Living Proof | Clay Burgess

Alright, hope family.

Eh, it's so good to be with you guys again.

Let's jump right in.

You know, um, I never planned to be a pastor.

My wife would even say I, I didn't marry a pastor.

I thought I was in south central Kentucky

because of a promotion that I got

that was gonna help me move up the corporate ladder.

Turns out I was wrong. Turns out I was wrong.

And, and in fact, the whole job thing,

it wasn't going that well.

In fact, the whole time in Kentucky,

it was just, it was not great.

And even trying

to find a local church proved even more

difficult than we imagined.

And then as we were about to give up,

a new pastor showed up in town and,

and he was a persistent guy.

You, you know, anyone like that, a persistent guy,

they just won't give up.

They're inviting, they're inviting, they're being nice,

a little extra nice, it makes you like,

eh, you know what I'm saying?

And so he kept inviting.

And finally I told my wife, I said, well, let's just go.

He looks like and seems like the only person

around here that wants us around.

And so over the course of the next several months,

he kept inviting us, inviting us into do things,

inviting us into, you know, his house

and into his family life.

He, he would, Ima you know, Hey, come on,

let's go mow this guy's yard and, and let's come hang out.

Hey, do you want to, uh, take this class?

Have you considered doing this? And I'm like, eh.

So what he was doing, I, I'm figuring this out.

He was giving me and my wife access.

He was giving us access to his family and to his life

and how he carried himself and how he conducted himself.

And as time went on though,

that access turned into opportunities.

So you have to be careful here, y'all take note.

You start hanging out with somebody,

then they start asking you to do stuff.

Hey, clay, would you be open

to leading the men's devotion this week?

Hey, hey Clay, would you be willing

to teach the seventh grade boys?

Hey Clay, this was the big one.

Hey Clay, would you be, uh, willing to preach

for me this Sunday?

Now listen, listen, listen. I had zero training.

I had zero training. And not only did I have no training,

listen to me, I successfully graduated college without

giving a single public presentation.

I gave, I wrote a lot of papers, zero public speaking.

And so I didn't know what was going on at the time.

But what I later learned is that Pastor Jerry,

persistent Pastor Jerry, he was discipling me.

He was teaching me the way of Jesus.

He was helping me discover what God wanted for my life.

And as I look back, this is the 30 years ago,

as I look back, I'm thinking what a blessing I was given.

And if you've ever had someone in your life like that,

imagine the impact.

Or if you haven't, imagine the impact that could.

But what about the impact that you could have

if you would show up into someone else's life

and make yourself available?

Like persistent?

Pastor Jerry, we're in the middle of a series

that we've called Field Notes

and we're we're walking through a letter written by Paul

to a guy named Titus.

And we're learning that sound doctrine,

sound doctrine leads to Godly living.

And we found out that if the map is wrong,

then the journey goes wrong.

If the map is wrong, the journey goes wrong.

Jason stressed this idea so far in this series,

and he says, the directions we trust shape where we end up.

And this is so vitally important.

This is so vitally important

because at the end of the day, direction not intention

determines our destination.

It's not what we, where we intend to go,

but it's actually the course that we're on.

And if you just pause and, and,

and consider your life, thi a a ask yourself this.

If you were to maintain the current trajectory

that you're on, if in in your life, the current path,

the current trail, not the one you wish you were on,

but the one that you're on,

and you fast forward it into the future

and you keep following this trail, where will you end up?

Where will you end up?

And the place that you're figuring that you'll end up?

Is that a place that you want to be?

Is that a place that you want to be?

And in this series we're learning

that we should not be intimidated by theology.

It's the study of God. We shouldn't shun doctrine.

It's what we believe.

But we should embrace and pursue theology and doctrine

because it's instrumental.

It's instrumental in giving us the best direction so

that we can be on a good trajectory for our lives.

And as we press in and appreciate theology

and doctrine as we press into it, we'll come

to the conclusion that was reached

by PA Paul David Trip when he wrote,

the beautiful doctrines presented in God's word are

intensely personal.

They help us think through who we are,

why we do the things we do, how we should live,

and how our hearts and lives can change.

Most importantly, those doctrines introduce us

to our creator, our Lord

and Savior for whom we are meant to live

and in whom we find redemption and eternal hope.

And last week we wrapped up chapter one

and we saw that wrong doctrine destroys lives

and ruins families.

Wrong doctrine, it ruins lives, it destroys families.

And so we need to be on guard.

We need to be vigilant about this.

And today we pick up in chapter two.

Let me read through the first 10 verses

of this chapter for us.

But as for you teach what accords with sound doctrine,

older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self-controlled

sound and faith in love and steadfastness.

Older women, likewise are to be reverent in behavior,

not slanderers or slaves to too much wine.

They are to teach what is good.

And so train the young women to love their husbands

and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home

kind and submissive to their own husbands.

That the word of God may not be reviled.

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

Show yourself in all respects, to be a model of good works.

And in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

and sound speech that cannot be condemned so

that an opponent may be put to shame.

Having nothing evil to say about us.

Bond servants are to be submissive

to their own masters in everything.

They're to be well pleasing, not argumentative,

not pilfering, but showing all good faith so

that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God,

our savior, the word of God.

And as we jump into this verse one,

you note there's a sharp transition from

how chapter one ended and where Paul is going.

In chapter two, there's this sharp contrast,

but as for you, there's this contrast between what he, what,

what he's looking back to in verses 10

through 16 and where he's going.

Now look at verse 16, just to give us a little reminder

and a little context of what's been going on.

It says in verse 16, they profess to know God,

but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit,

unfit for any good work.

They claim to be God followers, but they actually deny him.

And it's evident by how they behave and by how they act.

They are false teachers.

They're detestable, they're disobedience.

Paul stacks up these adjectives.

They're troublemakers, they're pot stirs, they're deceptive,

they're liars, they're lazy, they're motivated by money.

And then Paul puts that fine point on it in verse 16.

And he says, they're unfit, they're unfit for any good work.

And Paul means business when he turns into chapter two,

because now he directs his focus to Titus and says,

but as for you, but as for you, Titus teach,

he's pointing out some of his key responsibilities here.

And the first one of which is to teach.

And this can mean to speak, this is an imperative.

You must do this Titus, you must do this.

This is not all that Titus has to do,

but this is so important that if he gets this wrong,

the consequences are gonna be great.

And whether he's teaching in a formal setting

or an informal setting, it has to be fit.

If the teaching is unfit,

then the churches at Crete will never be put in order.

And remember, this is why what Paul is charging him

to do the things that remain, the things that left

that needed to be put together, put these things in order.

And it's driven by how you teach.

And from here, Paul gives several directives

that are appropriate, uh, typically to groupings

of people mostly by age.

And you might be tempted to try to, okay,

which category am I in?

And then try to figure yourself in that category.

I I, I want to caution you against that

'cause maybe figure out when we're talking about older

and younger, maybe older and younger than you, maybe older

or more spiritually mature than you,

or less mature than you,

because these directives,

they could sound like behavior modifications.

If I do the things that he's asking me to do

and I get those right, then God will love me more

and I will have his favor and I will have his blessing.

God will accept me.

But that's not at all what Paul is talking about,

what Paul was stressing, that

as we grow in our understanding of sound doctrine,

we will realize that he's not asking us to pull away

or disentangle ourselves from the world.

He's trying to get us to focus on a more alluring,

a more appealing option

that Jesus Christ offers us the true source

of satisfaction.

This is far better than anything

that the world has to offer.

And he wants that to become the obvious choice for us so

that if we choose anything in the world that

that seems silly, like it's a no brainer.

Why would I choose that when I have this before me?

And when we reorient our lives around that choice,

people will take notice because of how we act

and because of how we behave.

And Paul starts with older men.

This is just a diplomatic, this is a diplomatic way

of saying the plural for old men.

Alright, old guys, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you.

He's probably talking about people in their, in the range

of at least 40, 40 to 50

and then older from there.

And he gives them four qualities in which the old guys

should be excelling in.

First of all, they should be sober minded.

They should be clearheaded and be in and

and using good judgment at this phase in your life.

You should have this together. You should be dignified.

We don't need silly old men bouncing around this place.

We don't need that. Get it together.

They should be self-control. They should be sensible.

Fickleness and rash, passion and impulsiveness.

That should be a thing of the past.

For someone that is growing

and older in their faith, they should be sound

or healthy in three areas.

And Paul stacks these up, faith, love, and steadfastness.

These are great gospel enabled practices

as they've been growing in the gospel of who Christ is

and what he's done for him.

There should be evidence of this in their lives.

Older men should be anchors

and bring stability

to the church when all the world is in chaos

and everything around us looks uneasy and unsettled.

This group of men should be showing up and being steady

because they know God.

They've walked with God in their confident in who he is

and what he's done for 'em.

And they should look to those guys

and they should be able to then breathe.

We're gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay.

Charles Simeon was an Anglican pastor in the 19th century.

And when he retired

after 54 years in the ministry, a friend learned

that he still gets up.

He was still getting up every morning at 4:00 AM to pray

and to study scripture.

And the friend suggested, you know, uh, Charles Chuck,

what, what if you took it a little bit easier?

And Simeon replied to him, he said, shall I now run with,

should I now not run

with all my might when the winning post,

when the finish line is right there?

Why should I let up now when I'm so close

to crossing the finish line?

Listen to me. This is the type of older men

that the church needs.

This is the example that we need before us.

When they're getting near the end,

they're not looking to take it easy.

They're looking to press in harder.

I just think this is such an interesting mindset

because many think retirement means coasting.

And we get this, this thought in our head that we deserve,

that we deserve a break after this long season of work

because we've given blood, toil, sweat and tears.

Isn't it okay if I just check out for a little bit?

But what if the spiritual journey is different?

What if it doesn't end like that?

What if the spiritual journey, there's no easy part

and maybe you're here and you're thinking, well, that end is

so far away, I don't even wanna think about it.

I'll worry about that later.

Let's pause for a minute

because I want you

to consider the great struggle that we're in.

If you're a follower of Christ, you're in this struggle.

Where do you want to end up?

Because remember the context in which Paul is writing

the credence, these hoodlums, these lazy people,

these sluggards, they are impacting the Christian culture.

They're impacting the Christian culture.

And so Paul's holding out for us these options.

Do you want be a creon or do you want to be a Christian?

Do you want to be lazy

or do you want to be a devoted follower of Christ?

And depending on your desired destination, where you want

to end up one day, someday, where you want the plane

to land, when your time is over, that will impact the things

that you say yes and no to.

It will impact your decision making paradigm.

And come on, let me get in your business.

What are the habits and opportunities

and temptations that you're saying yes to, that you know,

you should be saying that you're saying yes to,

that you know you should be saying no to

because our right decisions affect right?

Decisions today affect our outcomes tomorrow.

We need older men that are faithful and stable

and Paul then turns to older women.

I won't give an age range Because I'm

older and and wise.

It's not in the notes. Stop it.

Paul Now turns to, I think it's important for us to notice

that, that as Paul is writing

to Titus Titus is not leading a male only club.

What what he knows is that both men

and women have a vital role to play.

They have a vital role to play in a flourishing church.

That's why he writes likewise, the signals to Titus

that Titus owes women the same attention

and care that he's given the men and how he knows.

This is what Paul knows, that how women carry

and conduct themselves will

likewise have the impact on the influence

and witness of the church.

So he addresses four characteristics

or tendencies that they should be encouraged towards.

And the first is they should be reverent in their behavior.

Jason mentioned, I think it was last week,

that your life is your loudest sermon.

Your life is your loudest sermon.

So he's talking about in this reverent behavior,

the way they live, whether it's public

or whether it's private, are they acting godly?

Are they moving towards holiness?

Are they reflecting the character of Jesus in

what they say and what they do?

They shouldn't be, be slanderers, speak the truth.

Don't tell lies. They shouldn't be slaves to whine.

Don't be captured and controlled by it, by what comes out

of your mouth and by what's going in.

So that, so that you can speak

with integrity into the lives of younger women.

Teach what is good. Train young women. Encourage them.

The older women, lemme just ask you,

are you open and available?

Are you open and available

to invest in the life of a younger woman?

Are you open and available? It it, it's gonna be messy.

I I mean, let's, it is gonna be messy.

It's gonna be time consuming. But this is what I believe.

I believe that it'll be worth it.

I believe you'll be surprised by

how rewarding it will be not only

for their spiritual growth, but for yours.

But for yours. Are you open?

And maybe you're concerned, you're like, yeah, I'm open

to it, but I don't even know

what would I start, what would I say?

What would I do? Well, Paul gives some points

that would be helpful to them.

He says, this is in verse four, which is, I mean,

so train young women to love their husbands and children.

I mean, doesn't that it should at least make you smile.

I mean, that seems, I mean, Paul is more concerned about,

about life on life progress than

what happens on the weekend.

Now, the weekend is important,

but he, he's talking about something broader than that

involved in each other's life.

And remember the what, what is going on here in context?

When we look back to chapter one in verse 11,

what were these c credences doing?

They were on mission to upset families.

This is why Paul said in verse 11, they must be silenced

because they are upsetting whole families

by teaching shameful gain that they ought not to teach.

Then one way that these guys can be silenced is

by overwhelming the lie with the truth.

Overwhelm the lie with the truth.

And encourage and encourage and encourage.

That train means to advise, to urge.

And then we come back to what?

At least, I mean, it made me smile to love their husbands.

I think you, you, we zoom back into our culture

and we're taught that well,

love is just something you fall into as if it's an accident.

That's just not true. We have to learn how to love

and it's difficult and it's hard

and we have to fight for it.

One, because it, a lot of times it's against our nature.

And, and second, they're not always that lovable.

We're in this section on younger women, so let's do that.

They go, what do you gotta do to get, uh,

the big boy off the couch, man,

put the clicker down and help me out.

You're not that lovable. And then what about the kids?

They get into the teenage years and then it goes dark

and they, and they don't, they don't use words.

It's sort of like grunts and growls and groans.

And it seems like it's about food.

But we don't know

one way, if you don't hear younger, younger, younger lady,

if you don't hear anything else, hear this, that one way

to love your husband and your children is

to agonize over them in prayer.

I mean, come on. You need to write that down.

Agonize over them in prayer. If it's not working out.

And if it's hard and you're frustrated, man, go to the king

of kings and Lord of lords

and beg God to move in their heart

and in their life, pray that they would not go away,

but they would be drawn near that they would hunger

and thirst after God and his righteousness.

Intercede love your family well

by agonizing over them in prayer.

Love is not an ooey gooey feeling. Love is hard work.

Older women help the younger women to be self-controlled.

Help 'em to be sensible, help 'em to be pure.

Well, it certainly means sexual fidelity to their spouse,

but more than that, there, there's some ethical

and moral excellence that he's talking about here.

Ultimately what Paul is doing is calling them

to the high aim or the target of being like Christ.

And then we bump into some challenges for our culture

because it says you're training them,

training them to work at home.

Now, let's not read more into this than it says,

and let's not, you know, make up stuff here.

But Paul is not opposed to work outside the home,

but what he is opposed to is being idle and irresponsible.

He wants the young women to prioritize their time

and not waste a second to be good managers

and diligent managers of their home.

He wants them to be kind, to be gentle.

In other words, to be like Jesus.

But maybe be kind is tough when, when you're surrounded

by people that in that moment are not that lovable.

And then we come into everybody's favorite part.

Here's being submissive to their own husbands.

I think I I I really compelled by the Old Testament idea

of what it looks like to be submissive to God.

It it, it's this idea of bending your heart towards him,

your will and your volition.

Submission means to yield yield in one's will

to the leadership in the direction of another.

This is not about being contention contentious,

but it's about collaboration.

There's a lot of things you could say about submissive

submission and what it is and what it isn't.

But it doesn't mean that the husband is a dictator.

And it certainly doesn't mean that he's smarter. Come on.

It doesn't mean that.

And it doesn't mean ladies, it doesn't mean you have

to violate your, your conscience and follow him into sin.

That's not what that means.

But also note what it clearly says is that you're not

to submit to everyone's husband, submit to your husband.

So young women, you may be thinking you may be the

what what's going on with all of this?

This seems like a bit much why, why all of this?

Well, Paul answers that as well.

He says that the word of God may not be reviled.

As you lean into these behaviors in these directives,

as you lean into these, God will be honored.

And this, the surprising stuff happens.

The husband's heart will be reached in a

more effective manner.

And not only that, not only that,

but the crazy Creon culture will take notice.

The crazy Creon culture will take notice.

It is so interesting

that the more the church is different from the world,

the more the church is different from the culture,

the more attractive it becomes to the culture.

We are not just as church people trying

to say, well what's the world doing?

Let's look like it. We don't have to do that.

We know that's not working.

We are leaning into, well

what does the Bible have to say about this?

Let's move in that direction.

And as we become more pulled back from the culture

and we become unique and different, wow,

it's strangely compelling.

And the world's like, huh

huh, younger women.

Are you open and available to some help?

Would you allow someone who is older and wiser

and more experienced than you to speak into your life?

Would you want somebody who's been

through what you're going through?

Would you want somebody who's been through what you're going

through to give you a word of encouragement,

a timely word of encouragement?

Because this is what a family of families looks like.

This is what a multi-generational church looks like when

it's functioning properly.

We are helping each other as we struggle through our journey

of faith as we try to move towards Christ's likeness.

Paul moves to the younger men.

This may upset the younger women as well

because everyone's had a list so far.

Younger men, one thing

be self-controlled, urge the younger men to self-control.

He's probably talking about the, you know, mid-teens to up

to 40 and they get the one thing this,

but it's the, the second time that Paul uses an imperative.

The first was in verse one, teach.

And now it's urge or encourage young men to be self-control.

Help them to, to think in a way that's sensible so

that they can use good judgment, help them

to control their temper, their tongue and their appetites.

Encourage them to say, can you at least try? Can you try?

And no, this is a impossible

because why would Paul encourage us to

or exhort them to an impossibility?

Titus is to steer young men in the direction

of being self-control.

He is to help focus their energy

and their intensity in re in a redemptive direction.

What he's supposed to do is he to tether them, as it were

to sound doctrine.

'cause when our doctrine is right,

the behavior will follow Young men.

Striving for sound doctrine is a big deal.

Striving for sound doctrine is a big deal.

So if you've been zoning out, you need to zone back in.

This is a big deal because what you know affects

how you think, which informs what you do, the decisions

that you make and you're on a trajectory

and it's taking you somewhere.

Is it taking you somewhere that you want to be?

So what's going on in your head, young guys?

What's going on in your head? What are you thinking about?

Because Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that they're

to take every thought captive,

young men winning the battlefield in your mind sets the

course, sets you on the course

to be used in an influential way in the world.

The battle is one in how you think.

What is it that you're thinking about?

What is it that you're thinking about

in verse seven and eight?

Paul, and this is kind of a seamless transition

because he, he goes straight to Titus,

but Titus is probably a younger guy.

And he says to Titus Titus, you need to be a model,

be a model of good works.

Set the example, be a pattern for people to follow

Back to our business.

Listen, if you were told, you are the example,

if you were told you're the example, like how you live

and how you love and how you serve and how you give

and how you show up and how you sacrifice and,

and if you are the example

and everybody else followed how you live and how you think

and how you do life, what would the shape

of our church be in?

What would the shape of our church be in?

Are you setting an example that we need more of?

What you're, you what's in your wake?

Do we need more of that? He says.

He says to Titus, in your teachings,

show integrity and dignity.

See, see, Paul knows that content is important,

but he also knows

that content without character will result in

compromise and in corruption.

He tells him in verse eight, your sound speech,

your speech is important.

Words can cripple and they can harm. Tit.

Titus, your words should be restorative and bring healing.

What about for us? The words that we use, the words

that we use, do they bring harm or are our words helpful?

Paul notes that when our words are helpful,

when we use sound speech, and when we teach

and show integrity and dignity,

it silences the troublemakers and they'll be shamed

because they won't have anything bad to say about it.

It says in the text, us, meaning Titus and Paul

or us as we live it out, the final group that Paul addresses

as bond servants.

Now Paul moves as, as he goes to this last group.

We remember as we go back to how the letter started,

chapter one, verse one, Paul says, I am a slave of Christ

or a slave of God, a servant of God.

But what he's talking about here is not

that he's talking about literal slaves.

And in this culture, this is not uncommon.

Not uncommon in the first century.

In fact, one out of three people in Rome was a slave.

And one out of five outside of Rome was a slave

and one could be a slave for any number of reasons.

In the first century, slavery was not racially driven.

It cut across racial, social, and national lines.

But what Paul is after here again, just like he is with all

of these groups, is

that godly behavior flows from good doctrine

and it influences a watching world.

And because of that, he gives guidance to the slaves,

remembering that we ultimately serve,

we ultimately serve Jesus.

Now listen, listen,

not every circumstance in life is awesome,

and certainly being a slave not awesome.

There's no way to sugarcoat that

and make that go down any better.

And becoming a Christ follower may not change your

circumstance, but it could change your attitude

and thus your witness

to a watching world Be faithful.

Paul wants us to be faithful in even in bad circumstances.

He doesn't promise, he doesn't promise the slaves

that they would be set free,

but he's letting them know

that there could be freedom available

beyond your circumstance.

Thus this is how he charges them.

Be submissive to your masters in everything, in everything

that sounds so, so all inclusive.

Are there no exceptions?

Well, of course there are exceptions,

of course, there's exceptions.

If it's unbiblical, unethical, illegal

or immoral, you, you don't submit to that.

But broadly speaking, slaves are to serve their masters.

Well be, be be well pleasing, not argumentative.

Work hard, work hard, and don't be lippy.

Remember as he, as Paul says in Colossians three,

whatever you do, work hardily as for the Lord, not for men.

Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the,

the inheritance as your reward.

You serving. You are serving the Lord Christ.

And because you're serving the the Christ.

In verse 10, don't pilfer,

don't still don't hold things back that don't belong to you.

Always show, always show that you can be trusted.

Showing all good faith conduct.

Our conduct serves as a witness of

what we say that we believe.

I mean, just think about that for a minute.

What does your behavior say about what you say you believe?

So that in everything they may adorn the doctrine

of God our savior, our behavior will make the teaching

and the doctrine attractive.

It will make it attractive, it will give it beauty.

See, Paul wants masters to be impacted

by the gospel message.

And he knows that the primary way that this can happen is

through how a believer acts, how he behaves.

And then maybe you're not a slave,

but perhaps you're an employee.

What does your work ethic say?

Or what does your work ethic reveal about

what you say that you believe?

Like as you carry yourself in the workplace?

What would people think of the God that you say you serve?

But because of your actions and attitude

and how you carry yourself?

And in this message and in this series, we've said

that sound doctrine leads to godly living.

But perhaps you have some doubts, concerns, reservations.

Maybe you're asking, is this even possible?

And then maybe you're asking if it's possible.

Well, what do I do? Now throughout this series,

along the way, we've been giving you field notes

for the spiritual journey.

So as we wrap up our time together today, I want

to give you four field notes.

The first one is this, that sound doctrine leads

to a transformed life.

Sound doctrine leads to a transformed life.

As we grow in our gospel, understanding

it will impact the way we behave as we begin

to understand the depravity

and the mess that we are in, that we are hopeless

and helpless in our sin

and that we can't rescue and save ourselves.

But God, in his great kindness and his love

and his tremendous mercy sent his son on a rescue mission

to bring us back, to set us free, to give his life

as a sacrifice, as a substitute, so

that we can have a restored

and reconciled relationship

with our Heavenly Father who loves us.

And as we begin to lean into that

and understand that we don't respond out of duty,

we respond out of delight.

And when people see that, they take notice

like something's happened to you.

Tell me what, tell me what sound doctrine leads

to a transformed life.

The second field note, sound doctrine can be learned.

This should be very encouraging. This stuff can be learned.

This is not for academic elites, this is not

for high up people that can read big books and do big words

and all of that stuff though.

This is for all of us. We can learn this stuff.

I would just say, I mean, you've heard people say it this

way, if you can learn to order from Starbucks

to be sure you can learn to read theology

and, and not only can it be learned,

I would say it must be learned and it must be experienced.

It must be learned, and it must be experienced.

And it requires humility.

You can't walk into all of this saying, I know it all.

Come on. Do you have an open heart and a learner spirit?

Do you want to learn?

Because you can learn theology,

you can learn sound doctrine.

And I would say again, come on, this is so vital

because sound doctrine is gonna affect how you think

and how you make decisions.

And it will ultimately determine your destination.

You are decision making yourself somewhere,

but what are you basing your decisions on?

Good doctrine or bad doctrine?

Third field note, growing

and sound doctrine requires help.

You've heard this along this series as well.

It's hard and it's really hard by yourself.

You need the help of God's spirit within you.

You need the help of others who are willing

to take responsibility for your holiness.

And they, they see you drifting

that will get involved in your life.

That's the kind of people that you need.

People that won't give you a pass on sin and stupid,

but love you in spite of it.

And the fourth field note is this sound doctrine comes

with a personal responsibility.

Listen, we are all modeling.

We are modeling something for somebody. People are watching.

What is it that you're modeling?

We have a responsibility to invest in others,

to tell people what we know so that they can experience

what we've experienced as a follower of Christ.

Now you're gonna get tangled up, it's gonna be a mess,

but again, I'm telling you, this will be worth it.

So who are you pouring into and who is pouring into you?

At the end of the day, we're all gonna end up somewhere.

What if we got there on purpose?

What if we got there on purpose?

And so the question is, maybe the question is,

well, where do I start?

As we wrap up our time together, I've got a QR code

that we're gonna put up here for you

and to give you some resources on where to start.

Now, these are supplements.

They're not substitute for God's word.

These are supplements to help you.

And I would say of these resources, just pick a resource,

pick a resource, pray for a person to go through it with,

and then just start the first two.

When you get to the, to the list of resources only handful,

the first two, all of our pastors are going through

and the people that are our elder development

process, they're going through this.

So if you want to know what we are knowing

or what we're studying or what we are trying to learn,

look at those first couple of resources.

The first one is about how to better study the Bible.

And then from there they get into theological stuff.

Pick a resource, pray for a person to do it with.

Maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a

kid, maybe it's a coworker.

And then just get started

because I'm telling you guys, I'm telling you

as we make this move towards sound doctrine

As you move in and lean in and strive for it,

because you can learn it,

it will fundamentally change your direction and your life

and the joy that you hear people talk

about will become yours.

What an opportunity to make an impact

for God and his kingdom.

Let me pray for us. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you,

thank you, thank you for your kindness.

We thank you so much for your goodness, for

who you are and what you're up to.

I pray that you would give all of us across all

of our campuses a hunger and a thirst for your righteousness

and a desire for sound doctrine.

Help us to know it, to know it, to know it so

that we can live it out in such a way that it's attractive

and appealing to the world around us.

And it's in the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

I can't tell you how happy it makes my heart to hear Clay

teach this portion of Titus, uh,

because Clay has been

the older man to my younger man.

Uh, I, I can say with confidence,

you guys have never heard a sermon from me

that didn't have Clay's thumbprint on it.

Uh, there is probably no relationship in my life

that hasn't been touched by Clay's influence.

I mean, the type of father I am,

the type of husband that I am.

It's all because of, of so much of it is

because of the way that he has poured into me.

Uh, and one of the things I think every time I have a

conversation with him, there's something that stands out.

And one of the things that stood out to me from,

from today was he says

that when Paul is giving Titus instructions on a healthy

church, uh, he's not telling them,

he's not giving them rules for a gathering.

He's saying, no, this is how your, your day in, day out,

one-on-one relationships with each other goes.

So when somebody asks you,

Hey, are you a part of a healthy church?

It's not about what we do in here.

Like this is a, this is a big part of it,

but so much more We can gauge the health of our church

by the ways we interact with our communities.

We can gauge the the way we are with our or

or the health of our church by the way

that you are reaching out to the people that are around you.

And over the next couple of weeks,

you actually have some pretty

intentional ways that you can do that.

The first one is next Sunday we have fifth Sunday fund,

which if you've been around for a while, um, basically

what happens is, is every time

that we have a fifth Sunday in a month, man, we just,

we go a little bit extra.

We just like to have a little bit more fun, um,

and just invite people into, uh,

just a little small celebration that we like to do.

And so next week is gonna be one of those.

So fifth Sunday fun day here at the Raleigh campus,

we're gonna have popsicles out on the back patio.

So invite people out,

invite them to come and hang out with us.

Um, man, just to do what we had a chance to do here together

to worship God, to learn more about the word and,

and hopefully, uh,

to see people's lives transformed by the word of God.

Now, two weeks from now, the week

after that is 4th of July weekend.

And if you've been around hope for a while, then you know

that we do things a little bit differently

for 4th of July weekend.

Uh, we don't have services,

we don't do the gathering like this

because of what Clay just talked about.

We want you to go out and be the church.

We want you to find those people that you can pour into.

Or maybe it's,

it's hitting up a neighbor of yours so you really admire.

Say, Hey, can you just tell me your story?

Can we just hang out? You wanna come over?

I'll grill for us. We can, you know, go

to the pool together, whatever it is.

But it's to, to be a healthy church that doesn't just hide

inside of a building, but actually engage is with the people

that God has called us into.

So, uh, that Thursday night, which is July 3rd,

and then that Sunday, July 6th,

we will not be having any ser uh, services,

but we will still be having the church.

Amen. Amen.

So, uh, with all that being said, y'all, we love you.

Um, we are excited to see you next week for fifth Sunday.

Sunday, uh, go out and be the church.