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Titus 1:1-9 - An Introduction to Titus · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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  Speaker 2: Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners. You've tuned
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  Speaker 2: into the Bible Explained podcast, and we are in a
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  Speaker 2: brand new book of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Today. We are going to be going through the Book.
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  Speaker 2: Of Titus, and this is a short little book with
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  Speaker 2: a lot of ties to the Book of Timothy, and
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  Speaker 2: we'll talk about that in just one second. As we
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  Speaker 2: go through the Book of Titus, you're definitely going to
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  Speaker 2: notice some similarities between Titus and the Book of First Timothy,
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  Speaker 2: which we just covered not too long ago. The reason
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  Speaker 2: they feel so similar is because firstly, they were written
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  Speaker 2: approximately the same time. Most people guess between the year
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  Speaker 2: sixty four eighty and sixty six p eighty. They would
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  Speaker 2: have been written around the time Paul was released from
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  Speaker 2: his first Roman imprisonment, and that was when he went
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  Speaker 2: on his fourth missionary journey. Right after that, so he
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  Speaker 2: was released from prison, he writes the Book of Four
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  Speaker 2: vers Timothy, and also the Book of Titus. Now, scholars
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  Speaker 2: do not know which one came first. Titus could have
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  Speaker 2: been written first, First Timothy could have been written first.
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  Speaker 2: We have no clue, but they feel kind of similar
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  Speaker 2: because they're written around the same time and Also they're
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  Speaker 2: written for a specific reason the church needed fixed. When
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  Speaker 2: Timothy went to Ephesus, he had a lot of problems
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  Speaker 2: in that church, and when Titus went to Crete, he
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  Speaker 2: had a lot of problems in that church. And the
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  Speaker 2: problems that both churches faced were very similar, actually, which
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  Speaker 2: shows how wide spread this problem had become. And that's
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  Speaker 2: another reason why Titus and first Timothy feels so similar
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  Speaker 2: to each other. It was a similar problem that Paul
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  Speaker 2: is writing about, which kind of shows that sin is
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  Speaker 2: the same. There is nothing new under the sun. Sin
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  Speaker 2: is the same. Wherever you go. Sin is not shocking
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  Speaker 2: or interesting or different. It is always the same. So
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  Speaker 2: even though Crete was many many miles away from Ephesus
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  Speaker 2: and a completely different culture, they still struggled with the
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  Speaker 2: exact same sins that Paul is going to lay out here.
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  Speaker 2: In just one second, we'll talk about this right after
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  Speaker 2: a quick word from a sponsor. So let's get into
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  Speaker 2: Titus Chapter one, verses one through nine. I'll be reading
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  Speaker 2: this as I always do from the we b. Grab
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  Speaker 2: your Bible and your cup of coffee. Let's go ahead
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  Speaker 2: and read this together. Paul, a servant of God and
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  Speaker 2: an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of
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  Speaker 2: God's chosen ones, and the knowledge of truth, which is
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  Speaker 2: according to Godliness in hope of eternal life, which God,
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  Speaker 2: who can't lie, promised before time began, but in his
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  Speaker 2: own time revealed his word in the message with which
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  Speaker 2: I was entrusted, according to the commandment of God, our
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  Speaker 2: Savior to Titus, my true child, according to common faith, grace,
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  Speaker 2: mercy and peace from God, the Father and the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, our Savior. I left you in crete for
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  Speaker 2: this reason, that you would set in order the things
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  Speaker 2: that were lacking in a point elders in every city,
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  Speaker 2: as I directed you. If anyone is blameless, the husband
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  Speaker 2: of one wife, having children who believe, who are not
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  Speaker 2: accused of loose or unruly behavior, for the overseer, must
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  Speaker 2: be blameless as God Stuart, not self pleasing, not easily angered,
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  Speaker 2: not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain,
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  Speaker 2: but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy,
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  Speaker 2: self controlled, holding to the faithful word, which is according
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  Speaker 2: to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort
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  Speaker 2: in the sound doctrine and to convict those who contradict him.
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  Speaker 2: Before I even get into what Paul is saying to Titus,
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  Speaker 2: it's important to know a little bit of backstory as
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  Speaker 2: to who Paul is writing to. So this is Titus,
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  Speaker 2: who you may have heard me mention on the podcast before,
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  Speaker 2: because he's talked about quite often in several books, specifically
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  Speaker 2: in Second Corinthians. His name comes up quite a bit
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  Speaker 2: in Second Corinthians, chapter seven, verses six and seven from
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  Speaker 2: the NIV, here's what it says about Titus. But God,
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  Speaker 2: who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
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  Speaker 2: and not only by his coming, but also by the
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  Speaker 2: comfort you had given him. He told us about your
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  Speaker 2: longing for me, your deep sorrow, and your ardent concern
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  Speaker 2: for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.
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  Speaker 2: And then in sewod Corinthians eight, the next chapter, verses
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  Speaker 2: sixteen through nineteen, here's what it says. Thanks be to
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  Speaker 2: God who put into the heart of Titus the same
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  Speaker 2: concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed
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  Speaker 2: our appeal, but he is coming to you with much
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  Speaker 2: enthusiasm and on his own initiative, and we are sending
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  Speaker 2: along with him the brother who is praised by all
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  Speaker 2: churches for his service to the Gospel. What is more,
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  Speaker 2: he is chosen by the churches to accompany us as
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  Speaker 2: we were carrying the offering which we administer, in order
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  Speaker 2: to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness
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  Speaker 2: to help. And then again, Titus is mentioned in the
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  Speaker 2: Book of Galatians, where we find out that he was
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  Speaker 2: actually a gentile convert to Christianity who had never been circumcised. So,
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  Speaker 2: based upon all of these things that we see in Scripts,
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  Speaker 2: Titus was a gentile man who traveled around with Paul
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit, and Paul trusted him pretty extensively, and
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  Speaker 2: not to mention, just based upon what we just read
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  Speaker 2: in Second Corinthians, we can gather that Titus's spiritual gift
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  Speaker 2: may have been encouragement or being a mediator of some sort,
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  Speaker 2: like being a counselor able to fix problems, which is
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  Speaker 2: why in the Book of Titus, Paul leaves Titus in
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  Speaker 2: Crete because he trusts Titus to do the job that
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  Speaker 2: needs to be done there, and it was a big
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  Speaker 2: job because Crete was known for a lot of really
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  Speaker 2: crazy things. And actually the word cretan that we have today,
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  Speaker 2: like when you call somebody a Cretan. You're saying that
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  Speaker 2: they're a no goodnick essentially, that they're a liar or
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  Speaker 2: swindler or cheat or something like that, because that was
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  Speaker 2: what the Cretans were known for. They had such a
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  Speaker 2: bad reputation that the rest of Greece would insult there.
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  Speaker 2: But in spite of their terrible reputation, Paul goes there
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  Speaker 2: with Titus to spread the Gospel. It says in verse
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  Speaker 2: five that Paul actually left Titus in Crete, which means
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  Speaker 2: that Paul also was there in Crete, which also gives
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  Speaker 2: us a timeline of when this little book was written.
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  Speaker 2: This was likely written right around the time that first
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  Speaker 2: Timothy was right after Paul got released from prison and
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  Speaker 2: was on his fourth missionary journey. At some point in
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  Speaker 2: this missionary journey, he went to Crete with Titus and
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  Speaker 2: left Titus there because he trusted Titus. He knew Titus
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  Speaker 2: could do a very good job in Crete, based upon
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  Speaker 2: maybe his spiritual gifts of encouragement and kindness and enthusiasm
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  Speaker 2: for the Gospel. Not to mention that Titus was kind
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  Speaker 2: of perfect because he was not a Jewish man. He
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  Speaker 2: was a gentile man and was able to relate to
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  Speaker 2: these people a little bit more than say, somebody like
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  Speaker 2: Timothy or Barnabas would have been able to. So Titus
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  Speaker 2: was the perfect person to leave in Crete. And now
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  Speaker 2: Paul were wherever he is on his fourth missionary journey,
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  Speaker 2: sends this letter to Titus to both encourage him and
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  Speaker 2: also remind him of what his job is in Crete.
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  Speaker 2: So let's get into what Paul says. In verse one,
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  Speaker 2: he says, Paul a servant of God an apostle of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. So right away we know that Paul wrote
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  Speaker 2: this letter and he calls himself a servant of God
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  Speaker 2: and an apostle of Jesus Christ, which is often how
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  Speaker 2: Paul referred to himself. And I like that he puts
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  Speaker 2: that he's a servant of God first, and he probably
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  Speaker 2: did that on purpose, because apostles back in Paul's day
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  Speaker 2: often would use the term apostle as like some sort
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  Speaker 2: of grand title, like oh, I'm an apostle. And so
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  Speaker 2: Paul says, well, first and foremost, I am a servant
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  Speaker 2: of God and also an apostle of Jesus Christ. Then
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  Speaker 2: he says, according to the faith of God's chosen ones
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  Speaker 2: and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to Godliness.
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  Speaker 2: So that is the found day of Paul being an apostle.
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  Speaker 2: His foundation is the faith of God's chosen ones and
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  Speaker 2: the knowledge of the truth, which is according to Godliness. Now,
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  Speaker 2: it's funny here is when Paul says the faith of
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  Speaker 2: God's chosen ones, you have to remember that back in
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  Speaker 2: Paul's day, he was dealing with a lot of very
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  Speaker 2: untruthful things, because there is a lot of conflicting ideologies
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  Speaker 2: happening in Paul's day, specifically between the Jews and the Greeks.
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  Speaker 2: The Jews called themselves the chosen ones of God because
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  Speaker 2: they believed that their ancestry saved them. They said, oh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we are from the line of Abraham. That
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  Speaker 2: means we automatically get a free ticket into Heaven. We
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  Speaker 2: are God's chosen ones. And Paul actually refhrames that phrase
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  Speaker 2: that the Jews used for themselves to say that all Christians,
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  Speaker 2: everybody who believes in Jesus Christ, is a chosen one,
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  Speaker 2: not in the way that the Jews think they are,
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  Speaker 2: but through faith we become the chosen one. And then
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  Speaker 2: he mentions the knowledge of the truth, which is according
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  Speaker 2: to Godliness. Now in the island of crete, and also
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  Speaker 2: much of the Greek and Roman world. At this time,
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  Speaker 2: there was a lot of untruths rolling around because the
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  Speaker 2: Greeks and the Romans worshiped all types of deities, and
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  Speaker 2: these deities obviously were very fake. There was a story
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  Speaker 2: in the Book of Acts where Paul visits a city.
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  Speaker 2: I cannot remember which city it was. It was in Greece,
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  Speaker 2: I do remember that, and there was like a false
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  Speaker 2: idol every single place Paul looked, And there's even an
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  Speaker 2: idol for an unknown deity, which means that the Greeks
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  Speaker 2: were trying to cover all of their bases. They're going
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  Speaker 2: to worship all of their gods, but also worship an
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  Speaker 2: unknown God just in case there is another God that
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  Speaker 2: they don't know about, and that God might get angry
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  Speaker 2: at them if they.
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  Speaker 1: Don't worship him.
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  Speaker 2: So that was why there is also an idol for
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  Speaker 2: an unknown God. And that's the kind of thing that
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  Speaker 2: Paul and the other apostles were dealing with during these days,
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  Speaker 2: was just idolatry out the wazoo, essentially, So when Paul
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  Speaker 2: says that his foundation for being an apostle is the
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  Speaker 2: faith of God's chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth.
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  Speaker 2: He is targeting both the Jews and the Greeks. There,
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  Speaker 2: he's targeting the untruth of the Jews, who believe that
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  Speaker 2: they are the chosen ones of God, and he's targeting
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  Speaker 2: the untruths of the Greeks, who believe themselves to be
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  Speaker 2: very knowledgeable and very studied in the ways of the truth.
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  Speaker 2: So I find it really funny here that Paul is
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  Speaker 2: being kind of snarky and saying that the real truth
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  Speaker 2: and the real chosen ones are actually the people who
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  Speaker 2: believe in Jesus. Then verse two says, in the hope
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  Speaker 2: of eternal life, which God, who can't lie, promised before
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  Speaker 2: time began. So now Paul moves into the reason why
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  Speaker 2: he spreads the Gospel is so that people can know
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  Speaker 2: the hope of eternal life, which God, who can't lie,
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  Speaker 2: promised before time began. So, God, who is not a liar,
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  Speaker 2: promised this eternal life, and now he has given it
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  Speaker 2: to his people, is what Paul is saying. And also
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  Speaker 2: again with that statement, he's targeting the Greeks because many
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  Speaker 2: of the Greek deities were known for their lies. So
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  Speaker 2: when Paul says God can't lie, he is saying God
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  Speaker 2: is above every other God because he actually just can't sin,
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  Speaker 2: he can't lie verse three, But in his own time
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  Speaker 2: revealed his word in the message with which I was
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  Speaker 2: entrusted according to the commandment of God, our Savior. So
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  Speaker 2: he says, God has now entrusted me with this message,
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  Speaker 2: and that is why I share it with all of
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  Speaker 2: you to Titus verse four, my true child according to
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  Speaker 2: the common Faith, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the
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  Speaker 2: Father and Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. So now we
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  Speaker 2: know who Paul is addressing this letter to. It is
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  Speaker 2: specifically to Titus, who he calls his true child according
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  Speaker 2: to the common Faith. And now in verse five he
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  Speaker 2: gets into to the reason for writing to Titus. He says,
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  Speaker 2: I left you in Crete for this reason, that you
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  Speaker 2: would set in order the things that were lacking and
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  Speaker 2: appoint elders in every city.
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  Speaker 1: As I directed you.
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  Speaker 2: So that show's right here a little bit of difference
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  Speaker 2: between Titus's mission in Crete and Timothy's mission in Ephesus.
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  Speaker 2: When Paul wrote to Timothy, it seems like Timothy was
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  Speaker 2: going to be in Ephesis for a very long time,
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  Speaker 2: because Paul kept saying to Timothy, stay in Ephesus, Look,
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  Speaker 2: I know you want to come to me, I know
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  Speaker 2: you want to leave, but stay where you are. Whereas
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  Speaker 2: to Titus, he's not actually making any kind of permanent
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  Speaker 2: statement to him. He's saying, I left you in Crete
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  Speaker 2: so that you can fix things there and also fix
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  Speaker 2: things in every city as I directed you. So that
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  Speaker 2: shows that Titus and Timothy had different roles. Timothy was
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  Speaker 2: supposed to be more permanent in his city. Titus was
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  Speaker 2: there only temporarily. But essentially what Paul is saying to
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  Speaker 2: Titus is that things are messed up in Crete and
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  Speaker 2: Titus needs to fix it, because he says, I need
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  Speaker 2: you to appoint elders in every city as I directed you.
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  Speaker 2: Then he goes into the list of what an elder
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  Speaker 2: should be like, the qualifications for an elder. And you
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  Speaker 2: guys might remember this because we talked about this not
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  Speaker 2: too long ago in the Book of First Timothy. And
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  Speaker 2: that is another way that Titus and one Timothy are
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  Speaker 2: very similar to each other. Is that good elders need
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  Speaker 2: to be found, and elders also need to be qualified.
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  Speaker 2: They need to hit these specific qualifications in order to
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  Speaker 2: actually be accepted as an elder and Unfortunately, churches all
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  Speaker 2: across the ages have not done these qualifications for elders,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't know why because they're laid out so
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  Speaker 2: clearly here in scripture. So here's what they are. If
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  Speaker 2: anyone is blameless, that is the first qualification. So blameless
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  Speaker 2: does not mean without sin, We've gone into that before.
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  Speaker 2: But what blameless means is that they don't have any
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  Speaker 2: overt sins like nothing out in the open. But overall,
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  Speaker 2: their reputation needs to be good. They can't have any
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  Speaker 2: anger or mistreatment of other people. They need to be
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  Speaker 2: blameless individuals. Because let's say you get an elder in
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  Speaker 2: your church who has a bad reputation outside of the church.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe he's just a mean guy and he cuts people
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  Speaker 2: off in traffic all the time, or yells at servers
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  Speaker 2: at restaurants, or is just mean in his day to
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  Speaker 2: day life. If he becomes an elder or a pastor
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  Speaker 2: at a church, let's say one of those servers that
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  Speaker 2: he mistreated remembers him, like, goes to that church and
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  Speaker 2: remembers him that service, probably like, why would I ever
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  Speaker 2: come back to this church? If that guy is employed
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  Speaker 2: here or is propped up here, I will never come
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  Speaker 2: back to this church ever again.
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  Speaker 1: And let me just tell you, as someone who used.
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  Speaker 2: To work in the service industry, I was both a
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  Speaker 2: waitress and I was also a hairdresser for about eight years.
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  Speaker 2: You remember the people who are mean to you. You
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  Speaker 2: don't forget those people. I can still remember the faces
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  Speaker 2: of people that mistreated me, like ten years ago when
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  Speaker 2: I first started hairdressing. I can remember that. And I
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  Speaker 2: can just tell you if one of those people that
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  Speaker 2: mistreated me was at a church that I went to,
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  Speaker 2: there is no way I'd want to go back to
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  Speaker 2: that church or associate with that person unless I found
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  Speaker 2: out that they were like radically changed or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: But chances are that wouldn't happen. So that's why an
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  Speaker 2: elder needs to have a good reputation and be blameless
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  Speaker 2: in the society, because a good reputation, Scripture says, is
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  Speaker 2: better than great riches. That is a verse from Proverbs.
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  Speaker 2: A good reputation is better than great riches, not just
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  Speaker 2: for yourself, but also for the message of the Gospel
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  Speaker 2: as well. So you have to have a good reputation.
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  Speaker 2: Now you might ask, what about a pastor that had
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  Speaker 2: previous sins, like before he became a Christian. Well, I
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  Speaker 2: would say that's a little bit of a different story,
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  Speaker 2: because you know, all of us before we were Christians
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  Speaker 2: did very stupid and silly things, So I'd say that's
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  Speaker 2: a different story. But if somebody is an active Christian
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  Speaker 2: and has some sort of glaring sin like anger that
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  Speaker 2: they're just not getting under control, and has a bad
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  Speaker 2: reputation in the community, you absolutely should not have that
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  Speaker 2: person be a pastor or an elder at your church.
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  Speaker 2: Then it says again the husband of one wife. Now,
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  Speaker 2: you guys know how much I love to go into
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  Speaker 2: polygamy and polygyny and talk about how it's sinful for
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  Speaker 2: a man to have more than one wife at the
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  Speaker 2: same time. It is sinful, and it is sinful in
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  Speaker 2: the opposite sense as well, it is wrong for a
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  Speaker 2: woman to have more than one husband at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: And this has been a consistent thing throughout scripture all
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  Speaker 2: the way from Deuteronomy seventeen, where God gave the law
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  Speaker 2: in the Old Testament and said that the kings should
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  Speaker 2: not have multiple wives, they should not multiply wives to themselves.
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  Speaker 2: So from the very beginning, kings were not supposed to
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  Speaker 2: have more than one wife, And now Paul says it
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  Speaker 2: for sure, elders must be the husband of one wife,
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  Speaker 2: so they cannot be in a polygamous relationship, and they
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  Speaker 2: also can't be having affairs or having mistresses on the
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  Speaker 2: side as well, because Paul goes into that in First
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  Speaker 2: Corinthians six. I believe it was where he says, don't
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  Speaker 2: you realize that when you have sex with a prostitute,
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  Speaker 2: you are becoming one with her. So when you're having
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  Speaker 2: an extra marital affair, you're having a bond with that person.
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  Speaker 2: You are becoming one with that person. And what does
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  Speaker 2: God say at the very beginning in Genesis chapter what
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  Speaker 2: was it two where he made man and woman? He says,
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  Speaker 2: therefore the man should I'll leave his father and his
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  Speaker 2: mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
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  Speaker 2: shall become one flesh. So whenever you have sexual relations
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  Speaker 2: with somebody who is not your wife, you are becoming
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  Speaker 2: one flesh with them. And you might be like, well, Jen,
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  Speaker 2: does that mean that they're married? Well, personally I would
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  Speaker 2: say no, they're not married. But there is something special
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: about that one flesh status that a man and a
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: woman have together. It is reserved only for the marriage
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: bed that's it. So this man, if he's going to
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: be an elder, he has to be the husband of
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: one wife, having no other affairs, having no other women
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: in his life. He has to be the husband of
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: one wife, also having children who believe, who are not
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: accused of loose or unruly behavior. Now this is interesting
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: because I don't remember. Actually, I probably should go back
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and look here's actually yeah, let's go back to first
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Timothy three and read the qualifications for elders. Over there,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: it says in one Timothy three, verse four, an overseer
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: must be one who rules his house well, having children
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: in subjection, with all reverence for how could someone who
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: doesn't know how to rule his own house take care
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: of God's assembly. Now, that does not give the specific
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: qualification that the children need to be believers. But in
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Titus chapter one, it actually says the children need to
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: be believers. I find that really interesting because a lot
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: of pastors nowadays do not have children who believe. They
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: don't in fact, the majority of pastors that I have met,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: in fact, most of my pastors throughout my thirty one
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: years of life, have had children that walk away from
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the faith and are not believers.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: So Wow.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: If Paul is saying that pastors need to have children
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: who believe, otherwise they're not qualified at disqualifies like, I
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: don't know eighty percent of pastors maybe more in America
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: right now. But then again, you know, if you look
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: in scripture, it says there should not be many teachers
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: because teachers are going to be judged more harshly, and
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that it's talking about pastors and preachers and people who
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: teach the gospel. There should not be a lot of them.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: And you might be like, well, Jen, maybe that's not
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: what this means. Maybe it means more like what one
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Timothy three says, where he just needs to rule his
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: household well and his children need to be reverent. Well,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I would actually argue that if your children are reverent,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: that possibly means their believers. Maybe not, maybe they're just
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: reverent on the outside but not truly believers. I don't know,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: but this certainly goes back to if a father can't
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: teach his own children the gospel message, how can he
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: teach people who aren't his children the gospel message? You know,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: because a man should love his children before he loves
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: anybody else, you know, just logically, you love your kids first,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: and you have first hand experience with your kids before
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: anybody else. So if you have difficulty teaching your kids
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the Gospel message, how are you going to teach other
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: people in the church the Gospel message who you naturally
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: don't love as much, who you don't have as much
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: time with, who you don't have first hand experience with
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: on a day to day basis.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: So I don't know.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I kind of do think that Paul is saying here
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: that if your children aren't believers, you may not be
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: qualified to be an elder or a pastor in a church.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Now that being said, I am not looking down on
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: any person that doesn't have believing children. You know, I
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: believe that parenting is difficult.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It is hard.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I don't have any kids for myself, so I really
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: can't say anything on that. But when it comes to
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: the pastor who claims to be able to teach and
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: preach the Gospel message to start with his own family
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: first and prove that he can, he's got to prove
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: that he can. And the best way to prove it
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: is if your children actually believe the Gospel message.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: If they do, then.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: That shows that you are a good teacher of the gospel,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: and that you can lead other people to Christ as well.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Then he says in verse seven, for the overseer must
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: be blameless again as God's steward, not self pleasing, not
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: for dishonest gain, but given to hospitality, a lover of good,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: sober minded, fair, holy, self controlled. So yes, as I
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: said before, the overseer should not be angered easily. He
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: should not be a drunkard. He should not be only
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: out to please himself or greedy for money or dishonest gain.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: He should not be violent. Instead, he should be given
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: to hospitality, meaning he should like having people in his home,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: willing to serve people, will to have dinners with people,
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: not just focus on whatever he wants to do that evening,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: but focusing on what other people need from him. He
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: should also be a lover of good and sober minded.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: So that doesn't mean that he can't drink wine. We've
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: talked about that before. In fact, Paul actually commanded Timothy
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to drink wine because he told Timothy, you know, whatever
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: you're doing now isn't working for you. You have a stomach problem,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: so drink wine for the sake of your stomach, which
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of people guess is because the water was
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: really bad during Timothy's time and Timothy was not drinking wine,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: maybe because he thought it was wrong to do and
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Paul was like, it's fine in moderation. You know, even
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: our Lord Jesus drank wine. So you can drink wine,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: but you have to be sober minded. So that means
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: not drinking to the extent where you get drunk, but
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: you have to be sober. Also have to be fair, holy,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: self controlled, so fair. I like that that's stuck in
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: there because a lot of past struggle I think with
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: that one with listening to both sides of the story
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: before making a snap judgment, and also not taking one
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: person's side because you like that person more. A pastor
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: has to be fair. He also has to be holy
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: and self controlled, holding to the faithful word, which is
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: according to the teaching, so the scriptures, that he may
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: be able to exhort or encourage in the sound doctrine
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: and convict those who contradict him. A pastor is a
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: good pastor not if he only encourages everybody every single Sunday. Yes,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: that is part of the pastoral role, but he also
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: has to convict. He has to tell people where they're wrong,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: because if he's not doing that, he's only giving half
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: of the gospel message, not even half of the Gospel message. Yes,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: there are happy things in the Gospel message, but there
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: are also very sad things in the Gospel message. And
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: one of those sad things is a fact that we
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: are sinners and needed a savior, and because of our sin,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: we killed Jesus. But the happy part is that Jesus
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: came to save us from those sins and willingly went
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: to the cross even though we killed him. So you
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: have to have both sides of the story. So a
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: good pastor or a good elder was needed in Crete
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: because they did not have this guy in their church.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: And that was why Titus was there specifically to appoint
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: elders both in Crete and in the cities to come.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: And that was what was truly going to change the
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: city for the better, was people who could stick up
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: and truly teach the Gospel message. Now, faithful listeners, don't forget.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow is Friday, and on Fridays, I do a separate
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: podcast called The Bible Explained on Fridays, but it's only
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: for the members. So if you want to gain access
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: to the Friday Podcast, you got to become a member
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: by clicking the link in the description that says KOFE,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: and you'll gain access to the Bible Explained on Fridays.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: And right now, we just moved into book three of
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: the Psalms. You may not know that the Psalms actually
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: have five books in them. That's a little bit of
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: trivia that you'll learn if you gain access to the
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Friday Podcast. But faithful listeners, thank you so much for
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: making it this far into the episode. Before I say goodbye,
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: here's a quick word from a sponsor. All Right, faithful listeners,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: there's only three little chapters in the Book of Titus,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: so I promise that we're going to fly through this book.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Next week, on Tuesday, we will finish up Titus chapter one,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: because don't forget. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do a
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: New Testament episode, and on Mondays and Wednesdays, I do
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: an Old Testament episode.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: So I hope to see all of you guys.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: On Tuesday as we talk more about the Book of
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Titus and specifically some of the problems that are going
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: on in crete. In fact, I think It's going to
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: be a very funny episode. I haven't recorded it yet,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: but I just kind of think it's going to be funny,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: just based upon how Paul talks about the Cretans.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: It really is snarky and quite funny.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: So I hope you guys tune in on Tuesday as
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: we discuss more about Titus.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: But I also hope to.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: See you on Monday as we continue through the Book
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: of Second Chronicles. Faithful listeners, have a wonderful, wonderful weekend.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: I'll see you all on Monday morning, six am or
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: whenever you choose to wake up and listen until then,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Happy listening, happy weekend, and God bless. I just want
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: to take a second to thank the team at Life
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Audio for their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.