Titus 2: Learning and Teaching

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Very good.

Uh, it's been, it's been a little bit, it's well, it's felt like a little bit longer than it really maybe has been for, uh, for me, I'm grateful to be back.

Um, as you guys, uh, some of you guys know, I got a chance to go to, uh, Latvia and then I'm Estonia over the last few weeks and, um, some of the big, uh, some of the big takeaways I shared a little bit on Wednesday, but some of the big takeaways was, uh, in Riga Latvia, I was just super impressed with, uh, with how much the group prayed.

Um, the students, uh, we, we shared the guys, he's, he has a student ministry of like 25 to 30 at any given point.

And he's working part time.

Uh, he was just in grad school.

He finished that up.

Uh, he's an, he's an architect.

Um, and, but he's also leading a ministry.

And so he, uh, it's, it's crazy.

You won one day, uh, it'd be cool if you guys went there or something.

I realized many won't, but it was amazing because they just decided we're just going to pray a lot.

And so you could see, uh, the pattern, uh, that the ministry was building was one.

They just prayed a lot.

Um, in Tallinn, I was super impressed that these 15, I shared it on Wednesday.

I think it bears sharing again, um, these students that are 15, 16, 17 years old, uh, would go over to this guy's house, uh, who was leading the ministry and they would make a mess.

And then they would leave the house spotless like you, they would, they would mop.

They left it better than when they showed up and, uh, and it's a 16 year old.

And so I, I just, there's so much, I think that I learned over this time.

There's a lot that we're going to, I'll even, I got a couple of stories in here about that, but, um, but that was, that was where I was.

And so I feel, uh, if on Wednesday I was like 70% back, I feel like I'm 95% of the way back.

Uh, and so we're, we're happy.

We're having a good time.

Um, a couple of other cool things that while we were gone, there was a, there was a couple of baptisms.

Um, Sarah French got baptized.

We're excited about that.

A few baptisms.

Then Clayton Asha got baptized as well.

We're excited about that.

Uh, what, uh, what encouragement if you guys missed it on Wednesday, uh, there's a, there's a, uh, these, these, uh, dapper young men shared a little bit about their time at camp.

And so, uh, the, the theme was refuge.

If you want to hear about how camp went, just talk to them.

Uh, you got, you guys know who were here on Wednesday.

We kind of sat down and listened and I gave them one minute.

Uh, they probably could have preached for about five or 10 and done a pretty good job.

Amen.

Uh, so anyways, we're, we're looking at the book of Titus.

We talked about, uh, we looked at Titus one last week.

This week we're looking at Titus two.

Um, if you could, if you had a title for any of this stuff, I think, I think the title would be learning and teaching, uh, from Titus two, you know, on first reading of this chapter and then second reading of this chapter, I felt like, uh, what am I going to talk about?

Because it feels like really what it is is it's a letter from Paul, uh, written to Titus, uh, who was a church leader and he's just teaching them how to be a good church leader.

And so, uh, for me, it's, it's a helpful book because I'm like, you know, how do I be a good church leader?

Let me follow, uh, what Paul says, uh, as he's writing to Titus.

But as I sat with it more, I think it has a lot of relevance for us as well.

Uh, just us in a, as a Christian community, it talks a lot about how we can really be great learners and how we can be great students.

And then it talks a lot about how we can actually teach and be great teachers.

You know, at any point in our lives, we should be those who are learning, uh, and have people who were following.

We should be students.

Uh, and we also should be teachers, right?

If we are just, uh, if we are just teachers, uh, that's, that's a problem, right?

And actually it talks about that in the Bible.

Uh, if we're just, if we're just students though, now hear me, this is where maybe we can get a little bit mixed up.

I mean, goodheartedly mixed up if we're just students as, as in we just consume, what can end up happening is we can learn a lot, but if we don't give it to other people, that's not what the Bible teaches.

In fact, the Bible says, watch your life and doctrine closely persevere so that you can save yourself and your hearers.

This is first Timothy four 16 and so there's, there's a necessity if we're going to be a Christian community, how the Bible speaks about, then we have to be those who are teaching at certain points.

Um, you know, I, there, there's a couple of, a couple of things that we want to look at though.

I do, uh, want us to, uh, to realize, and I think we know this, I just want to reiterate it that it's not just me saying in his Bible is that you can't just be a student of Jesus.

Uh, you know, we can say, well, I don't need to join a group of people.

I don't need to be a part of a group.

I kind of do my own studies spiritually.

And maybe you have been in that sphere or maybe you've been in that spot.

Maybe you, you came out of that spot.

Maybe you're, you're kind of in the middle of that spot right now, or if nothing else, I know you've heard somebody say that, that I don't need to be a, I'm a student of Jesus.

I read the word that is enough.

Uh, we can see in the Bible, uh, it, these are just, I just did, this is just from my memory.

It took me like 10 minutes.

I bet you, if you did it, you could even do more.

These are just the people who became students of others and got a lot of help.

Uh, John, this guy obviously wrote the book of John, then first, second, third, John, and then revelation as well.

Uh, there's a point when presumably he gets, he, him and Peter get, get sent to prison and presumably he's pretty scared.

Peter speaks up, gives him courage.

And then at first it says, Peter said this.

Then by the end of it, it says, Peter, uh, Peter and John said, we are not going to stop preaching the word.

And so Peter and so, or John at some point was a student and he learned a lot, Paul as well.

You guys know the story.

Paul had this one-on-one interaction with Jesus.

That is, you can't even, you can't, nobody I don't think, uh, in this room has had something like that where they just look at Jesus in the eye and Jesus comes down after he's been resurrected and says, who are you persecuting?

Paul could have said, well, I don't need, I don't need help from anybody else.

But what happens though, is that in a nice assent to help teach him a little bit more.

Uh, you guys know James, uh, and the apostles and the elders, uh, this is when they're deciding, can, can Jews be allowed, uh, in, in the, or can Gentiles, excuse me, be allowed in the kingdom of God?

And Peter says, no, without a shadow of a doubt.

Yes, they can.

Paul shared about how they received the Holy spirit of Barnabas in his journey, shared about it.

And so James, the guy who wrote the book of James, um, and you know, one of the main first, uh, first century church leaders has to be taught by, by somebody other than Jesus, uh, Apollos.

We understand he was teaching the way of God adequately, uh, or as he, as he knew fit rather.

But, but then, uh, Priscilla and Aquila, uh, this, this married couple, go ahead and teach them what, what happens at the resurrection, uh, what happened at the resurrection and then the Holy spirit.

Um, then you guys know, uh, in Galatians two, there's a sharp disagreement between Paul and Peter and Peter had to be, although he said, Hey, it's, you know, Gentiles can come on in to the kingdom.

Uh, sometime in Galatians two or sometime around there, Paul has to tell him, you know what you were off in how you were interacting actually with the Gentile group of people.

And so for us to say that we're anything above that, we only need Jesus.

We'd be mistaken.

If you guys interact someday, uh, sometime this week, even with somebody who says, you know what?

I just need the Bible and I'll be good.

You can call them a liar because they're, they're not following what, what scripture teaches.

Uh, let's go over to Titus two.

Uh, if you're not there already, Titus two, uh, it, it, it says you, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith in love and in endurance.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God.

Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled and everything.

Set them an example by doing what is good in your teaching.

Show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

This first part, uh, I want to talk about what it means to be a great student or what it means to be a great learner.

Uh, if, if we're going to be great learners, um, then, then we have to understand a few things.

I think one of the main things that, uh, that's helpful to understand is where, where we stand or basically where we're at, what we struggle with.

Um, you know, in sports I've, I've, I've coached anywhere from college to, you know, fifth and sixth graders.

And it's interesting, the, the fifth and sixth graders have like some of the least awareness of their, their aptitude in athletics.

Like if you talk to, and I did this, I was just having fun with them.

I said, Hey guys, um, what do you need to grow in most?

And what people shared, uh, in fifth and sixth grade, they were like, you know what, I need to grow in my jumping so that I can be able to dunk one day.

And uh, and as a fifth and sixth grader, you just don't need to worry about dunking.

You know what I'm saying?

Like that's like for the advanced skills.

I said, no, you need to worry about shooting layups properly and like making, making your, your shots.

Uh, if you don't understand what you're struggling in and what you're trying to grow in, you're going to have a difficult time growing effectively.

Uh, you know, what's amazing about how God made us is that our struggles are not entirely unique to us.

Uh, the world, the devil, he's trying to do everything he can to isolate you, to convince you that no one can relate to you, uh, that you're unique in what you're going through.

People just don't understand.

Uh, when, when, when they share something, they're not seeing the full picture.

They didn't understand my motives or my intentions.

Uh, all of these, these are just defense mechanisms that the devil is convincing you of.

That's blocking us from being strong students or learners or disciples.

Um, why, why do I, why do I, why do I say that?

Well, because Paul is able to identify, these are the areas for the older men, for the older women, for the younger women and for the younger men that, that we struggle with.

These are the areas that you have to keep, uh, you have to keep your eyes on and you have to babysit them and you have to pay attention to them or else you're going to struggle.

Uh, and, and it's, it's powerful.

We're going to, we're going to look at what this means.

And so right now I'm going to speak a little bit to hopefully to you individually or you specifically, um, by just categorizing how the Bible does basically.

And these are things that if you do a good job of, I think you can be great students if you do.

Uh, if there, but there's room to grow is what I would say for the older men.

What does it say?

You, you guys got a lot of responsibilities.

I don't know who, how you define old or not.

I'm not going to be the one to say above this age gap.

That's not me.

But he just says, older men, you've got to be level headed.

You have to be worthy of respect or dignified.

You have to be self controlled, sound and faith, sound and love, sound and endurance.

You have to be steadfast.

This is a, it's powerful that this is spoken about first.

And actually the older men, you guys are given the most responsibility to pay attention to these things.

If you look at the next list that we, that we're going to talk about, actually you guys got the longest one.

Um, you guys got the most to pay attention to.

Um, and, and the other thing that I think is really powerful is you can look at these other, these other areas for the older women, the, the younger men and the younger women.

And a lot of these are outward things that are pretty obvious.

Some of these for, for you older men, these are things that, that what the Bible is saying and I believe what Paul is saying is you guys figured out how to live as Christians.

You guys figured out how to put on a good face and to live a good life.

You figured that out.

Now you've got to worry about what's going on deep in your heart.

Uh, who's to say if you're sound in faith, but, but you and God and maybe those closest to you, who's to say if you're sound in love or sound and endurance instead fast, who, who really, who is to say you guys, you got to show up to church every Sunday.

You, you give your, your contribution, you're a servant, you, you serve where you, where you're needed.

These are things that, that you have to pay attention to.

If you're going to be a great student and then understand this is what's going to get you to not be a great student and to not be a learner is to say, I've already got it.

I show up and I end point to some of your laurels or your accolades.

You know, it's, it's such a cool scripture.

You guys know it and we're not going to get, get super deep into it, but I'm reminded of Joshua 14, right?

This is a Caleb talking, he's 85 years old and he says, so here I am today, 85 years old.

I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out.

I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.

Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day.

This again, I love, I love it.

There was a, there was a brother who was in Milwaukee for years.

His name, his name was Harvey.

He passed away probably about 10 years ago, huh?

Sometime.

And he, and I, I, it's, it's funny when you grow up the, maybe you guys have experienced this, maybe you haven't.

If you've grown up with old people, sometimes, uh, how they look when, or how you perceive they look when you're five, um, they actually look like when you're, when you're 25, um, or something like they, they, you did, they already seem old, but then when you see them, you're like, oh no, no, wait, that was, they really were old then.

Um, this guy was, was strong in the faith.

He was a guy that was, that, that loved others.

He was so giving.

If you interacted with him and said, let's, let's move.

He would be, you know, let's, let's move this person or that person.

He'd be one of the first ones to show up and we're like, Harvey, it's just not super helpful.

Like just be an encouragement, you know, pour some water for us.

You know, you, we don't need you to help lift this couch.

The point I'm saying is that he was, he was, he was ready to serve.

He was, he was there.

He was as vigorous, uh, he identified as vigorous at 85 as he was at 45 and, and maybe, maybe not in actuality, but I guess for your faith, uh, you, you older men, can you say this?

Can you say I was as, I'm as vigorous for the Lord today as when I was in my twenties.

Can you say that there, there, there's, there's such great hope.

You know, there's such a great responsibility that you guys have in the leadership of this church says to the older women, it says, be reverent in the way you live.

Don't be slanderers.

Don't be, don't be addicted to too much wine and teach what is good.

You know, I think, uh, so much of a, uh, so hear me now, I, again, I'm, I'm, I'm treading on some territory that if I'm stepping on toes and if I say something wrong, um, I'll apologize later.

I think so much of, um, at least in this world, how women are taught to identify, especially older women is by the title of mom or the title of grandma.

I think that's the, usually when, once you get a little bit older, that's kind of the extent of it.

I'm a mom and I'm a grandma.

And then the other stuff I do, I do, uh, you know, I, I think, I think these are noble and they're, they're incredible, but there comes a time in a mother's life when you're not as needed or you don't feel as needed as you once were, as when, as when your children were little, were little.

I think this can create a crisis and I've, I've seen it in the church.

I've seen it in my, my family, uh, you know, my, you know, extended family.

Uh, I've seen it in almost every, every facet.

I've seen, uh, women who are older, who have grown up children are like, what's the point?

What am I doing?

I don't, I'm cooking for way less people.

I only make one meal a week and you know, however you figure I, they drive themselves to the actual locations and there's a feeling that's, you know what, they don't need me.

And so what's the point?

They don't need me.

I don't, I don't have value.

And so let me engage in, in folly, right?

Let me engage in slander, folly with my words.

Let me engage in, in folly with my actions.

Because what's the point?

They, I'm not needed.

What Paul is saying, what I'm saying is you are still extremely valuable.

You are, you're so valuable.

Listen to this.

You are so valuable as an older woman that, that Paul doesn't tell Titus to help out the younger woman.

He just says, Hey, teach the older women well, they're going to worry about the younger women.

And so this responsibility and role that you think, well, it's done by the time I was done being a mother, a mother to young children, he says, no, no, no, no, no.

You have a great responsibility to this church, to this community that, that is being built to give to the young moms and to teach the young moms the right way.

Amen.

This is a, this is, this is a great responsibility, but if you're going to be, if you're going to be a great student, then you have to understand this is where you can find yourself.

Don't let the devil convince you that you're not, that you're not worthy.

Don't let the devil convince you that your time is up.

You've done all you can do.

There's no more value for you.

The Bible tells a very different story for the, for the younger women.

Uh, I might tread even lighter because I think the responsibility is for the younger women to talk to you, to you ladies.

And so I, I've got, I've got some thoughts, but, uh, but if, again, I will actually defer if some of the older women say he's wrong, that's fine.

Listen to them.

Uh, it, it just says, it says, uh, teach them, uh, for the older women, teach them how to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God.

Again, I, I, uh, I think I've seen it in this world.

I've seen it in specifically in social media in the 21st century, um, that I've seen social media in the 21st century attack young women, um, more tactfully and more deceitfully than probably any other group of people, uh, in, in, in other for the, you know, for the young men or I feel like it's kind of obvious how, and we'll talk about it, but it's obvious I think in the way that, that social media attacks, uh, but for the women, the young women in this group, I think it's so deceitful.

Uh, there, there's, uh, an Instagram lie that says, you've got to have it all together.

You've got to have it entirely figured out.

You don't need help from anybody else.

All you have to do is watch a few of these videos and you can save them on your tick tock and you're ready to go.

Uh, that's a lie.

Uh, there, there's, there's a posture of humility that's needed to be able to say, I don't have it all figured out.

Right.

Yeah.

I don't, I'm not, I don't know how to parent, uh, my, my kids the best way.

My kids aren't acting right and it's, and it's not, it's not enough to say, Oh shucks, my kids aren't acting right.

There needs to be responsibility then on your end to look to the older women to learn from them.

Uh, you know, I, it's, I, I, again, I, I don't want to, uh, Oh man, we'll keep preaching.

I'm going to plug it in.

Give me one second.

I think, I think just, you have to realize that you don't have it all figured out.

Not everything is going to be perfect.

And don't say that the solution to that, I think, I think this is what I've seen also on Instagram, uh, is that, okay, not everything's perfect, so I'm not going to have it figured out.

And so I'm not going to try.

That's not the response to have though.

The response to have is I'm not perfect.

I don't have it figured out.

Let me learn.

There's so many women, uh, in this congregation that are able to help you out, that are able to give advice about parenting, that are able to teach you how to parent.

You know, I feel it, uh, with, with our, with our three and our one, I feel like my kids are amazing.

Um, but they're, uh, they're, they're not unique in, in their struggles.

Uh, I, I love my children to death, but I'd be, I'd be extremely arrogant and prideful if I said, you know what?

You don't understand my exact situation.

Um, let's not do that.

Amen.

And then to the, uh, then to the younger men, um, in some ways it just says, just be self-controlled.

Uh, and so, you know, I, I think on one hand I feel, um, I think, I feel like it's pretty cruel of Paul to force us to, uh, to keep our attention span long enough to listen to these other three, um, as young men, but, but he did, uh, he, he stretched our attention span.

He said, go ahead and listen to what everyone else has to grow in, but then you guys don't focus on a lot of things.

Just be self-controlled.

Um, and then, and then he tells Titus some specific ways to live his life, but, uh, so much of in, in our lives, if you just focus, if you're a young man, you just focus on being self-controlled.

Um, that, that's, that's maybe just about all we can focus on.

That's the way to live though.

It says in your integrity.

Um, so who you are when no one else is watching, be self-controlled, uh, the seriousness with which you carry yourself.

Um, this isn't saying that, that, you know, don't, don't make a joke or don't be silly.

I, I struggled with this so much, um, to figuring out for myself, who am I, what am I, I mean, I like to make jokes, but at what point and, and at whose expense maybe, and I think this is saying that there's a time and place for everything.

You got to be aware of what's going on, uh, and who you're talking to.

Um, then it says there's a soundness of speech and this is what I've seen.

Uh, I don't know, again, I can't speak to everything.

I've seen it so much though, over the last little bit, maybe my ears are perked up to it.

Uh, as men, we just can't talk about things we don't know about as young men.

There's so there's, there's examples in our lives of people that maybe you've been in, you've been in that situation.

I know I've been in a situation where something's been asked of me in a way that's really humble and kind.

Again, I was coaching basketball.

There's a coach.

He's been coaching for 20 some years.

It was my first year as an assistant.

He has cut film.

He knows everything.

You know, he's, he's, he knows, he knows it all right.

What to do.

He has the plays drawn up.

They're his plays and, or he's listening.

He's got it.

He's coached again, 20 years at a college level.

It's my first year coaching and he would pull us in a huddle and he's like, Hey, what should we do?

What do you guys think we should do now?

On one hand?

Great.

That's it.

That's it.

That's, that's humble of him.

You know, right.

That's, that's, that's awesome.

On another level, there's wisdom to say, well, my opinion counts for a lot less than his opinion, right?

He knows what he's doing.

He knows what he's talking about.

And then what happened was there was another assistant coach has been coaching as long as he has, but he's not as connected.

It wasn't his full-time job.

And I just asked him, I said, Da Vinci, why don't you say anything?

And he's like, why don't I say anything?

He knows what he's going to do anyways.

He, what am I going to tell him that he's not already going to do?

And he's going to do it the right way.

And he was like, and plus, if I'm wrong, I don't want to be in trouble for it.

I was like, okay, amen.

You know, that, that's, that's one way to go about it.

I, I appreciate that though.

I appreciate that because it taught me that something, someone can ask something of you.

It's not always, it's not always wise to speak about things you don't know very much about.

The other thing that says though, for, for young men is this says that you have to know the character of the person you're following.

If you're going to be a great student, you have to know the character, their integrity, their seriousness, their soundness of speech.

How are you going to know that listening to preachers on YouTube?

How are you going to know that listening to smart videos or how-to videos on TikTok?

How are you going to know that by reading books?

You're not going to, you gotta interact with the person who you're following.

And so all of this, the majority of the lesson then is about, uh, is just about how do we, how can we be great students?

But I do want to talk about how we can be teachers as well.

And we're going to read a little bit and we'll bring it in for a landing then too.

It's in Titus, uh, Titus two, we'll read in, in verse seven again.

And then we're going to then drop down to 15 after we get through seven and eight.

It says in everything, set them an example by doing what is good.

In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

And then in verse 15, he says, these then are the things you should teach.

Encourage and rebuke with all authority.

Do not let anyone despise you.

Paul's saying, if we're going to be teachers, we have to be those who set an example by the way that we live, right?

Uh, you guys know it.

And we don't want to be those type of people who talk a big game, act, you know, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, but then live in a very different way.

That that's, that's not attractive.

That's not why you're here.

That's not why you became a Christian.

That's not why you're going to stay a Christian.

You, you probably actually probably ran away from that type of religion, right?

That said, do this, do this, do this.

And then you looked at the character of their life and you said, it's not worth it.

So we can't be these type of people either.

He says, set an example.

Uh, you know, I, I, the, the other thing I think is, is tough.

This maybe is where it speaks a little bit more to, uh, pastors or leader of the church.

It says, uh, that you should, these are what you should teach.

It says, encourage and rebuke with all authority and don't let anyone despise you.

Um, we understand what the word encourage means, uh, to give literally to entrust with courage, to give courage to, but the word, uh, the word rebuke is maybe a little bit difficult, um, to convict or to find fault with is how it's, is how it's translated to other places.

It's translated.

And so there's a seriousness in, inside of this word and it says, do it with all authority.

Uh, what I would say is again, all authority maybe is reserved for those who have the title of church leader or in whatever way.

But I, I'd also say that there's probably people who you've, that was interesting.

That was such a great, yeah, Nina's going to have authority.

Oh, that's what, that's what I heard there.

Um, what I would also say is there's, there's probably, uh, there's probably somebody who you've given authority to, at least in some areas of your life.

Uh, there, there's somebody who you, you maybe said, Hey, if you see anything in my parenting, let me know.

If you see, Hey, in my marriage, you see anything, let me know.

You know, Bianca, she, she knows it's like pretty known that there's like open policy.

She can, she can tell on me.

She can say, Hey, he's being a bad husband to, uh, to any of the older men here.

Actually the younger men too.

I'd, I'd welcome it.

It's okay.

But, um, but especially like my boss, she's able to say that to Mark, uh, to Mark King, she's able to say, Hey, he's off, you know?

And, and same thing, you know, if, if Bianca struggling, I can do the same, uh, as well.

And so you've probably given authority in one or some areas of your life to, to other people.

And so in those areas, if you know you have authority, I think our responsibility is not just to encourage, but it's also to then convict or then to share.

If there's areas that the person that you're helping is struggling in, you know, the, the only way that we can, the, the question, man, I don't want to rebuke somebody.

I don't want to tell somebody how it is.

I don't really want to, I don't feel comfortable doing it.

I think it's difficult to be humble and to rebuke somebody.

But what I would say is, uh, the only way we can actually rebuke somebody, convict somebody, share something and be humble as well is if we're holding ourselves to the same standard.

Uh, if we're, if we're not holding our, if you're not holding yourself to the standard that you're holding somebody else to, uh, one that's tacky to that's, that's not, there's no way you can be humble inside of that.

The other thing that that's, that's a truth is if, if there are not people in authority in your life, then don't go about taking authority, uh, of somebody else's life or in an area of somebody else's life.

Um, even if they ask it of you, Hey, teach me how to do this.

But if you look at your life and say, well, no, I'm not really open about anything.

I don't really, you know, and, and maybe it's more sinister than that.

Again, you might say, well, somebody could always share something with me.

Somebody could always bring that up to me.

But if you haven't given somebody that authority, it'd be difficult for them to do that.

You know, as a, if we're going to be teachers, we got to be those who are living it out.

Uh, so in, in, in Riga, so basically our trip started in Riga, Latvia.

And, uh, and what we did is we spent some time reaching out and then we went to, uh, Estonia.

It's like a four hour, uh, bus ride.

And from Riga, there were some students that weren't signed up for the trip and said, Hey, I'd love to join you guys.

Basically.

Can we, can we join you?

And so one of the students, 17 year old guy from Riga joined us for the, the five days that we were in Tallinn.

And, um, and there, it was, it was fun.

It was cool.

There were, there was some energy that was being built.

And so one day we, we just went out sharing our faith.

It was me, the 17 year old.

And there was, uh, this, this other guy who had been, has been serving in the ministry for like eight years.

Five of those years has been, it had been in Estonia.

And so he, he just knew the lay of the land.

He knew where to go.

He, he did.

He's done ministry overseas longer than he's done ministry in the States.

He just, he, he gets it and he knows the people there.

And so we were talking, there was the three of us and I just said, Hey, where, where should we go to share our faith?

And, um, the 17 year old spoke up and he said, well, I think we should go over there.

I said, okay.

And then I said, what, what questions do you think we should ask?

And the 17 year old started to speak up and I said, you know what?

I'm sorry.

I want to talk to the person who's actually done it.

I'm not interested in talking to, to, to, to you.

Um, you know, you, let's, let's talk to this.

The person who's actually spent five years sharing his faith to thousands in this city.

We're both foreigners here actually.

And, um, and again, I think listening to a 17 year old's opinion, that's not bad.

That's not what I'm saying.

Um, but we also need to realize it shouldn't be weighted equally as, as the one who was actually living it out or as the person who's actually living according to these teachings.

And so I, I think for you and me, again, we need a way who our teachers are.

Are they actually living it out?

Um, but if we notice that they aren't living it out, you know, Dan is the guy who has been serving in the ministry.

He could have told me to ask just about any question.

And I would have asked just about any question.

He could have said, ask them if they want to do a cartwheel and give them a high five.

And I, you know what I would have done, I would have actually done that.

Would it have worked?

I don't know, but I'm not going to see those people again.

You know what I'm saying?

I just, I would have done it because he's lived his life.

He reached out to thousands of people in this nation.

He understands their struggles.

He knows what they're going through.

He's converted dozens over there.

I, I, I can trust what he's saying.

Same thing.

If you're, if you're going to entrust yourself to somebody, then make a point.

If they're the right person, I believe they probably are.

Then actually listen to what they're saying.

Amen.

Let's close up here because I, I think this could just be a, uh, yeah, this, this, this doesn't have any value.

If it's not for Jesus, uh, he's not our ultimate teacher.

It says in verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in this present age.

While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our, of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own eager to do what is good.

You know that we talked about again, we talked, we can talk forever about teaching and being a great student of other people.

And we can talk about being a great teacher.

And none of that has any value.

It's just self-help.

If we're not focused on Jesus, ultimately we, we can, we can try to teach.

We can try to help people.

We can't, we can't do very much, right?

And we can try to be great students of others.

And we, we, we don't want to be a disciple of somebody though.

We want to be a disciples of Jesus.

This is what it says.

It says that when you look at the salvation that God gives us, that's what teaches us to say no to ungodliness.

There's, there's different and worldly passions as well.

You know, there's different tricks and there's different things you can do.

Fine.

Great.

None of that is lasting.

If you're not focused on Jesus, it's, it's just, it's just action change.

It's not going to get to your heart.

There there's only one way to, to, to rid yourself of wickedness and to be pure.

The only way is, is through the blood of Jesus.

As we, as we think about Titus two, the questions we should ask ourselves is how can I be a better student?

And how can I, how can I be a great teacher?

But ultimately we need to ask ourselves, what do I need to do to get right with God?

Or what do I need to do to stay right with God?

Amen.

Let's, let's pray right now.

And then we're going to take communion.

We're going to take the, the bread that, that symbolizes his body.

And then, and then the, the cup that symbolizes his blood that was shed him.

Let's pray.

Dear God, Lord, we come before you father.

And we're grateful to, to be in a community that loves you, Lord.

I'm grateful to, to be in a church of people who want to do what's right.

Lord, I'm grateful to be in a church of people who, who want, want to want to grow and want to learn and are accountable.

Father, I just want to pray that, that we won't lose, that we won't lose your heart in the middle of all of it.

Lord, it can feel, it can feel heavy at times.

It can feel like a lot of times, God, I pray that we will just lock into to you, Jesus, Jesus, that we will, that we'll listen to you, that we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll just lock in God and remember your sacrifice, what you did on the cross, that it was once for all Lord.

And out of that, that we'll have gratitude to live, how you're teaching us father.

I pray that we'll, we'll look to your sacrifice as we, as we make decisions that we'll look to your sacrifice as we, as we strive for growth, that we'll look to your sacrifices.

We strive for righteousness.

Thank you so much, Jesus, for, for going on the cross for us.

This is in Jesus's name that we pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected.

Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on.

In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.