Living Waters of Grace 02.06.26

This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis

Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland

County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he

continues teaching through God's Word.

They should have a deep respect for the things of God to the

point where they show godliness or demonstrate godliness in

their own life. And these are men who should be

men of honor in the community. Men should respect them.

And I remember even the neighborhood I grew up in, there

were people who went to church. And even if you didn't go to

church, you respected these people because you watched their

life. You heard how they talked to

you. You saw how they treated their

wives and how they treated their children and how they conducted

themselves. These days, we're so quick to

look up to people whom we have little to no knowledge of what

their lives are really like. We idolize celebrities and

social media influencers based on an image of themselves that

they've catered to us. Today.

In Pastor Lewis's message, he tells you that men of God should

have a reputation for fearing God and it should show in their

everyday lives. Can that be said of you?

Do those around you recognize you as someone who cares deeply

about your personal godly character?

Now here's Pastor Lewis in Titus Chapter 2 with today's edition

Titus 2 · chapter mention

of Living Waters of Grace. His closing remarks here in

Chapter 1 are tough, he said. You're abominable.

You're disobedient and disqualified for every good

work. I mean worthless and unfit for

good work. And, and, and when you look at

that, what he's basically saying is that even the things that you

do that appear to be good works, even that is defiled because of

what's in your heart, because your motives are impure.

You're unfit to do good works. You can't do a good work.

And I'll be honest with you, there was a point in my life

when that was me because the things that I there was some

things that I used to do that even though it looked like it

was for the good of somebody else, ultimately it was for my

own good. I mean, that started when we

were young with all of us, right?

You ever get up? I mean, I used to get up early

in the morning and mop the bathroom clean, you know, clean

the bathroom, go run the vacuum sweeper before my mom would get

up out of bed, you know, because she worked late night before.

And I would do all these things to make it look like that.

I'm being obedient. I'm doing, I'm doing you a

favor, mom. You know, I'm, I'm clean helping

to clean the house. But the reason why I was doing

is not because I was trying to be in obedience to her.

The reason why I was doing it because I knew I was going to

ask her for something later. I wanted to go out with my

friends later. And I knew that if I would do

all these things to have a show of goodness, to have a show of

obedience that maybe that she would give.

Oh, well, you did do this this morning.

So here, here's some money and go have fun with your friends.

It was all of it was a racket. It was a racket.

And that's just being honest about it now and then.

You know, unfortunately, when we get older, that doesn't stop.

That doesn't stop. It gets more mature.

You know what I mean? It gets more dignified, but it

doesn't stop, unfortunately, And this is what Paul is saying

here. Worthless, unfit for good works

because of their heart. So as Paul usually does, he he,

he begins by doing a contrast. I'm going to talk about what you

shouldn't be and what you shouldn't do.

I'm going to talk about the false teachers and the things

that they do that you don't want to do if you're setting things

in order. So now we're getting into

Chapter 2. We're going to crack.

You're going to crack the seal on Chapter 2 here.

And now you're going to see the first word is but and that first

word says, and that lets you know that we're changing course.

We're getting ready to change course.

And you know, we all love the butts in the Bible, right,

Because the butts in the Bible always let us know that we're

about to change course. So we're going to go from these

false prophets and these false teachers, and we're now going to

go into the qualities of what makes a sound church or a good

church. And he said, but As for you, but

As for you. And he begins to talk about this

contrast, this behavior of things that we shouldn't do.

He already talked about that what we shouldn't do.

And now we're going to talk about some things that Paul is

going to instruct Titus on what the church should look like and

what we should do. And in doing this, he's going to

look at 4:00 or I'm sorry, five different groups of people that

are in the church. He's going to look at the, he's

going to look at the older men first and the things that they

should do. And he's going to look at the

older, you know, the, the older women.

And then he's going to describe the things or, you know, the,

the good works of a younger man and a younger woman.

And he's going to eventually talk about even the things that

a servant or slave, because back in those times, a lot of people

were willing slaves. A lot of those people were

working and worshipping with their masters.

So he says, what should they do? What should their behavior be

like? So here in verse 1 of chapter 2,

he says, but As for you, speak the things which are proper for

sound doctrine. Speak the things that are

appropriate or fitting for sound doctrine, for healthy doctrine.

Healthy doctrine is supposed to produce healthy life.

It's healthy life. When you feed in the healthy

things, then you're going to produce things that are healthy.

And it's supposed to produce a healthy life.

Healthy works. And then he goes on to talk

about the first group he talks about is going to be the older

men. Now, these older men for Paul,

older men or back at this particular time, older men were

men that were over 50, OK. Because men who were like 50 and

under, they were actually considered young men.

They're actually considered young man.

Timothy was about 30 years old or so when he went on his

missionary trip with Paul, and Paul wrote him.

When Paul wrote the letter and sent him back to Ephesus, he's

about 30 years old. So he was young, a very young

man in a very aggressive church. Titus, on the other hand, is

about 40 years old at this time and he is the pastor of Crete

and he's actually helping to set things in order.

And not just the one church in Crete, but there are many

churches in Crete. And just as a side note, it's

not it's not necessarily clear that Paul actually started all

the churches in Crete because at Pentecost there were men that

was there, OK, in the upper room that were from other places.

And Crete was one of those places that these men were at.

So they were men who witnessed the Holy Spirit.

I'm sure some of these men became believers, went back to

Crete and possibly started churches even before Paul got

there. So Paul probably didn't start

all these churches, but while he was there, he was able enough to

see that not only church that he started, but also the other

churches were in need of setting things in order.

So he was there to. So he sent Titus there to clean

it up. So he said, let's look at the

behavior of the older men. Now, these are the men who

should be mature in the faith because they're older.

And he said they should be sober or in other words, clear minded.

They should be clear minded men, men who were able to think

clearly and have good judgment. They should be reverent.

They should have a deep respect for the things of God to the

point where they show godliness or demonstrate godliness in

their own life. And these are men who should be

men of honor in the community. Men should respect them.

And I remember even the neighborhood I grew up in, there

were people who went to church. And even if you didn't go to

church, you respected these people because you watched their

life. You heard how they talked to

you. You saw how they treated their

wives and how they treated their children and how they conducted

themselves. And these men were men of honor.

They were revered in our neighborhood.

If we needed counsel, if we really needed direction, we will

go to these men. We will go to these men.

It was customary in our in our neighborhood that there were

certain men that you would go to if you really needed good

counsel because these men were respected.

Temperate. That means having a life of

being under control, a life of self-control.

Sound in faith and the sound in faith is impossible.

I've always learned when I was learning about being sound in

faith or learning about being in the faith, I was always taught

that you should know who you believe, know what you believe

and know why you believe it so that you'll be able to give an

answer for the reason for the hope that is in you.

But you first need to know who you believe.

You need to know why you believe it.

And you and you definitely need to know what you believe.

Because if you come upon someone who wants to try to trick you

up, you need to know what you believe.

You need to know exactly what it is you believe.

And this is what these men are supposed to be.

Men who are sound in faith. They should be sound in love.

They should be sound in patience.

So these are men who should be able to understand what it's

like to go through affliction and not waver in their faith,

but to have patience even in their affliction, even in their

their trials, even in their persecutions.

They should have faith and have patience in it.

And then he said the older women, he said older women

likewise, that they be reverent in, in behavior, not slanders.

And it's not slanders mean not devils because the word slanders

actually mean devils, because it's devils who actually say

lies about people and damage their reputations and damage

their reputation. So it's like being little devils

out there, being in the the congregation of believers.

And it causes obviously it, it sows seeds of discord and it

causes division. So he said, you know, older

women, you should not be slanderers, should not be

slanderers, but you should also be reverent in your behavior.

And then he says, you know, obviously you shouldn't be

gossips and not giving too much wine.

It wasn't proper for women to be intoxicated.

You know, women shouldn't be intoxicated.

They shouldn't be under the influence of much wine.

You know, sometimes when women get under the, you know, these

women who were back in Crete, you know, some of these women

were probably drinkers, you know, at one time before they

came into the faith, they were probably a pretty heavy drinkers

and, you know, louder inhibitions to be lowered.

And they probably said a lot of things that they, you know,

probably wanted to say, but probably wouldn't say under or

unordinated circumstances or do things that they probably

wouldn't do under ordinary circumstances.

So they said that the women should not be given too much

wine, should be under control of that, and that and they should

be teachers of good things. And this really caught my

attention, teachers of good things.

And I had to think about teachers of good things.

Now, first of all, we all understand that good things

begin with what it is that God says we should do.

That's where good things began. If I want to teach my kids good

things, I'm going to start with the word of God.

I'm going to start there. And then everything else builds

from that. So I was just thinking about,

they should be teachers of good things.

And I, I, I made some phone calls because I really wanted to

get some perspective. I grew up as a teenager in the

70s. I have a sister.

I have two sisters that are older than me who grew up as

teenagers in the 60s. And I wanted to find out what

are the things that my grandmother and my mother taught

my sisters about being women, about being godly women, about

being women worthy of respect? What did they teach you?

What did she teach you? What did she say to you?

What kind of things did she make a standard in your life?

And then I called some other friends who were not as old, and

I wanted to find out from them. And these are, you know, people

who actually came out of godly homes as well.

What did your parents say to you?

And it was very interesting because when I look at the kind

of things that the older parents talked about, they talked about

dress, they talked about, you know, you know, how to carry

yourself, how to conduct yourself around men in mixed

company, how to conduct yourself, you with your

girlfriends. But you know how that's a

difference and how to, you know, how to clean your homes, how to

clean your house, you know, how to cook meals, learn how to cook

and all those kind of things. And then as the as the ages got

closer to where we are now, those kind of things are not

happening. Those kind of things are not

necessarily being taught in that way.

So when we look at the women, women are to be teachers of good

things here in the church. Women are important in this

church. You women are important because

you are the one that God is calling to teach other women

good things. And the good things that he's

saying that you teach them are the things that follow he said,

admonish them or advise them how to love their husbands.

And this is not just a romantic love.

Yes, you should love your husband romantically.

But this is it's not just talking about how they

romantically love your husband. This is also talking about how

to be committed to his welfare and well-being.

How do I commit? How do I build up?

How do I support this man of God that I'm married to?

How do I bless his ministry? How do I support him in his

ministry? And I have to brag about my wife

when it comes to that. If you would give me just a

second, Clark and I rotate teaching.

He teaches 3 weeks. I teach three weeks.

When it's my turn to teach, my wife takes things off my plate

that I don't have to worry about.

When it's time for me to put time into preparing to teach,

there's things I don't have to worry about.

She prepares the house in a way that my office becomes like my

sanctuary, and she does that not only in that, but in other

areas. Even where my business is

concerned, she comes alongside of me and helps me in a quiet

way, helps me in areas where I need help.

You women are the ones who build up your husband's if he's

successful in anything. Part of that is because of how

God used you. You younger women who are

growing up kids in a godly household with a godly husband.

You husbands don't have to worry about how your kids are being

taught if your wife is at home teaching your kids.

They are building the founder the fundamental building blocks

for what they believe that begins with mom and dad at home.

But while dad's out hunting, right, hunting and bringing in

the food, you know, paying the bills, he's out doing what a

father should do, right. Mom who chooses to stay at home,

who chooses to stay at home and take care of the kids, take care

of the home. What an important job.

And I just don't want, I just, I mean, because I know we live in

a time in society where it's popular for a woman to go out

and create their own way and to be professional when to, you

know, be in corporate America. And if women who like to do

that, that's fine. But I just don't want the women

who have made a decision to stay at home and take care of the

home. I don't want you to feel like

you're any less valuable because you are not.

You are very valuable. Very so teach them how to be

chased, how to be discreet homemakers, good obedient to

their own husbands and that's important that women need to

know that you are you know you you are to come under the

authority or come into the oath under the authority of your own

husband. That's not men in general, it's

your own husband and that the word that the word of God may

not be blasphemed. When you see a godly woman who

understands how to undergird her husband, how to be a help meet

to her husband. Just like we dwell with them

with understanding, they dwell with us with understanding also.

In fact, they probably understand us more than most.

And then verse 6, he talks to the young men and he says,

likewise exhort the young men to be sober minded in all things.

Exhort the exhort them to be sober minded.

That means then it's interesting that he had the shortest amount

of things for the young men to adhere to.

And the reason why is because the young men are really

supposed to pursue the traits of the older men.

They're supposed to pursue those things.

So they should be men who are watching the godly older men to

become godly. How to be reverent, how to be

sober minded and how, you know, how to do the things that are

mentioned here. You know, what was the other

thing here? How to be temperate and sound in

faith and sound in love, those things they're supposed to

pursue, you know, as they minister and as they watch the

older men. I wish that when I was younger I

had those kind of role models, someone who helped me to go

through things like this, to understand these kind of

scriptures. And This is why I love the word

of God, particularly in these particular epistles, because

there's so much instruction, direct instruction.

And this is what we really want when we come together.

We want to hear the heart of God and these and this is what this

is giving us, this true instruction.

So he said, likewise exhort the young men to be sober minded.

That means self-control because what really stumbles a young man

and basically wipes all those other things the way that he

should be is his lack of control.

Young men are always battling with this inner self-control,

you know, how to bring those things under control, you know,

and the only way we can do that is through the power of the Holy

Spirit, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And then he goes on in here and he says verse 7, it says in all

things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works.

Now this is his advice to Timothy, to I'm sorry, to Titus

directly. He said look Titus as pastor, as

a leader in this church. You have to show yourself to be

a pattern of good works, and that's to be a pattern of good

works. That is just not to just do good

works, but your life must be. It must show a pattern of good

works. That's who you are, man.

That's who you are. You're spending time with the

Lord. You're spending time in the word

of the Lord. Let this word get in you.

Let as much of this word get in you as you're getting in the

word and come unto come under the authority of it.

Be obedient to it so that it becomes your way of living.

So when people see that, they see an example.

Listen, whether me and Clark want to know, want to believe it

or not, or every leader here, not just me and Clark, but every

leader in this house, whether we want to or not, we are examples.

Our lives are to be examples. If we're standing up here

teaching it, we got to be far, you know, first partakers of it.

Our life are supposed to be examples.

And that's that's one of the reasons why James says that it's

the, you know, it's teachers that have the stricter judgment

because our lives must be an example as much as it is that we

understand and declare the word of God.

So he says, make your life a pattern of good works and

doctrine, showing integrity, reverence and incorruptibility.

Show yourself of not being able to compromise and not being

corruptible or corrupted in anything that you're teaching or

anything that you're doing anything that you're doing.

And then we're going to close with this last line here.

It says sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an

opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say about you.

So in other words, people are listening to what you say, and

if you're teaching the Word of God, then that can't be

resisted. They know that that can't be

resisted. You can take them to the Word of

God and show that this is truth of what you're saying.

But what's even more important is the opportunity that you have

to show through your life that you're above reproach as well.

And this is what we're asking the help of God for.

Let us show in our lives that we're above reproach so that the

world see us. They can't point this thing at

us or that thing at us and say how you teach that that doesn't

mean nothing because look how you live.

That's bringing a reproach against the job.

We don't want to bring. We don't want to be blasphemed.

And a good example of that is Daniel.

Daniel's a good example of that over back in Daniel chapter 4,

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

when Daniel had a conspiracy against him.

He was a governor and he was about to be over all governors

because of how excellent he moved in his work.

The Bible says that he had a spirit of excellence and it was

pointed out. So those who were jealous around

him, they decided, well, we got to do something to bring him

down. They looked at his life, they

looked at how consistent he was and doing righteous things.

They couldn't find anything. They look at how he did his job.

He didn't take bribes, he didn't do anything that would be a

reproach against what he was supposed to do job wise.

So they couldn't find anything. So what they did was took.

Now listen to this and tell me this doesn't sound like today.

They took the good that he does and made it bad.

They were actually able to take what he does that was good and

turn it into something bad. That's exactly what the church

is dealing with today. Couldn't find anything else

against us. So now they have taken what we

believe, what the Bible says and turns that around now to be bad.

And that's exactly what was happening there.

But the Bible says let them not be able to speak any evil

against you. This has been Living Waters of

Grace, a ministry of Pastor Lewis Harrell of Calvary Chapel,

Westmoreland. Today's message has been on the

book of Titus. This book is a master class in

how Christians should live in modern culture.

Titus was ministering to the people of Crete, an island off

the coast of Greece, but he was facing many challenges.

The Cretans who came to know Jesus seemed to assimilate Jesus

into their existing culture instead of allowing themselves

to be transformed by the Holy Spirit inside of them.

Others were fully devoting themselves to Jesus but shutting

themselves off from the world around them.

The apostle Paul encourages Titus to help his audience find

a middle ground where they can live in this world while still

following a different way of life in Jesus.

If you would like to learn more about what it means to

faithfully follow the teachings of Christ in a world full of

darkness, we'd love to get connected with you in person.

If you are in Greensburg, PA, we'd love to invite you to join

us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.

We meet every Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.

Ste. 6B. Also, if you visit us at

calvarychapelonline.com, you'll find links to our mobile app,

our giving page, and our contact form where you can leave a

prayer request if you have one. Before we go off the air for

today, we ask you to invite someone to tune in next time

right here on Grace FM 91.7 or streaming online at Grace Radio

dot FM. Word of mouth is the best way to

spread the good news of the gospel with those who are hungry

to hear. Until next time, this has been

another edition of Living Waters of Grace.