Latest / Brandon Fogal Evolution / #241 - Titus: How to Build a Life Rooted in Grace and Sound Doctrine

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#241 - Titus: How to Build a Life Rooted in Grace and Sound Doctrine · Brandon Fogal Evolution

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  Welcome, everyone. My name is Brandon Fogel. This is evolution,
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  the only legitimate evolution there is.
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  This morning, we are going to be going through the book of Titus.
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  Titus is one of Paul's letters, and he wrote it between his first and second
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  imprisonment, and he was writing it to one of his protégés, a Gentile by the
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  name of Titus, giving him instructions.
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  But we're going to see this amazing climactic expression that Paul gives us,
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  our great God and Savior,
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  Jesus Christ, a high Christological profession that the apostles obviously thought
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  that Jesus was God in human flesh.
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  All right, let's dive into this. Titus chapter one,
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  Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those
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  chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness,
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  in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,
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  promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even his word,
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  in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
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  to Titus, my true child, in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father
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  and Christ Jesus our Savior.
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  That's just Paul's normal introduction.
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  Starts it off with introducing himself and then who he's writing to.
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  And we're going to just, this is where he's going to start laying out some good
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  instructions about Titus and what he's supposed to do, where he's at.
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  For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains
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  and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
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  Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife,
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  having children who believe,
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  not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer must be above reproach
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  as God's steward, not self-willed,
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  not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid
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  gain, but hospitable, loving what is good,
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  sensible, just, devout.
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  Self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with
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  the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to
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  refute those who contradict.
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  For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers,
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  especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced, because they are
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  upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach,
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  for the sake of sordid gain.
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  One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars,
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  evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true.
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  For this reason, reprove them severely, so that they may be sound in the faith,
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  not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.
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  To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving,
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  nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
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  They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him being detestable
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  and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
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  Those are a lot of harsh words, but true words, nonetheless,
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  that the apostle Paul gave.
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  I love that, that, that thing that he described about God. You think that God,
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  he, God can do everything.
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  We see there is something that God cannot do, which Paul lays out, God cannot lie.
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  He said that at the very beginning, which that's very comforting for all of us.
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  There are things that go against God's nature that we might think,
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  oh, God, you can just do whatever you want.
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  You can make a rock too heavy that you can't pick up, or something like these
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  logical fallacies that we create in our mind.
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  When we really push it to its limit, there are things that should give us a
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  little cause to think, well, what are we making of God?
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  Are we putting God in a box, trying to bring him down to our level?
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  There are things that humans can do that God cannot do, because he is the source of truth.
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  He can't go against his nature, which is very comforting.
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  He doesn't change, which is awesome, which is really awesome,
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  because we change daily.
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  But knowing that God made a promise that anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ,
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  he promised that, that he cannot lie.
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  So if you put your trust in Jesus Christ, he cannot lie. You will have eternal life, which is awesome.
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  All right. Chapter two. But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.
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  Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith,
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  in love, in perseverance.
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  Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior,
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  not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,
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  so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands,
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  to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home,
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  kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
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  Likewise, urge the young men to be sensible, and all things show yourself to
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  be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine,
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  dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will
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  be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.
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  Urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing,
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  not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will
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  adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
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  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
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  instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly.
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  Righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and
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  the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,
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  Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every
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  lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.
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  These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.
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  Let no one disregard you.
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  So we know these are, this is falls in line with what are called the pastoral
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  epistles that the apostle Paul gave to Timothy.
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  And then he gives to Titus. Titus is a.
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  But in the same way, he's instructing them to go forward and plant churches,
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  appoint elders, put people in charge so that church gatherings should be run with order,
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  should not be chaos and everybody doing their own thing. But find the right guys.
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  Pour yourself, find the right person and pour yourself into the right person.
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  Put your time, your energy, and your attention into specific people.
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  Not just spread yourself too thin, but find specific people that you know are
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  going to be good leaders of Christ.
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  So I think a lot of people, they do fall into this. They want to just,
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  they make themselves not potent enough because they're just trying to reach
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  everyone as opposed to really harnessing in and discipling certain people,
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  specific people, because they're going to be able to go forward and even have a bigger...
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  Like bringing in people to Christ.
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  They're going to be better at that. So you can like really hone in on some people
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  so that they can go forward and then bring people in as opposed to just really
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  lightly sharing the gospel to everybody you run into. There is a place for that.
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  And I think certain people have this.
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  I think that's the difference between everybody. Everybody has specific niche
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  in the kingdom of God. We're all here.
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  We're not all the same. Some people are meant to just teach.
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  Some people are meant to spread the gospel as much as they can.
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  And some people are meant to go out there and find people that can really pour
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  their lives into, they can go forward and share the gospel message and then bring others to Christ.
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  I think of the Billy Sunday, I've heard the story that the shoe,
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  I think it was a shoe salesman that shared the gospel with Billy Sunday.
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  I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is correct.
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  He shared the gospel with him. And then Billy Sunday went off to preach to thousands
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  and thousands of people and bring millions of people to Christ.
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  So you don't know, even though you might not be a person that is Billy Graham-esque,
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  that you can go in front of everybody and talk and share the gospel,
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  but you don't know that that person that you share the gospel with at the grocery
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  store or just somebody you run into or you're just talking with or a coworker,
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  you don't know what God has planned for them and what God could use them,
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  which would be, in effect.
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  The gospel would be flowing through you to them and to thousands,
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  potentially millions. of people.
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  So you never know what God has in store. So I would just say,
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  just keep grinding whatever you're doing.
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  But I loved how he ended that with that huge, magnanimous, Christological statement,
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  our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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  And I think everybody agrees that the apostles believed that Jesus was God.
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  And, but then it comes down to, well, did Jesus think he was?
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  Well, yeah, obviously he did. I mean, if he was, he was.
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  But like these statements of him saying that, it just, it heightens our faith.
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  It's not that there is this, this within the Godhead, the Father,
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  Son, and Holy Spirit that there is, we can't fully put it into like into words.
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  It doesn't always make sense to us, but I've heard different examples.
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  One of the best examples I heard was like, just as a person speaks that the,
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  their word is like the, the person is representative of God,
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  the father, their word is representative of Jesus Christ.
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  And then their breath communicating that word, what they've said is kind of
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  like a way of understanding the, the whole God, God in, in totality,
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  which can we really understand God in totality?
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  It probably, it probably wouldn't be God if we could.
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  And then also what I've been thinking of lately is like I always go to,
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  and I know it's also another crude example of trying to understand who God is,
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  but I always think of it as like how we're made up of,
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  if your viewpoint is that we have a body, a soul, and a spirit,
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  I kind of almost see that in that same sense that the body representing like Jesus Christ,
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  the soul or the heart representing the father, and then the spirit of a human
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  being almost like representing the Holy Spirit.
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  These are all just ways that might be that we can kind of understand, but really it's God.
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  We are a creature of this God. So it's like, it's going to be kind of hard to
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  put him in a test tube and really understand. We know everything about him.
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  We're looking in a microscope at God, rather we're inside of God and he's the
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  one holding us up, you know, so it's going to be pretty tough for us to fully
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  understand at least this side of eternity.
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  All right. And then are the last chapter, chapter three, remind them to be subject
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  to rulers, to, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,
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  to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle,
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  showing every consideration for all men.
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  For we also once were foolish and
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  ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures,
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  spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
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  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
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  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,
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  but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the
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  Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
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  so that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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  This is a trustworthy statement, and concerning these things I want you to speak
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  confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds.
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  These things are good and profitable for men, but avoid foolish controversies
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  and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
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  Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a
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  man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
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  When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis,
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  for I have decided to spend the winter there.
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  Diligently help Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.
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  Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs,
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  so that they will not be unfruitful.
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  All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith.
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  Grace be with you all. These are all just things that all Christians should be aware of.
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  Our good deeds, we are called to go and have good deeds and meet pressing needs
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  to whatever it is, whatever you feel your calling is, and whatever God puts in your path,
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  do it with all your heart because you're storing up treasures in heaven that
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  when you stand before God.
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  It's not those things are going to save you or make God love you anymore,
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  but it's going to be like, it's that well done, good and faithful servant type
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  of thing that you're not ashamed. We're still going to be saved if we have our trust in Christ.
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  We don't have to fear being separated from God, but those things are going to
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  be like, we did the right thing when we were on earth and God is going to be pleased with us.
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  We're going to have something to like a gift to give to the king when we meet him.
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  Like all these things, we poured it out. We trusted you and it carried out into
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  good deeds, into good things that we were doing for you.
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  And that's the thing. Some people, anybody in this world, people are doing good
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  things, but it all comes down to your motive. Who are you doing it for?
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  Are you doing it for your own aggrandizement or your own glory,
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  or are you doing it for God's glory?
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  And that's where it comes down to. So that's the book of Titus,
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  Paul's letter to Titus and his instructions of this man to go forward to find
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  faithful men and to pour his life into them so that they would be representatives
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  of Christ and to advance his kingdom.
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  And what happened 2,000 years ago is still happening today. And it's us right
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  now who are carrying forth the torch and spreading the gospel.
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  All right, we'll leave it at that. Have a great Sunday. Have a great week ahead.
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  And I'll see you in the next one.