Faithful Conduct Pt 1

All right. Good morning, church family. It's good to see you all. I'm glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father God, we thank you for another day and thank you for another opportunity to be here, Lord, and to be in your house. Lord, we ask that as we come before you this morning, God, just to help us to sit everything that's going on in our lives aside and to be able to focus on you, Lord, to lavish praise upon you, to glorify you, Lord. We ask your blessing upon this time. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

He speaks a better word. It's singing out with life. Precious blood of Christ speaks a better word. Speaks a better word. A robe of righteousness. My hope and my defense. Your blood forever covers me. Forever covers me. Speaks a better word. History. It covers me with destiny. It's making all things right. The precious blood of Christ. It's rewriting my history. It covers me with destiny. It's making

all things right. The precious blood of Christ. It's rewriting my history. It covers me with destiny. It's making all things right. The precious blood of Christ. It's singing out with life it's shouting down the precious blood of christ speaks the better words the better weeks the better take these hands and lift them up for i have not the strength to praise you near

enough see i have nothing i have nothing without you and take my voice and for it let it i have found for i have nothing i have nothing without you and don't and take my body and build it i have nothing without and don't yes lord god without you we are nothing lord we have everything to you god and we glorify you this morning come let us worship our king come let us bow as our savior your name would you guys stand with me for the last one and god as we uh as we sing this last song lord god lord we acknowledge that nobody could have done what you did for us lord god you willingly step down from your throne in heaven you came to earth lord and you spilled your precious blood out upon that cross lord

lord you bought us back you bought us back from sin and death lord god you gave us new life you gave us hope for eternal life with you lord jesus and we just thank you god and we praise you and we glorify you this morning how deep father's love for us beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure the pain has wounds which bar the chosen one bring my sin and i hear my mocking voice no gifts just cry his death and res he should give i just thank you you can take somebody like me and you can take somebody like me and you can take somebody like me and you can take somebody like me and make me your treasure lord god lord we we lift you up this morning lord we glorify you

we praise you this morning for what you've done for us god lord nobody could have done what you did and you did it you willingly did it lord because you loved you loved us that much you loved me that much lord god we thank you i thank you lord and now as uh as pastor ryan comes lord god i just pray that your word would go out mightily lord god speak powerfully through pastor ryan this morning lord and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it and father we love you and we praise you in jesus name all god's people said amen let's take some time and greet one another good morning welcome to calvary chapel i'm glad that you have joined us if you would may uh grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements here

over on the left hand side of your bulletin are the uh the things that go on throughout the week so um if you would uh take an opportunity to look at the bulletin and see if you have any questions look at those and see if there's a spot that you can get plugged into um over in the middle section of your bulletin a handful of things to take note of first of all as just a reminder that uh we do have the construction going on out there and it's going pretty good we're rolling along pretty good um i think well my contractor's not in here this service he was here last service man i i'm hoping in the next six weeks or so we're going to be done with that so um but but i want to answer a couple

of questions that have come up to me here recently the first question is so ryan what's the new building for i'm really glad that you asked that question the new building is almost primarily for all of the sunday school classes because all of the children have outgrown all of the classrooms and so um so that will almost exclusively be sunday school classrooms other than there's going to be a couple of large bathrooms at the end down there so for all of your bathrooming needs if you need a little bit more privacy that's between you and jesus but uh but that'll be down there uh for you and um probably kid check will be down in there as well um the second question i have received is this hey ryan when are we going to remodel the kitchen

because it looks really ugly so so here are my i have a short answer and a long answer okay are you ready the short answer to when are we going to remodel the kitchen is not today the the long answer are you ready for this the long answer for when are you going to remodel the kitchen is one of these days right see the long answer is twice as long as the short answer and i know some of you are a little wordier than others so so whichever those answers you like that's the answer we're going to answer those questions or a question is that you are going to remodel the kitchen or are you going to remodel the kitchen and then answer the question so if you are going to remodel

the kitchen i'm sorry if you're going to remodel the kitchen i have to put my priority with uh a keeping my sunday school teachers and uh and b taking care of those kids and then we'll go with everything else from there so hopefully that answers your questions on that if you have further questions then i probably have no answers for you um tonight is intercessory prayer so please join us if you are interested at six o'clock down at the other end of the hallway that is happening today do teach Sunday school. And that's fantastic. But we do need a handful more because obviously I have lots of classrooms that I'm about ready to fill up. So if you're interested in teaching Sunday

school, you've been around for a little while, we'd like you to have been around about six months or so, then come visit with me about that and we can talk about that. We also would love to have a little bit more help in the ushers ministry, in the sound and video ministry. I think those are the big ones right now that we're needing some extra hands in. So ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up this Saturday, the 13th. So take note of that, mark that down and come join

for that. And then also we have our new church directory and my lovely wife is going to come share with us about the church directory. There she is, folks. Isn't she great? I love her. It's time for us to start a new church directory. We have a lot of new faces in here and maybe some faces that have aged a few years since we've done the last one. And we don't look the same anymore

as we used to. We don't look the same as we used to. We don't look the same as we used to. So anyway, starting next Sunday, for the next three Sundays, we're going to have church directory pictures between first and second service and then after second service. There's five minute time slots. The sign up is out in the foyer and Lauren Lewis is going to be here after second service to help with sign up. So if you haven't signed up, do it. Spots are

running low. So if you haven't signed up, do it. If you haven't signed up, do it. Now or never.

Okay, and also we'll be taking pictures back in this room. They've got that all set up back there as a little picture booth. So make sure that you get signed up for that. Those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 67. Psalm 67. We'll be looking at

the New American Standard for this part so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy of a New American Standard Bible, there should be one in a row around you. If there's not, it's time to make a friend. And as you are turning to Psalm 67, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor

Allen in the even verses. Psalm 67, for the choir director with stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. God be gracious to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. That your way may be known on the earth. Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For you will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide

the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. The earth is yielded its produce. God, our God, blesses us. And read verse 7 with me. God blesses the nations of the earth. May fear him. And so, Father, we do pray that your face would be, would shine upon us, Lord, that you would show us your grace. And Father, as we fear you, may you continue

to speak to our hearts. And so, Lord, minister to us by the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray. Draw us near to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus, chapter 2. Titus, chapter 2. Well, today we move into a new section of Titus, a little series over chapter 2 that has to do with faithful conduct. We said that the

pastoral epistles all deal with the theme of faithfulness. And so, in the first one, we looked at, in the first chapter of Titus, we looked at faithful leadership. And he laid out for him not only his role to bring in and to raise up faithful leaders, but gave what those qualifications are supposed to look like, and then the necessity for that faithful leadership, because there is false in the world that needs dealt with. And so, now he comes to chapter 2, and he tells him about faithful conduct. And really, we get in chapter 2 to the heart of the

book of Titus, because the book of Titus, because Paul is writing to a pastor who is pastoring a very difficult area, an area that is known more for its immorality, that's known more for its laziness than anything else he knows. The people that he's addressing are going to have issues that they need to overcome in their lives. And so, he addresses him on what faithful conduct is supposed to look like, because the heart of the book of Titus is that Godly thinking and Godly teaching will ultimately produce in our lives Godly conduct. It will be seen in the way that we live our lives. And it's kind of interesting, because honestly, the heart

of the gospel is very similar. The heart of the gospel is that our lives are transformed through the message of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, but that ultimately results in Godly thinking and Godly conduct. The gospel ultimately results in holiness in our lives, or at least it should if it's taking its true work in our lives. And so, that's what Paul is going to teach Titus about in this second chapter. And there's two things he's going to tell him. He's going to

give him the instructions for godly conduct, and then he is going to tell him about the grace for godly conduct. Today, we will look at the instructions. And so, starting off in chapter 2, verse 1, it says this,

Likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, and being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Likewise, urge the young men to be sensible, and all things show yourselves to be an example of good deeds, with pure, pure, pure, purity, and doctrine dignified. Sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Urge bond slaves to be subject to their

own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. And so, what Paul does is he addresses a handful of different groups, and tells them exactly what their conduct should look like, what Titus should be teaching them that their conduct should look like, and what should be expected of these different folks within the church. It starts off with Titus. Paul actually has a pastoral admonition for Titus. Notice what

he says in verse 1. But as for you, meaning the pastor, speak things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Speak things which are fitting for sound doctrine. The idea that's given here, and I read this in a couple of verses, is that the pastor should be teaching them what they should be teaching them what they should be teaching them. And so, what he says in this commentary, I thought it was

fantastic, is that he needed right teaching for right living. Right teaching for right living. In other words, Titus was supposed to address the issues of life. He was not to ignore things that were going on in the church. He was not to soft-pedal things that were going on in Scripture. He needed to give them right teaching for right living. I appreciated what the Amplified Bible

had to say about this. It says, sound doctrine, which produces men and women of good character, whose lifestyles identify them as true Christians. Good teaching that produces men and women of good character so that their lifestyles reflect their Christianity. You see, Titus had been given a mission, and all of us as pastors are given a mission. And the mission that we're given is to give out the truth of God's words so that you can

be thoroughly equipped to be who God has called for you to be. As pastors, what we like to do is we like to give messages that incite a great deal of emotion and a great deal of passion that will hopefully bring some sort of a response, because that's the exciting thing everybody's always looking for. And that's what we're doing. We're looking for the truth of God. We're looking for the

truth of God. We're looking for the truth of God. We're looking for the truth of God. We're looking for for in church, right? Everybody's always looking for the church service where everybody's down at the altar, and they're down on their faces before the Lord, or everybody's in tears, and there's this huge movement, and everybody's excited about it. But that's not real life. That happens sometimes.

It's wonderful to have those kinds of messages. But at the end of the day, the week-in, week-out, day-in, day-out messages that a pastor should bring are the messages that continue to promote good doctrine in the life of a believer. Because emotions won't change your daily life. Doctrine changes your daily life. Emotions will fill your life. Doctrine will fill your life. Emotions will

fill you with passion for the moment, but good teaching will fill you with the knowledge that you need to live your life on the daily, to live a daily walk with Jesus Christ. And so he says, don't get caught up in the emotion. Don't just be excited about the passion of things. Teach things so that people will know how they are to live. Give right teaching so that they

can have right living. And so that's the admonition that he gives to Titus. Now, he goes on to instruct the older men. Notice what it says in verse 2. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance. So he gives them a handful of instructions about the older men. First of all, he says the older men, and this is not

speaking of elders. It's speaking of those who literally both physically and maturity-wise are older, which by the way, I've had a hard time figuring out which of these groups I fit into. I know I'm not in the older women or the younger women. I know that's not me. It's 2025, but I don't know if I'm one of the older men or if I'm one of the younger men. And I've had a hard

time figuring that out this week. So I put myself in both categories so that I absolutely learn from both of them. So fellas, if you're about my age-ish, you know, 29, if you're about that age, then just you figure out which category you want to be in and which one hits you the hardest, right? So he says to the older men, number one, they are to be temperate. They're to be temperate. The

actual definition of that word temperate means not addicted to wine. That's the idea of that word, and it speaks of either abstaining completely from alcohol or only using alcohol in such a way that will not lead to any sort of drunkenness. That's the idea behind being temperate here. But in its broader sense, the idea of the word temperate means to be careful in all areas of life, to be careful in all areas of life. And I find it interesting that this is

what he tells the older men. You know why? Because if scripturally you look, especially throughout the Old Testament, do you know when most of the men in the Old Testament fell within their career? They completed u. Do I sensually look, and then I say, kind of sin in their lives it wasn't when they were a 25 year old kid it was when they were towards the end of their lives why what happens towards the end

of someone's life well if you've walked with Jesus for a long time and you fought a lot of battles in that walk with Jesus Christ and you've you've established some credibility in your walk you have some maturity you have some knowledge you have some victory you have some security pretty soon you stop pursuing God in that wholehearted way and you become you become a little too comfortable in the past victories and you stop looking for current work in your life and so you're you're resting on the victories of the past and so you you stop being careful in all areas of your life you allow some compromise in because after all you've lived a good long life it's okay to enjoy the finer

things now and pretty soon you find that you slip into sin because you've stopped being careful like you were when you first started walking with Jesus he tells the older men to be temperate to be careful in all things that they do in every way that they do in every way that they do in every way that they do in every area of life knowing that no matter how old you are it doesn't mean that you are now exempt from falling into sin the second thing that he tells the older men is that he tells them to be dignified he tells them to be dignified that word dignified means worthy of respect worthy of respect now listen I know that every older man in here not that there's very many of you

but there are every older man in here you want respect in your life right you demand respect in your life especially from these young kids but I'm here to tell you something right now and I plan on stepping on everybody's toes here this morning not because I want to I don't like to do that but that's what the Bible does Jesus has been stepping on my toes of this path of Scripture all week so I get to do the same thing to you now listen if you want respect in your life you need to act like a respectable individual in your life if you want that respect you need to live a life that is worthy of respect you can't live like hell all week long and then hope that people respect you on Sunday mornings you can't live like the

rest of the world and like some immature kid all the time and then expect people like you and respect you don't need it until your life is complete enough because the next is that you need to have daily correr-to. to respect you as an elder, as someone who has walked with Jesus for a long time. You need to live a life that is worthy of respect. And so he tells these older men, he says, they need to live a dignified life.

The third thing he tells them that they need to be is they need to be sensible. Sensible. The idea is sober or of a sound mind. Sober or of a sound mind. But then he really starts to get into the nitty gritty here. And he tells them, number four, that they need to be sound in faith. They need to be sound in faith. That word sound means to be whole or to be healthy.

To be whole or to be healthy. And it means a couple of things in its context here. First of all, to be sound in faith means that you need to know and understand what God's word has to say and continue to grow in your understanding of what God's word has to say about the faith in general. Too many older men have relied on the knowledge that they received early on in their walk with Jesus Christ and have stopped pursuing a continuation.

They have stopped pursuing the continual knowledge of God's word and ever-growing knowledge of God and his word. And that's why oftentimes you can end up slipping into some form of false doctrine because you stop being sharp. You stop being as keen to things as you are supposed to be and you're not as sound in the faith. But the other thing is just because you're an older man doesn't mean that you can't keep taking steps of faith.

Right? Like somehow we think, oh, taking steps of faith is for the young guys, right? That's for the kids. That's for those that are just starting out in their life. Really? Do you know how old Abraham was when God called him? He was an old dude, right? Do you remember how old he was when Isaac was born? Dude was old, right? Like take steps of faith because God wants you to be sound in faith.

Not only the faith that you know, but the faith that you live in your life. Don't decide that you're in your twilight years of God ever using you because maybe God wants to use you in a completely different way. Maybe God wants to use you in a new thing, but he still wants you to take steps of faith. So he says be sound in faith. The fifth. The fourth thing that he tells them is that they need to be sound in love.

Do you know why he tells them they need to be whole or healthy in the way that they love people? Because you know what happens to old men? They get grumpy, right? Like, listen, there's a reason why they could make a movie called Grumpy Old Man. It's because that's what happens to y'all. And it's happening to me, too. Like I'm grumpier than I used to be. I'm more irritable than I used to be.

Part of it's things I've gone through in life here recently. But part of it's that I just don't have patience for things anymore like I did at one point in time. Right? And the older I get, the more I'm just like, well, that's just obnoxious. Right? And I'm not always very loving about the way that I do it. And listen, you need to be loving with people even though they can be obnoxious.

Because you know what? You can be obnoxious. And you want people to love you, right? And you need to be sound in that love. Listen, don't set the example of being the angry, grumpy old man. Set the example of being the older gentleman that still loves people in the way that you desire to be loved. I'm not saying that doesn't mean you can't hold people accountable.

That's part of love. I'm not saying that you can't sometimes let people know when they're living in sin. Or they're being obnoxious. That's living in love. But you can do it in a way that is kind and gentle. Which is also living in love. He tells them to be sound in their faith. But he also tells them to be sound in love. And then the last thing that he tells them is that they need to be sound in perseverance.

Sound in perseverance. The word perseverance means steadfastness. Steadfastness. And I want to read this to you out of a Greek dictionary that I looked this up in. I thought it was fantastic. Perseverance is the characteristic. Of a man who is not swerved from his purpose or his loyalty to faith. Even by the greatest trials and suffering. I'll read that to you again.

Perseverance is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his purpose and his faith. Even by the greatest trials and sufferings. Man, I need you to listen clearly to what I'm about to tell you. God has made you with broad shoulders. God has made you with strong. Muscles and God has made you with grit and determination, not so that you can Lord authority over people, but so that you can stand up under the pressures of life and be the strength for the rest of your family so that you can be the strength in the backbone of the church so that you can be the strength in the backbone of these young men and young women that don't have fathers in their lives.

That's why God has made you strong and he wants you to be sound in perseverance. He wants you to continue to persevere, even though it's going to be hard, even though this life is a hard one that we live. Because. There is a younger generation that's looking at you and they're seeing the little bit of gray in your beard. They're seeing the lack of hair on top of your head.

They're seeing all of those things, but they see you still stand up under the pressures of life and you still continue to walk with Jesus because you are sound and perseverance. Fantastic movie that I used to watch about 20 or so years ago. Why are all the movies that I like now so old? I don't like that anyway. That puts me closer to the older men here, but it's called We Were Soldiers.

Very violent movie. I'm not saying you should go watch it. It's fantastic movie Mel Gibson made it. Mel Gibson was in it and there's this character in it that's played by Sam Elliott and he's this this just gnarly old command like a major or I don't remember what rank he was, but but he was just a war tested battle tested guy and every morning as they're training to go into these these battles in Vietnam, there's this young guy that's a sergeant that comes up to him every day.

He's all chipper and he's like, Good morning, sir, and he's like, How the do you know what kind of morning it is all you don't even know what a. Good morning is, and he just feels really bad every every single time it comes to him. Well, they end up going into battle and the battles hard, and once they survived the battle and the sun is coming up, there's Sam Elliott standing there gnarled after all of the battle that he just went to. And there's that young soldier, that young sergeant who would say good morning every day, and he looked at him.

He says, Now this son is a good morning. You know why he can say that? Because he persevered. He knows what it looks like because he's been there before. That's why. When he sees some young guy who doesn't know, come here from Sikkim, and he's tell him good morning all the time. He's like, You don't even know what it's like, but now he does, and now he can tell him this is what it looks like to persevere, and this is what it looks like to stand up under the pressure.

And now you're going to understand it to men. We need you. We need you to be that we need you to be those who persevere under the struggle, and yet you keep your purity and your faith strong, no matter what pressures you face. And so he addresses the older men. The second thing that he does is he addresses the older women. Notice what he says. He says, Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good so that they may encourage the young women.

Listen, there's almost zero way to make it out of this unscathed. Okay, like he just said, Tell the older women. Like, how do you can you imagine being Titus and reading this for the first time? He's like, Dude, no matter who I address this to. I'm in. I'm in trouble. It doesn't matter how old they are. If you call them all over women, that's a problem right there.

Well, anyway, so I'm let you all decide this for yourselves who the older women are, but he tells them a handful of things. Number one, they are to be reverent in their behavior, reverent in their behavior. The idea is this behavior that is fitting for a person that is consecrated to God behavior that is fitting for a person that is consecrated to God. I will remind us of the same thing that I reminded us of with the older men.

Age does not equal holiness. Age does not equal. Consecration. After all, there's a reason why they can make a show called the Golden Girls, right? It doesn't matter how old you are. Send will still affect you. And the older that you get, the more closely you need to stay to Jesus. Because here's the thing with our flesh, the older we get, the better it gets at sending the older we get, the more creative it gets at pursuing the things of the world.

And so he tells the older women, you need to be reverent in your behavior behavior that is fitting for a person that is consecrated to God. The second thing that he. Tells the older women is that they need to not be malicious gossips. Okay. Can you. I'm feeling scared right now. Titus is like, I'm supposed to tell them to tell malicious gossip. You know what the Greek word for malicious gossip is?

It's Diabolos, right? Like, that's I just saw somebody go, I feel the same way. Like, that's dangerous, right? Diabolos, the devil, right? Because it's bad. You know, the word means slanderer. The idea is that destroying someone with your words. Listen, I've been around church long enough. I've been a pastor long enough to know. I love you. I love you, ladies.

Man, can you guys talk? Oh, fellas, protect me later, which please. So many issues that started a church talk with the older women talking amongst each other and being gossips. Just a whole bunch of backbiting, a whole bunch of talking. And this person starts their little group over here. And this person starts. Their little group over here and in all of the talking begins.

And now there's now there's infighting within the church and there's issues that need dealt with in the church. There's nothing new. The first issue that came up in the church in the book of Acts started with what the older women complaining that they were being left out of the daily distribution. That was the first division in the church that came up. And so and so there is a word.

Don't don't worry. Younger man, I'm gonna get to you in just a minute. So there's a word that is spoken here that says sometimes you just need to keep your mouth shut. I mean, our mom said it best, right? And I bet you've told your kids this, too. If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. And sometimes we have to start looking at our words and the things that we say and and the talk that goes on and go, is this is this healthy and upbuilding?

Am I am I building people up with the things that I'm saying? Or am I either a just trying to be nosy or be trying to trying to spread dissension and just talk about something? Because he says, tell the older women to not be malicious gossips. Number three, he tells them not to be enslaved to much wine. I think it's interesting that he told both the older men and the older women the same thing about that.

But then the fourth thing that he says is that he says, tell them to teach what is good, especially to the younger women. Listen, there's a there's a needed ministry in the church today, and it's a neglected ministry in the church today. And the needed, neglected ministry in the church today is older women teaching younger women, because because here's what happens. The older women don't think that.

The younger women care what they have to say, and sometimes the younger women don't care what the older women have to say, because we think our lives are so different that there's no way that they can understand. But I'm here to tell you. The ministry of the older women teaching the younger women is so important because you ladies listen, I said something bad earlier, but you just need to know y'all have wisdom and I appreciate that wisdom. I, as a young man, appreciate the wisdom.

See what I did there, young man. I, as a young man. Appreciate the wisdom of some of you ladies, right? Like, there's a good number of women in this church that are like second mothers to me, and and I have appreciated over the years the wisdom that you have shared with me, the the wisdom that you have taught me the things that that whether because you were my Sunday school teacher or because you've just simply sat and had a conversation with me and shared what God's done in your life, I've appreciated that wisdom.

And if I, as a man, can appreciate that wisdom, I can't imagine what that wisdom would mean to a young mother, to a young mother who's raising kids. And is that this? I'm wondering if she's ever going to get to sleep a whole night again, wondering if if if she's screwing everything up with the way that she's raising her kids, if she even understands what it looks like to be a wife, if if she even remembers what it looks like to to to feel pretty anymore because because all she does is take care of kids all day long and they need your wisdom, they need you to come alongside them and say, listen, you're going to survive this thing. I promise you one day you're going to sleep again.

You'll be my age, but you will sleep again. I promise and share with them the things that you've done. This is how I. Worked in this situation. This is what God taught me through this situation. This is what it was like when my marriage was so hard that I didn't know if I was going to survive it. This is what it was like when my husband started looking at other women and and I had to deal with how I was going to handle that.

And and this is how God brought us through it. We need that in the church and we've become so separated in so many ways that we forget how necessary that is. And so he says, you older ladies teach the younger women. Teach them these things because they need to know these things. And so he addresses the older women. The next thing that he does is he begins to address the younger women on dovetailing off of what he said about teaching the younger women.

This is what the older women are supposed to teach them to love their husbands. Middle of verse four to love their children, to be sensible, to be pure, to be workers at home and kind and subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Listen, this is going to probably get me in a little bit of trouble to understand what the word of God has to say. But let's look at it the way that God's word actually says it.

He says, tell the tell the younger women to love their husbands. The word love there is not what we usually think of in the Greek. It's not. I thought it would be agape, honestly, like I thought that that's what that word was going to be. And I don't remember what the Greek word was, but more literally translated, it means to be a lover of your husband. And can I just say from a husband's perspective, like we try to put on a good show sometimes that we're strong guys and all that kind of stuff.

But at the end of the day, we need to know our wives love us. Yeah. Yeah. And in all of you young ladies in here that are that are married, you just need to know, like your husband needs to know just how important he is to you. He needs to know how much you appreciate the hard work that he does. He needs to know that that that you love him above all else. You know, I fell in love with my wife, first of all, because she's pretty.

That's where it started. But but but what really got me is that when we first started dating, I'd been through a really bad relationship that was a really terrible breakup. And so when we got together, I've just learned to be a very honest person about things. We got together. I said, Listen, I can promise you one thing. I'm going to be an emotional roller coaster, and I don't know what that's going to look like.

So if you're in, I'm in. And that's how we started dating. And she was like, Okay, me too. And we rolled on. Listen, I'm the emotional roller coaster, not her. Okay. That's just all that there is to it. But from that point on, I was like, This is the greatest woman in the world because she has loved me for me. She loved me, warts and all. She loved me, mistakes and all.

And I'm here to tell you right now, if you can learn to do that with your husband, it'll change your marriage. It'll it'll change the way you live your life. It's sometimes the older. Women need to teach the younger women what that looks like, because all of us by nature are selfish, and so they need to be taught that the second thing that he tells the younger women that they need to do and that the older women need to teach them is to love their children again.

We're selfish by nature, and children require every aspect of our lives. They require every bit of our energy. I had somebody asked me one of the first few weddings that I did. Somebody said, I said, Okay, so what? What questions do you have for me after we finish premarital counseling? And they said, Is the first year really the hardest? And they said, It wasn't for us for some people it is, but for us, it was not the hardest.

The thing that was the hardest in our marriage was having the first kid because we just love spending all of our time together. We love doing everything together. We love spending all of our free moments with each other. And once the first kid came along, it was like, Well, that's different now because all of our spare time is spent taking care of this tiny human being, and so it affected our time together.

And so so we both had to learn a little bit what it was to love our children and what that was supposed to look like on a day to day basis. Right? And he says, Young women need to be taught and love their children. The third thing he tells him again, the goo just keeps getting deeper that I get to step in here is that they need to be pure. The word pure means to be modest and pure from carnality, modest and pure from carnality.

We live in a culture right now that does not celebrate modesty. It celebrates self expression. I have no issue with self expression. And now we're in this culture where if any girl is told to be modest, that what you're actually doing is not what you're doing. What you're actually telling them is that is that you want control over their life and over their body.

No, I want to see young women have respect for themselves and know that they are not finding their worth in their looks. They don't find their worth in whether or not they can attract a man with their body, but they are finding that their worth is in their creator, that their worth is in who God made them to be, and their worth is in the hidden person of the heart. And teaching someone to be modest is a beautiful thing to do because it teaches self respect and it teaches self worth. And it's not something that's taught in our culture anymore because again, it's seen as provincial.

It's seen as controlling it, and that's not ever what it's intended to be. But he tells the older women and teach the younger women how to be modest, unless you have to be careful how you do that, because if you've got some young lady that comes in and she's just started walking with Jesus, that's probably not the first place to start with her. Probably the first place to start is to teach her. Who?

Who she is in Christ, and once she understands who she is in Christ, then you can start talking about the outside. Just like if a guy came in here that was that was covered in a bunch of clothing or tattoos or piercings. I'm like, I'm not going to first of all start telling him how he should look on the outside. I'm going to tell him this is who you are in Christ, and then I'm gonna let Jesus deal with everything from then on.

We said the young, the older women need to teach the younger women about purity, about modesty. The fourth thing he says is they need to be teach them to be workers at home. Again, incredibly unpopular. I think Harrison Bucker still probably gets hate mail because of things like this. Because he had the audacity to say that God has given within each young woman a desire to see their home be beautiful.

You know how I know that that's true, whether you are love Jesus or not, because HGTV exists, right? I'm not joking. Look, why can they make an entire industry out of home decorating? It's because you ladies have this God-given desire for your home to be beautiful, and I love it. Sometimes I hate when my wife gives me props. Sometimes I hate projects, and when I say sometimes, I mean all the time.

That's neither here nor there, but God has given you this innate desire to see your home be beautiful, and it's because that's a God-given thing for you. Listen, if it were up to us as men, we would live in a garage with a bed and a gym, right? That's all we would have, and we would be completely content with it. I was thinking about this the other day. I was looking at my wife's telling me something.

She wants a house, and I thought, man, if it was just me, what would I want? Well, I wouldn't want this house, right? Like, I would still live in a one-bedroom apartment. My one-bedroom apartment was perfect. You know why? Because it had a pool just outside that I didn't have to do a thing to. It had a gym that I didn't have to do a thing to take care of or purchase anything.

And somebody came in and did all of my maintenance for me. I'm like, this is perfect, right? I don't need anything else in my entire life besides this. But my wife, she wants a house because she has this innate desire within her, this God-given, to want that, which is why you have this innate desire to love your kids and to take care of your home. And rather than saying that makes it provincial and backwards,

why don't you say, this is what God's given me and celebrate it rather than fighting against it? It's not saying women can't work, women can't have a job. It's saying, at the end of the day, your greatest desire is to work in your home. And that's okay. That's a God-given thing, and we should celebrate that. He tells the older women to teach the young women to be workers at home and to be kind,

and the last one, and I'll be done stepping in it for a little while, is that they are to be subject to their husbands. I want to first of all say what this does not mean. What this idea of being subject to your husbands does not mean, it doesn't mean that you have to obey every man. That every man you should put yourself under the authority of that's cultish in thinking.

And it's not ever what the Bible has to say. It doesn't mean that you should be a lap-dog for your husband that does everything that your husband tells you to, without question. It does not mean that, that you have no say in anything that takes place within your household doesn't mean any of those things doesn't mean you'd ever be abused either physically or spiritually or emotionally doesn't mean any of those things so if it doesn't mean all of that what does it mean well that word to be subject is actually a military term and it talks about being under in rank or to have an order of rank now listen we need to understand something God has intended that that a husband would be the head of a home and and you can dislike that all

you want to but that's what the Bible says and quite frankly it's where it's where families are the happiest you show me a home where the wife is the head of the home and I'll show you a home with a wife that's insecure because she never knows from day to day whether her husband is in it or not because he won't take the lead in his home and fellas you need to know something you can either take the lead in your home and God will hold you responsible for it or you can not take the lead in your home listen and God will hold you responsible for it but either way you look at it God's gonna hold you responsible for what takes place as it takes place in your home and it always takes place when you

place in your home because whether you want to admit it or not whether culture wants to admit it or not you're the head of your home he says teach the women to to be subject to their husband that means means two things number one it means that sometimes a woman needs to allow her husband to be the head of the home because listen I've seen it lots of times where where there's a lady and she wants to control everything and I'm here to tell you right now there's always insecurity there there's always insecurity in it so that's what it means first of all second of all it means sometimes wives you need to empower your husband to be the leader in your home you need to empower him to do that

because he doesn't want to take the lead and so you have to and so you need to tell him look you're gonna make the decision on this because God's gonna hold you accountable so you need to tell us what direction we're going you need to tell us what we're doing all support you here's my thoughts here's my ideas this is what I think about it but at the end of the day you make the decision and you need to empower your husband's to do that because there's too many milks house husbands sorry guys that are sitting there going out so that might you know there's spiritual stuff that's my wife's deal it's not really mine really cuz God still gonna hold you accountable for it and just let her make

the decision it's just easier that way and then there's no conflict really cuz God's still gonna hold you responsible for it so he says make sure to teach the younger women to be subject to their husbands okay we're done with that now now we go to the younger men notice what he says verse 6 likewise urged the young men to be sensible nope lost my place wait where was I verse 6 to be sensible in all things show yourself to be a good to be an example of good deeds with purity in doctrine and dignified sound in speech which is beyond reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame having nothing bad to say about us all right young fellas I'm gonna come after you now okay so the first thing it says is that young men are to be sensible tell

them they're to be sensible this word sensible means to be sober minded or to exercise self-control and I'm gonna take from both of those things first of all I tell somebody sensible the the first thing that I thought of when I started studying this is of course he had to tell the young men to be sensible because I love you young guys I was one of you at one point in time but sometimes y'all are morons right I mean it's just all there is to it listen that your frontal lobe hasn't fully developed yet for some of you right like I will never forget the boss that I had working construction and and his nephew was working I won't tell you his name I probably know was listening online but the longer I go with this the more I'm like ooh hope no one's

listening online on this one I have to go back and delete some videos his nephew was working with his and his nephew made the worst decisions I've ever seen of any human being that I've ever worked construction with I was like wow you should not work construction or maybe do anything where a good decision needs to be made right because because you will always choose the wrong thing and and so he had just done something dumb and we're working really really late one night on this pool and Shawnee and and so we're working really late and and somebody comes up to my boss and tells them hey your nephew did this and he just looks at me because he was a very thoughtful like philosophical kind of a guy and he's like what's wrong with you you're

a guy he stops and he leans like this and he just looks at me and he goes take for instance my nephew the thing that we know about my nephew is his frontal lobe isn't fully developed yet and it may never be right and so I was just like that's the truest statement I think I've ever heard about anybody you know why men under the age of 25 can't rent a car it's not developed right you know why your car insurance is ridiculous do my parents had to drop me off their car insurance okay so when I tell you that young men are a moron I was too all right my parents had to drop me off of their car insurance I could not drive a car for a little while because my insurance was so expensive the first truck that I bought car payment car insurance same

thing right like that's just tell the young men to be sensible make a good decision because when you're young that's when you think you're invincible I can do anything I want to do I bet I could jump off that building I bet I can do that don't be dumb I took a group of kids on a canoe trip one time group of college listened and then there was this young man and she's trying to win my car because you have to be sensible I'm gonna win something she lost money it should have tried out for american ninja warrior i think you would have made it i really wished he would have i could have been like hey i know that guy but but he starts to scale a bridge and i'm not talking about like a driving bridge he starts out like ah get down what do you do

and i'm only 23 at this point in time but my frontal lobe was closer to being fully developed than his and i was responsible for all what are you doing they're like okay he does this kind of stuff all the time i'm like not when i'm responsible for him it's not that feels like how i end up calling a parent with really bad news he says be sensible make good decisions and so fellas here's what you need to do be different than the rest of the world around you and start counting the cost for everything that you do start thinking clearly about the things that you do he says to be sensible but the other aspect of it is this is to exercise self-control and if there's a good piece

of advice for young men it's this one is to exercise self-control exercise self-control in the way that you handle the young ladies that are around you i'm here to tell you right now you will save yourself an immense amount of pain in your life if you will just exercise some self control with the ladies that are around you exercise self-control with the technology that you own and don't use it for immorality exercise self-control in the way that you view substances because i'm here to tell you right now if you don't exercise self-control every story that ends with and then we went to the emergency room or we ended up in jail started off started off in jail started off with this one time we were drinking this is just reality you need to exercise

self-control with these things as a matter of fact if i was to give i should have written these things down first service because i liked what i said um uh if i was to give some advice to young men all right if you're a young man in here this morning these are the things that i'm going to tell you that you need to do number one you need to get yourself a job well i'm in high school i don't care get a job get a job show up to that job every time you're scheduled to work and work the whole day don't say i can't make it today because of fill in dumb blank here don't don't bail on your responsibilities get a job show up to your job on time and work that's the first thing i would

tell you to do second thing i would tell you to do is get a reading plan in your bible because you're going to be a spiritual leader in your home it's time to start today don't decide you're going to start that when you get a family because if you wait till you get a family you won't start then either don't put it off procrastination is something that will continue to kill the gains in your life get a bible plan and get in the word of god at the end of the day you're going to get it we love scripture you're going to have peace i love that chapter remember you got to choose what you need to do first and have every challenge in every single day three start memorizing

scripture because i'm here to tell you right now your kids are going to ask you hard questions and you're going to need to have some sort of a bank of knowledge to pull those things from get in the word memorize scripture the next thing you should do is get yourself a good workout program and start working out every single day you know why because one of these days you're going to have a bunch of little crumb crunchers and they're going to use you as a jungle gym and you want to be the fun dad that they know he's going to play with me he's going to make sure that FIVE DAY duddy tell you right now, if you'll play with them on the playground, they'll tell you everything going

on in their lives. Trust me, I know. I used to be the dad that would show up at the playground and all of the other moms would have me play with their kids. And all of those kids would come up to me and give me hugs afterwards and say, thank you, Pastor Ryan. You know why? Because I decided to have a little bit of self-control in my life. And so I became the jungle gym that they all played

on. And once you get in the pool, it's game over. If you're not in good shape, they're just going to drown you. That's all that there is to it, right? Like youth camp. Hello, that's bad. Get yourself a good workout plan and get yourself an accountability partner. Get yourself somebody that you can tell all of the hard things to, that will ask you the questions that need to be asked, that will ask you

the questions about how you're doing with those first four things. Get yourself an accountability partner that doesn't care about your feelings, that doesn't care about offending you, but that is willing to hurt your feelings and offend you in the best way possible. Because you know what the proverb says? Faithful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. You need those things in your life. And if you don't

establish them now, I promise you, when you get to my age, you won't care about them then either. Get it going now in your life, because every decision that you make under the age of 25 will affect the way that you live your life after the age of 25. And every man in here that's older will tell you, I am 100% right in that statement. Young men, exercise self-control and be sensible.

The second thing it says is that they are to be an example of good deeds. Listen, I am blessed to be around some young men, especially at the high school, and they attend this church that are examples of good deeds, because they're the ones that are helping out. They're the ones that I see as my FCA leaders. They're the ones that I can trust to do things. And it's wonderful to see

these examples of good deeds. Young men, become that. Become an example of good deeds to those that are around you. Because you know what? It's not just your friends that are watching you, it's the older people that are watching you too. And if you want to see people get in the middle of your life, to do good things, when you see a young man live a life of good deeds, it inspires those that are

older because they go, if that kid's doing it, I can't let him show me up. And it inspires the people that are around them. Number three, there's to be purity of doctrine. Purity of doctrine, a strict regard for integrity and the truth. Integrity, you know what that means? That means being the same person in private that you are in public. It means if you're living it out with all

of your friends watching you, you can't then go and live completely differently when you're behind closed doors. The decisions need to be the same. That's called integrity. But also you need to care about truth. Listen, you have lies thrown at you every single day, young men. You have lies thrown at you about what women are supposed to be like. You have lies thrown at you about what

you're supposed to be like. You have lies thrown at you about what God is really like and what it looks like to really be a man. And you need, to make sure that you hold tight to the truth if you want to know what a man looks like start here not on youtube if you want to know what a man looks like start here and not with what your friends have to say because this will teach you what a man is supposed to really look like he says to be pure in the way that you handle the truth number four dignified the idea behind dignified is honor and purity in other words live a life that is worthy of respect every young man in here wants to be respected by their peers and every young man in here wants to be respected by

their elders i'm here to tell you right now just like i told the old guys in here if you want respect earn respect if you want to be respected live a life that is respectable and that will change the way that culture views you and it will change the way that the older generation and your friends view you he says to be sound in speech i'm sorry i'm going a little bit long here it's going to be longer than i intended he says to be sound in speech the idea is that your speech should be Beyond reproach. We come across this, and it seems like every single one of Paul's letters, that he always deals with the words that come out of our mouth. Now, I need you all to understand something, especially you young men in here.

I know what you're surrounded by every day, okay? I know what it's like to be in a locker room with a bunch of rough guys. I know what it's like to be on a wrestling team. I know what it's like to work construction. I've done all of those things, and I know what it's like to be surrounded by those things. And so you're not going to shock me like, it's so hard to have a pure mouth because everybody around me talks so bad.

I know. I've been there. I've lived around it. That's still no excuse for you to continue to live a life that is not above reproach in this area. I'm not saying I've always been perfect. I've had issues. I've had areas of this that I've had to overcome. Because, gosh darn it, non-pure speech is super funny sometimes, right? And that's what's hard for me, is that sometimes it's funny to tell dirty jokes

or to use up your time. It's a well-placed swear word, but I'm here to tell you right now, if you want to destroy your witness, do that. Because everybody around you will go, man, I thought you were a Christian. And it will absolutely destroy your witness. And so you have to decide that the things that you hear on a consistent basis won't affect what comes out of your mouth.

And the only way that you can do that is by dedicating yourself to being in God's Word. Because there has to be a continual cleansing process of your mind. I remember when I was working construction, I'll tell this story. I'll tell on myself with this all. When I was working construction up in Kansas City, we were working on Blue Valley High School, and we were really behind.

So for a month and a half, we worked seven days a week. No days off. Ten-hour days. And I was around. That was probably one of the roughest crews I ever worked around because there were more ex-cons on that crew than any other crew I'd ever been on. And they had zero filter in anything that they said. Loved them. They were great guys, but zero filter on anything that they said.

And I remember a group of subcontractors had left something, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. It was uncovered, and there was rain coming in. It was a roof, and they left it uncovered. And they were supposed to cover it with plastic, and they got ready to leave when it was quitting time, which was two hours before my quitting time was.

And they said, that's on you. You're the general. You've got to take care of it. And they walked off the job. And I remember the young man that was with me, I just unloaded about those guys. And later I had to be like, dude, I'm sorry, man. That was so wrong. I should not have let that come out of my mouth. I should not have said that. That's not becoming of a pastor.

It's not becoming of a man. But it's what happened. And I knew from that point on that if I was going to work that much around all of that, I had to cleanse myself as much as I could with God's Word. So I had to make sure that if there was a moment when I was on the job site, when I was by myself, I had to be listening to Bible teaching or something that was going to cleanse the way that I thought.

Because otherwise I was going to keep unleashing that kind of garbage out of my mouth. He says, be sound in speech. The reason why he tells them to do these things is so that the opponent will have nothing to say. So that nothing can be brought against you to say, see, you're just like the rest of us. Well, he addresses one last group. And it's in verse 9. It says,

It says, Now, I'm going to deal with a little bit of the elephant in the room here with bond slaves. And then I'll deal with what I think is going to happen. And then I'll deal with how I think this applies to us today. The first thing we have to understand is that in Scripture, slavery is not condoned, it is instead controlled. Scripture in no way condones slavery.

However, there are laws that regulate it. And the reason why is because God intended each of us to be free. And those who understand their freedom in Christ will ultimately end up living out that freedom in the world that's around them. Because every place that the gospel has spread, slavery has ended. You can look at the Roman Empire. You can look at England.

You can look at the United States of America. Anywhere where the pure gospel is preached, that every man is created in the image of God, anywhere that that's preached, we see that freedom is what ultimately reigns. Now, we don't have bond slaves living in the United States of America today. So we look at this from another perspective. We look at it from the perspective of employees.

So what does it look like to be a good employee? Well, number one, if you're going to be a good employee, you're going to have to be a good employee. You need to be subject to your masters. And we need to understand something. I don't care if you're a laborer on a job site or the guy that owns the company. Everybody works for someone because everybody works for the customer, right?

You need to be subject to your masters. In other words, you need to understand who's in charge. You don't understand. I'm smarter than the guy in charge of me. I didn't ask if you were smarter than the guy that was in charge of you. I told you you need to be subject to him because he's ultimately who you have to answer to. Therefore, to be honoring to God, you have to be honoring to him.

He says to be subject to your masters. The second thing that he says that we as employees need to do is we need to not be argumentative. Not be argumentative. In other words, you don't always have to talk back. Listen, whether they hear you or whether it's under your breath, because I know how it goes sometimes. Listen, I've been on lots of job sites where somebody, they're not going to talk back in person,

but on their way out the door, they're letting themselves be heard under their breath where no one else can hear it. And you're talking back because it has to do with the attitude of the heart, not actually the words that come out of our mouth. Number three, he says, they are to not be pilfering, or in other words, not stealing. Do you realize that in the age when Paul wrote this, a Christian slave went for more on the slave market than a non-Christian slave?

You know why? Because they understood respect. They understood what it was to not talk back and not be argumentative. And number three, they did not steal, which was a major problem amongst employees and slaves at that point in time. Why? Because those slaves held themselves to a higher standard. And many of them ultimately led their owners to the Lord and ultimately found their freedom.

So I have a question for you. Do you steal? No, I've never stolen anything from work. Really? Do you clock in early so that you can spend a little time playing solitaire on your computer before it's actually time to get to work? Or so that you can spend a little time scrolling through Instagram before you actually get to work? So you go to work, you clock in.

I used to hear guys say this, you know, you clock in 10 minutes early every day. By the end of the week, that's 50 extra minutes. That's almost an hour of overtime. Yeah, but if you're not working, that's stealing from the company. Are you stealing time like that? Because he says, you need to be honest in all of your dealings, not stealing from your employer.

And the last thing he says is that you need to show all good faith. In other words, live out your faith in the way that you live your life, showing all good faith. Why? Look at the end of verse 10. So that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. You know what that word adorn means? It means to decorate. This is what it means. That as an employee,

if you live your life above reproach and you live the way that he just said, your life will become like a decoration for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You will become someone who is almost like an example held up for what a believer in Jesus Christ is supposed to look like. And you will add to the gospel, not detract from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, Jesus has saved our lives through the power of the gospel.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the message of the gospel, our lives have been transformed. But as transformed individuals, our lives should match. They should be of the same weight as the gospel that we believe. And the gospel is only as good as the conduct that it changes in our lives. Amen? Amen. All right, so this morning is Communion Sunday and I see a handful of kids gathering outside.

So before I explain Communion, if we could start to bring the children in. Parents, if you could keep an eye on these kiddos to make sure that your tiny person can find you, that would be great.

We have one more class coming.

See why we had to build a new wing.

Come on in.

All right.

Good? Okay, as I was saying, this morning is Communion Sunday. So before we take part in this, I always like to say, let's take just a few moments to explain what communion is. So as I've said before, inside of each of these trays, there's a couple of cups that are stacked together. The top cup has a little bit of grape juice in it. The bottom cup has a cracker in it.

In and of themselves, pretty insignificant items. Yeah, if I can have the worship team come on up. Pretty insignificant items in and of themselves. It's what they represent to us that have so much power. It's what they represent to us that gives them so much value. Because on that last, great night of the feast, Jesus took the bread and he broke it. And he said,

this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat. So as we partake of the cracker that's in that bottom cup, we are reminded of the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. We're reminded of the penalty that he took upon himself that rightly belongs to us in his own body on the tree. And then also on that last, great night of the feast, Jesus took that cup,

the last cup, of the Passover feast, which is called the cup of redemption. And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. And so as we partake of the juice, we are reminded of the blood of Jesus Christ that was enough to cover our sins, that took our sin and made them white as snow and made us brand new in him. And so we're told that as we partake of this meal, that we are to do so in a worthy manner.

And that means a handful of things. First of all, it means that if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, this meal won't mean anything to you. As a matter of fact, there's actually warnings against partaking of it if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ. But that's as simple as putting your faith in the one who saved you. By believing that gospel,

that the death of Jesus Christ was enough to save you of your sins and repenting of those sins and believing. And once you do, you become born again and now this meal is for you. But the second way that we partake of it as believers in Jesus Christ is that we make sure we understand what we're doing, that we don't take this lightly, that we don't just view it as some other random, random thing that we do. This is the very heart of the gospel that we're partaking in.

We're told that we declare the death of Jesus every time that we do it. So the last part is that you need to make sure that there's nothing between you and the Lord this morning. That you need to make sure that as you've gone through this week or this last month or so, that there's not things that have cut off that fellowship between you and Jesus because this represents communion with the Lord and communion with each other. So if there's things that have come between you and the Lord, if there's issues that need dealt with between you and the Lord, then I would encourage you that during this last song that you would take time and confess those things to the Lord.

Just tell them what's going on with you and trust that the same blood of Jesus Christ that brought you to salvation is the blood of Jesus Christ that continually cleanses you from all sin. So while these guys sing this last song, the ushers are going to come down and they're going to hand out the elements. As you receive your elements, if you would please stand and then we'll partake together. Are you hurting and broken?

Are you broken within? Overwhelmed by your sin? Jesus is calling. Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is calling.

Oh, come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood behind your regrets and mistakes. From today, there's no reason to wait. Jesus is calling.

Your soul is called.

Oh, come.

Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood.

Oh, come. As you wait for the crown, the pleasure is called.

Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you. Lord, I thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. Father, I thank you that your word tells us that you were wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, that the punishment for our peace was laid upon you and by your stripes were healed. And so, Father, we praise you for the body of Jesus Christ

that was broken for us. Father, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that is enough to cover all of our sins. Lord, for the blood that flowed from your side. Lord, that is able to take the most unholy of people and make them acceptable in your sight. Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. And so, Father, as we partake of this now,

may we keep ever in mind of the great sacrifice that you made so that we could be made right with you. Father, we praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake.

And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your word. And I pray that as we go out from here, that your word would continue to do its work in our hearts. Father, that the work of conviction, the work of instruction, that it would continue to do what needs to be done in us and help us to become those men and women of God

that you've created for us to be. Father, we thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.