Faithful in Good Deeds Pt 2

All right, good morning, church family. I'm glad you all are here. Good to see everybody. I want to invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started. Lord, we thank you for another day, God, and thank you for another opportunity to be in your house this morning, God. Lord, God, may we lift a joyful noise to you this morning in praise. God, we just, we want to

honor and glorify you this morning, God. Let nothing of us come forth, but may it be to you, for you, and about you this morning, God. We ask your blessing upon this time in Jesus' name. Amen.

Squeeze to the middle, and then you can have a seat. Appreciate you. Thank you.

I just want to say thank you for what you've done for us, Lord, God, for opening up the waters and providing a way to freedom. And God, we just want to say, we just want to say thank you, Lord, and we just want to praise you this morning, God. We thank you. I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I see his wounds, his hands, his feet. My Savior on that cursed tree, his body bound and drenched in tears.

They laid him on the cross, and they laid him on the cross. They laid him down in Joseph's tomb. The entrance to the Messiah's tomb. And all the whole praise. I'll return in Rome. The blazing. I got your prayer this morning. And open the eyes of my heart. Eyes of my heart. Eyes of my heart.

You are whole.

Lord, God, as we just, as we sing this last song, God, we just want to pour our hearts out to you this morning. Lord, we are. We are desperate for just a touch from you, Lord, God. Lord, we need you. We need you to come and move mightily this morning, God. We ask it in your name. Would you guys stand with me for the last one?

Yes, Lord, God, that is our prayer this morning, God. That you would move mightily in our hearts this morning, God. Bring revival. Bring revival to our lives, God. Bring them to our homes, to our families, Lord. To our schools, to our communities, Lord, God. We need you. Lord, we need you. Not just, not just once a week. Lord, we need you every day. We need you every hour, Lord.

I need you. Every hour, I need you. Lord, God, so just come and move this morning, Lord. We invite you. We invite your Holy Spirit to come and move mightily. Lord, this morning, as Pastor Ryan comes, I pray that, I ask that you would give him the words to speak. Speak directly to our hearts, Lord, God. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it. We love you, Lord, and we praise you.

And in Jesus' name, all of God's people said, Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin the process of finding your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of. As always, on the left-hand side, those are the things that go on throughout the week. In the middle section, a few things to pay attention to.

First of all, again, as a reminder, if you're interested, if you've been around for about six months or so, interested in getting plugged in to helping out around here, we could use some more help. We filled up a whole lot of the areas. Now, there's one area I'm going to tell you about that we could really use a little help in. And that's that we do a Wednesday night.

We have a Wednesday night service here, and we've got a bunch of kids that come on Wednesday night as well. And so, if you would like to maybe just help out with kids like once a month on a Wednesday evening, that's only an hour, it's a little bit shorter than Sunday morning, come talk to me afterwards because we've got a spot for you there, too. So, also, a new church directory. I'm going to invite my lovely wife to come up here and share one last announcement with us.

I think one last announcement about the church directory. End of church directory pictures. So, if you haven't, please do. If you haven't gotten your picture taken yet, don't worry about signing up. Sign-up sheets are gone. Just come and we'll squeeze you in. We're going way quicker than we anticipated, so there's room in the schedule to get squeezed in. So, if you have not gotten your picture, do that.

Also, for those of you that might be new to Calvary Chapel, there's no membership at our church. So, if you've decided to make Calvary Chapel your church, that's good enough for us. Come get your picture taken, and we will make you an official member. Yes, as we like to say, you show up the first Sunday, you're a guest. You show up the second Sunday, you're a member.

So, if you're here as a guest, we are really glad you're here, and welcome to the new members this morning. So, there's two other things that I need to announce. One is that this coming Wednesday is going to be a night of worship. So, we try to take a Wednesday about once a quarter to just say, hey, this Wednesday night, we're just going to do some worship time.

So, come join us for that. And then, also, one thing that is not in your calendar. One thing that is not in your bulletin is that the Family Life Services Banquet is coming up on October the 11th, and Calvary always buys two tables for that. And so, if you're interested in attending that, having a seat at our table, come talk to me afterwards. I've almost got one table full, so I've at least got eight spots left.

That is October the 11th. Doors open at 5. I think dinner is served at 5.30. So, again, if you're interested, please come talk to me afterwards. Those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is silenced. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 148. Psalm 148. Looking at the New American Standard for our responsive reading.

Then you can go back to using whatever other translation you brought. If you need a New American Standard, it should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 148, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses. You will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 148. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, all the stars of light. Praise Him, highest heavens, any waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He has also established them forever and ever.

He has made a decree which will not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps. Fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds, fulfilling His word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged fowl. Kings of the earth and all the peoples, princes and all the judges of the earth.

Both young men and virgins, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and heaven. And He has lifted up a horn for His people. Praise for all His godly ones. Even the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord. And so, Father, we come to You now and, Lord, we echo the words of the psalmist as we say praise the Lord.

Lord, we praise You for who You are, for Your goodness that You show towards us. For the greatness of who You are. And yet the fact that You saw fit to stoop down to invite us to be a part of Your family. And so, Father, I pray that as we spend time in Your word this morning that Your Holy Spirit would do the work that needs to be done. Prepare our hearts for what You have to say.

In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus, chapter 3. Titus, chapter 3. Well, today we come not only to the end of our series on faithful and good deeds. But we come to the end of the book of Titus. It's been a short little book, but it's been a powerful book. As it's brought so much about not only our conduct and the way that we are to live our lives.

But also about the grace and the mercy of God that have saved us. And so, as we came to chapter 3, we said that we entitled it Faithful in Good Deeds. Because good deeds is actually mentioned three times in this chapter. And so, we said that there were five things that He was going to teach us through Titus about what it looked like to be faithful in good deeds.

We covered three of them last week. And just to bring everyone up. To speed on what we covered last week. We said, first of all, that if we are to be faithful in good deeds, we must show respect to the governing authority. We must show respect to the governing authority. All authority comes from God and should be respected in such a way. Unless it violates God's law.

In which case, we have freedom to obey God, not man. But I've not seen too many of those here recently. So, we are to respect the governing authorities. Because a heart living in rebellion is ultimately living in rebellion against God. And it's impossible to live out a lie. A life of good deeds if you are living in rebellion. The second thing He taught us is that we are to have respect for others.

We are not to malign others. We are not to speak hatefully about each other. Instead, we are supposed to be peaceable and gentle and show consideration for all men. We are to have respect for others. And the reason why we're to have respect for others is because, number three, we need to remember what God has done for us. That we were, at one point in time, deceived by sin.

Enslaved by sin. Made bitter because of sin. But God set us free. Not through good works that we have done. But by His mercy, He regenerated us. Made us brand new. And renewed us through the power of the Holy Spirit. And now we've been given an inheritance in Christ. And so, He told us those three things. Well, as we pick up in verse eight, we're going to cover the last two things as well as His final words.

And so, look at verse eight with me. It says this. This is a trustworthy statement. And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently. So that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and they are profitable for all men. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law.

For they are unprofitable and they are worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning. Knowing that such a man is perverted. And is sinning, being self-condemned. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to be at Nicopolis. For I have decided to spend the winter there. Diligently help Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way.

So that nothing is lacking for them. Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds. To meet pressing needs. So that they will not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. And so for the last two things that he tells us about what it looks like to be faithful in good deeds. Number four, if we are to be faithful in good deeds, we must engage in good deeds.

We must engage in good deeds. Looking at verse eight with me, he says this is a trustworthy statement. Now you should ask yourself a question at this point in time. Because this is good Bible study. This is how you learn to study what God's word has to say. You ask questions. You should ask yourself a question. If he says this is a trustworthy saying, then what is a trustworthy saying?

What's he referring to when he says that? Well, contextually speaking, it takes us right back to the preceding verses that he just gave to us. What is a trustworthy statement? Well, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, I'll remind us what the gospel says. Because the gospel starts off with the knowledge of our sin. See, part of the reason why we can be trustworthy in what we do.

And we can show compassion to the people around us. Is because we are reminded of who we are apart from Christ. We are reminded of who we are without the saving work of Jesus Christ in our lives. I told somebody one time, listen, I've been praying for you all the time. And they said, man, if you're praying for me that much, I must be a pretty bad person. And I said, no, it's not about you being bad.

You're no worse than I am. I just think you're broken. I think you're broken because of this world. I think you're broken because of the things of this world. And I want to see you healed and restored. I want to see you restored in Christ. But no, I don't look at you as bad at all. You're no worse than I would be if it weren't for Jesus Christ in my life. And that's the way we have to approach people in the world.

We have to approach them as if I am a sinner too who has been saved by grace. Of course, the second message of the gospel, the rest of the gospel is that as believers in Jesus Christ. Though we at one time were enslaved by sin, we have now been set free because of the mercy of God. And so now we have been regenerated and renewed. And we should live as regenerated and renewed.

We should believe that we are saved. We should believe that we are regenerated and renewed. Because as those who have been regenerated and renewed, we are no longer in the sin that we were at one point in time. But we are brand new creations in Jesus Christ. And we can live as such. And because of that, we are now disciples of Jesus Christ. Learning what it looks like to follow him every single day of our lives as we go through this renewing process.

He says this is a trustworthy statement. This is a trustworthy saying. And this is what he tells Titus he needs to do. Concerning these things, meaning the gospel, I want you to speak confidently. I want you to speak confidently. That phrase speak confidently can be translated like this. I want you to be constantly and strongly assertive with the message. Constantly and strongly assertive with the message.

Now I think that when he gives this, there is a direct context of this charge to be confident in the way that you present the message. And then I think there is an indirect context to it. So I want to discuss both of those momentarily. First of all, I think there is a direct context and that is to pastors. Titus was a pastor. And as he is addressing Titus, he tells Titus you need to be confident with this message.

With this truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why does Titus need to be told to be confident with this message? Which by the way, this is the second time in this one pastoral epistle. That Titus is told to be confident in how he speaks the truth of the gospel. You know why? Because the gospel is an unpopular thing in the world. If preached properly, the gospel is often very times, very often unpopular.

And it is not because the message of grace is so offensive. It is because the message of sin is so offensive. Because if I want grace in my life, I must first realize that there is sin in my life. And if someone identifies sin in my life, I don't like that. Because that means that what I am doing, what I am finding my pleasure in is opposed to God. And I don't want anyone to know that.

I don't want anyone to tell me that the things that I am doing are opposed to God. So it is an unpopular message. But quite frankly, isn't sometimes grace a little unpopular too? Because what does grace say? Grace says that I need something outside of myself to save me. And I don't like to hear that anything outside of myself is what I need. Because aren't I a pretty good person?

Don't I have a lot of strength in myself? And the gospel says, no, you don't. I had an opportunity to go talk to a group of basketball players this weekend. Lord have mercy. Those boys are tall. Right? So I go talk to these boys. And I let them know that I am there. And I am available for them. Anything that they need. And so I am sitting there talking to the coach.

And they start their stretches. They start warming up and working out. And they are like, I don't know. Ask the pastor. Maybe he knows the answer to this question. And they said, if Jeffrey Dahmer confessed his sins and asked Jesus into his heart, would he be saved? And I said, yes. And he said, I told you, fool. I was right. It was a great moment. He said, I was right.

And this guy looks at me and goes, but wait. Doesn't God's Ten Commandments say you can't murder? Doesn't that disqualify you from heaven? I said, here is the thing about God's commandments. God's commandments show you your need for a Savior. Because each of you is actually guilty of murder. Because when you harbor anger in your heart towards someone, you have actually already in God's eyes committed the act.

So each of us is guilty. And they all went, whoa. You see, that is the message of grace. Is that sin has disqualified me. Only grace can now qualify me. But that is offensive to a lot of people. Because I just told them all that they are murderers. But just remember, if I have got one finger pointing at you, I have got three more of them pointing back at me.

This is why we all have to approach the gospel understanding who we were and who we are and how Jesus got us there. And so he says, speak this confidently. And listen, we are living in a culture right now where someone has got to start speaking confidently about the gospel. Someone has got to start speaking up confidently and saying, this is the truth. And this is what needs to be done with the truth.

Because pastors that won't stand up and speak confidently about the gospel are how we have gotten ourselves in this situation. They are how we have gotten ourselves here right now. And so we need pastors that will stand up and speak the truth. We need pastors that will stand up and speak the truth. We need pastors that will stand up and do this. And listen, I don't like to have to be that pastor, if I am being completely honest with you.

My heart is usually pounding. My pulse is racing. And quite frankly, I am pretty sure no one is coming back next week. That is how I feel when I have to deliver an unpopular message. Only you know what I have found? That is as far from the truth as possible. Because you people want to hear the truth. And I think our culture wants to hear the truth. They are tired of pastors that tell them what they want to hear.

And they are ready for pastors that tell them what they need to hear. And that is where we are right now. And so he says, speak this confidently. But it is okay, I am about to get all of you too. I think there is an indirect context here. And the indirect context is that all of you need to begin to speak the gospel confidently. All of you need to have that confidence in who you are in Christ.

In what the gospel says so that you can deliver it to the people around you. You may not do it in a setting like this. It may be one on one with your friend. As you are sharing with that individual what God has done in your life. But you need to be able to deliver it to the people around you. You need to be able to speak that confidently. Only do you know what I have realized?

I developed a saying in my early to mid 20's. And the saying is this. With knowledge comes confidence. Let me tell you how I developed this saying. So there I was. I was working construction very early on. And we were doing some finished work. And we were putting these, I think they are called melamine panels up in a closet. Basically it is like a real glossy white panel.

It is really hard to repair if you screw it up. Just understand that. And so I am going to put the screws in. Only I go too far in and I miss the stud. And so I have to pull the screw out. Now there is this big hole in this melamine panel. And I am like what am I going to do now? And I am brand new. I don't know how to fix that. I don't know anything about it.

So I go to this old trim carpenter that works for us. He is retired. He only works two days a week. Because he likes to do trim carpentry. And I go to him. And I am like what do I do? I put the screw in the wrong place. I have ruined this board. And he looks at me. And he looks at the board. And he looks at me. And he looks at the board. And he goes I would put the screw in a different place.

And he walks away. You know why? Because he knew how to fix it. Because he had knowledge. And that knowledge gave him confidence. You know why sometimes you all are not confident to give out the gospel? Because you still think it is your job to save someone. You don't have the knowledge that it is God's job. All you have to do is tell what God has done in your life.

All you have to do is say what the Bible says. And let God handle everything else. But if you can be confident in what this says. And confident in the work of God. Then you can be confident in the way that you give out the truth. Because it is not your job to save anybody. Just like it is not my job to save anybody. When I first got into ministry. I am not saying I don't still battle with this.

I do. But when I first got into ministry. I was so scared that my message wasn't going to be good enough. You know what I found out? I was right. My message wasn't good enough. And my message still isn't good enough. Because my message will never save you. Not anybody. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But now I have got a little bit more confidence. Because I am blessed with a little bit more knowledge.

Of watching what God can do. If I will just be an obedient mouthpiece of His. And so he tells Titus. Speak this message confidently. Assertively. With boldness. Why? Notice what it says in the rest of verse 8. So that those who have believed God. Will be careful to engage in good deeds. So that those who have believed God. Will be careful to engage in good deeds.

I will deal with that statement in just a minute. But we are reminded of something. We are saved for the purpose of good works. Right? We are saved for the purpose of good works. You are not saved just so that you can be happy that you are not going to hell. You are saved for the purpose of now living out that truth of the gospel to the world around you. And we are also reminded.

I read this statement. I loved it. I thought it was great. Faith alone saves. But faith that saves is not alone. Faith alone saves. But faith that saves is not alone. Because it will have works that accompany it. Not because of something you are able to do. But what God is able to do through you. As you walk obediently with Him. And so why is it important that we understand the message?

Well that message produces in us the desire to live out those good works around us. And so he says. Tell them to engage in good deeds. That word engage is very interesting. It's an engaging word. That's a dad joke. The word engage here is really interesting. It means to give careful attention to. To give careful attention to. And the idea of good deeds is good works.

So we are to give careful. This is from Warren Wiersbe. We are to give careful thought and attention to busy ourselves in good works. Give careful thought and attention to busy ourselves in good works. Do you know what that means? It means your focus throughout the day is how can I serve God today? How can I live out the truth of the gospel today? Because we are to be careful to engage in those good works.

Well you know me. I'm never content just to read something and give you a platitude and then move on. I had to ask myself a question. And I hope you are asking this question as well. If I'm to be careful to engage in good works. What are these good works that I need to be engaged in? What does it look like to be engaged in good deeds? And so I started kind of thinking through scripture and what all it has to say.

So I came up with a list of five things. And these are a little bit generic. But I'll try to bring a little bit of point to them. Five areas where we need to be engaged in good deeds. Number one. The first good deed that we need to be engaged in is prayer. Is prayer. Ryan that's the most patented statement in the world. And yet the most important one that I can make.

We often times put prayer as the very last thing that needs to be done. Have you ever heard this statement before? The only thing we can do now is pray. Right? We've done everything else we can. Now all we've got left to do is pray. Which means you probably should have started where you ended. And then you would have ended where you started. Right? And so this prayer.

This is the good work that we do. This is the good deed that we do. Now prayer is important in our own personal lives. And I don't want to discount that at all. But that's not what I'm talking about here. You should pray about the issues that you have in your life. Your own personal communion with God. But the prayer that I'm talking about here gets outside of the realm of what's behind your nose.

And gets inside of the realm of what's outside of your nose. Right? It gets past your vision and you start praying for the needs in other people's lives. There's a term for that in scripture. It's called intercessory prayer. It means to go on behalf of another. To go before the Lord on behalf of another. And that's one of the ways that you can be engaged in good works.

No matter where you are. No matter what's going on around you. You can be engaged in this process of good works. We have an email communication system here within Calvary Chapel. A lot of you signed up for it the last time that I brought it up. But if you haven't signed up for it yet. It's called flock note. There's information I think in your bulletin. And then there's also some information right as you go outside of the door.

For how you get signed up for that. And I send out prayer requests. And I don't send those out so that you can now have a gossip sesh. About what's going on with the prayer request. It's so that you can engage in good works. The good work of prayer. So that you can take that need. And you can take it before the throne room of God. Just like that story in the gospels.

Remember that story in the gospels of the guy that was lame. And he couldn't get to Jesus. And so his friends put him on a bed. And they carried him to Jesus. And when they got there the place was so crowded they couldn't get in. So what'd they do? They walked up the outside staircase on top of the roof. And they peeled back the roof tiles. And they literally lowered the roof tiles.

And they literally lowered their friend down to Jesus. And do you remember what Jesus said? Because of the faith of your friends you are healed. That is intercessory prayer pictured for us. You need to take the needs of others. Take them before the Lord. Because we are taught in scripture that the faith of others operates on behalf of the one. Isn't that great?

And you can be engaged in the good work no matter where you are. Towards the end of my dad's life. Last month. Maybe two. Left of his life. His desire to serve still was so great. It irritated him to no end. That he couldn't serve the way that he wanted to serve the Lord. And he forever. When he would work. Because my dad worked with people that had become blind.

And some of them their lives became limited because of their blindness. And he would tell them every single time. He said I know that there's things you can't do. But you can always pray. And it's a great work. And a great work to do. And I will never forget the day when I was sitting next to him in his recliner. And he said Ryan I'm finally at that point where I have to take my own advice.

Because all I can do now is pray. But God has shown me that's the greatest work that I can be doing. And so that's what he would do. And I'll never forget it. This was in the last week and a half of his life. And he didn't make much sense because of all the things he was going through. And what the cancer had done to his body and to his mind. He didn't make a whole lot of sense.

But I remember sharing with him about some kids that I was going to be working with. Some kids that were coming back that I was really excited that they were coming back that I got to work with. And in the one moment of clarity he had. He just broke out into spontaneous prayer without me prompting any of it for that group of kids. And it was the neatest thing ever.

And I thought man that's what it means by engaging in the good work of prayer. So number one we engage in prayer. Number two we engage in serving. And serving I know that's a very generic term. But if I got real real serious and was like okay this is the areas where you need to serve. You would go well it's only in those areas. No this is anything. Anything that you can do for your neighbor.

Anything that you can do for your neighbor that's sitting next to you in church right now. Anything you can do for your neighbor that's sitting next to you at your house. Anything that you can do for your neighbor that's next to you in the grocery store. Anything that you can do for your neighbor that's stranded on the highway. Anything you can do for your neighbor.

Just simply learn to serve. learn to serve. After all, what example did Jesus give us? Do you remember? The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. I am convinced of this one fact, that if you are battling with depression, the first thing that you need to do is start serving the people that are around you. Because oftentimes the best thing that we can do is get

our eyes off of ourselves and start serving the people that are around us. Sometimes that looks like carrying someone's groceries in for them. Like, man, I don't know how many times I see some elderly lady that's just struggling with her groceries, and I'm like, well, dude, that's not awesome. Like, let's get this taken care of, right? That's a simple act of service. Or your neighbor's

yard needs mowed, or your neighbor's leaves need cleaned out of the gutters. I'll never forget my 94-year-old neighbor coming to me and saying, you know, I always got up on my roof all by myself until I was about 85. And I'm like, please don't ever do that. Please call me. I don't. I do not want to pick you up off of the ground, right? And so I'm a server in that way. And there's

all kinds of things that you can do. Get creative about the things that you do. Sometimes serving looks like sending someone a note, sending them a text to let them know that you're praying for them. Sometimes serving someone means you just go to their house and you just sit with them. There's all kinds of ways, but that's how you engage in good deeds, is you pay careful

attention to the areas where people need served around you. Number three is giving. Now, this is not my tithing message, okay? Like, I don't give those. Unless it comes up in Scripture, I don't give any kind of a message about that sort of thing. This is not me talking about you giving to the church. This is me talking about you supporting the people that are around you. You seeing the

needs of those that are around you and you giving to that need. Because God has blessed us not so that we can live in selfishness. God blesses us so that we can bless others. God blesses us so that we can support the ministries that are going on throughout the world. Do you know that if you, so many ministry organizations, that if you give, like, $30, $35 a month, you can support a missionary? That's all that missionary needs in, like,

India or someplace like that to be able to do their entire job, $35 a month. And all of the work that that missionary does gets credited to your heavenly account because you invested, you partnered with the work of the ministry. Some of us know a single mom that does not know how she's going to buy groceries this week. And listen, while I have no problem with the church helping out with that, why don't you minister to that? And maybe you even have a ministry

that you can go with her. Wouldn't it be amazing if a single mom who had to buy groceries this week and had to go through the fight of taking two kids to the grocery store was able to go to the grocery store all by herself because you kept her kids, and then you gave her the $150 or whatever it was to go get groceries, and you said, I'm going to hang out with your kids. You go have some mom time. Because listen, I know you moms use grocery store as mom time. You go have some

mom time. Here's an extra $10. Grab a coffee on the way. And you just do that. I'll be here with the kids. They'll be happy. I'll be here with the kids. I'll be here with the kids. I'll be here with you when you get back. Don't worry about it. I'm here to tell you right now, that spells the love of Jesus greater than anything I could ever imagine. And that mom will want to know what it

is that prompted you to do that. And then her heart is wide open for Jesus. That's what I mean when I talk about giving, is giving to those needs that are around you. Number four is studying. Listen, I felt that necessary to include this, and we'll talk about this in 2 Timothy, but we're told to be diligent to present ourselves as approved unto God. And a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed

rightly dividing the word of truth. And I think one of the good works that you should engage in is the study of the word of God. And I think it's really important because of what I'm going to bring up with number five. And number five is this. The fifth area where we need to engage in good deeds is disciple making. Disciple making. The lost art of the church. Disciple making is where we're

the most important things that we can engage in. As a matter of fact, I would almost hesitate to say this, but I think I agree with it. I may change my mind later, but right now I agree with it. It's hard to say that you're a disciple of Jesus Christ if you aren't making other disciples. Because that's actually part of the job. It's actually part of the calling.

Because if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, that means that we are a learner and a follower of Jesus Christ. What did Jesus do? He made disciples. And so if you are not in the process of disciple making in some way, shape, or form, it's really hard to say that we're disciples of Jesus Christ because we're not doing what he did. We're not following in his footsteps at that point in time.

And listen, if you want to be a good disciple maker, you must be a good studier of God's word. But I need you to know something. To be someone who makes disciples doesn't mean you have to be perfect. And it doesn't mean you have to have some perfect knowledge of the word of God. It means you need to be a good disciple of God. And if you're a good disciple maker, you must be a good studier of God.

It means you need to be authentic, and it means you need to be available. You know where disciple making starts? It starts in your house, right? It starts with your kids. It starts with your wife. It starts with your husband. And you pour into them until you see them become disciples. And then it starts to spread out into the world around you. Perhaps somebody you work with just got saved. They just came to the knowledge

of Jesus. And so you start pouring into them. And it's simply you teaching them what God is teaching you. Talking to them about the realities of the word of God and what it means to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and authentically. And it's simply you teaching them what God is teaching you. But then sometimes it's going to spread into the church, right? You know one of the best places to

make disciples? I know I keep saying this, but I really do. I don't say this flippantly. I say it sincerely. One of the best places to start making disciples in the church is down there at the other end of the hallway. Because that is a captive audience. You know what I learned a couple of weeks ago? We used to say you got to capture a kid from the ages of about 12 to 18. Because that's

like the most influential time when they're making decisions in faith. You know what they've dropped that age to now? They've dropped that age to now. They've dropped that age to now. They've dropped that age to now. Four to 11. That's pretty shocking, isn't it? That if you don't start capturing hearts between the ages of four and 11, maybe four and 16, depending on the statistics

that you read, that is 63% of the people that make a decision for Jesus Christ started being poured into at the ages of four to 11. You know what that means? That means that audience right down there, which by the way, that's pretty much that audience down there, that's the most captive audience you've got. That is the most fertile soil for planting the truth of God's word into their lives. That's why I will always say the most important ministry in this church is not what

takes place in here. I like you guys, but it's not what takes place in here. The most important ministry is what takes place down there. Because that is not glorified babysitting. That is teaching kids the truth of God's word on a level their little minds can take in so that they can become disciples of Jesus Christ. But you know what else we could really use some disciple makers

right now? Now listen, with both of these things, you got to pass a background check because I like you more than I like you. But the other place where we need some disciple makers right now is in our youth group. Do you realize that between junior high and high school, we have 50 to 60 kids that get together now at the other end of the hall on a Wednesday night? That's a group of kids, right?

Like that's a bunch. And we need some disciple makers that come along with that. Some people who will live authentically before them, who will be willing to own their mistakes, but also to come alongside them to not be perfect, but to be authentic and to show them what it looks like to walk with Jesus. That's disciple making. And it gets a little ugly sometimes. You got to get

your hands messy sometimes. They'll break your heart, but they'll break your heart in the best way possible. And so if you want to engage in good deeds, you need to be a disciple maker. And so praying, serving, giving, studying, disciple making, that's what it means to engage in good deeds. And we engage in good deeds, notice what it says at the end of verse eight, because these things are

good and profitable. These things are good and profitable. They produce so much fruit. That's what we're watching happen here right now. Now, the second thing that he said, or I guess number five, if we're going to be faithful in good deeds is we need to avoid dissension. Avoid dissension. Notice what it says in verse nine. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife

and dispute about the Lord. For they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. He says two things about avoiding dissension. Number one, he says, avoid foolish controversies. Avoid foolish controversies. And he tells us what to avoid within these. And so we'll define this phrase

foolish controversies. And I think it was the Amplified Bible that put it this way, and I couldn't put it better myself. It was the Amplified Bible that put it this way. And I couldn't put it better myself. It says, these are foolish and ill-informed and stupid things. You know what I appreciate about that definition? Is it allows me to use the word stupid and

absolutely be justified in the use of it. Because have you ever heard somebody give their theory, and all you can think is, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. But Christians are like, you can't tell them that. That's not what Jesus would say. I don't know about that, but Paul would say. I mean, that's pretty much what he says there. Listen, some things are stupid,

and you need to tell people, that's stupid. And you should stop believing that. Because it just makes you look stupid, and it makes Christians look stupid. That's all that there is to it. Because that is foolish and ill-informed. And we have to be careful about this. He says to avoid foolish controversies. He goes on to describe them as this, as genealogies, as strife, as

dispute over the law. Today, we have a little different word for them. They're called conspiracy theories, right? Everybody's a little doctrine that they happen upon to. I don't care if it's a doctrine, or a theory, or a dispute about the rapture, which BT dubs, here we are still, right? Was it Thursday that we were supposed to get raptured? Son of a gun. Either one, we didn't go with group A. I watched a little video about

the three different groups, and he goes, clearly there was a group A that went, and I wasn't a part of group A. Those are the people that can quote the entire Bible anytime they need to. He goes, I'm probably with group C. And I'm like, me too. I think I'm with group C. I think I'm with the rest of the people. But, and listen, if y'all got caught up in that, I love you. It was stupid, right? Because if anybody claims a date for the

rapture, they are unbiblical. You know why? Because you know what the Bible says? No one knows the day or the hour. You know what I think the Bible means by that is? No one knows the date or the hour. That's called biblical exegesis, people, okay? Learn a lesson. But these are the things people live. And it divides churches, and it divides people, and it confuses people. You have no idea

how many people were genuinely disappointed that we were, I mean, I was genuinely disappointed we were here at the end of Thursday, but who genuinely are now going to struggle with their faith because that didn't happen. Because somebody that they trusted gave out a foolish controversy that was foolish, ill-informed, and stupid, and they believed it. And now their faith is destroyed because of it. Listen, that's the truly heartbreaking thing. That's why Paul tells Titus,

avoid those kinds of things. You know what the word avoid means? It means to turn around and walk the other way. That's what avoid means. It's a strong word that's used. And he says, do that because you don't want to destroy the faith of people. Because that's what happens in those kinds of controversies, is it destroys the faith of people. And listen, my statement on this always

is this. Be careful getting caught up in a doctrine that has a man's name on it, unless that man's name is Jesus. Be careful getting caught up in any kind of doctrine that bears a man's name, unless it's Jesus. Because the older that I get, the longer that I study God's word, the longer that I'm in ministry, the more I just kind of come back to, but isn't just following Jesus and God's word a lot more simple than what you just said? Isn't it just a lot more simple than that? And the answer to the question is, yes, it is a

lot more simple than that. Don't make it harder than it has to be. He said, avoid foolish controversies. Why? Because these controversies are unbearable. Unprofitable, in contrast to good deeds, and they are worthless. You know what the word worthless means? Devoid of success or results. In other words, they don't produce any godly results in the life of people. The second thing he says that they need to do if they're going to

avoid dissension is that they need to reject a factious man. Reject a factious man. The word factious means divisive men that promote heresy and cause dissension. Divisive men that promote heresy and cause dissension. Again, you have to beware of this kind of thing. And as a pastor, can I just say, I don't always hear everything that goes on. And so if someone is doing this, I would appreciate knowing about it because I would like to be able

to confront that and deal with it because I love all of you as sheep. I love all of you as the flock, and I will do anything I can to defend you against the wolf. I'll do anything in my power. I won't always be very good at it, but I'll sure try as hard as I can. Because he says reject that sort of thing. The word reject means have nothing to do with them. And listen, sometimes an individual that is factious in this way, sometimes it's very

theological in nature. They're very heretical in nature. In other words, they're preaching something that is the opposite of what God's word has to say or has falsehood mixed into what God's word has to say, and we need to beware of that. But sometimes a man who is factious simply wants to draw a calling unto himself. He wants to draw his own congregation out of the middle of another

congregation. And I see this happen sometimes. Usually the way it happens is God starts doing a work somewhere, and then all of a sudden everybody else wants to be a part of it. And the way that they want to be a part of it is they want to come and they want to help out. Only what they really want to do in their helping out is draw people out to be a part of their

group. This happened to me early on in ministry in a college group that I was in. That I led. Very first ministry I ever had. And I remember this group came in and I was like, man, what's off? Just something's a little bit off with them. And producing, I figured out what about their teaching was kind of off, but they were starting to draw some disciples unto themselves.

Some of the newer believers that were very new in their faith were starting to be kind of led astray. And so the first thing I knew to do, because notice this says reject a factious man after a first or a second warning. The first thing I knew to do is to start praying. I started praying, Lord, remove those people from this group. Lord, remove them completely. Which, by the way,

God did. He sent them to Tyler, Texas. I'm not joking. This is a true story. And I'll never forget the day that this individual showed up and said, well, I'm moving to Tyler. And I was like, thanks, God. Because I knew that if that didn't happen, I was eventually going to have to have a conversation. I was 22 years old. I didn't want to have that conversation. At 45, I don't want to

have that conversation. I would rather God just deal with it. But when you see it happening, it's got to get dealt with. Because my love for you all is greater than my desire to not offend somebody. And so he says, reject a factious man after a first or a second warning. Why? Knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning and is self-condemned. Perverted and sinning because

he just wants to call out a group, a sect, or a party unto himself. It's interesting because Paul knew a lot about division. He knew a lot about division within the church. As a matter of fact, one of his earliest letters that he wrote is the letter to Paul. And it's a letter to Paul. It's a letter of 1 Corinthians. And one of the main subjects of the first quarter of the book of

1 Corinthians is all about division in the church. Jesus warned us that the enemy would sow terrors among the wheat. So that's why you have to stay focused on the truth so that you don't get swept up in those things. And so he says to avoid dissension. So now that we've come to the end of the five things that he gave us, respect authority, respect others, remember what God has

done. We come to deeds and avoid dissension. We come to the closing of the letter. And I've simply entitled this Final Words. Notice what it says in verse 12. He says, When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Diligently help Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds,

to meet their needs, and to do good deeds. So that they will not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. So he says three things in these final closing words. First thing he says is, make every effort to come see me. Make every effort to come see me. He says, listen, there's a couple of, one of two guys is going to be coming to see you. One's name is Artemis,

and one's name is Tychicus. Very, very faithful brothers. He said, when they show up, they can take over the ministry for you. And then you come, make every effort, diligently make an effort to come see me. I don't know why, but this really stuck out to me as I was studying this. The fact that he said, diligently make every effort to come see me. And I think what I've thought about often in this, because of some things we've dealt with

in our congregation and things over the past three or four months, it made me think about where Paul was at in his life at this point in time. Paul's nearing the end of his life. He's nearing the end of not only his ministry life, but he's nearing the end of his life. As a matter of fact, 2 Timothy, which is the book we'll study starting next week, 2 Timothy is the last letter that we have from Paul, written right before he was executed. And so I think as he neared the end

of his life, he started realizing the importance of something. He started realizing the importance of community. See, Paul had always been a pioneer. He'd always been a go-getter, never let grass grow under his feet. He was always on to the next thing. He was always on to the next thing. He was always on to the next thing. Always had his band of brothers with him, but I think as he's slowing down in his older age,

he's realizing the importance of community. And he knew that as he is physically getting weaker, perhaps mentally getting weaker, but also just needing to know that the loved ones that he knew were close by, he just wanted to start drawing those disciples closer to him, because he needed that community and he needed that fellowship. And brothers and sisters, I want to remind you that Paul is a man of faith. He's a man of faith. He's a man of faith.

I want to remind us of something here this morning. We're the same way. I think if I've learned anything in these last three months, it's that I do not want to take for granted the people that I have in my life. It's that we need the community of believers, because we were never intended to live this life alone. We were never intended to walk this walk alone. We were always created

for community. Do you remember the only time that God looked at Adam and his creation and said, something wasn't good? He said, it's not good that he is alone. And the reason why is because God created us for community. He created us for fellowship. A few nights ago, we had a worship night with some of the college kids. It was great. It was a fantastic time together. And right before

we sang the last song, I interrupted them for just a minute. And I said, kids, I want you to look around you for just a minute. These kids that you see around you right now, this is your family. You're all from very different backgrounds. You're all from very different cities. Different states. Some of you even from very different countries. There's one thing that

bonds all of you together, and that's Jesus Christ. And so know that this is your family on this campus. As you go through life, as you go through school, as you're going through these things, this is your family. Now let's get a little awkward, put an arm around each other, and let's sing this last song together. And you know what happened? A whole bunch of kids did

exactly that. They got in several lines. They all put their arms around each other, and we all swayed together. Sometimes not always at the same time, but we tried. We tried. We all swayed together, and we belted that song out louder than any song we'd sang all night. And it absolutely got me. It was amazing. Because they got it. They're family. I want you to do something real quick. I want you

all to look around for just a second. Go ahead. Right? This is family. This is your family here. And as much as 2020 taught us that we need to be isolated, everything else has taught us you can't be isolated. You need each other. I was talking to someone the other day, and they said, they said, you know, I've done some studying about the way past cultures have grieved, and we do it so differently than past cultures do.

Cultures that came before us, they would actually take time where everybody and their family and friends would take time off of work, and they would gather together, and they would literally just mourn together. Mourning was never something somebody did on their own. Grieving was never something someone did on their own. They grieved together as a family, and not just for that one little service, but for sometimes weeks. Because they knew that that community of family was what they needed in that very hardest

time. And while it's a little silly for us to all look around at each other, I understand that, and I knew that. I want you to know that this is your family. And I want you to start viewing them that way. Because I, like Paul, have found myself going, man, just come visit with me for a little bit. Because it's just so good. It's so good to have people that you love, that you care about, that are around you all the time.

And so he says, diligently make every effort to come see me. When one of those two guys shows up, you come hang out with me, because I need some family with me right now. The second thing he says is, diligently help these travelers. Diligently help these travelers. He says, help Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way, so that nothing is lacking for them.

Now, we don't really know much about Zenos other than that he was a lawyer. It's only mentioned in Scripture. Imagine that. Like, the one call-out you get in Scripture is right here. Like, hey, help this dude. We don't know what kind of a lawyer he was. At that point in time, there were two types of lawyers. There were lawyers who were like scribes. They were literally experts in the

Mosaic Law. And then there were civil lawyers. Most think he was probably a civil lawyer. But he said, help these guys out. And of course, we know who Apollos is. He was the great orator of the early church. He says, these guys are going to be traveling. Make sure they've got what they're need. Make sure they have everything that they need. This is actually an opportunity for you to

exercise good deeds. Because you notice what it says in verse 14? Our people must learn to engage in good deeds to meet the pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. Our people must learn to engage in good deeds. And this is the perfect opportunity for them to do so. These guys are traveling through, engaging the good deed of serving, and hospitality, and make sure that

they have everything that they need. Because they need to learn to meet the pressing need. That phrase, the pressing need, is kind of interesting. It means whatever the occasion may require. Whatever the occasion may require. Again, something I'm learning as I get a little bit older is to do what the occasion requires. It's easy for us to be rigid, especially

in our Western culture, right? Like, we're just rigid. Like, nope, this is my schedule. This is what I do. I rigidly follow my schedule. And you realize that God looks at your schedule, and he's like, no. That's not what's necessary. This is what's necessary for you today. This is what's necessary for you today. Meet this pressing need. Meet this thing that's

right in front of you. I was on my way to work, but this person needs help, but I'm gonna be late to work, but they're stranded and they need help. Eh. Maybe take a minute and meet the need that's right in front of you. Go ahead and do whatever the occasion may require. I'm learning, slowly but surely, to go, Lord, this is what's on my schedule today. Why don't you

show me what's necessary today he's really good at doing that he says make sure that they know to engage in these good deeds and do whatever the occasion may require and then he gives his final word to them all who are with me greet you greet those who love us in the faith grace be with you all now again i want you to picture what this must have been like for titus to receive this letter titus is in a difficult place where he's ministering might even feel a little bit all alone in the way that he's ministering because one of his jobs that he was just told about earlier in this letter is he needed to appoint some elders so titus gets this letter from paul right and he's he's reading it and he's he's reading along yeah that's true i'll be

confident okay all right do that and then he gets to the very end and he says all who are with me greet you you know what titus was reminded of in that one moment i'm not all alone i'm not the only one this church in christians it's not the only one because there's a whole body of believers there's a there's a global church out there that's going through the same things we're going through they're struggling with the same things that we're struggling with and they're behind us too they're praying for us too just like we're praying for them now imagine titus reading this to himself and going the necessity of the body isn't it great that we have the whole body of christ together and then imagine

him getting up and reading it in front of his church one of the many churches there are in crete saying guys guys i got a letter right he goes straight blues clues on it he's like we just got a letter and wonder what it says and he stands up and he reads it to everybody and he gets to the end and and it says and all who are with me here greet you and the entire body goes you mean it's not just us we're not the only ones out there no there's an entire global church of god that is behind us and we're all in the same church and we're all in the same church and we're all in the same page and we're all in the same family we're all going the same direction he says all who are

with me greet you and that's the necessity of the body of christ is that we're all in this together you're not all by yourself you have a really weird family around you and we all like you sometimes but we all love you all the time and then he closes the way he often does grace be with you all it would be interesting to know just how many times in paul's letters he uses the word grace i'm sure it's an incredible amount because that theme seemed to flow through everything that he shared because he like the writer of amazing grace knew one truth and it's what i write in all and the cover of all of my bibles and it says this his grace has brought me safe thus far and it's his grace that will lead me home brothers and

sisters we were saved by grace we saved by grace and we're saved by grace and we're saved by grace we stand in grace we have our victory in grace and it is grace that will usher us in to the kingdom of god and listen it's grace that we'll spend all of eternity learning about grace be with you all amen let's all stand and if you'd bow with me father we come before you and lord i thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning and lord i just want to pray that as we as we go into this week lord may we engage in good deeds lord may we take maybe pay careful attention to the opportunities that are around us may we pay careful attention to the people that are around us to the needs that are around us so that we can be the authentic

believers in jesus christ that you've called for us to be living out an authentic faith to the people that are around us so father we just lift these things to you now in jesus name amen before they do this last song i don't know why but i feel like i'm supposed to stay up here for prayer so if anybody needs prayer i'll be uh i'll be right over there in the corner you can just come see me i just thank you for another day i thank you for your word that was given out this morning it is for how sharp it is god i just pray that as we leave here today lord i pray that the power of your holy spirit just go with us minister to us lord god or may your may your word have its mighty effect in our lives god

and we love you lord and we praise you in jesus name amen guys have a wonderful week god bless you