Biblical Manhood (Titus 2:1-2)

Good morning, y'all. Y'all all right?

Y'all learning? Y'all learning?

Y'all learning. I just like that.

I want to do it again. Good morning.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess I've been up here enough

that y'all just know how to get down, huh?

I like it. I like it, man.

What are we after? Cole kind of did his thing and

LED us all in prayer. Bro, I was almost like, I don't

need to really go up here. I think we think we kind of

nailed it. Cole had had also said some

things that that really resonated with me.

This can be a confusing week for some, hard to week for others.

Troubling, even fearful. We're going to, we're going to

talk to do some things today. One thing he also said was, you

know, being a truth speaker even when you're scared to do it,

We're also called to speak the truth and love.

So we're going to talk about love a little bit today.

And it is crazy. God's sovereignty and his timing

with this message and even how the week is.

So let me start back to introducing myself.

If you can't tell the loud people in here kind of kind of

know how I am. I also want to kind of queue it

up today. If you haven't heard me preach

before, I'm probably one of the loudest people we got up in

here. So, so yeah, so, so be ready.

And I got I got, you know, I'm not a tenor like some of our or

other leaders. So my voice might kind of hit

you in the chest a little bit. Just just let it happen.

It'd be alright. But also, I am Will and I have

the privilege and honor to being part of the preaching team.

Like I was saying, we're we're continue to we're continue to

trudge through Titus today and we officially officially

graduated to Titus too. So shout out to that definitely

after a few weeks, but I don't know if y'all remember, but when

we first started like hey, we're about to go through Titus 17

weeks. Cole had asked the the church to

read, listen and meditate the entire book of Titus at least

once a week, which would minimally put you at like 17

times reading, praying, listening and meditating on the

Scripture. Now, I ain't that guy that's

going to tell you like, hey, who's been doing that?

Who's the good Christian? Raise your hand.

That's not really my style. I see you, Casey.

I appreciate that. But I know some of you are going

to be like, yeah, man, I've been doing that.

Like, Casey, there's some of you that's out there.

That's like, man, bro, I totally forgot he even asked us to do

that. And then there's some of you

that's like, man, I kind of remember, but I really didn't

have the time or I was supposed to, but I just kept pushing it

off. This came up, that came up, this

came up. So with that, some of you are

encouraged because you've been doing it.

So shout out to that with that, this was a reminder and we need

you. The ones that that forgot to

lock in and pay attention. And then there's some who might

be kind of convicted because they've been dropping the ball

on doing that. Something your lead pastor asks

you to do. I'm going to be honest with you

all. If you didn't bring your steel

toe boots today, you might need them.

And I also expect y'all to buckle up because that, that

tone of our, our lead passer asking and some doing it feeling

encouraged, some who need to lock in and some who need to be

reminded that bro, your, your lead passer asking do something

for a reason. Those, those feelings and those

three, we're going to probably be sitting in a lot of those

feelings and emotions for the next 4550 minutes.

I'm coming in hot this Sunday. I ain't going to lie.

I even asked Co to pray for me with that.

But I got some things for you. I promise you two things.

You're not alone. You're not alone, and you're

going to be all right. You're not alone and you're

going to be all right. And for those that this is your

first time here and you had no idea what you're supposed to do

that and you're like, man, how do I forget my homework on the

first day? I'm showing up, bro, don't trip.

Don't worry at all because you're not alone and you're

going to be all right. All right, So before we dive in,

let me give you the play by play.

I'm, I'm big on setting expectations and, and giving

people a heads up, especially if I think the conversation might

be kind of tough in, in, in a tough love kind of way.

I just love just kind of giving people like, all right, this is

the framework. This is what we're going to go

through today. We're going to read the word,

then we're going to pray. We're going to then go through

the word and I'm going to break it down.

And then we're going to see how does all this point to Jesus or

what does this have to do with Jesus?

And then after that, we're going to go into what does this even

mean for Frontier Church? That would give you some example

of how I've seen this lived out in the impact it's had on me.

I'm going to give you all some go dudes, some application, and

then we're going to pray and we're going to be out of here.

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. Let's pray.

Father, Father, we need you today.

We ask for your for your wisdom as we go on through the text.

We ask that you encourage those who need to be encouraged,

comfort those who need to be comforted, convict those who

need to be convicted by the Father.

Do it all while holding us in your arms and continually to

remind us that you will never leave or forsake us.

Jesus name we pray, Amen. All right, all right, all right,

so let's read. We're reading Titus 21 and 2.

But As for you teach what occurs with sound doctrine.

Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self

controlled, sound in faith, sound and love and sound and

steadfastness or endurance. I'm just going to read that one

more time. I just, I just want to kind of

sink in on that a little bit. But As for you teach what

accords with sound doctrine? Older men are to be sober

minded, dignified, self-control, sound and faith, sound and love

and sound and steadfastness or endurance.

Let's stand and read that one more time.

Let's stand and read that one more time.

Let's stand and read that one more time.

But As for you teach what is a what accords with sound

doctrine? Older men are to be sober

minded, dignified, self-control, sound and faith, sound and love

and sound and set fastness or endurance.

Heavenly Father, as we read then we go through this again.

We need your wisdom and guidance.

We love you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

You may be seated. Now before we break this, break

this down a couple things to to kind of set the stage again.

Cole in chapter 1 broke down the relationship between Paul and

Titus, the discipleship relationship, the the fatherly

and son relationship. He then sends Titus to Creed and

Titus is there to help develop the church.

So one of the first thing Paul tells Titus to do is to qualify

and appoint elders. And then Paul goes over those

qualifications. Having church leaders is a must

and is something that needs to happen first, needs to happen

first. Then Paul warns Titus about fake

leaders and fake believers so we can further discern between the

two, between the real and between the fake and to protect

the church. Also, as you, as you probably

can discern, this message is it's geared towards the men in

our church because obviously we're talking about older men.

Crazy. But my ask to to our sisters in

the congregation, please don't check out.

Please don't think none of this matters or applies to you.

Please stay engaged, stay locked in because this will affect the

body of our church. And as a sister in Christ, you

will still have some go do's at the end of this sermon.

So let's go with verse one. But As for you teach what is the

what accords with sound doctrine?

But As for you again, this is pivoting from the many who are

described in verse 10 in chapter 1, the many who are insubording

empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the

circumcision party. You know the the ones described

again in 16. They profess to know God, but

they deny him by their works, and they're described as being

detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

We got to understand why that butt is there.

But As for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound

doctrine? Teach.

What does teach mean? To teach is simply defined as to

show or explain to someone how to do something to impart

knowledge or a skill. A good teacher understands the

four types of learners, right? You have your visual learners,

you have your auditory learners, you have your people that learn

just by simply reading and writing, and then you have your

kinesthetic learners. The the people who need to do it

themselves. Me, I'm kind of kinesthetically

hard headed. I need to do it myself and fall

and fail a couple of times for it to really kind of register.

Thank God for his mercy and grace.

So Titus, he's called to show them sound doctrine, preach to

them sound doctrine, have them read about sound doctrine, and

then have them go and live out sound doctrine.

Sound here really just means healthy.

It's going to come up again. So I I need this.

I need this to really stick again.

Sound means healthy. Sound means healthy.

What does sound mean? Come on, now.

Yeah. Now, look, look.

I need y'all to be locked in. What does sound mean?

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Tim Tester says that this

teaching that leads to a spiritual and emotional health.

Titus is to lead his people to a healthy life or a good life

which is characterized by good works.

The good works is evidence of healthy and sound doctrine.

Verse two older men are to be sober minded, dignified or or

worthy of respect, self controlled, sound in faith,

sound in love and sound in steadfastness or endurance.

Older men in the Bible are held with high regard.

They're held to a high standard. They are seen above all,

especially during those ancient times.

It was it was insane for someone to continue to live and and gain

the privilege of having crown of grey.

Like for example Proverbs 1631-A Gray hair is a crown of

splendor. Proverbs 2322 Listen to your

father who gave you life. Do not despise your mother when

she is old. Leviticus 1932 You shall rise

before the Gray haired and show honor to the aged for God, for

your fear your God. I am the Lord aged and being

blessed to have Gray hairs be blessed to be around for some

time. It's something that should be

honored during those times and and even still in in a lot of

eastern culture today. Having an older man that is,

that fits these descriptions was critical and crucial because

they had massive influence on everyone else.

Their word held weight and was held at high regard. 1

commentator says that elders in a church are ordinarily older

men. They are people with experience

of life, living in the faith. There is a proper authority,

again, that comes with age. They've seen some things,

experienced some things. A lot of young people don't know

what you don't know. That's right.

Amen. So again, not everyone lives

long enough to have Grays, wrinkles, experience and wisdom.

But if they fit those categories, we should show them

respect. But I'm here to tell you two

things that the reference of older men in this about this

reference in this text 1 is it's not talking about eldership or

being a pastor. It is referring to members in

the church in the body and the term of older men.

And it's also not simply referring to age, but to also

maturity in the faith. I'll give you an example of this

again. Paul tells Timothy, a leader in

the church, not to let anyone look down on him for his youth,

who was roughly probably in his 30s at that time.

Timothy, like Titus who was sent out by Paul and Timothy was out

there grinding so hard, dealing with so much craziness.

Bro Paul wrote him 2 letters. Another example of this is Job

32 six through 10. So context, Job's life went into

shambles. His friends, his three friends

plus a young man came to comfort him, refute him and condemn him

to find out what he did as to why his life went down the

tubes. Eliu AKA the young man, was it

actually mad at Job because he had to, He justified himself

rather than justifying God, and then was also mad at his friends

because they couldn't refute anything Job was saying that he

didn't do, but yet they still tried to condemn him.

So what do you say? He replied.

I am young in years while you all are old.

Therefore I was timid, afraid to tell you what I know.

I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach

wisdom, but it is the Spirit in a person, the breath from the

Almighty that gives you anyone understanding.

It is the spirit in a person, the breath from the Almighty

that gives anyone understanding. It is not only the old who are

wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.

After you will cause out everyone, God then speaks right?

God then calls out everyone, reminds Joel who are you to

question anything I do, then tells his three friends, you

must be out your mind talking to my servant Job like that.

You need to repent and then ask Joel to pray for you because I'm

not going to hear it. But God didn't call out the

young man. He didn't ask the young man to

repent. Why?

Because it is the Spirit in a person, the breath from the

Almighty, that gives anyone understanding and wisdom.

So let's say this older slash which spiritually mature men are

to be sober minded, dignified, worthy of respect, self-control,

sound in faith, sound in love, sound the steadfastest and sound

and endurance. So let's let's dive into these

characteristics sober minded sober minded sober minded mean

anything that alters your states after after one consumption.

If you drink something or eat something or do something and

all of a sudden you are no longer sober, you are out there.

Maybe you should stick to 0. If there's anything that alter

your states after 5-6 or whatever, how many consumptions?

Maybe you should only stick to two.

Why? Because you need to be of sober

mind. Not at some of the time.

Not when it feels good. This needs to be your lifestyle.

Yes, Jesus drank wine, but he wasn't out there drunk.

It's a difference. OK, dignified or where they

respect, have integrity, have a work ethic, show respect to

others, Treat people like people.

Better yet, treat people like the image bearers they are.

Treat people like the image bearers they are. self-control.

Know thyself. People think of self-control so

often is hey you can say no to every temptation.

You're just that strong willed. Which yes, that can be true and

that is a factor. But true self-control and truly

knowing thyself is avoiding situations that would put you in

a compromising situation. That's self-control.

So a little bit about me. I have a degree in forensic

psychology. That's why I went to school for

study. Did all the shebang in school

needs to say I, I took what it felt like an endless amount of

like psych classes. Ridiculous, but it was, it was

beneficial. I get it.

But the, the, the reason I bring this up is because during that

time I learned about cognitive behavioral theory, right?

And what that is in short, in short, is a situation occurs, it

impacts your thoughts that then impacts your emotions, that then

impacts your behaviors or your reaction, which then has an

adverse impact on your body, which then again impacts your

thoughts and then the cycle continues.

Cognitive behavior theory. So in the aspect of this of, of

this theory, like when a, when a situation or or triggering event

occurs, like with with some therapists, do it this time he's

like, OK, what, what can we change in your behavior when

something triggering happens or a situation occurs with

practice, What can we change in your behavior that would then

change how your body would react in terms of fight or flight,

which will then change your thoughts on that situation

because you did different actions, which would then impact

your emotions, which ideally would lead to a better result,

right? So why bring that up?

Why is that? What does this have to do with

these, these characteristics we just went over?

I'm here to tell you, you can actually learn to be sober

minded, dignified, where they respect and learn how to have

self-control. You can learn these behaviors

to, to imitate that, to show that there are some people in

your lives. And I'm sure when I say this,

everyone has a vision of somebody.

There's people in your life that already execute these three

things and are not believers. There's people in your lives

that you know who, who are often sober people in your lives that

you know, that are really respectable people.

And, and, and seeing the honorable people, there's people

in your lives that again, have, have that self-control.

You can learn those behaviors and it doesn't mean you're a

believer. But there's a reason that there

are three more virtues. Let's go into them.

You will be sound in faith, sound in love and sound in

steadfastness or endurance. They must be sound.

And what does sound mean again? Look at it one more time.

What does sound mean? Again?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. So you must be healthy in faith,

healthy in love, healthy in steadfastness and endurance,

healthy in faith, healthy in faith first.

We are saved by faith. Faith is first on the list and

it is paramount for a reason. We are saved by our faith.

Someone who is healthy in faith, you know what?

They they have a healthy relationship with God.

Someone who is healthy in faith, what does that look like?

They have a healthy relationship with God.

OK, we'll dive in a little bit deeper, Will.

OK, I got you. Will you say I do that?

So they have a healthy prayer life.

They have a healthy relationship and a constant study of the word

and they have healthy fast rhythms.

They have healthy faith rhythms, healthy in love.

Someone who is healthy in love has a healthy relationship with

God's image bearers. Someone who is healthy in love

has a healthy relationship with God's image bearers.

Well, what does that mean? Well, let's look at First

Corinthians 13, four and seven. What is love?

Well, love is patient. Love is kind.

Love does not envy. Love is not boastful, it is not

arrogant, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not

irritable and does not keep a record of wrongs.

Love finds joy and does not find joy in the unrighteousness, but

rejoice in truth. It bears all things, believes

all things, hope all things, endures, all things healthy and

love. It's a healthy relationship with

God's image bearers. You're showing people patience.

You're showing His image bearers kindness.

You're showing them that you do not envy.

You show them that you're not boastful.

You show them that you're not arrogant.

You're not rude to them. You're not self seeking.

You're not irritable. You don't keep a record of their

wrongs. You find you don't find joy in

their own righteousness, but you rejoice in the truth and you

bear they're things you believe they're things you hope in Jesus

and you endure all things. Healthy love means healthy

relational love with God's image bearers, healthy and steadfast

and endurance. You must be spiritually tough

living in this dark broken world and being a believer which is so

counter cultural in this world. If this week didn't show you

that just how polarizing this week has been and it is a

challenge. Persecution is promised and we

are told to pick up our cross and follow Him.

You need to be healthy and endurance to deal with the sin

of the world. You need to be healthy and

endurance to deal with the sin of the world.

Being healthy in these virtues does not again equate to being

perfect in these virtues. That's what I mean is like you.

It's not that it's an expectation.

You show this 24/7 that you are the righteous of the righteous

because Romans tells us no, not one is righteous but it must be

seen or associated with your character most of the time.

But because we can't be perfect, thank God there was somebody

that was perfect that executed these, that was Jesus.

He was the perfect example of the mature believer.

He lived a life clear mind and always staying on the path.

Also being 100% God needs to say he was dignified and lived a

life worthy of respect. He had also had to be self

controlled again because he's 100% God and he allowed himself

to be disrespected and humiliated from creatures made

from the dirt. You have to have some

self-control to do that. He was also sound in faith, in a

constant relationship with the Father, praying, fasting,

teaching Scripture, and emphasizing the heart of

Scripture, not just reading the words.

He was also the embodiment of love, obeying the Father out of

love, sacrificing himself out of love for the world, for God's

image bearers, and also being 100% man.

He endured. He endured being beaten.

He endured being humiliated. He endured nails in His feet.

He endured His hands being pierced.

He endured a crown of thorns. He endured salt being thrown in

His wombs. He endured the sins of the

world. He endured being forsaken by the

Father the only time He cried out and died.

Why do you do this? So He can rise on the third day

and free you from the bondage of sin and send down the Holy

Spirit after His ascension. This is paramount because though

there are tools that you can learn, we talk about cognitive

behavior theory. Those are our tools and

practices in ways you can learn to be the first three to get

those qualities. Only the Holy Spirit can give

you faith, only the Holy Spirit can give you love, and only the

Holy Spirit can give you endurance.

So with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will grow in faith,

you will grow in love, you will grow in endurance, and then the

cognitive 3 will come, AKA. Let's call this spiritual

cognitive theory. As the Holy Spirit grows and

mature you, He will convict, encourage and morph your

behaviors, your wants, your thoughts, your desires and

change them. So when the situation happens,

when a trigger occurs, next thing you know you're more sober

minded, you have more self-control and you're treating

the people of God and God's image bears with dignity and

respect. But why do this?

Why? Why focus on older or mature

Christians? Why did the Holy Spirit come to

do this? Why?

Why even do this in this in the 1st place?

Some of your immediate response because we are blessed to be in

a theologically sound congregation in church.

Some of your immediate response when I said why does the Holy

Spirit does this, in this why did Jesus sends the send us the

Holy Spirit? Some of your, your first thought

was sanctification and to be more like Jesus.

Again, sanctification and to be more like Jesus.

And I'm here to tell you, yes, yes, that is true.

But that's only half of it. It's more of a a yes.

And Jesus tells you why he's sitting his people at Helper.

He tells you also what you're supposed to do when he ascends.

He tells us in Matthew 2819 through 20.

Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them

to observe everything I've commanded you.

And remember I'm with you always to the end of age.

Jesus, it's telling you why. And he also did this perfectly.

He walked with the 12, he ate with the 12, he taught the 12.

He corrected the 12. He showed the 12 what right

looks like went over scriptures with the 12.

So let's so so he showed them how to live.

He preached them how to live out the word.

He had them read and study the word and then he had them go do

it and live out the word and then he taught them to do the

same for others and equip them. This wasn't a a once in a week,

once a week thing. This wasn't every blue moon

thing of doing this. This was truly living life

together, a true investment in a relationship, a discipleship

relationship, a discipling relationship.

And Jesus did this for a reason. So then now let's go back.

How does this what does this the heck this got to do with with

Titus one and two will how how did we get here?

Well, Paul is telling Titus is telling this to Titus and, and,

and pointing out qualities in older or mature men in the

church and what they should have so they can pour into younger

men so they can pour into younger men and make disciples.

So he's telling Titus so Titus can see what men in the church

have Holy Spirit and be able to discern that and see who are

qualified. So he can then direct them and

show them how to delete it and show it to other younger men to

make more older and mature men. This is crucial for a healthy

church. We have to reach 1 and teach

one. Yes, people in our body are all

gifted in different ways to serve our church.

Absolutely, absolutely. Some sing, some are great with

their hands and handy. Some are great with landscape.

Some are passionate with kids and roots.

Thank God for those people. Some people are great at

hospitality, some people are are great at teaching.

Some people can are great cooks and can do all the things.

Some are business savvy. Some some are just savvy in

other ways that can help other people.

There's tons of gifts. Tons of gifts.

And yes, we are all we all have spiritual gifts and uniquely

made to further God's Kingdom. But every last one of us were

given a mission from Jesus to go and make disciples of all

nations. Every last one of us, we're

called to do that. So what does, what does

discipleship look like? I know I'm, I'm, I'm tell you

right now I'm about to go over what discipleship look like

really quickly. I'm gonna give you like a, a

30,000 foot overview of it. I know coal is going to be

probably diving a lot deeper into this in a couple weeks and

I ain't trying to take all this Thunder, but we need, if I'm

going to keep using this word discipleship, I got to make sure

we're all on the same page of what this means.

So for discipleship 1, you show them how to live out God's word

in your everyday life. They must see it when you're

killing it. They must see when you're on top

of your game, when you have healthy rhythms, when everything

is going smooth, How you rejoice, how you see his glory

in everyday life, how you study, how you pray, how you interact

with God's people, how you fast, how you interact with your

family. They must see that, and they

also must see how you repent when you fall short.

They also must see when you fall and when you fail.

How do you reconcile relationships?

How do you deal with seasons when you feel God is silent?

How do you endure hardships? How do you push through when you

don't have any answers? How you lament?

How do you try to bounce back when you're having a low season

and not the best rhythms at that moment?

You are not perfect. There was only one man that was

perfect and they must see you endure two.

You must preach to them the Word.

You must speak the Word into their lives.

Go over scriptures. Teach the scriptures to them.

The Bible is a crucial part of that.

You have to open up the word if you're discipling somebody.

It is not just watching a video on YouTube, it is not an

Instagram Reel, it is not a TikTok, and y'all go over that.

You have to open up the scriptures and go over the word

with them. Three, have them read the Word.

Have them take notes, discuss their thoughts, help them

understand what they read. You must teach them how to own

their faith, how to own their study of the Word. 4 Walk with

them in their lives as they attempt to live out the Word.

Walk with them, encourage them, speak hard truths and love to

them. And when they are mature and you

walk with them as they'd also walk with someone younger in the

faith again, reach one, teach one.

Have them make disciples. Train them up so they can make

disciples. This isn't just a random meet

up, a random chill random hangout, but a true investment

in someone's life and opening your life to someone, not just

showing them the pretty Hallmark pictures, movies of it.

Show them your life. So what does this mean for

Frontier, right? Let's be honest, we're a very

young church age wise. Again, we're blessed and

privileged to have some some older gospel centered men in our

in our congregation with a crown of grey.

But All in all, the average age of our church is probably from

27 to 34. We're a young church and that's

a give or take estimation. Again, think of older men as

mature men in faith. I'm going to give you one last

example of this in the Bible, Hebrews 513 through 14.

Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the

message about righteousness because he is an infant.

But solid food is for the mature, for those whose senses

have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

Again, maturity is not determined by age, but for those

who have since been trained to distinguish between God's Word

in the broken world's word. Frontier Church.

My fear, my angst is that some of us in this church have been

trained to distinguish between good and evil.

Again, we have a church that has strong theology and know all the

answers in this book, know how to discern what's God's Word and

what's not God's Word. Some of us are mature men and

yet we're choosing to remain on milk when we are ready for solid

food. We are choosing to remain on

milk and be infants and be lazy when we are ready for solid

food. There are men in their 70s that

may have just came to Christ. They may be only being a

Christian for for a week or a month or even a year and they're

only able to drink milk and that is fine.

That is OK. Nothing wrong with that.

I'm not talking to any new believers.

I don't care what your age is. I'm not talking to a new

believer, and you are welcome, my brother.

But there are men in our churches that are in their 20s,

their 30s, their 40s, and even some in their early 50s who are

ready for solid food, that are mature, that do fit these

qualities. That the Holy Spirit has changed

their life drastically, that has shaped them, that has mold them.

And they know the difference between God's will, His word,

and what the broken world is telling us what to do.

And they are sitting on their thumbs and drinking milk.

We need to lock in and wake up. The world is counting on us to

do that. We cannot come here with the

mind and the heart to just check a box.

I served today, check. I went to CG this week, check.

I looked at the verse of the day today.

Check. I was a good Christian this

week. We must remember the Great

Commission. We must remember the Great

Commission. Let's read again Matthew 2819

and 20. Go therefore, and make disciples

of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

baptize them in the name of the Son, and baptizing them in the

name of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

everything I have commanded you. And remember I'm with you always

to the end of age. So if that's the Great

Commission, I'm ready for solid food.

So who are y'all discipling then?

And yes, some of us are fathers and have families.

And yes, we are called to disciple our children and lead

our families. Yes, we are also called to show

them how to pour into others outside of the home.

We are also called to show them how to love others.

What does a spiritual father and son relationship look like?

We have to demonstrate that. So your child shouldn't be your

excuse for not doing it, but it should be another reason,

another motivation to show them what discipleship looks like

outside the home. What is being a man of God looks

like. But I want to emphasize again,

if you if, if you're feel, if you feel that you're still in

the situation and it will. I'm still so new.

My faith, I, I, I barely I, I just learned John 316 yesterday.

I, I, I'm still right. I need to just be drinking milk.

My brother, my sister. That is OK.

I just have one question for you, though.

Who's discipling you so that you can become mature, so then you

can go and make disciples again? We're blessed to be part of a

church with a congregation with strong theology.

But how are we living it out? James 226 tells us.

For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, also faith

without works is dead. The do say ratio has to equal

up. So how can we claim to have

strong theology? How can we claim to have sound

faith, sound and love for Jesus if we are not living out?

Matthew 28/19/20. You can't say one thing and not

do the other. That was literally the person

you called your Lord and Savior, the last thing he told you to do

before he ascended. The reason he sent you the

helper. But church, I, I know

discipleship can't be uncomfortable.

You're letting somebody in. You got to be vulnerable.

It's hard, it's messy, it can be inconvenient, it can be

mentally, physically, emotionally taxing.

You might might not even see the full fruit of all the time and

emotional and mental investment you made in this person and you

might not even see the fruit of it.

It's hard. But what does that last line and

Matthew 20/28/20 say? And remember I Jesus and with

you always to the end of the age.

You are not alone in this. The Holy Spirit is with you,

Jesus is with you, the Father is with you.

The passions at this church are with you.

Your brothers and your sisters in Christ are with you.

You are not alone in this walk. This this can bring us to our

big idea for for the for these men in our church.

Sorry my son, that crazy sometimes.

Mature men are to have a sound biblical life to adhere to the

Great Commission. Say it one time.

Mature men are to have a sound biblical life to adhere to the

Great Commission. And I, like I told y'all to play

by play. I want to give y'all some some

examples of mature men that were in my life that had major

impacts at the time and and even the time when I I should have

sought out a mature man in the faith in my in my life.

So the first one back in, back in Louisville, those who don't

know me and my family moved from Louisville, KY 2 years ago.

So back in Louisville, me and my wife, we were not a, it was, it

was a, we had a season where we were just beefing and not in a

great place. Honestly, I couldn't even tell

you what we was beefing over. Who knows, you know, I probably

left something on the stove or something, who knows it.

I don't even know what the beef was.

That's, that's, that's not really the point.

But I was definitely in my feelings.

I was emotional. I'm emotional.

But I met with a mature man from our church and his name was

Lavar Bro. I'm my man's was probably the

coolest cat I've ever met in my life.

Bro still my dude, cool dude. And like he like meets all the

characteristics and and and Titus of what they describe what

an older man should be. So like I look, bro, that was

that was my guy. So I'm I'm I'm talking to him.

I'm hot, like I'm snapping, I'm hot.

I'm I'm telling him my plight, how I'm just, you know, so

wronged and I'm just the perfect husband.

All the things like I'm, I'm in my feelings snapping like

anybody else does. And this man, as I'm as I'm

talking, he starts laughing at me just laughing.

And I'm like now I'm like, Paul, It's like, bro, what you what

you laughing for? I just, I just told you like,

like this is hurting me right now.

And you, you laughing. And he goes.

He was like, look, my brother. I mean, I mean no disrespect.

He was like, and I know, I, I know how you feel right now and,

and he was like, it's and I know you're like you really going

through and he was like, it's, it's just so funny bro, because

like me and my wife went through the same exact thing 15 years

ago. And then after he says that and

points that out and he is he immediately able even to tell me

my feelings that I couldn't even articulate at the time, he then

proceeds to tell me and remind me how God calls us his husband

to love our wives and how we're called to work through

struggles. That conversation was such a

transformational time and me and my wife's marriage.

That conversation was so freeing in a great spiritual, cognitive,

behavioral mindset shift. Mindset shift.

Another example, last year as I saw my baby out here screaming

we found out that we were having a baby and the reason that's

crazy is because I have a 13 year old boy and 11 year old

daughter. I've been need to say I've been

out the game for a little bit before having another baby and

y'all I was freaking out. I was stressed, overwhelmed.

How am I going to do this again? What am I going to do?

How can we even afford this again?

I haven't dealt with this for 10 years and a mature man by the

name of Carlos Sims sat me down and and told me not to be

anxious but rather to trust in the one who blessed me with this

child and truly helped calm me and reassure me that he will

never leave or forsake me. He also reminded me when we

first joined Frontier, one of my things where I used to say was,

man, I don't know how I'm going to relate to many, to relate to

many families out here because most of our church has little

little kids and all mine are like grown and self-sufficient.

Yeah, be careful. What you what you ask for.

Nah, you're a blessing. I love him.

I love him. Look at him walking down the

hall. Look.

Come on, bro. No.

Hey. And then lastly, last example of

when I when I should have sought a mature man.

This year, October 12th, it will be 10 years since my mother

passed my my children don't really have memories of her and

my blessing of a child that God gave me will never know her will

be 10 years October 12th in May of that of 2015.

So that May of that year me and my mom had a had a massive

fight. The argument that didn't end

well with us talking to each other and the next time I was

ever going to see her or even speak to her was going to be in

late September when she was on life support and had her chain

in her throat and I would never be able to hear her voice again.

I let my pride, my arrogance take precious time away from you

and my mother. I should have sought a mature

man. It's a point to me and disciple

me who I'm sure would have told me to reconcile and not because

we don't know if tomorrow's promise or not, not because of

you never know when anyone's last day.

That's that's not why I would tell someone to reconcile.

And I know a mature man in the faith would tell me to

reconcile. That's not the why.

The why is because we're called to do it as followers of Christ.

We're called to be sound, in love, healthy, in love with

image bearers. Those 3 examples are crucial

Church. That's what that can practically

look like in our lives. We have to stop being lazy and

choosing milk. We can't in one breath say we

are mature and we're theologically strong and sound

and we are not living Matthew 28 in making disciples, in

furthering the Kingdom. I promise y'all I would give you

all some go dues and I and I promise I'll I don't need it

anyway. Smooth.

You see how smooth I did that? I promise you I'll get out you

all here. So this week you'll go dues my

brothers in Christ. Or to evaluate yourself, reach

out to a leader in our church and have them evaluate you.

Are you choosing milk? Are you ready for solid food or

are? Or are you only in a position

where all you can have right now is milk?

To pray and ask God to help you think through discipleship and

discern where you are. Should you be discipling?

Who you should be discipling, And even if you are mature, even

if you will consider yourself strong and mature and you're

executing all those things, you still should have someone

pouring into you. Iron sharpens iron.

So again, even if you are discipling, who's discipling

you, Wives, talk through this with your husbands and pray for

them and pray for them. And my sisters, encourage your

brothers in Christ to reach out to be discipled or to disciples,

someone or both. And my sisters, please pray for

us. Imagine the church or growth

would have if we did this. I assure you we would have more

CGS. You want to know why?

Because we would have more leaders and more leaders would

come out of our CGS because they're becoming mature.

And ready to lead. We would have so many men in the

leadership courses that that Cole puts on at our church, that

Cole would be overwhelmed. Overwhelmed because we have so

many men beating down his door ready for this solid food.

I'll tell you another thing. The vibe in the field of Iowa

needs good dudes. That conference, oh, it would

hit even different and go even further and the conference would

also be too big to be held in this building.

All men in our church, all men in our church would have a

strong spiritual father figure that they can go to and lean on.

All men in our church. Cole was talking about revival.

Now imagine if we did this, the revival we would really have in

our city, how many people we would have fight for joy in the

joy of Des Moines. Let's pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your word, thank

you for your son, thank you for the Holy Spirit.

Father, we love you and we need you.

As we worship, as we leave, as we even eventually get

dismissed, please keep our hearts.

Our mind stayed on You Father, and help us build a life where

You are our foundation. That when people see us and

interact with us, they see and feel that we have a healthy

faith and relationship with you. A healthy love and relationship

with your image bears and a healthy, strong, firm foundation

in you. So we can endure this dark and

cruel world. Jesus and we prayer.