Practicing What We Preach - Titus 2:1-10 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

Welcome to Boon Fairy. If you're new, my

name is Matis. I'm the teaching pastor

here and we are walking through Titus. I

guess I should direct your attention to

the welcome cards before I get into

scripture today. This is a way for us to

connect with you. So, give us the

information you're comfortable sharing.

Uh if you never have, uh go ahead and

hand these off to the connection table

and we have a gift card for you. We also

use these as prayer requests and we pray

for them um every single Wednesday

morning at 7 a.m. Um which anyone is

welcome to attend. If you feel like God

is leading you to embed prayer in your

life, maybe in the midweek in a way that

stirs more prayer outside of that time

as well. Just come or join us on Zoom.

Um you go under the uh Wednesday prayer

tab and then you can just join us on

Zoom and you don't have to request to.

You can just show up. Um, but anyway, we

pray for anyone that turns in prayer

requests like this and you can turn

these in at the connection table as

well. Um, I don't

have any other announcements. Oh, we're

doing a um now I don't have my phone, so

someone's going to have to shout it out

the nose. We're doing a boating event

for the youth group that we would like

to announce. And uh can someone shout

out the date here that knows? July 21st.

July 21st. So, you can look forward to

that. Uh hold that date open. more

details to follow in an email, but I'm

excited about that. It'll be I think

it'll be great fun. Um, all right. So,

let me pray and we'll get into Titus

Titus 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and we're finishing 1 through

10 today. Heavenly Father, thank you for

this letter that you had Paul write to

Timothy uh summarized in the idea that

truth that transforms a knowledge of

doctrine that leads to godly living in

our lives. And this passage is no

different. The intent is right there.

And I pray that we would both understand

what the truth is that you want us to

understand today and that we would apply

it to our lives. That there would be no

interruption between those two. In this

uh sermon in particular, I pray that

people would understand how uh this

content is directly related to the

mission that you've given the church to

be and make disciples and that each one

of us has a part that you have gifted us

for um that you have called us to and

that is extremely valuable in the local

church when we devote ourselves to that

calling, gifting and um development of

the mission. We pray these things in

Jesus name. Amen.

So, I want to just give you a uh a

metaphor. That's all it is. It's a

picture of a car driving down a road and

then you can attach ideas to the road,

to the car, to the motor, and to the

fuel. Okay? Those are the main the main

words I want you to remember. In this

case, as we walk through this passage,

you're going to see that the road uh you

could call it the way of Jesus, but

maybe um even more specifically

practicing what you preach. You're going

to see that Paul is talking here about

um teach what accords with doctrine. A

modern way of saying that is practice

what you preach. Teach people to

practice what we preach. And that's the

road that we should be driving on.

That's the way of Jesus. Not just

knowing the truth, but actually living

it out. The car is the local church, but

not just the local church. The local

church led well. We talked all about

qualified elders. So, if you're thinking

about the car, what does the car

represent? Well, the card represents in

this case uh the local church led well

and we might go over just that those

qualifications shortly again. Uh the

motor um the motor is the mission to be

and make disciples. We're going to be

talking a lot about that and you're

going to hear me use the word mentoring

others. You see that in parenthesis

there. Um I want you to remember the

word mentoring and and what we mean by

that. it we mean exactly what it means

but not a lot of people have necessarily

understood that there is a component of

actually mentoring others in being and

making disciples and I'll show you that

from scripture as well from this

scripture and from others and so if you

remember what's the motor about well

that's the mission the motor is the

mission two M's there maybe easy to

remember and then there's the fuel and

that is the grace of the gospel and

that's in particularly important in the

context of Titus where Paul is is

commanding them to oppose anyone that

would try to introduce any other fuel.

In this case, the fuel of legalism. And

so, we'll talk about what happens if you

use any other fuel in that motor other

than the grace of Christ. Let me repeat

those one time. And if you can go

through the slides again, that'd be

great. There's the road um and that's

practicing what we preach. True

godliness in words of uh of Paul to

Titus. Then there's the car and that's

the local church led well qualified

elders. Then there's the motor and

that's the mission of being making

discip disciples and and in particular

mentoring others. That concept shows up

here. And then there's the fuel and

that's the grace of the gospel of Jesus

Christ. And if I was going to tell you

what I hope to accomplish by the end of

this sermon, um there's buy in. And you

know, in a way it fits with the

metaphor. Um if if you're going to get

in the car, you got to buy in. you know,

you don't want to get in a car that's

going down a road you don't want to be

driving down. And so, there's something

in this passage that makes that car look

attractive. In fact, if you look um at

verse uh let's

see, I should have I should have put a

little tab here, but it's uh so that in

everything um the doctrine of God our

Savior may be adorned. It's basically

that one. So, someone shout it out if

you see it.

Uh, it's right there and my eyes can't

see it. We'll get there later. The point

is that there's something that we can do

to adorn the gospel. Adorning is in

modern words, making it look more

attractive. And I don't know how many

times you've heard people accuse the

church of Christians are basically just

hypocrites. And that that um that ought

not to be true. But there is truth to

that idea. We do not always practice

what we preach. And when we act

pridefully about our doctrine or about

our preaching, then people like, "Oh,

they're all they're hypocrites. They act

like they're so good and like they do so

many good things and they don't even

practice what they preach." And that

hypocrisy is not attractive. And I

really believe this passage is the

antidote to that kind of potential

hypocrisy. Um, we can be humble and

recognize, yeah, we don't always

practice what we preach. And um that's

that's not the same kind of hardened

prideful hypocrisy that the Pharisees

had. It's still not good. It's a it's a

disconnect between what you believe and

how you actually live between your

doctrine and between godliness. But

those can be connected. And mentoring

has a lot to do with it. And I want to

show you that today. If you um don't

remember anything else from this passage

and the other ones that I'm going to

bring in, it's our main point today that

mentor mentoring style disciplehip helps

us to practice what we preach so it's

attractive to

others. When that happens, people buy in

in a church. They get in the car. They

want to drive down that road. They want

to do their part. They want to see grace

being the fuel and they want the motor

to be that mission of being and making

disciples. So let's get into it and

we'll walk through this. Um and I'm

basically going to walk through this

with the road, the car, the motor and

the fuel and buyin and then we'll

conclude. So the very first verse of

chapter 2 of Titus says, "But as for you

teach what accords with sound doctrine,

what accords with sound doctrine." uh to

use a slightly different metaphor and I

even thought about getting behind the

piano and playing chords that do not

harmonize and and are really dissonant

and chords that harmonize. When chords

harmonize, there's a beauty to it. They

fit with one another. Think of it like

that. Teach what harmonizes with sound

doctrine. And what is it that harmonizes

with s sound doctrine? Well, the rest of

what he's about to say through verse 10

is all those kinds of things. And we're

going to be walking through that. And

and he and he speaks to different

demographics. Older men, um older women,

younger women, younger men, and

bondervants. Uh it to cross the uh you

know, ancient divide. We might consider

uh employees in this case, people that

are um being contracted to be employed.

Bond servants would have been contracted

in a far more significant way. They

weren't necessarily slaves. They may

have contracted themselves into a

situation that's not too much different

than uh than slavery, but maybe without

the oppression and and violence and

things like that. But either way, no

matter what you find yourself in in

terms of a demographic here, and I think

we need to look at these partly

spiritually, too, you might think, well,

I'm I'm a younger guy, but I've been

walking with the Lord for a long time,

and you may actually consider yourself

more mature in the faith, and therefore

fit in a different category than you

would just naturally think. And that's

okay to think of it that way. I do think

Paul actually means older men um older

women, younger women and younger men.

And you'll see why because the very

applications of what accords with

doctrine of them fits within their

season of life. So we ought not to um

mess with the age in that sense. Um but

as for you, teach what accords with

sound doctrine. Practice what you preach

is another way of saying that. uh don't

just say the things, don't just believe

those things, but actually allow them to

be lived out in your life. Surrender to

the Holy Spirit so that when you would

be impatient in your natural self, you

become patient beyond what you even

thought was possible. And so we need to

define those kinds of things really

deeply, too. Just to take patience as

example. Patience is not where you just

like hang on without getting angry until

finally your buttons are so pressed that

you blow up. Um patience is the is a a

long-suffering kind of steadfastness

where um even when people push your

buttons a whole bunch. The anger doesn't

lead towards sin and you know God has

this kind of patience with people it

doesn't mean that he doesn't get angry.

Paul says, "Be angry, but do not sin."

And do not let the so sun go down with

your anger. Because when when we do

that, when we let uh anger sort of

settle overnight, it has the opportunity

to turn into bitterness. And it's

failing to obtain the grace of God in a

in a short account kind of way. Um and

so forgiving people quickly, letting go

of that anger, letting God dissolve

that, and going to sleep peacefully in

the fruit of the spirit in that way,

even when the problem isn't already

resolved. Uh that's the kind of example

of practicing what we preach. It's great

to say be angry but do not sin. But then

in your life when you get angry, do you

just blast right through the temptation

and end up sinning or do you wait and

look for the way out that God has

provided you by the Holy Spirit? So it's

those kinds of thoughts. Look deeper

than just uh what other people see uh in

your quiet moments. Are you really

living these things out? But as for you,

teach what accords with sound doctrine.

And this is the road. This is what we're

really called to in disciplehip. It's

not just understanding the truth of

God's word. It's being transformed by

it. Uh do you guys know what I mean by

transformation? I think I assume that

everyone does. And I don't want to

assume that people don't. But if you

don't know what transformation means, it

means true inner change. You've heard

people say people don't change. And

naturally that's true. PE people may

swap alcoholism for something like uh

ultramarathoning and ultramarathoning is

way healthier and way less dangerous for

your body than that. But if if the real

problem was uh distance in the

relationship from God or no relationship

in the first place and as you've heard

Bla1 Pascal maybe say we all have a

God-shaped hole in our hearts and trying

to fill that with alcohol. Well, the

next thing you might do is sort of fill

it with ultramarathoning and then that

becomes the thing. And although on the

outside it looks healthy and like

fittest people on earth may be these

kinds of people um but at the end of the

day your relationship with God is still

empty and that hasn't been dealt with

and the enemy exploits that. So uh the

real issue in our lives is an issue we

have in relationship with God. We'll

talk about later why the fuel is so

important. But we really do have to

practice what we preach. And when we

don't, we need to admit that. We need to

confess that. And God says that he's

faithful and just to forgive us our sin

and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. That's just another

attachment to the fuel of grace. So, I'm

not going to spend much more time on the

road because almost every verse coming

up here defines the road. It's the the

the narrow and hard road and the narrow

gate that Jesus uh uh talks about. And

not not many find it. Um, and I I I

really have hope and uh enthusiasm and

excitement to see us grow in the way of

practicing what we preach. Now, I want

to talk about the the local church and

it's not in the next verses. It's in the

context of Titus and uh we went through

Titus 15 uh through9 and it talks about

just this is why I left you in so that

you might put uh the remaining what

remains in order and appoint elders in

every town as I directed you. And then

he gives these spiritual qualifications

of the elders. Uh the husband of one

wife uh uh as children or believers not

open to the charge of debauchery and

subordinate. Basically wild and

rebellious and they're not. He's he's a

good leader. As an overseer, as God's

steward must be above reproach, he must

not be arrogant or quick-tempered or

drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

but hospitable, a lover of good,

self-controlled, upright, holy, and

disciplined. and he must hold firm to

the trustworthy word as taught so that

he may be able to give instruction and

sound doctrine and also rebuke those who

oppose it. I don't know if as I was

reading you noticed this, but if an

elder was qualified in these ways, he

would most certainly be practicing what

he preaches, right? If he says uh that

it's a sin to get drunk, but then is

getting drunk in his own life, well,

that's not practicing what you preach at

all. So these men need

to what they say on the outside needs to

match what's on the inside. That's how

deep those qualifications are. But when

you have elders that are qualified this

way, think of them in a way representing

Jesus behind the wheel. You've heard the

se the saying Jesus take the wheel. So,

who's really in charge of directing uh

the the car around a curve or to take a

right turn or to take a left turn or

even to back up when it's done something

wrong and and take a different

direction. Well, it's really Jesus, but

he's put these under he's the great

shepherd and he's the only truly good

shepherd, but he's put these

undersheperds on in the in every local

church. Uh well, ideally in every local

church there would be elders and they

need to be qualified. And I think one of

the deepest reasons they need to be

qualified is that these are the kinds of

qualifications that men that will

actually do what Jesus says, especially

when it's hard, especially when they

don't feel like it. Especially when

they're concerned that it may lead to

relational separation. Uh sometimes

things you need to tell people uh do

that. And so if if the only thing people

care about is people liking them, well

then they may not say hard things to

people. Um, or if people uh are lacking

in gentleness and way too forceful. Um,

this is an issue I've talked to you guys

about that God has just hammered over

and over in my life. Um, I'm less

concerned about what people think and I

was that way from a very young age. I

still remember like the difference

between my brother, I'm not saying he's

a people pleaser, but he's he he's way

more interested in that kind of thing

and and uh outgoing in that way. And so

PE kids in Germany would come to our

door and they would ask uh if if we to

come play a game outside and he would

just immediately rush outside and I

would stand there. My parents told me

the story I don't remember and I was

like what game are you playing? Like it

depends on if you're playing a game I

like. My brother just wanted to go out

cuz he was so excited to hang out with

the kids. Uh but so I was like that from

the very beginning. Um but if I would

say the the issue I work out in terms of

self-control um is the idea of of

sharing those difficult messages with

gentleness, a perfect courtesy,

kindness, uh now not allowing fear or

frustration or even anger to enter that

meeting in a way that warps what I'm

saying. Whether it warps it in content

or in vibe, you know, kids these days

talk about the vibe. You can sort of

tell people's uh attitude even if

they're saying the right word. So it

really has to be spiritual. So these are

the kinds of things that you're looking

for in men and the areas that they are

they need to be above reproach. We

talked about that. They need to really

be qualified, but they also need to be

growing. They need to recognize their

own issues. When men like that lead, the

car is safe and sound in doctrine. We

talked about that concrete. Uh it's it's

well-guided. It's being steered well.

And then and then people trust uh the

church and they think, "Okay, the these

are leaders that are qualified. I don't

see a lack of qualification and so the

road itself and the direction of the

church can be trusted. Right? So enough

about that because there was a whole

sermon about that. Let's go to the

motor. And this is where we get into uh

some other passages. So the motor um the

thing that really makes a church go the

power behind it is it to for it to be

missionally focused. The mission to be

and make disciples. So there you may

have heard this before at Boon Fairy

that our mission is to be and make

disciples. Um but it seems to me that

too often the idea of mentor style

disciplehip is not part of that idea. I

don't know any churches that are

trustworthy where preaching is not part

of the idea of discipling and it should

be. Um and I know plenty of churches

where small group disciplehip is part of

their plan for being and making

disciples. Um, I know very few churches,

and I think I also know why I know very

few churches that actually develop

mentors that go beyond the preaching to

groups, beyond small group discussion

all the way to the really deeper

one-on-one kind of conversations you

have where the mentor takes some

responsibility for some time for the

spiritual development of another person.

and you talk about the deepest things

and there's deep trust and and they're

the kinds of people also kind of like

elders that can tell you the hard things

but you know that they love you and

they'll speak into those blind spots

that are hard to see but you trust their

discernment that this is something that

you need to look at and take care of.

The times I have grown the most in my

life were a time where I had a trusted

mentor um and I have plenty of blind

spots on my own. In fact, I'm going to

be talking about Peter, but I've also

learned I'm a lot like him. And I uh my

dad knows that, too. And he says things

like, "Mate, you don't yet know as well

as you ought to know the things that you

say you know so well." And I hated it

the first time he told me that. I

thought it was nonsense, but it's

actually a passage in the Bible. Uh our

faith has to grow in layers of depth.

And it takes humility to add another

layer. And it's just you know something,

but how deeply do you know it? And Peter

thought he knew he would never abandon

Jesus. And then he did. And you know

later on in his life, we don't see it

from the Bible, but in scripture, he

ended up being crucified upside down. He

didn't run anymore. Something happened.

Jesus related to him, and it was very

much a mentor style conversation

afterwards. We're going to go there. In

our church, we're reading through the

Bible. Uh we call the the read through

uh word like fire. And we I think we're

nearly finished with Genesis and John

here. And uh so I'm going to go to the

very end of John and show you uh the way

that Jesus mentored Peter and it changed

him dramatically. But Jesus had some

things that were painful, cut to the

heart. Peter was cut to the heart, but

what Jesus said, but it changed him

forever, especially when he realized how

true it was and how Jesus words were

trustworthy. But before that, let me lay

a foundation for what the mission of the

church is. This is the um the the uh the

motor. We're at the motor here and it's

found in Matthew

Matthew 28:18–20

28:18-20 and it's a very famous verse.

Some people call this the great

commission. Um it really is the mission

of the church and there is no other

mission. Um Matthew

Matthew 28:18–20

28:18-20. And Jesus came to them and

said came and said to them, "All

authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me. Go therefore and make

disciples of all nations, baptizing them

in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to

observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the

end of the age. Um, I have preached

sermons just on these verses. They're on

our website. Um, I think they're

actually they're on our website, but

they're also on YouTube. It's easier to

find them probably on YouTube under uh a

playlist that might be called something

like the mission. And you just find the

one that's on Matthew 28. And I prove

the point I'm about to make

shortorthhand by going to other passages

in the Bible. But one thing I think a

lot of Christians and churches have

gotten wrong about the idea of

disciplehip is that it's among the

things that we do. So um if you read the

whole New Testament, there's only so

many things the churches is commanded to

do. And you can define it in terms where

everything in the New Testament fits

into one of these categories. Uh and and

these are not necessarily in order, but

if I were to put them in order, I would

put worship as the first one. Uh loving

God, glorifying him. The church is is

supposed to be about that. Uh the church

is also supposed to be about fellowship,

loving one another. Um and in some ways,

those that those are the two greatest

commands, but those are not the only

people that we are to love. We yes,

we're to love one another. And there's a

special focus on loving one another

within the church. They'll know you by

your love. That's very attractive. When

you practice what you preach, that's a

very deep kind of love. You ever been in

relationship to someone that says a

certain thing, but then behind the

scenes it's different and then it hurts

you. You know, I have. Unfortunately,

I've been that person to people

sometimes. And uh they never feel loved

when they are standing in the gap

between what you practice and what you

preach. But often times people really do

feel love when they see what on the is

on the outside matches what's on the

inside. When something comes and tests

the relationship, uh you don't just run.

You're still there for them. Um

so when it comes to that, I want to I

want to talk about that

misunderstanding. Uh so you could you

could say worship, fellowship, um

evangelism. I might put evangelism if I

was ranking these over fellowship, but I

don't I don't really think these are

ranked. I don't think you can rank them.

And then service. And it's it's service

to the poor. Jesus modeled over and over

again caring for people that don't have

the means to care for themselves. And

there's lots of different demographics

of the poor. Sometimes the poor are just

like Emily read uh people that need a

cup of water, you know, and I think in a

ways that's a spiritual metaphor when

when people have a need that you can

meet. Uh Jesus feels loved by that as

though he was the person whose need you

were meeting. Um and there's rewards for

that in heaven for doing that. The least

of these could also be children. People

who don't really have the power to

protect themselves, people who do not

have uh the power to take care of

themselves. We call that the least of

these. Um so, and then if you put

disciplehip on that list, then you'd

have five things. Worship, evangelism,

fellowship, um service to the poor, and

uh and disciplehip, right? But it's a

misunderstanding of categories.

Disciplehip is not one of the things we

do. It's the method by all of the that

the method by which all of the other

things get done. What do I mean by that?

If you think of disciplehip as mentoring

well then do people need to be mentored

and helped and taught how to love the

Lord, how to glorify him, how to worship

him. Absolutely. That a lot of doctrine

is about what glorifies the Lord and

what doesn't. Right? It does not glorify

the Lord to know the right thing but not

do it.

James, a guy that seemed like he had a

lot of practicing what he preached, you

know, a lot of lean spirituality, said

that when we hear God's word, but don't

do it. We're like someone that looks at

some self in the mirror and then walks

away and forgets what they look like.

That's how deep it is. Your identity is

what God says it is, and you have to

live by that identity and not just walk

away and forget that identity as it

would be weird like someone look in the

mirror and then just I forgot what I

looked like. But that's what it's like

when God watches us read his word and

just hear it but not do it. You know, so

we're supposed to be like James, like

Jesus in that way. There ought to be a

lean, not a fluffy spirituality, but a

really solid lean spirituality there, a

strong one. And that that mentor style

disciplehip

um is modeled by Jesus over and over

again. So when the disciples heard the

idea of go and make disciples, they

would have they would have had already

experienced for three years what that

looks like. You know, the first thing

the disciples did with Jesus, they went

to his house. They had fellowship with

him. This is John the Baptist pointing,

"This is the lamb of God, the Christ."

They're figuring out this is the

Messiah. And the first thing they get to

do with him is just go home and spend

the rest of the day with him. So, and

how many times throughout the uh

throughout the gospels did Jesus eat

with him? Even after he was resurrected,

he ate fish with them. I think partly to

prove that he wasn't a ghost, you know,

they saw, whoa, this is him. He eats

fish with us and he's really eating.

Look, ghosts don't eat, you know. So, I

think or spirits and uh so he spent a

lot of time in fellowship with them. He

modeled fellowship in small groups

one-on-one. He had a even closer

relationship to Peter, James, and John.

I tend to think that's because they were

going to be the leaders of the pillars

of the church. All these apostles were

were really pillars of the church, but

Peter, James, and John took really

significant leadership roles as

apostles. Um and so you see a lot of

time spent with them mentoring them. Uh

think about mentoring in this way. When

they prayed and to try to cast out a

demon one time, you can read this in

Mark. The demon wouldn't leave. And so

they come back to him and they ask him

what happened and they say, "What? You

remember this one only comes out with

prayer and fasting. That's mentorship

where he sends them out to go do a task

he'd already watched them do. they uh in

his name try to cast out these demons

and it doesn't work and they don't

understand they can come back and

evaluate with them with him. This is

this is mentor style disciplehip. So um

and he and he did preach to large

groups, right? So they would see him

preach to large groups. So it'd be

natural for them that disciplehip

includes preaching. That's even

commanded preaching to large groups. And

he preached to giant groups too. So

whether it's a smaller group or a giant

group of people, preaching is part of

it. a very important part of it. Um, and

and but he was constantly with the 12,

right? He spent so much time with the 12

and that's clearly a small group. So,

it's it's where a lot of pastors get

their idea about the importance of small

groups. There can be a lot of

discussion. Sometimes there's friction.

You know, when you're in a small group,

you're right next to another Christian.

Sometimes they say things you don't like

and then you got to talk to them about

it and maybe you got to forgive them.

You know, if you're just kind of always

in a big group and in a sermon like

this, there's not that much interaction

between people. So, it's a and people

kind of on their best behavior on

Sunday. It's not the same thing as real

tight-knit community. Jesus had to deal

with jealousy among the disciples. He

had to deal with guys like Matthew who t

or Levi, same same person who's a tax

collector. And then Simon the zealot who

is the kind of guy that wants to

overthrow Rome. And this guy's joining

Rome. This guy says, "This guy is a

traitor, you know, like the most

detestable kind of person." And they're

in the same small group. Jesus leading

all of them. You don't think there were

times where they where they crash

clashed? Definitely. Uh it seems like

Peter was competing with John all the

time. So much so that John had to make

sure that everybody knows for all

eternity that he got to the tomb first

cuz he was faster. Right? I always find

that funny. Um so that's the context in

which Jesus disciples us in. And notice

how it says, "Go therefore and make

disciples of all nations." Evangelism is

definitely involved in that. And and

Jesus taught them how to evangelize. He

also taught them difficult lessons like

when a neighborhood or a city uh doesn't

receive you, shake off the dust from

your sandals in in judgment of them.

Basically, like don't get stuck

constantly trying to convince people

that want nothing to do with God in that

season. There are other people that will

listen to you. Just continue to share

the message. Um, and don't necessarily

consider that a failure. Some people re

will reject the message and it was still

faithful for you to share it. We don't

have any control of the result. It's

just we're faithful witnesses. That's an

important thing. I think when people

become convinced that they have to be

effective witnesses like like you could

somehow cause the result uh and then

when they have enough experiences of

failure um they get discouraged by that

and it's like oh I guess I'm not a good

evangelist. It's like just be a faithful

witness. Let God deal with the result.

Well, that's the kind of thing you can

help people in mentoring them. There's

some things that you preach and then it

sticks and and some things that just

don't. Um, and there's some things that

you can talk about in a small group and

and then there's others that you can't.

uh it's almost it'd be like oversharing

to talk about it. But with a with a with

a mentor that you've gotten to know and

and is trustworthy and and trusted by

the church as well, you can discuss the

deepest things of the heart, the places

where you're really actually stuck. The

kind of issues that you're afraid to

talk about publicly, but with that

mentor, you can. And and these things

got dealt with with Jesus, too. I'll

show you in a minute with Peter. But so

it actually says in verse 20, teaching

them to observe all that I've commanded

you. To observe all that I've commanded

you. What's that like? To practice what

they preach. Right? To teach what

accords with sound doctrine. It's right

there, too. And I can't tell you how

many times I've been blind to the ways

that there's a this patch in my life.

And maybe it only comes out when I'm

when I'm pressed. You know, you ever

feel pressed? You're like hungry, angry,

lonely, tired. Someone said halt.

Hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Stop. The

enemy wants to use that that state and

and tempt you to act. And we all have

different areas. I call them besetting

sins. Things that like pop up in your

life that need to be conquered. Uh for

Moses, one of those was anger, right?

Trying to do God's justice in his own

power. And he ended up not even making

it in the promised land. And before

that, God had already made him right

that he's the most humble man on the

earth. Imagine having to, you know,

being that man and then telling God's

like now write, "You're the most humble

man on the earth." And you're like,

"Really? I have to write that?" You

know, I imagine what that was like for

him. But even the most humble man on the

earth at his old age was fed up with

Israelite stiff necks and pounds that

rock and like, "Look what you made me do

kind of attitude and took credit for it

in a way." And it did not glorify God.

And it was this anger. Again, it might

not seem that serious, but to God, it

was just one more area of unredeemed

anger. And the consequence was after

leading the people of God probably

better than any other leader. Maybe

David was in there, but Moses was

absolutely a hero in Israel and famous

for that and still doesn't get to go to

the promised land, right? So, there was

some mentoring happening there even just

from God and teaching them to observe

what I've commanded you. I like to think

of of that kind of disciplehip like

fingers in the dough, you know. Yeah. Uh

the pasta dough, it has to it has to

have certain ingredients. You can't

leave the flour out. You can't leave the

water or maybe sometimes milk out. You

can't leave the eggs out either. And you

can put other ingredients, but if you

don't have those three, it's not really

going to be pasta anymore. I know some

of you are thinking like, I could make

pasta without one of those. I don't

know. It's just an example. But the

point is that uh you got to really work

the dough. And in those kinds of

relationships, I I uh had a mentor that

um uh I used to run with all the time

and uh I asked him to mentor me and he

said, "Well, so you want to meet like

outside?" So, we can just talk while we

run. We're both in good enough shape at

this point where we run slow and like we

can talk about that. If you want to go

to coffee, we can too. But we would have

some of the most difficult conversations

of my life while we're running and Tryon

Creek and no one's else listening where

he's just talking about issues he sees

in my life and he would never really

mention more than one. And sometimes I

disagreed. I I was I don't think that's

an issue. I I feel like I even disagree

theologically with you about that one.

And then he ends up being right. And so

finally I just stopped thinking saying

disagreeing like hey I'm not even

disagree. I'm just it's hard to hear.

It's painful to hear. I don't like that

that issue may be there and I don't see

it, but I'm going to go pray about it.

You know, and metros are not always

right. Uh that's not the point. Uh but

often times the people that love us and

care of us, they see things from the

outside that you just can't see from the

inside. You know, it's just pride has a

way of blinding us. So, in order to

teach people to observe everything that

Jesus has commanded them in that sermon,

I proved that that's really the whole

Bible. Uh not just the red letter

points. Um and so you can go back to

that the missional sermon on Matthew 28.

But um the the mission he Jesus modeled

that mentor style disciplehip. Now I

want to hone in even closer on that idea

because the Titus passage I'm not just

preaching this cuz I feel like it. The

Titus passage itself hones in on the

idea of mentor style disciplehip. In

this case older women training younger

women. So let's go back to Titus and

talk about that and we'll read through

the very first uh uh verse which is

actually about older men with older men,

older women, younger women, younger men.

Um so this is what harmonizes with with

uh true doctrine. This is what it looks

like to put into practice what we preach

for older men. What would it look like

for you to practice what we preach in

the context of Cit and Titus? But uh I

this is true for everyone everywhere all

the time. So God wrote this and he knows

these are the things that older men uh

really often need to hear. Older men be

soberminded, dignified, self-controlled,

sound in faith, in love, and in

steadfast. Uh there's a really like the

word regal faith comes to mind. Really

upright and noble. Um when you put all

of these different kind of things

together, um soberminded does not

necessarily mean uh anything related to

alcohol. Obviously, it doesn't not

include that because you're not going to

be soberminded when you're drunk. But

soberminded is a reasonableness. There's

a I I think older men in the faith often

times when they have applied and

practiced what they preach for many

years

are reasonable under pressure. You know,

when you're under pressure, your

emotions uh will oftenimes flare up to

the point where you hear yourself saying

things that you know aren't reasonable.

you know, um, and and you want to stop,

but you're just so upset and they feel

so good and they also kind of convinced

that it's true. And then your spirit

cools and you realize, "Wow, I can't

believe I said those things. I don't

really believe those things. Look at the

damage that I've done." Well, maybe one

of the reasons why older men are more

sober minded in that way after having

surrendered to the spirit over and over

again is that they've just realized over

and over over again, there's no point in

letting my anger get away with me that

way. And I've seen lots of older men

that have that kind of sobermindedness

um that don't allow their emotions to

run away with them and start thinking

all kinds of things. You know, the enemy

wants to do that. He wants to he wants

to take those places where he can just

like in a way run through your mind and

convince you of all kinds of things that

aren't true. And emotions without

control will allow him to have a lever

to do that to some degree. Um dignified.

I think I'm not going to define all

these words because I think some of them

you just know what it means. signify

self-controlled. Uh, notice, by the way,

that by the time we get down to younger

men, the only thing he says is

self-controlled. I think that's funny.

Um, so I I think as those that consider

themselves in the younger men category

need to realize that uh God's like, "You

have one thing I want you to work on.

Self-control." And it doesn't always

look the same for for every single

person. But the fact is, these are

spiritual qualities. And the battles

with self-control that older men have

may not be the exact same battles that

younger men have, but there are still

battles for self-control. Uh sound and

faith. We talked about the word sound

meaning without mixture of air. So I

think it's it's exact same word. So

really solid in their faith. Uh that

doesn't happen by the way if you're not

studying God's word. You can be 80

having not studied God's word and you

won't just be sound in faith just cuz

time went by. It's time spent in the

word, time spent walking closely with

the Lord, time spent in prayer, uh sound

in faith, sound in love, and in

steadfastness. So the word sound has an

effect on each one of these words. And

so uh sound in love, have you noticed

how our society will define things that

uh like this is love, but the truth is

just completely divorced from it, you

know? Well, this is the loving way to

treat people, but it's so false. Well,

that's it's true love that he's talking

about here. False love isn't love. It's

not love at all. It's really crooked.

And it's not just about like loving one

another, but the first relationship is

vertical. And if God says this is what

true love looks like, and you say, "No,

it's not. You're not in a loving

relationship towards him." And

therefore, uh the loving others is just

like a you thing. And you don't have the

power to love uh the way God actually

commands us to love. So you got to be

attached to the source of all that love

first, which means defining love with

all the truth of scripture and not

breaking those truth boundaries. Well,

that's the kind of love that older men

are ought to have. Not not this nonsense

fluffy rotten kind of love, but a love

that's conditioned by the truth, true

love. And and you can have that by the

word as well. And steadfastness. They're

not easily moved. you know, when when

things happen with with younger men and

um they get sort of flustered and ruffle

the feathers and uh there can be these

volcanic reactions and it can have

caused all kinds of trouble in the

church. Well, again um some reason we've

been watching through Star Wars. I kind

of think of Yoda uh in in this whole

thing, but I this was a Star Wars was

written in a very secular way. So like a

deeply Christian Yoda, you know, he's

not easily moved. He's very humble. He

knows what's right. He's got a lot of

wisdom. And we just went through Emperor

Strikes Back. And Luke is allowing

himself to be twisted by the plan that

Darth Vader has to capture him by taking

his friends uh technically his sister,

but he doesn't know Leia and Han Solo

captive. And so he foolishly and

pridefully goes and thinks he can fight

this guy. And and Yoda's telling him,

"Don't, you're not ready." He was

concerned that Luke would be like this

and not finishing his training. Uh but

he doesn't force him to do anything. He

had the power to stop Luke from going.

He doesn't do it. And so older men know

when to to let go in that way as well.

Um so what about older women too? Three.

Older women likewise are to be reverent

in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves

to much wine. They are to teach what is

good. And so train 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. So actually I found it. Verse

10, the part the my eyes could not see.

It says, um, as a result of all of these

qualifications, so that in everything

they may adorn the doctrine of God our

savior. Um, I just wanted to go back to

that, but it's connected to this verse.

When people practice what they preach in

in all these different uh uh

demographics, then the word of God can

never be rightly divi reviled. There

will still be people that wrongly revile

it, but it can never be like the claim

doesn't stick. Oh, you just hypocrites,

right? But also when we practice what we

preach so that in everything they may

adorn the doctrine of God our savior.

When you adorn something you make it

more attractive. Right? So that's why I

said that mentoring style disciplehip

helps us to practice what we preach so

that it's attractive to others and and

that that is the kind of attractiveness

that God has actually designed. Not all

these you know lights and uh fog

machines and all that kind of stuff.

That's just all humanmade

attractiveness. the the real

attractiveness is is people that live

according to their doctrine. So back to

the mentor style disciplehip though

because you pick it up. Older women

likewise are to be reverent in behavior

not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good. So to

train the young women and then it lists

the ways that they should train them.

Um, so if those older women haven't yet

been tempered in this way, um, I want I

want to be careful to to slam um, women

of our society. And so, but I have

noticed that even in the older age

that wine and alcohol seems to be

involved in almost every single social

gathering of of the women of in our

neighborhood. And I'm not saying they're

all slaves to wine, but I've noticed

this thing where I think some of these

women that are not Christians are

somewhat disillusioned with the problems

in their marriage. Not that they've said

that, but you just kind of see it in the

eyes. They're unhappy. And life is not

necessarily going the way they wanted

to. And they're not terribly angry about

that, but they're just sort of resigned

that they weren't going to have the

dream marriage, weren't going to have

the dream life. And there's this

resignation, maybe even like a somewhat

of a desperation, maybe a numbness. And

I wonder sometimes like is is alcohol

the way that they're kind of trying to

overcome that, you know? Uh men do it

too. We're talking about women right

now. That's the only reason I mention

it. But I think the enemy knows um how

to tempt women and how to tempt men. And

alcohol is one of the one of the ways.

And it's not dignified. It's not

stately. It's not noble for an older

woman, a more mature woman in the faith

to be controlled by a substance like

that. That's something that she should

have overcome. It says, "Do not be

filled with wine, but by the spirit." So

older women need to be regularly filled

by the spirit uh in under his control is

what that means. Displaying, manifesting

the fruit of the spirit and and alcohol

just interrupts that. It interrupts all

of that. Um, you can even pretend to be

nice while that's happening, but it's

not the joy or the kindness of the

spirit if you're slave to much wine. Um,

and so they are to teach what is good.

But the teaching, it's not, you might

think I I I do think it's it's just fine

and really good and ought to be

well-developed and trained for um women

in women's directorial roles to be

preaching to women. You know that Paul

commands that the mixed audience would

only be men. uh he does not permit that

um women would teach or exercise

authority uh um over the church in that

way. And so that we went through that

with um in second Timothy. And so there

are boundaries, not because one group's

more valuable than the other or more

intelligent or even more spiritual. It's

just what God has decided and it's

anchored in creation order. Uh but in

this case, there is a teaching role for

these women. But notice that it's not

just some kind of upfront teaching role.

There can be that kind of teaching and

preaching in in women's gatherings in

the future at Boon Fairy too. And I

don't think there's anything wrong when

a church does that. Um, but it says,

"And so train the young women." Train,

right? Think of training. You ever

worked with a personal trainer? He's he

or she right there next to you. So

you're doing a bicep curl and you're not

really turning. They talk about turning

the thumb down to get the full rotation

of the the the bicep muscle head and and

so you're just doing this. Well, that's

a hammer curl, but they're wanting you

to do one. They turn it all the way

over. So they might even take your

wrist. It's like just turn it a little

bit more. Think of a picture that you're

pouring out backwards like that. You

know, they're right there helping you,

train you how to do it. Um I I think of

that kind of training. I want to say

something about about women, too. Um I

think in in generations past, there were

more legacy Christian young women. What

do I mean by that? Their grandmother was

a Christian, their mother was a

Christian, and they're a Christian. And

and maybe even goes farther back. And so

how you parent? Well, they've just been

watching it fall through the generations

for a while in a good way. Um how you

deal with this, how you deal with that.

Maybe how do you deal with the fact that

you're just doing laundry and and

raising those little children, training

diapers, and no one's all that thankful

about it and the kids can't even talk

and it's just tedium in data and out.

Well, I I think a grandmother that

taught her mother that taught her

daughter, there's a lot of power in that

kind of grace legacy throughout the

generations. But what if there's not?

You know what? What if this woman didn't

really have a good example? This young

woman and her mother and her mother

didn't really have a good example. And

so there's a lot of maybe brokenness in

how you're to parent. Maybe they're

given a really bad example. And so they

need someone to walk beside them that

knows. And maybe you didn't know when

you first started, but you really grown.

I can't tell you how much I wish I could

go back in my football career. There was

a moment my senior year in college where

the position of defensive tackle just

clicked and it was like the whole field

slowed down and I was so much I could

react to my keys. I was making way more

tackles for loss. I think the same thing

about Christianity. If I could only go

back 10 years and apply everything I've

learned, I'd be such a better pastor.

Well, you know, there is a time capsule

like that and it's people that are 10

years or more ahead of you. and when

they're mentors and when they're trained

and developed to be mentors, you can

learn things now so you don't have to

look back and be like, "I wish I knew

it." There will always be things like

that. Um, and and I think regret of that

kind, especially of things that you've

asked God for forgiveness for is just

another way the enemy accuses us like

push if you've been forgiven something,

push that shame or regret or guilt away.

That's not from the spirit. But what

would it look like at Boon's Ferry for

women to actually take an interest in

training the young women? And that can

be really hard work. Sometimes there's

some reactivity, but man, it can it can

lead to that that legacy grace

relationship being restored even though

the chain was broken generationally.

It's such a powerful thing. And so,

first of all, they need to be an

example. They need to have their

doctrine be in accordance or uh they

need to have their lives be practice

what they preach lives. But let's go

through some of the things they should

train because at one of them at least is

pretty controversial and I think it

needs to be defined rightly and then

we'll move on. We're still talking about

the motor here. We'll move on to one

other passage about men doing the same

thing. And then we'll move on to the

fuel. So um training them to be

self-controlled. We've defined that

again. Uh it's it's really interesting.

It's it's everyone that needs to have

this kind of self-control. Self-control

really comes up. being slaves to much

wine or being slanderers, gossiping

about people. Slandering is like

reputation destruction gossip. And

Christine has come back from some of

these like meetings with with friends

that are not Christians and alcohol was

present and she said, "I don't know if I

want to go anymore." And I said, "Why?"

It's like they just say such mean things

about people that are not there. Um, and

so it's slander really, you know, and

it's not our job to judge outsiders, but

um, that's something that that men and

women both need to be really careful.

This in this case, he's talking about

older women. Um, it's a it's a sin that

needs to have been overcome. Uh, the

idea of of gossiping and uh,

jibberjabbering about other people that

in a way that if they were there, they'd

be so hurt. And and it's like that's not

that's not practicing what we preach.

You need to be in those moments. exactly

who you'd be in front of them. Kind and

tender and gentle and not judgmental and

not trying to sort of vent about

whatever they did about you. Go to them.

And older older women will often times

have a tempered way of applying Matthew

18. They've learned I just got to go

straight to that person. Well, that can

be passed on. So, let's talk about it.

Self-controlled, pure, working at home.

That's the one that often times gets

controversy. Now, we're about to go to

the fuel. And legalism is like putting

diesel in a gas motor, right? And I'm

talking about legalism specifically cuz

that's one of the um kinds of uh

non-grace-based gosp like introduce to

the gospel, it blows it up. The gospel

stops existing in any saving way if you

introduce deep legalism. And that was

happening. They were the circumcision

party. I've talked about that a bunch.

I'm not going to go over it in much

again. But in this case, we don't want

to be legalistic about this idea of

working at home. You can go to Proverbs

31 and it describes a very industrious

woman. Um, and so, for example, I don't

think there's any problem with, um, uh,

let's say my wife was a nurse and she

was considering, uh, in order to keep

your nursing license up, you have to

work at least about once or twice a

week. And she was considering working

once or twice a week. I don't think that

in any way violates this command. Um, I

think the command is to be a homemaker.

That's what is controversial. I really

believe that's what it says. Uh, it

doesn't really matter what I believe. In

a way, it does because I'm the preaching

pastor here, but a as a young woman um

or a woman that is raising children, you

have to decide from this and other

passages, is it really God's plan for me

to raise these children? Well, think

about mentor style disciplehip. I

remember talking to a woman that was a a

teacher and she'd had a young child and

I said, "Are you going to continue to

teach?" It wasn't a challenge. I thought

maybe she would uh uh for a time stay

home or maybe just find a way to be able

to come at times and be a substitute.

And she looked at me like with fire and

eyes. She goes, "No one else is raising

my children." And I was like, "Wo." Uh

what she was saying is, "I'm not going

to put my children in a child care and

I'm not going to just be teaching. I

want to raise these children and teach

them." And I that kind of passion was

very encouraging to me. Again, I don't

think it's a problem like you're letting

someone else raise if there's uh once or

twice a week, but every single day in

child care, that's somebody else

discipling those kids. That's somebody

else raising those children. I really do

believe the Bible teaches basically

single inome household. Um that is not

necess one of you uh has to work. Not

necessarily. I think it'd be to totally

fine. But once children are involved,

the calling of that woman um turned

towards nurture, love, um a teaching

them. There's so much training that can

happen. You want a legacy child like a

child that's been tempered by the grace

of God from a young age all the way

through that has that same kind of

children. God's looking for godly

offspring. Well, I I there's no one I

want discipling my children um as much

as I want my wife to disciple children.

And so what happened is she found her

heart being drawn to the kids. Even on

those days that she was working, a lot

of the other ladies were like, "I just

can't wait to get away from my kids."

And that oftenimes is a secular

attitude. Not not to be found in the

church. Although I understand it's so

much work and you should take breaks.

You know, husbands, if you see your wife

really being tired, maybe send her away

for a weekend on a retreat and let her

just recharge. Maybe take a whole

afternoon where you take a time off of

work and say, "Honey, I want you to go

out and just have a day for yourself."

I've done that for Christine and and I

want to continue doing it for But yeah,

it's hard work. It's hard work and still

we don't want to let those kind of

attitudes like our children are a curse

uh develop in our in our lives. Uh that

children are a blessing and when you

train them well, you start seeing that

develop more and more in their lives.

So, what would it look like if you're

really trying to do that? I think a lot

of the ladies at our church are

convinced, yeah, I I do want to make

sort of my home the base of my

operations and I do want to be

industrious and so yeah, I'll work here

and there, but I would really raise

these children be a homemaker. I think

that's the command. I think it's

actually pretty straightforward. I think

it's just frustrating because

um I was going to go into feminism a

little bit, but it's about to be like 95

today and I don't know if I'll survive

uh a long sermon myself. So, um I'm

going to continue. But the culture has

convinced women basically that you can

go and earn the bacon and then come home

and cook it too. And that is

overwhelming. It's simply a fact that

you cannot be in a full-time job at work

and a full-time job at stay at home.

Those are two mutually exclusive jobs.

And women really react. But I'm just

saying a fact here. It's too much. It's

too much. I mean, literally, you can't

be there during the hours that a

full-time stay-at-home mom would be

there. And I know it's very difficult

cuz let's say you went through all this

college to get trained and then you have

children and what's that training going

to do? You know, maybe it was training

an area that doesn't really have

anything to do with raising children and

then you wanted to be in a job and you

had all this desire and then it's like,

oh, that can be there's a

sacrifice. There is a sacrifice to it.

Um, but I think that when when we give

ourselves to the callings of God in our

demographic and when we allow that

calling to take root, I have seen great

joy in the hearts of mothers. Um, I even

see I've even seen Jordan Peterson talk

about how um, statistically women that

are in their starting to get into their

late 40s start deeply regretting that

they did not have children and their

their vocation is no longer fulfilling

and they become deeply disillusioned.

and he was talking to a woman that

considers himself a herself a feminist

and I don't think Jordan Peterson's a

Christian yet and she definitely wasn't.

And you know what happened as a result

of how he spoke to her? She decided, you

know what, I think he's right and I'm

going to have children and I'm going to

put my career on hold for a time and she

now goes around talking about how h she

didn't even realize the joy that was

missing in her life. It's such a high co

high calling and you are most certainly

so what would happen if older women were

training these younger women how to

train their children. This is legacy

disciplehip. It's such a powerful thing

and it's so good. And man do does the

church today need children that were

raised in doctrine that teaching that

accords with doctrine truly godly. I

mean they're going to have to be

warriors. Our culture is declining. Uh,

I I really believe it is the twilight of

America. And I know that's hard for you

red-blooded Americans to hear, and I

consider myself a red-blooded American,

but you simply cannot survive the

abominations we're committing. God would

be unjust if he doesn't eventually pour

out his wrath. Let me tell you what's

happening. I don't know if you read

this. Uh, it's just in Eugene down in

Springfield. There was It's Pride Month.

They're hosting spirit week. Well, it's

Pride Spirit Week. This is I think it

was an elementary school. may have been

uh uh middle school, but I'm pretty sure

it was elementary. And the kids are so

young, and they're being told to dress

up in

drag and they're being told not to tell

their parents,

right? These are wicked teachers and

administrators. That's what God calls

them. And that is what our culture is

declining into. You don't train your

your children up to be able to withstand

that kind of evil, they're not going to

be ready. It's going to get worse. The

Bible promises that in Timothy that it's

only going to get worse as we are racing

towards the end of the end times. So, it

there's an urgency. I know I got very

serious. I wasn't even meaning to say

that, but there's a real urgency to

train your children up in the Lord. Um,

so let's continue here because um I've

shown you the training there and I want

to um keep moving through the

categories. Um but it's I think it's

awesome that it's it starts with women

because I think sometimes the church

overfocuses the uh role of disciplehip

on men. Women are to be doing it too.

But um men are ought to be doing as

well. And I want to show you where Paul

tells Timothy that 2 Timothy chapter 2

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

I'll read verse 1 and two. You then my

child be strengthened by the grace that

is in Christ Jesus. The fuel's found

right there too. Fuel's always just the

grace found in Christ Jesus. and what

you have heard from me in the presence

of many witnesses. So like the doctrine

that I taught you, the life that I

lived, the the doctrine that accords

with godliness, in the presence of many

witnesses, entrust to faithful men who

will be able to teach others also. We

call this reproductive disciplehip. It's

the same with men and women. What is

reproductive disciplehip? It's when you

take what you've learned and look to

train other people in order to reproduce

that same thing in them. And remember,

what you're trying to reproduce is the

ways that you've learned to have your

the things that you believe be in

harmony with the way that you live.

That's what needs to be trained. Okay?

So, that's that's the motor. That's the

motor. Let's go to the fuel. The fuel is

actually next week's sermon, and it's

just in the very next verses. So, let me

read those verses verses and show you

how Paul says, uh, that's the fuel very

specifically. So after we're not quite

through the chapter, but after all of

these things that accord with good

doctrine, godly living, Paul says in

verse 11,

for so why why do that? Because for the

grace of God has appeared, bringing

salvation to all people, training us to

do what? renounce ungodliness and

worldly passions and to live

self-controlled, upright, and godly

lives in the present age, waiting for

the blessed hope, the peering of our

great the peering of the glory of our

great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who

gave himself for us to redeem us from

all uh lawlessness, and to purify for

himself a people for his own possession,

who are zealous for good works. Declare

these things, exhort and rebuke with all

authority. Let no one disregard you.

confidently insist on that that that's

the fuel, the cross, the grace. I I

mean, it's kind of a a a gruesome image,

but like it's it's the blood of Jesus

Christ that fuels the engine of the

church. And it has to be that. It cannot

be anything else. Um you know what

happens if you put diesel in a gas

engine? And uh I know there's lots of

funny videos and I was kind of

researching on Reddit about about this

and I found at least I thought this was

it was like a young lady doing a public

service announcement to not put diesel

in your car. Like that's what people

need. And she started up like don't put

the green gas in your car. That's

diesel. I thought it just makes your

motor louder but it just like I it it

ruins your motor. My car won't drive at

all. And then I was reading the

comments. The first comment was uh it

made it quieter instead. Another comment

was uh cuz she kept saying, "Hey guys,

don't do this." Like it was like really

serious. And another person goes, "Hey

guys, don't drink

bleach." I like a little bit dark humor

like that. Uh another one was, "I bet

she bought the extended warranty,

too." I don't know why this one's so

funny for me, but someone said

Fert. It just hit my funny bone. Another

one was, this one's pretty smart. Uh,

people like this, uh, read instructions

on

shampoo. And another one, I don't know

why, but I just feel like it was a

Southerner that said it, said it. Uh,

we're circling the drain,

guys. But my absolute favorite, and the

closing one is, you might consider

running for

Congress. Anywh who just a little levity

here on on that but yeah if you put

diesel in a gas motor um according to

guys in our in our church that are very

competent in these areas I'm not

competent and I don't intend to become

competent. I don't like being

responsible for fixing things like that

but

um that was a joke but also serious. So

um so uh if you put diesel in a gas

engine it might actually run for a

while. you might actually get a certain

place, but it'll end up seizing up the

motor. And it's the very same with same

thing with legalism. It might seem like

on the outside things are going okay and

the car is going down the road, but it's

the wrong fuel. And so if if we use any

kind of legalism in our mentoring of

people, it will end up seizing up the

motor. It will at at a minimum veer us

off the road and we're not on mission

anymore. Because what is legalism? It's

hypocrisy. It's acting like you can

actually always practice what you preach

and you're doing it. Uh it's it's the

kind of thing that Joyce Meyer says. You

guys know who Joyce Meyers? Joyce Meyer,

I don't know how long ago said, but I

was just reading a quote. She goes, "I

finally got it through my thick skull

that I'm not a sinner anymore. And when

I started realizing that I'm righteous,

that's when I stopped sinning and I have

not sinned since. I am not a sinner."

She said, "This is heresy. This is

making out God to be a liar. There is no

one that's not a sinner and that no one

that doesn't sin. And when people claim

to not have sin or to not be a sinner,

the Bible says in first John, you make

God out to be a liar. But it's what one

of people want to hear. It really sounds

great, but it's just this hideous, ugly

legalism. We ought to forcely oppose

messages like that from people like

Joyce Meyer. And let's not say that we

shouldn't name them by name. Paul

mentions Alexander the Coppersmith and

multiple other people as heretics. So

the Bible gives us an example. If you

don't know them by name, how would you

know not to to avoid them? you need to

avoid them. So, I would not have

anything to do with that ministry. But

the point here is that imagine teaching

that to people and then the whole church

thinks they can actually, oh yeah, I'm

righteous. I'm not a sinner on the

inside. And when I notice that, I don't

even sin anymore. Is there truth in it?

Yeah. By Jesus, God sees the

righteousness of Christ superimposed on

you, right? But has that righteousness

taken its full root in all your life?

never this side of the grave. Never

claim there's sinless perfection is a

terrible, terrible legalistic doctrine.

That doesn't mean that we ever have an

excuse for sinning. The Holy Spirit will

always give you the power not to. It

just happens to be. I think this is why

even the righteous are scarcely saved.

Our sin is so deep that even when we're

given all the power not to do it, we

still do it. Even Paul identifies that

with that in Romans 7. So legalism will

destroy the mission. But let's go to the

buyin. And for this, I'm gonna go to

John and we're going to close. Okay. And

we're done. And I don't know how hot you

feel, but I think we're we're going to

survive here. Um, so I said I would go

start going to uh the places and just

highlight them as maybe a little bit of

reward for those of you reading the the

Bible read through. This is an awesome

place where Jesus is is through

mentorship restoring Peter after his

failure and the grace is the fuel but

it's hard for him to hear. When they had

finished breakfast, Jesus said to si to

Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you

love me more than these? Do you love me

more than these? The question is very

much designed to deal with the pride

that caused Simon to think even if

everyone else abandons you, I won't. I

love you more than these was the was the

prideful uh conviction. That was the the

thing that he didn't really practice

when he got pressured. And he got

pressured at the cost of his life,

right? Associating with Jesus may have

cost him his life. That's what he was

afraid of. So, we ought not to make fun

of I mean, are you certain that if

someone pointed a gun to your head that

you might not fail? I think we ought to

say, "I hope by the grace of God that I

confess your name even at the point of

death." Right? That's what I'm going to

say. I don't I'm like Peter. I don't

want to say I do it in my own power. You

know what an example of that that young

woman at Coline was. I'll never forget

that story. Do you love me more than

these? He said to him, "Yes, Lord. You

know that I love you." But it doesn't

add more than these. He said to him,

"Feed my lambs." Right? It means teach

my my people, teach Christians, feed

them my word. Right? Well, he just got

done failing by denying his Lord and

Savior.

Hard to imagine a worse failure. And

that here Jesus is restoring him.

There's so much grace, so much

forgiveness. He said to him a second

time, Simon, son of John, do you love

me? And he said, yes, Lord, you know

that I love you. And he said to him,

tend my sheep and take care for them. He

said to him a third time, Simon, son of

John, do you love me? Then Peter was

grieved because he said to him a third

time, "Do you love me?"

How many times had Peter betrayed Jesus,

denounced him, denied him to a little

girl, terrified of of losing his life?

Three times. So, I'm cut to the heart

for him in this way. But I've also I've

done things like this in my life. And I

I also am like Peter, like I'm not

actually a soldier, but I can imagine

myself actually trying to kill a Roman

to save Jesus. And it's very hard to

think that he says, "Put your sword back

in your sheath." You want to be a

soldier for him, but it cannot be in

your own power. And there's a brokenness

that is required for men like me who

want to do it in their own power. And he

was experiencing that

brokenness. And what did he say? Peter

was grieved because he said to him a

third time, "Do you love me?" And he

said to him, "Lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you." And Jesus

said to him, "Feed my sheep. It's not

because I am not a sinner or ever will

not be a sinner. It's not because I I've

found out that I'm righteous and stopped

sinning. I I am I I don't want to

compete with Peter, but I feel worse

when I when I read the lists of people

who won't make it into the kingdom of

heaven. I've done most of those things.

And and and Jesus made me a pastor. It's

the grace. It's the fuel. Anything else

kills. I can't even contain my emotion

thinking about it.

So, and and nothing has caused me to buy

in like that. I I I will never

leave Boon's Fairy of My will. I can't

say that. I know for certain that it's

God's plan for me for the whole time,

but I hope it is. I'm here to stay. I uh

I want to retire here someday and

hopefully have a guy like a Joshua that

takes over and just continues the

mission. But I am in my heart deeply

devoted. But it's Jesus that has devoted

me. It's his grace. It's his

forgiveness. I don't deserve it. And

there's nothing like it in all the

world. And and it can devote you to if

that's the fuel you you we use. And I'm

not even saying I always practice what I

preach, but it's by the grace of God

that even though I don't, it it inflames

my heart with desire to figure out the

areas where I'm not in line with what I

believe and and that God would change

those inner places and that I would

start even in those weak areas

practicing what I preach. And I believe

there's nothing more attractive. Let me

continue reading and finish out. There's

nothing more attractive than that. And

and I I hope that you devote yourself in

this way too. The car is the local

church led well. It's not just you can't

devote yourself to the church ethereal

the church universal. It's like you

can't taste it. You can't touch it. You

can't see it. It's it's people in real

relationships face to face that need to

be built up and mentored and discipled

and taught to observe everything that

Christ has commanded. And they need to

see your devotion first.

I want to say this also with grace, but

I do think Christians take their

commitments to their local churches far

too lightly. There's not enough

devotion. First sign of conflict,

they're out. I've seen it so many times,

but it won't be by my power or by some

kind of legalistic message that they

become devoted, but by grace, by the

call to repentance and forgiveness. So

likewise, younger men ought to be

self-controlled. Show yourself in all

respects to be a model of good works and

in your teaching show integrity and

dignity. That's about pastors and sound

speech that cannot be condemned so that

an opponent may not may be put to shame

having nothing evil to say about us.

Again, the outside witness even to

opponents. Bond servants are to be

submissive to their own masters in

everything and they're to be well

pleasing and not argumentative. One of

the hard conversations I had to have

with my mentor is about how

argumentative I was. And then you know

what I did? Argue.

So stubborn guys like me take some real

fingers in the dough kind of mentorship.

Not pillfering but showing all good

faith so that in everything they may

adorn the doctrine of God our savior.

Let's put the main point up and finish

up here. Mentoring style disciplehip

helps us to practice what we preach so

it's attractive to others. I just want

to take three short minutes to give you

a little bit of vision of something

that's going to be happening in Boon

Ferry. I don't know exactly what God's

timing in but it's the next thing we

plan to do. So the first phase when I

came to Boon Ferry was to just get the

service and the preaching in order and

the ministry of the children downstairs

in order. That's something we have to do

every week and it was not easy to make

any changes in that and um so it had to

be done slowly and we kind of got that

phase done and it's about what it'll be

today and it'll still grow. But then the

second phase and this was pre-planned

with the elders was developing our

disciplehip communities. are Bible

studies as the as the second layer of

disciplehip preaching upstairs an hour

of teaching for the kids downstairs

supplemental to your parenting kind of

teaching and disciplehip you're the

primary disciples of your disciples of

your kids it's really important uh we

not only know that but have passion to

support that but our disciplehip

communities are just our way of copying

what a the early church did in Acts 2

but also what Jesus did is to walk in

community and they ate together so we

eat together they studied God's word

together so we study God's word so pray

together. So, we pray together, but uh

one of the next steps in what I consider

to be phase three is developing mentors.

And I'm just going to cut this section

short and talk about it more um next

week as well. But, um we are planning on

developing official um uh uh mentors for

Boon Ferry, people that have significant

training. You might think I can't be a

mentor.

Um I'm a legacy child in developing

mentors. It's all my dad was passionate

about and he passed it on to me and and

so I know a lot. I have a lot of

experience. It's not true in every area

of ministry, but in that area I can tell

you there's not anyone here that if you

have a passion for God, compassion for

people, teachable spirit, if you're

reliable, um, and these are all things

you can choose to become and and and you

all have gifting if you're a Christian

and those qualities uh make you very

much trainable to be a mentor and it

will not be as hard as you think it is.

Uh, so we're going to be training

mentors and the way that we're going to

be doing that is in men's w men's and

women's ministry. So the primary purpose

and mission of men's and me women's

ministry will be to train and develop

mentors that get in relationships to

mentees um disciplers and discip

disciples in in that way uh in a

mentorship style. And the same thing

with men's ministry. It won't be

different in in the sense that most of

what you may have experienced in women's

ministry, there'll probably still be a

monthly or bimonthly or even weekly

meetings at some point where there's

teaching uh discussion and fellowship