go to church?
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: Because we've so feminized the position of pastor that a
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: man's man looks in the church and says, I'm not
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: following him. I wouldn't follow him out of a burning building.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: I'll let my wife and kids go follow him because
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: he seems like the type of guy who'd be real
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: good with women and children. But I'm not going to
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: follow him. Notice here also. But we're not talking about
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: he's got to be a man who, you know, spits
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: and chews and scratches in public and all that. That's
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: not what we're talking about here. But godly, biblical manliness.
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: Like Christ. It's the picture of Jesus. Who walked around
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: with bare feet and calloused hands. This is the picture
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: of Jesus who turned over tables in the temple, picked
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: up a whip and chased people out. Listen, if Jesus
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: looked like the pictures that we paint of him with
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: the perfect hair and the perfect skin, who could be
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: a hand model and a hair model all wrapped up
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: in one. Trust me, people would not have been running
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: out of the temple, but laughing at that man. You
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: want to know my Jesus? You go to the other
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: end of the book where he shows up with fire
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: in his eyes and with a sword on his thigh.
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: That's my Jesus. He's all man. He's a protector. He's
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: a warrior. He conquered sin. He conquered death. He conquered
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: the grave. That's Jesus. Here's the last part of the pictures.
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: My time has gone. Look at verse 10. Notice in
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: Titus chapter 2, we have godly mature men and women.
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: What's the focus there? The focus there is on truth
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: of the word and impact in everyday life in the home.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: Now we have godly manly elders. Where do we start
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: with their qualifications? What they're doing in their homes because
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: they're modeling what all of us ought to be doing
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: in our homes. Now, in case we didn't get the
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: theme of the home, look with me beginning in verse 10.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers,
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silent
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: since they are upsetting whole Sunday school departments by teaching.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. They must be silenced. since they are upsetting
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: not to teach. One of the reasons the text says
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: that elders are to hold firmly to the faithful word
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: and give instruction in sound doctrine and refute those who
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: contradict is because of this fierce protection of the smallest
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: teaching unit in the church. The home. Third leg of
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: the stool. Now let me paint the whole picture for you.
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: Child is born. Some of you have seen me walking
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: around here with little Micah, our little almost four-month-old, and
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: our other, you know, little baby Judah, 15 months, and
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: little Asher, who's almost three, little Elijah, Elijah's five, and
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: then big old Trey, he's 16, and Lady Jasmine. I
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: won't say how old she is because you don't say
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: how old ladies are. Even when they're 19, you just
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: don't say how old they are. But here's the picture.
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: You know, in our hotel room, we sit there and
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: we're rocking a little baby mic. We're not at home.
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: We don't have all our stuff and we're trying to
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: do family worship and make it here on time and
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: all the rest of this stuff and it's just hectic
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: and Everything else. And so we're trying to do all this.
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking. As I'm sitting
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: here and we've got baby Micah going back and forth
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: and all this sort of stuff's happening. I said, here's
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: this child. Three and a half months old. Has no
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: idea what's going on. None whatsoever. But in a few
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: months he'll be like his older brother who's now 15
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: months old. Can't say a whole lot. But he knows
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: that when it's prayer time, he does this. And then
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: when we finish up and sing the doxology, just jump
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: on in, okay? And his older brothers and his older
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: brothers and his sisters who get it now, here's what's happening.
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: He's being engulfed in a culture. He won't even know
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: anything else. He's being saturated and bathed in the Word
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: of God. And he has no idea. It's all he knows.
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden, as he's being saturated and bathed
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: in the Word of God, he comes to this place
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: called the church. And as he comes to this place
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: called the church, there are other men and women there, older,
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: more mature than their father and mother, who speak the
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: same words and who did the same thing with their kids.
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: And who will speak truth into my kids lives. Even
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: when that means. Boy I'm going to spank you. And
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: then take you to your daddy. So he can spank
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: you again. Bless God for people like that in the church. Amen.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: And then there are elders. It's godly. Manly men. Who
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: thunder the gospel from the pulpit. With passion. And no fear.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden. I hear it from leg
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: one of the stool at home and I'm saturated in it.
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: I hear it from leg two of the stool. These
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: godly mature men and women who've been walking it out
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: for a long time and it looks good on them.
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: And I hear it from leg three of the stool
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: as it's thundered from the pulpit and all three legs
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: of the stool are communicating the same thing into the
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: life of that child. Is that not glorious? It may
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: not mean as much to those of you who grew
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: up with it as it does to those like me
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: who did not. First time I ever heard the gospel
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: was my freshman year in college. Those of you who
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: know me know I was raised by a single teenage
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: Buddhist mother in drug-infested, gang-infested South Central Los Angeles, California.
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: I had no legs to the stool.
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: None.
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: No legs of the stool. And I look at my
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: children and sometimes there's this holy envy. Oh God, would
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: that I had had an opportunity to grow up in
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: a household like that. That's the three-legged stool. You know
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: what some of us do? Some of us start taking
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: away legs. Some of us don't align ourselves to the church.
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: So there is no godly, manly elder. Or we align
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: ourselves to a church where there's an elder. The godly,
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: manly part, not so much. Some of us align ourselves
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: to a church. But we don't pursue relationships with the elders.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: And there are some of you in this room who
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: are older and you set it on cruise control. And
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: your attitude is, I paid my dues. I've raised my kids.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: I'm going to worry about my family, my grandkids. Shame
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: on you. Give your life to the bride of Christ
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: till you die. Give your life to God's church. You
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: know one of the things I pray for? I pray
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: that when I die, That there will be boys. If
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: God should give me another 40 years.
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: And if I die at a ripe old age of 80,
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: that there would be boys who say to their father,
• 59:22
  Speaker 3: would you take me to Pastor Rody's funeral?
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: Because he was my friend. He was 80 years old.
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: But he took an interest in me even though I
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: was just a boy. He was my pastor. He did
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: not send me off to children's church. It was my
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: pastor and he was my friend although he was 80
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: years old. And he's dead and I just want to
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: say goodbye to my friend. But there are so many
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: of us get to a certain point in our lives
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: when we're done with God's people unless they're part of
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: our age group or part of our immediate family there
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: are young families all around you who are desperate for
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: godly older men and women to pour into their lives
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: oh yeah brother but you don't understand I didn't have
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: all that I didn't do it all right newsflash we'll
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: take that I love it when an older man will
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: sit down with me and all he's got to say is,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: don't do that. I did that. I know what that
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: ends up in. Don't do that. I got the scars.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: I'll show you. Don't do that. Thank God for that. Amen.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: That's a lie from the pit when you think because
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: you didn't have a pristine upbringing or because you weren't
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: the perfect parent that you've got nothing to give to
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: another family. No, you know what you got to give?
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: Here's what you've got, older man. Look into the life
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: of that younger man and say, listen, I know your
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: career is incredibly important to you now. But that two-year-old
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: is going to be 20 next week. And you get
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: one shot and one shot only. And when you're laying
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: on your deathbed, You will not sit there and regret
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: the days that you didn't get up earlier to go
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: to work. What you'll regret is the days that you
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: sacrificed your family on the altar of your career. I
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: did that. Don't do that. If you're an older man
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: and that's all you've got to give, that is priceless.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: Give it away. If you're an older woman, And all
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: you've got to give is, listen, sweetheart, I know that
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: this submission thing is difficult for you, but let me
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: help you with something. Right now, you're waiting for your
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: husband to be worthy of your submission. He never will be,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: nor is he the object of your submission. Your submission
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: is to Christ. You have a gospel-based submission. You submit
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: to your husband as unto Christ because of the picture
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: of the gospel that your relationship is living out before
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: a lost, hurting and dying world. If you spend your
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: life waiting for your husband to be worthy of your submission,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: you'll never submit to him. Your heart will be hardened
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: toward him. You will be a poor witness to the
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: gospel and your marriage will be a shambles when your
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: children are gone. I know. Because I did it the
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: wrong way. If you're an older woman and that's all
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: you've got to give away, give it away. If you're
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: a family, under the sound of my voice, I do
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: not mean to make light of your circumstance if you're
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: in a place where it's hard to find Christian fellowship.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: But I do mean to open your eyes and call
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: you to at least explore the possibility of getting on
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: your own ship and traveling across your own Atlantic to
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: a place where you can plant your life and your
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: family's life in the midst of this three-legged stool because
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: it's that important. Yeah, but I got a lot of
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: land and there's no crime. You know what? You'll get
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: that in heaven. More than enough land And absolutely no crime.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: But newsflash. People need the gospel. I don't know what
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: God's calling you to do with this. But we've heard
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: so many things over the course of this weekend. My
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: prayer for you is that you get from this two things.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: Number one, all we did was walk through this book.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: That's it. That's all we did. Titus chapter 1, Titus
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 2: chapter 2. Not the latest studies and surveys about discipleship
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: and all this sort of stuff. Titus chapter 1, Titus
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: chapter 2. It's sufficient, people. It's sufficient. It really is.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: But here's the second thing. If we really believe that
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: it's sufficient, let us give our lives to what it says.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: And if it says you need all three legs to
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: those stools, You get all three legs. But what do
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: we do if, listen, I can answer your question. You
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: do whatever it takes. Yeah, but what if, whatever it takes. Yeah,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: but what if, whatever it takes. To be in the
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: midst of godly, mature men and women. Godly, manly elders,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: both of whom will spur you on as you strive
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: to be a godly, biblically functioning home, raising children who
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: are now benefiting from that full-orbed picture and being blessed
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: by God at every turn because of it. Let's pray. Father,
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: you have been more than good to us. You have
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: given us your son, the God-man, Jesus Christ. You have
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: saved us, redeemed us, rescued us, and poured out upon
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: us and in us your Holy Spirit. And as if
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: that weren't enough, you have given us your church. You
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: have given us godly Christian homes, godly manly elders, godly
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: mature men and women who bear the marks of salvation
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: and sanctification over time as they walk with you, all
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 2: to spur us on toward love and good deeds. May
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: we seek to live in the midst of this truth
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: and to do so above all else at whatever the cost.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you for a room filled with people who desire
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: to be these kinds of homes for their children. For
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: a room filled with pastors who who desire to preach
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 2: and bring forth these kinds of communities. And for the
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: privilege of standing before young men and young women who
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: in many instances are right now being completely enveloped and
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: are resting on this three-legged stool and don't even know
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: enough to be grateful yet. Would you use this for
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: your glory, for your honor, and for your namesake? This
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: we pray because we believe it's in accordance with the
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: will and the nature and the authority of Jesus who
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 2: is the Christ and all God's people said. Amen. Amen.
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 3: Thank you.