Ep. 013 A Spirit of Action

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be

your host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages

are a blessing to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome back to the podcast. My name is David Bickford. I'm the pastor here

in the Salmon Arm area for the Potter's House Christian Church. Today I have a message entitled

The Spirit of Action. The text we will be working from today is going to be Titus 1

Titus 1:5–8

verses 5 through 8 if you are following along. There is a quote I found from Grant Cardone.

He is a business professional guy that I follow. He is big into real estate and different things.

But he has a quote that he says, playing small is not a survival strategy. What I want to

look at this morning in regards to this is that we as a church, as the Christian body,

we are not meant to be playing small. God does not play small. He drives us to have

a larger and deeper faith every day. When you look at stories like Abraham, Joseph,

Moses and David, we see people who came from the bottom to rise to the top. The key distinguishing

trait is that they all lived by a way that was they leaned on their faith in God, but

also they moved with determination and purpose towards a godly future. Moses was saved and

raised in the house of Pharaoh, but then found himself lost in the desert as a shepherd.

This occupation was always associated with the lowest class of people in the Middle East

and God did not reach out to him when he was in the palace, but he only was reached out

to by God when he was out in that field. Abraham left everything behind and went into a new

and unknown land as an act of faith. Joseph had amazing dreams, but they were only realized

after he was sold into slavery and then went into prison. Then of course we find King David

being forgotten even by his father, but not by God and was called into service straight

from the fields. He too was working as a shepherd and so when you look at this, what are these

men have in common other than their faith in God? They all believed that through God

anything was possible, anything is possible. And more than that though, they were willing

to work to see the promises of God come to fruition. Now they may have sometimes overstepped

their boundaries, but we could see that they were blessed by God despite their shortcomings.

Why were they blessed? Because they had a spirit of action. They were willing to put

their hand to the plow and sweat and toil for the work of God. Joseph was prepared with

unique skills, giftings, and anointings to get the job done. And when we look at any

of these men, we see similar things that the hardness of their life was for a purpose to

move the kingdom of God further forward. Albert Einstein said, there's no greater satisfaction

for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he devoted his best energies

to the service of a good cause. So let's look at our text really quick before we go too

much further in Titus 1 verse 5 through 8, it says, this is for the qualification of

Titus 1:5–8

the elders. It says, this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained

into order and appoint elders in every town as I had directed you. If anyone is above

reproach and the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the

charge of debauchery or insubordination, for an overseer as God's steward must be above

reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy

for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

So we want to have that as the backdrop for what we're talking about this morning. But

we also want to remember that like in 1 John 4, 8, it says, there is no fear in love, but

perfect love casts out fear. So let's look at taking the higher ground by Colonel Jeff

O'Leary. Scripture tells us that God did not give us

the spirit of fear, that a spirit of fear comes from the enemy of our souls, who rules

his kingdom with an enslaving power that brings fear to those under his rule.

I never understood that incredible difference between the two until I was on military business

in the Mediterranean. I had been serving as a UN peacekeeper in the Middle East just prior

to the Gulf War. Part of my ordinary duties was to cross between various countries that

barely coexisted. To enter one particular Middle Eastern country, I had to cross two

series of checkpoints, much like the crossing of the old checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, that

would be like East Berlin and West Berlin. It was a very tense hour. A lot of questions

were asked of me and my driver. My vehicle was searched. All my bags were pulled out

for examination every time I had in my suitcase or every item I had in my suitcase was carefully

examined every time. If they found something they considered improper, they could seize

it. They could seize me or refuse me entry into their country. Because I had been warned

in advance, I carefully packed my bag or my case to avoid a controversial items and ensure

safe passage. Once past this initial screening, I was on

my way though, but not alone. After traveling several kilometers and turning several times,

I noticed we were being followed, which was a standard procedure entering the downtown

area of their largest city. I saw a large gray building set on top of a hill and my

driver said it was a prison. I noticed it lacked a fence and asked why. Oh, my driver

said matter of factly, when you go into prison in this country, you go to prison. If your

sentence is 15 years, that's how long you spend in your cell. You do not come out for

meals or exercise or anything else. I was still trying to comprehend this statement

when we entered the main square and I was shocked to see two corpses hanging there.

My driver explained this reminds the population of the penalties for failing to follow the

law. As we near the apartment building where I would stay, I noticed a number of guards

on the building, on the buildings carrying automatic weapons. The driver informed me

that when there were more than a dozen secret police organizations in the country to keep

order. And when my driver said his goodbye, he added, be careful what you say and do in

here. I expect the whole place is bugged. That highlighted for me in a way that I never

understood before the difference between God's kingdom and Satan's. God rules with love.

His love is infinite, never lasting. His desire to wrap us in his safe and loving arms well

away from the kingdom of fear and the enemy who rules there. Satan is a liar, a deceiver

who destroys, bringing pain and everything evil. While my experience was a wake up call

to the differences between the two, it pales in comparison with the kingdom of with with

the true kingdom of fear. When I cross paths with people enslaved to fear and anger, I

try to remember that their behavior reflects the ruler of that kingdom. I pray for the

opportunities share within the kingdom I live in. My king's laws love enforced with love

and demonstrated in the sacrificial life of Jesus Christ. I can't think of another place

I'd rather live. So as we read that a little story, it's true story from, you know, a colonel

in the military. We have to remember that our enemy in the world fights against our

actions by way of fear. People don't fight against Christianity because because they

oftentimes because they don't understand it. They fight against us because of the fear

they have either of their own sin or the fear that they might be wrong. But many things

that they're fighting against is based off of the idea of fear because they do know and

I believe that most people do know this inherently that there is a God. And so they have to lash

out against it because they don't want to be judged because our God is righteous and

holy. But we're not called to have a spirit of fear, but a spirit of action. It's easy

to say those words, but let's get real. It's hard to overcome fear. We all deal with fear

in our lives. The world is against the word of God. It strives to paralyze us with fear,

fear of judgment, the mob, our failure, our success sometimes, difficulties we might come

across. You name it, we'll find a way to fear it. The Bible makes things very simple

for us. It shows us the path forward is through the execution of God's will. In our text,

we see Paul lay out for Titus the way to build the church, the qualification for those who

will serve, the importance of doctrine and readiness. As we already read before, it says,

this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order. Appoint

elders into every town as I directed you. Or if anyone is above reproach, the husband

of one wife, his children or believers not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

For an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered,

a drunkard, violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled,

upright, holy and disciplined. So this brings me to my first point, which is qualified.

Paul was concerned for the newborn church on Crete and he wrote to Titus to encourage

him and instruct him on how he should go about building this church. He tells Titus to look

for those who meet the qualifications. Now this isn't people to get saved. I want to

emphasize that point. We get saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And so this

is not a qualification that's necessary for salvation. That is simply acknowledgement

of Jesus Christ as your Savior in repentance of sin and accepting of him as your Lord and

Savior in Jesus name. But in the building of a church, we do want to have qualifications.

We need to have qualifications for those who serve in leadership. In Titus 1 verses 9 through

Titus 1:9–11

11, it says, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give

instruction and sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many

who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain

what they ought not teach. Now, if you're not familiar with the circumcision party,

those are the people who wanted to go back to the Jewish law and they wanted to apply

Jewish law onto the Gentile believers, even down to the enforcement of circumcision. So

there are two points to look at here. The first is the standards that are important.

How you live is an example that you set. The second point is that it would be a test for

Titus. It is not easy to silence those who oppose you. And it's even more difficult to

hold standards in a world that does not even believe in truth. Today, we deal with this

quite a bit with our world believing in relative truth and truth as I see it and everybody

gets to have a different truth unless your truth doesn't align with their truth, then

you're supposed to what conform to the world's view of truth as it ever changes every day.

Both of these points show how important it is for us to live with a spirit of action.

Our lives must always be pointed towards the end goal, the destination that is heaven.

We're not on a conveyor belt or an escalator to heaven. We are on the base of the mountain

and we must endeavor to climb to new heights in our salvation. Something that's really

interesting is that, you know, in Jewish tradition, the way that they view work or the salvation

is you do all these works to eventually believe and love God. Whereas as Christians, we believe

that as you by faith believe in God, he is going to sanctify you through a process that

you're going to be saved immediately. But because you're saved, you're going to have

fruit. So it is not faith plus works or that equals salvation, but rather it is faith equals

salvation and then works comes with it because you desire to move the kingdom forward. In

James 2 26, it says for the body apart from the spirit is dead. So although faith apart

from works is dead. So this is the whole point that as you come to Christ, as you are set

free from the bondage of sin, as you have received great salvation through grace, there

is a natural desire to want to do something for God. The crux of the idea is that your

faith will bring you your cell break or will bring you salvation and the desire to serve

others in Christ. The fruit that comes from those works will show you as qualified for

greater service in the kingdom of God. This is not where we end though that this is only

the beginning. We need to now turn to doctrine because this is how you will be able to serve

edify and build up the church with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So doctrine, there's a term

in the business world and it's used generally in a lot of places now with organizations,

but there's a term called mission creep or mission drift in the military. There's a book

named mission drift that touches on this quite a bit in a more direct way regarding Christianity

and Christian organizations. It's a very great book. I do recommend it. It's a good book.

But this idea is the gradual or incremental expansion or intervention from a project or

a mission. Beyond its original scope, focus or goals, the ratcheting effect that spawned

by initial success. So as you start a program, you started with a very clearly focused objective,

but as you kind of get rolling, you're like, but hey, now we can do these things and hey,

now we can do these things and maybe we should do less of this thing and more of that thing.

That would be mission creep. Mission creep is usually considered undesirable due to how

each success breeds more ambitious interventions until a final failure happens, stopping the

intervention entirely. So what happens in a lot of situations, a lot of organizations

is they overreach beyond their original goal to the point where they've overextended themselves

and they fail and now they're unable to even complete the initial mission. The term was

originally applied exclusively to military operations, but as I mentioned, it's now been

applied to many different fields, which itself is an example of mission creep. The phrase

first appeared in 1993 in an article published in the Washington Post and the New York Times

concerning the United Nations peacekeeping mission and the Somali Civil War. In regards

to the church, like I mentioned, there's a book written about this topic, right? And

here's the synopsis of that book. Too often as Christian organizations grow, the gospel

often becomes cursory, expendable, or even forgotten. Again and again, leaders have watched

their ministries, businesses, nonprofits, professionalized, expand and lose sight of

their original goals. Even churches constray from their calling. So we are called to do

what as Christians in the church. Let's look at the rest of Titus for chapter one to see.

Titus one verses 19 through 14, he must firm hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught

so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine. We've read this, but he

also to rebuke those who contradict it. So this is that's just first nine. As we look

at that, you have to be trustworthy and you have to be willing to hold firm to the to

the gospel, the doctrines of the gospel. But why do you have to hold firm? Why do you have

to be trustworthy? It's so that you can give instruction. It's so that you can, with a

firm grasp and understanding, rebuke those who contradict the word of God. So we as we

follow on in verse 10, it says, for there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers

and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision part. These are warnings that even in this

time there are people who are going to be stubborn or insubordinate on purpose. They're

going to be people who talk emptily, you know, just vapidly talking or even those who specifically

try to deceive the body of Christ. So verse 11 say they must be silenced since they are

upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not teach. So this is

a key point because I'm sure, you know, I've known people where they've said this and I'm

sure you have to people who said, oh, I stopped going to church. It's full of hypocrites.

I stopped going to church because there's too judgmental. And we all are at risk of

those things. But this is why we need to be wise in the way that we deal with people and

why as a leader you have to sometimes you have to silence those that are upsetting families

of the church because we have to lead by grace. We have to lead by proper instruction, sound

doctrine. So in verse 12, it says, one of the cretins, a prophet of their own said,

cretins are always liars, evil beasts and lazy glutton. This testimony is true. Therefore,

rebuked them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish

myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. This highlights the importance

of holding true to the teachings of Christ and emulating him in our life. We must be

careful not to add to the scriptures or take away from it. Too often mission drift or creep

can take us away from our purpose. Here is the church. We're all called to preach to

the lost, to go out to the highways and byways and search for those who are lost. We are

called to bring the message of redemption to all, to disciple men who will carry out

the word of God farther and farther and replicate according to the pattern laid out in the New

Testament. We can see this message exemplified as we move into chapter two of Titus. Chapter

two teach of Titus is about teaching sound doctrine. In verse one, it says, but as for

you teach what accords with sound doctrine, older men are to be sober minded, dignified,

self-controlled, sound in faith and love and instead fastness. I like that though, right?

Sober minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love and instead fastness.

Verse three says older women likewise are to be revered to behavior, not slanderers

or slaves to too much wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women

to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind

and submissive to their own husbands that the word of God may not be reviled. Now this

is an old world thinking in some regards, but it's still very, very true and valid.

And it's almost, this is going to get me in trouble, I'm sure, but it's almost like don't

be a Karen, right? We all know that term, you know, and I apologize if your name's Karen,

but there's that meme out there online and this is kind of like an instruction, like

be pleasant. And this goes for men and women because I've seen enough videos too of men

that are very jerky in this way. But we need to be self-controlled, right? We need to do

things with a loving spirit. In verse six, it says, likewise, urge the younger men to

be self-controlled, show yourselves in all respect to be a model of good works and in

your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that

an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. So there's a part here

of this that we need to understand that we're supposed to lead upright lives so that we,

when people come to our churches, when people interact with us, they walk away maybe even

in disagreement still, but they're not going to say that person hates me. They should feel

the love of Christ despite the fact that we might, that they might disagree with our belief

in Jesus Christ, that they might want to continue to go off and live in a life of sin, but they

don't leave the interaction thinking that person wants me to go to hell. Verse nine

says, bond service are to be submissive to their own masters in everything and they are

well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that in everything

they may be adorned the doctrine of God, our savior. And verse 11, for the grace of God

has appeared, bringing salvation for all, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly

passions, to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting

for our blessed hope, the appearing of glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for us to be redeemed from the lawlessness and to purify himself of people

for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. Declare these things, exhort and

rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. Right? So this is a powerful section

of scripture and I believe that you can in a plain reading of this text, you can take

away that we're meant to be an example, but we're meant to be a loving example. And I

want to emphasize that point. Sound doctrine is clearly where we need to stand, but we

need to do it in a way that again, even if there's disagreement, we're not snarky, we're

not belligerent. But they see that we're coming from a place of love. They can disagree with

us, but they need to know that we love them just as Jesus loves them. So this brings me

to my final point, which is be ready. The final chapter of the short epistle is all

about being ready. It touches on mission drift as well, avoiding distractions from our purpose.

While too often we allow ourselves to get wrapped up into controversy or dare I say

politics. But here in the scripture, it tells us to avoid these things and remain ready

for our purpose. If we are not ready for action, then we cannot execute our mission. And Titus

three nine through 11, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about

the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division after

warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person

is warped and sinful and he is self-condemned. So here's an excerpt from a business article

relating to strategy versus execution. It says strategy is choice. Execution is action.

How to take the right execution actions. If strategy is about making the right choices,

then execution is about taking the right actions. Strategy focuses on thinking. Execution centers

on the doing. And many leaders struggle with identifying the right action their organizations

need to take. This is particularly because they have been taught how to plan and not

how to execute. Achieving excellence in execution requires cultivating a bias towards action

across the organization. I find the contrast between strategy and execution or action to

be of the utmost interest in my life. In fact, I've spent my life academically, professionally

and personally trying to gain understanding of the need for execution above the need for

a perfect strategy. Here at the Potter's house, we as Christians are very fortunate because

we have a clear pattern and strategy laid out for us in the gospel. The book of Titus

as well as others provides with provides us with the strategy. We need to be ready to

execute on that strategy. As a part of our statement of faith as a fellowship, we believe

in the pattern. Evangelism gospel take it outside of the four walls is the absolute

foundation of our church and obedience to Mark 16 15 when he said go into all the world

and preach the gospel to every creature. We emphasize personal evangelism and a large

variety of outreach is to share the gospel. We do this out of love for those that are

lost in the world. And of course, evangelism brings us to the to the idea of conversion.

The gospel has the power to save and transform lives in first Peter 123, having been born

again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides

forever. And then once once someone is evangelized to and they accept they convert to Jesus Christ,

they come to salvation. We believe in the local church because God has placed everything

necessary to accomplish his will in the setting of the local church in Ephesians one 22 through

23 says, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be headed over by all all

things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. God's

will is the accomplished in it. And through us, we can we connect and commit ourselves

to a local church. What's the purpose of the local church? The purpose of the local church

is discipleship. Training and equipping is the setting of the local church. And therefore,

the highest call of a pastor and congregation is to obey God's command of discipleship.

In Matthew 28, 19 through 20 says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things

that I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

And when the church is strong, when the local body is strong, then what can you do as a

believer to continue on with your evangelistic worth? And we believe in the pattern of church

planting. The result of disciples being raised up is that they can be released into the harvest

field themselves. Matthew 9, 37 to 38. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly

is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord and of the harvest to send

out laborers into his harvest. We send out couples to plant brand new congregations with

the aim of seeing people enter into the kingdom of heaven. In Saminar, we're a baby church

plant out of the Chilliwack church who comes out of our Prescott church. So there's this

continual belief that you build the church that you send out others to build more churches.

It almost is like little beach heads for the kingdom of God. Little beach heads or forward

deployed bases, if you will, of the kingdom of heaven, bringing the whole pattern full

circle. Which brings me to the last idea, which is world evangelism. For the earliest

Bible record, God's vision is a worldwide testimony and a testimony with impact. The

gospel message is relevant to every nation and every culture. Our job as believers in

the local church is to pray, train, invest, send and support workers to go into all the

world. My mother church in Chilliwack sent out missionaries to Russia years and years

ago in the nineties, right after the wall came down and everything. Now we have a robust

godly church in Russia that has sent out more works, more works from there. And the stream

of those works now is in Cuba, as even in Egypt and even in Israel, from Russian works

that came from the seed being sent from Chilliwack. These are the miracles that come through the

following the pattern and executing on the strategy. With strategy and the pattern set,

the only thing left is to decide if you will be ready for action. We're called to be a

people of action because there is work to do. The fields are white for harvest. John

4.35. So with that, I like to have every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're driving,

obviously be safe. But if this message resonates with you and you're not saved, you haven't

given your life to Jesus Christ, but this message hits you in some way. And I believe

and I hope that there was clarity enough in this message to do so. But you want to signify

that with an uplifted hand. I want to just quickly say a prayer that you can repeat.

Because every time we preach, we want to have an invitation. That's the whole point of everything

we're doing is to give you an opportunity to have that relationship with Jesus Christ

yourself. So if you're in that situation, if you really rose your hand, obviously I

can't see it, but God can. And if you meant that you want that, then just pee after me,

dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ,

to die for me. I repent of my sin and I accept Jesus Christ to be my Lord and my Savior in

Jesus name. Amen. I believe that if you say that prayer and you mean it, you are saved,

that your faith is now been put into action. And the next step, the next step is to now

find that gospel believing Bible, you know, the Bible believing church and plant yourself

in a church so that you can, you can grow and your love for Jesus Christ. You can grow

with understanding, you can grow through instruction, and then you can also to witness and testify

and tell people about all the great and amazing things that are going to happen in your life

through Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean life's going to be easy or perfect, but it does mean

that it's going to be better. And I truly believe that in Jesus name. So with that,

I'm going to close. I want to thank you for joining me again today. And I just want to

pray, dear Lord God, I pray that you bless this message that I pray that would go far

beyond the small room that I record these in, but it would touch people's hearts around

the world for your purpose and your sake, that you would be able to connect with people

and that they would turn to you in salvation and faith that we receive salvation through

grace in Jesus mighty name. I pray I give all the praise and glory to him in Jesus name.

Amen. Thank you again. Have a great time. I look forward to you coming back next time.

Thank you for listening to the PHA Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. Be sure to follow us on

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