1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,520 If you've got a Bible, go ahead and get that open to the book of 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:06,280 Titus. Specifically, we're going to be 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,640 in Titus chapter 2, looking at verses 11 through 15. 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,280 If you can't find Titus, there should be an index on the inside 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,800 cover of your Bible. If you still can't find it, 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:18,800 that's OK. We'll have all the relevant 7 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:23,040 Bible verses on the screen for you so that you can't miss them. 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,480 This is our 11th sermon, so if you've missed the other ten, I 9 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,880 can catch you up. What Paul has done is he's 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,080 writing Titus. Titus is kind of the resident 11 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:36,280 pastor of these little brand new immature churches that are 12 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:38,960 popping up on this ancient island called Crete. 13 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,480 And so this is the way Paul's been working through this 14 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,000 letter. He gives his greetings at the 15 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,360 very beginning. And right after that, Paul jumps 16 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:50,200 into instructions on how to train, develop, install elders 17 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,080 and pastors. He's like, hey, if you guys are 18 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,280 going to be churches, here's how to be a church. 19 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,920 Find these leaders. They have to meet these 20 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:58,800 qualifications and do these things. 21 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:04,000 After that, what Paul does is he blasts through all of these 22 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,000 individual instructions to all these various people groups 23 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,760 within the churches. He says, hey, older women do 24 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,680 this. Hey, older men be like this, 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,640 younger kids do this. And so he blasts through all 26 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,360 these individual instructions. And finally we find ourselves 27 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,160 this morning in chapter 2, verse 11. 28 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:28,400 And he's asking the question, what is the central message? 29 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,120 What is the central teaching of the church? 30 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,400 And I'll give you the answer right away. 31 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,680 The answer to that question is the gospel. 32 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:46,040 But the question of that is, OK, I, I know the gospel, right? 33 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,880 It's the message that Jesus Christ was crucified to take 34 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,760 away my sins and cover me in his very own righteousness. 35 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,640 I know what the gospel is. But the big question is, what's 36 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,200 the utility of the gospel? Or like, think of it a little 37 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,800 bit differently. What's the actual usage or 38 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,400 function of the gospel in your life? 39 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:13,200 Some Christians treat it like a single use plastic spoon, right? 40 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,640 You use it once, you believe it, you throw it away, you're done 41 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,480 with it. Some Christians treat it like a 42 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,520 multi purpose tool, like it's this. 43 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:27,200 It's this thing that has relevance for every area of 44 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,360 their life, their salvation, but also their continued 45 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,840 transformation and their eventual glorification. 46 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,160 Which one is it? Is it the single use plastic 47 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,320 spoon or is it the multi purpose tool? 48 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,360 Let me give you another option. Two different ways of treating 49 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:44,840 the gospel. One way that Christians treat 50 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:50,400 the gospel is they treat it like a multi purpose vitamin 51 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,520 supplement. Like do you guys have 52 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:54,640 supplements? I have supplements. 53 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,600 I like supplements. Like my, my cabinets are full of 54 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,960 all these various gym supplements And, and the thing 55 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,840 about supplements is they're nice, right? 56 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,440 I, Noah, you have a lot of supplements, right? 57 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,040 So, so, so, so actually I texted, I texted Noah the other 58 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:12,600 week. I was like, hey, what's a 59 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:17,360 supplement for joint pain? And he sent me a stretch and I 60 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:18,600 was like, I was just looking for something. 61 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:23,080 I swallowed the album. What is the gospel like? 62 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,720 Is it like that? Is it like it's, it's one, it's 63 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,640 it's one vitamin amidst a bunch of other vitamins. 64 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:33,920 It's really not life or death, but like it'd be, it would be 65 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,080 nice to take that. And like sometimes you take it 66 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,280 on a weekly basis and sometimes you forget and you can't really 67 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,560 tell the difference. Is that the way that the gospel 68 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,920 works in your life? Like I've got all these other 69 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,800 vitamins, like a good career, a good job, good relationships and 70 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,160 like, it would be nice to have a little Jesus on top of that. 71 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:59,960 Is it like that or is the gospel more like life support? 72 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:07,640 You know, you're, you're utterly and totally dependent upon it. 73 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:13,520 It is sustaining your existence and everything you do on a daily 74 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:18,399 basis, and you need as much of it as possible. 75 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,640 Which one is it to you? Is it a supplement that'd be 76 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,160 nice to have, or is it life support? 77 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,720 So if you're able, let's go ahead and stand for the reading 78 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:39,170 of God's Word. This is Paul's clearest 79 00:04:39,170 --> 00:04:43,290 articulation of the content of the message of the gospel in the 80 00:04:43,290 --> 00:04:46,090 book of Titus. It's one of those places where 81 00:04:46,090 --> 00:04:51,240 you see everything in the message of the gospel condensed 82 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,880 into one dense paragraph. If you like memorizing Bible 83 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,760 verses, this is a perfect Bible verse to memorize that will give 84 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,000 you the entire content of the gospel. 85 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,520 In verse 11, Paul says For the grace of God has appeared, 86 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:12,400 bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce 87 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,440 ungodliness and worldly passions, but also helping us to 88 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:21,160 live self controlled, upright and godly lives in the present 89 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,000 age. Helping us wait for our blessed 90 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,440 hope. The appearing of the glory of 91 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:32,360 our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us 92 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:39,000 to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for 93 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,720 himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for 94 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:45,600 good works. What are we to do with this 95 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,680 message? Paul says in verse 15 96 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,800 instructions to Titus, Declare these things, exhort and rebuke 97 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,360 with all authority, and let no one disregard you. 98 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,640 Heavenly Father, I pray that even for those of us who have 99 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,680 known and believed the gospel for years, sometimes we just, 100 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,320 sometimes I just get inoculated to it. 101 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,000 I get so used to hearing the gospel that when a brother or 102 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,520 sister preaches it or teaches it to me, my heart's first response 103 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,240 is, oh, I know, I, I know, I know. 104 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,200 Why are you telling me? Do you think I don't know? 105 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:31,120 I know that I know the gospel. And if we, if, if there are 106 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,440 people in our church who have that defense mechanism, oh, I 107 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,680 know, cool. I know the gospel, and I pray 108 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:48,200 that the Holy Spirit would just powerfully help us let our 109 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:54,200 guards down and let go of that defense mechanism so that the 110 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,040 Gospel can freshly hit our heart this morning. 111 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,720 So it's in the precious name of Jesus that all God's people 112 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,840 prayed. Amen. 113 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:08,880 You can have a seat. So this is not you generally my 114 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:10,840 method of preaching, expositing the scriptures. 115 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:12,800 I'm just going to do it a little bit differently this morning. 116 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:14,760 I don't usually do this, but we're going to start with the 117 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,000 end of the thought unit and then kind of work our way back up. 118 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,960 So look at verse 15, summary of all that came before it. 119 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:24,600 What does Paul say? He says, declare these things, 120 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,520 exhort these things, rebuke with these things with all authority, 121 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,080 and let no one disregard you or this message. 122 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,520 So what verse 15 shows us is that again, this is Paul 123 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,480 speaking Titus. Titus is the resident pastor at 124 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,640 these churches in Crete. What does Paul tell Titus to do 125 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:45,560 with the verses before verse 15? He says declare them, exhort 126 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:50,200 with them, rebuke with them. So what this actually is is Paul 127 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,000 telling Titus, this is what you need to preach when the church 128 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:58,000 gathers together, right? These are preaching instructions 129 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,280 to Titus. Paul's telling Titus what the 130 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,320 sermon series should be at the churches in Crete. 131 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,800 He's telling Titus what the subject of his preaching should 132 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,600 be. And strangely enough, and this 133 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,600 might sound strange to us as modern Christians, Paul doesn't 134 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,160 actually tell Titus to preach an at the movie sermon series or 135 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,480 something a little bit more relevant to the culture. 136 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,400 Paul doesn't tell Titus, hey, what you do when people gather 137 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,040 together is just give them like a little spiritual 15 minute Ted 138 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,040 talk that people find pretty interesting. 139 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,360 And at the very end of it, maybe sprinkle some, sprinkle some 140 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,840 Jesus at the end of it. That's not that's not Paul's 141 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:34,880 instructions. What should the church be 142 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:36,280 preaching? What should the church be 143 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,159 teaching? What is the message of the 144 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:40,400 church? What is Paul tell Titus to 145 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,240 preach? And the answer in verse 15 is 146 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,280 these things. What are these things? 147 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:54,200 These things are the things that Paul wrote before verse 15 148 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:58,720 verses 11 through 15 What What are verses 11 through 14? 149 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,920 The answer is the gospel. Verses 11 through 14 are the 150 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,760 gospel of Jesus Christ in a nutshell. 151 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,840 These verses teach about the gospel of Jesus dying for us in 152 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,560 our place. He gave himself up is the way 153 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:16,640 that Paul articulates it. But Paul also articulates how 154 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:21,560 the gospel sanctifies us or gives us power that trains us to 155 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:25,480 both renounce on godliness and to be empowered for godliness. 156 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:30,720 But also Paul teaches about how the gospel helps us wait for the 157 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,680 glorious hope of when Jesus returns. 158 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,120 So if we were getting, if we already use modern language, 159 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:43,760 what Paul is instructing Titus to do is he's saying, hey, be a 160 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:49,760 gospel centered preacher. Help these churches become 161 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,160 gospel centered churches. I think probably one of the 162 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,600 biggest illnesses of of the modern church, one of the 163 00:09:55,600 --> 00:10:00,520 greatest errors of the modern church is reducing the gospel 164 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,840 into an intro class to Christianity. 165 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,040 That's that's the way a lot of Christianity teaches the gospel. 166 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:08,000 It's this intro class to Christianity. 167 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,320 Once you believe it, great, you graduate from that, and then you 168 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,600 can talk about the real stuff like predestination and election 169 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,000 and gender and sexuality and oh gosh, wait till you get to talk 170 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,160 about end times. Once you graduate, once you 171 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,640 graduate through it, through the gospel, That's the way a lot of 172 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:27,320 Christians and churches will treat the gospel. 173 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,480 And if you treat the gospel that way, as a vitamin that's helpful 174 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,400 once a month, what you'll end up doing is reducing Christianity 175 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,480 to less than what the Bible's vision is for that. 176 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,360 One of my favorite quotes on this comes from a Bible teacher 177 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,440 named JD Greer. Greer has this this this great 178 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,360 quote. He says this, I want you to, I 179 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:53,240 want you to visualize this. He says the gospel is not one 180 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:57,640 classroom in Christianity that you take inside of this 181 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,520 otherwise gigantic school building. 182 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:03,600 Can you guys picture that like one classroom at the end of the 183 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:04,840 hall? You take it and then you're done 184 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:07,160 with it. Greer says that's not what the 185 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,360 gospel is. He says the gospel is the 186 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:14,840 building where all the other classrooms of Christianity take 187 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:16,360 place in. It's the building. 188 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,280 Isn't that a good visual? So like whatever subject you're 189 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:24,000 studying, study them all. But they're all to be done in 190 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,840 the building of the gospel. They're all to be done in light 191 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:32,640 of this message of a crucified God for our salvation. 192 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,160 I want you to, I want you to see this in our text this morning, 193 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:40,280 OK? And I'm going to put on my my ex 194 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:41,720 English teacher hat just a little bit. 195 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:46,400 One of the coolest things about verses 11 through 14 is how Paul 196 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:51,920 uses all three tenses to describe the effect of the 197 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:57,920 gospel past, present and future for how the gospel works through 198 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:59,200 our lives. Let's let's work through these 199 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,320 three areas quickly. I've got a slide for this. 200 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,200 So the gospel is past tense, present tense, and future tense 201 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,280 power. Let's look at past tense. 202 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,600 The gospel is past tense, which means it saved us. 203 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,320 If you're a Christian in the past when you believed it, look 204 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,440 at verse 11. Paul says for the grace of God 205 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,600 has appeared. It appeared bringing salvation 206 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,640 for all people who believe. So what Paul's emphasizing here 207 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,520 is the fact that the gospel is a historical event that actually 208 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,800 happened in the past tense within the space-time continuum 209 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,440 that we live in. The phrase the grace of God 210 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,680 appeared is Paul talking about Jesus coming to earth to live in 211 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:48,120 the flesh and to die in our place on a cross for our sins. 212 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:53,480 It's a historical event and when you believe that message, you 213 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:55,240 are saved. Amen. 214 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,440 And it becomes a past tense power for salvation in your 215 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:02,200 life. You could look back at and say 216 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:08,400 that's when God saved me, when I believe the gospel and, and it 217 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,920 has present tense power. The gospel is also a present 218 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,880 tense power. In other words, it sanctifies 219 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:15,760 us. Look at verse 12. 220 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:23,480 The gospel saves us, Yes, and the gospel trains us to renounce 221 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:29,520 ungodliness and worldly passions and empowers us to live self 222 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:34,440 controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age. 223 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,720 So notice it's not just a past tense historical event. 224 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,080 It is. It's also a present tense power. 225 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,840 This shows us that it's the power of the gospel and not our 226 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:52,080 own effort and energy in flesh. It's the power of the gospel 227 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,560 that doesn't just save us from our sins, but also provides us 228 00:13:55,560 --> 00:14:00,320 the power to be transformed into the image of Jesus in our daily 229 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:05,480 life. The gospel sanctifies us and 230 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:12,760 past tense, present tense, and it is future tense. 231 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:18,920 Power to the gospel is also the power that eventually glorifies 232 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:20,080 us. Look at verse 13. 233 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:27,080 It helps us wait for our blessed hope. 234 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,000 What this shows us is that in the final judgment, when Jesus 235 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,760 appears again, he is our final hope. 236 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,840 When Jesus stands before us and his glorious return, and we 237 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,760 stand before him ready to receive his verdict, our hope is 238 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,960 not that we will be judged by our works. 239 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,080 Well, there's these two scales. You did some of this, but you 240 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,680 did some of that. It's pretty Even so, So come on 241 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,160 in. Our hope is not our own works. 242 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:01,200 Our hope is the glory of the gospel, that God will look at 243 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:03,200 us. And because of our embrace of 244 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,280 the gospel of Jesus, he will look at us on that day and 245 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,520 declare us righteous in the name of Jesus. 246 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,760 And so it's also our future tense hope for glory before God. 247 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:16,960 So look, here's what I'm trying to say. 248 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:22,240 Reducing the gospel to an intro class on Christianity is going 249 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,560 to hamper your spiritual life. The gospel is the entire 250 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:32,160 building, the entire building in which every class and you're 251 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,360 going to take a lot of them, right? 252 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:41,840 It singleness, marriage, parenting, growth, going through 253 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,000 this experience, all of those classrooms, they all take place 254 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,840 within the building of God's glorious gospel. 255 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,520 Our salvation in the past, our sanctification in the present 256 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,160 and our glorification in the future. 257 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:04,760 But here's OK, got you, Pat, I agree with you, Pastor. 258 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:10,200 Here's the big question though. Why do we need the gospel on a 259 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,720 daily basis? OK, so I need the gospel on a 260 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:16,200 daily. So the church needs to be 261 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,840 preaching the gospel, singing the gospel, praying the gospel, 262 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,720 eating the gospel, and communion. 263 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:22,960 Got it. I should probably start looking 264 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,160 at myself in the mirror when I brush my teeth in the morning 265 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,200 and preaching the gospel to myself, saying, hey, Cole, Jesus 266 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,440 Christ was crucified for your sins to cover you in his 267 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,240 righteousness. Why? 268 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:36,960 And there's a lot of ways to answer that question. 269 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:43,040 I'll give you one that's going to make this text pop this 270 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,280 morning. One of the reasons why we need 271 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,800 the gospel on a daily basis is because it requires a lifetime 272 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:54,800 of gospel exposure to on learn false religion. 273 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,040 So let me let me show you something really quickly. 274 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,160 There's something really strategic in the way that Paul 275 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,200 articulates the gospel. You don't, you don't need to 276 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,800 look into the historical context to understand these verses. 277 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,800 You can just look at the words and say, wow, that is powerful. 278 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,599 But when you look at the historical context, what's 279 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:18,119 happening in Crete, you start to see, oh, that's why Paul used 280 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:21,160 that specific word. Look at a specific word for me. 281 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,400 Look at verse 11. I want you to 0 in on the word 282 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:38,080 appeared for the grace of God has appeared circle that star it 283 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,200 just think about it appeared in the Greek that word is 284 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,960 epiphanos. It's where we get our English 285 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,880 word epiphany and epiphany is when you can't see something 286 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,880 then all of a sudden this idea, this epiphany comes to you and 287 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,000 you can see it right. The grace of God has epiphanos 288 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,520 or appeared to us. That is a politically charged, 289 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:07,480 religiously charged word to us. It just looks like the word 290 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,680 appeared and it was to them. It wouldn't. 291 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,360 It would be like I just feel like pressing some buttons this 292 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,440 morning. Are you guys with me still? 293 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,960 It would be like if I use the word in my sermon woke. 294 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,600 If I said that word, it wouldn't just be a word to you. 295 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:28,640 There would be this entire system of ideas that gathered 296 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:31,400 around that singular word and you would be like, wow, that's a 297 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,480 really loaded word. But if somebody were to print 298 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:39,120 off like a copy of my sermon and 2000 years from now someone were 299 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:41,720 to read this sermon and see the word woke, they would just 300 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,640 assume that it's past tense for awake. 301 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:49,000 But for you, it's got this entire system of ideas around 302 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,600 it, and probably it's an emotionally charged word that 303 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,800 you feel a certain way when you hear it. 304 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,440 That's what the word appeared would have been like for 1st 305 00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,000 century Cretans. Do you want to know why? 306 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:01,800 Because 1st century Cretans. And this doesn't make them very 307 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,240 different. The majority of people were like 308 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,120 this in the ancient world. They were Zeus worshippers. 309 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,120 And so when when Paul wrote this letter, the dominant religion on 310 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:13,440 Crete was not Christianity. It was not atheism. 311 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,040 Atheism, atheism hasn't been invented yet by this time in 312 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,240 history. It is the worship of Zeus, which 313 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,120 was pretty common in the ancient world. 314 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,040 Here's where it gets different for Crete, though. 315 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,280 In the ancient world, people worship Zeus as the everlasting 316 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,560 God who reigns from Mount Olympus. 317 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,360 The island of Crete had a little bit different idea of of Zeus. 318 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:36,480 And it was probably because one time someone asked me, Cole, do 319 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,880 you have little man syndrome? I was like, I didn't think so, 320 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,280 but your question makes me feel like maybe I do. 321 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,520 Well, the island of Crete has a little island syndrome. 322 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,120 And so they wanted some way to feel important. 323 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:52,640 They weren't Rome to feel important in the ancient world. 324 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,440 So they went around and they claimed, hey, you know what? 325 00:19:55,720 --> 00:20:00,160 Zeus was actually born on our island, and not only was Zeus 326 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,160 born on our island, he died on our island and we actually have 327 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,360 his tomb in a cave on our island. 328 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:08,680 Aren't we so important? The rest of the ancient world 329 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,520 was like, no, that's ridiculous. He's the everlasting God. 330 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:13,680 Crete was like, hey, we've got his tomb here. 331 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,760 It puffed them up with a sense of self importance, but it also 332 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,280 shaped them and formed them in really unique ways. 333 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:21,920 Their holidays were not Easter and Christmas, where they 334 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,320 celebrate the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. 335 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:26,880 Their holidays. Who do you think their holidays 336 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,520 revolved around? Zeus, right? 337 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,560 Even their initiation rites result revolved around Zeus. 338 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,760 If you were a young man and you wanted to become a man in the 339 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,440 eyes of your fellow Cretan neighbors, your your initiation 340 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,240 rite would include Zeus. You and a group of boys would 341 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:44,880 gather together. I'm not making this up. 342 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,520 You would go to The Cave that they supposedly buried Zeus and 343 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,160 you go down to the bottom of The Cave and then you would have a 344 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:56,120 ritualistic dance in the tomb where Zeus was supposedly buried 345 00:20:56,360 --> 00:21:00,160 and then you would come back out of that cave as a man and that 346 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,120 shapes you in a very They had a Zeus centered imagination, 347 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,520 right? Their ethics were shaped on Zeus 348 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,400 worship. Zeus was known as the deceptive 349 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,240 lying God in the ancient world because, as Zeus mythology had 350 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,880 it, Zeus got the throne by usurping his father Chronos, and 351 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:22,720 his father tried to chase Zeus down and eat him alive. 352 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,600 And so Zeus, Zeus had to be crafty and Zeus had to be 353 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,560 deceitful and Zeus had to be a liar. 354 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,280 And that doesn't have no effect on you. 355 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,560 If you worship Zeus and your God is a liar, what does that make 356 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,000 you into? Makes you into a liar. 357 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,400 And so the Creighton Island had the reputation. 358 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,480 You can even see that in the Bible of being liars. 359 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,960 It shapes you in a profound way. And so when someone comes along 360 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,640 and gives you this vision of a God who took on flesh and was 361 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:56,080 crucified in your place on a cross, that is the opposite of a 362 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,560 lying God who hurls around Thunder and lightning to make 363 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:07,600 his points right. So if, if these people, if these 364 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:13,680 Cretans, if they are going to trade the lightning bolt of Zeus 365 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:20,800 for the cross of Jesus Christ, they would need to be pumped 366 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:26,400 full of the gospel all day, every time, every time they 367 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:31,160 gathered together as a church. Titus, these people need these 368 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,400 things. The gospel exhorted and rebuked 369 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:39,000 and declared they need to hear this preached on a daily basis. 370 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,720 And look, I know you don't worship Zeus, but you also grew 371 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,560 up worshipping Zeus. We all grew up with our own 372 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,960 cultural gods that we still have the tendency to worship. 373 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,920 Maybe yours wasn't Zeus. Maybe some of us were taught to 374 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:58,200 worship the God of success, or money or power, or sex or food 375 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,320 or popularity or sports. Whatever it is that actually 376 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,480 dominates your mind on a daily basis is probably the false God 377 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,680 that you grew up worshipping. And if you're a Christian, if 378 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,760 you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you listen to me. 379 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,480 You have been legally, legally in the eyes of God. 380 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,800 You have been legally set free from the penalty of worshipping 381 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,840 a false God. It's done that penalty not over 382 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,440 your head. You will not be punished for 383 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:32,920 that. Jesus absorbed that on the 384 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,440 cross. It's done legally, but 385 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:42,080 experientially you're probably going to spend the rest of your 386 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:47,600 life fighting against the power and influence of those household 387 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,040 gods that you grew up with. It still shaped you and formed 388 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:55,680 you for the 1st 12/20/40 years that you weren't a Christian. 389 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:01,160 It's why you are the shape that you are today and legally it's 390 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:06,280 finished experientially. You've just got to unlearn what 391 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,320 you learn through your idol worship. 392 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,560 It formed you in really powerful ways. 393 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,680 And So what you need is to hear the gospel preached every Sunday 394 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,640 and every other day to write, we call, we use the language of 395 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,760 gospel centered at Frontier, everything's got to be gospel 396 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,160 centered. We want to sing gospel centered 397 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,680 worship songs. We want to preach gospel 398 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,680 centered sermons. No matter what text we're in, 399 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:30,720 we're always going to come back to the gospel. 400 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,520 We like to do gospel centered communion. 401 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,040 Every Sunday we pray gospel centered prayers through the 402 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,960 liturgy. We want Gospel getting pumped 403 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,160 into us from every little tube that's attached to us. 404 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,880 Because I just, let me be stone cold honest for a moment with 405 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:54,280 you, I think. I think one reason why 406 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:58,960 Christianity is so weak in the modern world is that so many of 407 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,880 our churches have prioritized good advice over good news. 408 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,480 I want to come to church for 45 minutes. 409 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:14,600 I want you to give me some good advice, some life hacks, snip, 410 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,360 snap. And then I'll be out of it in 45 411 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:20,240 minutes in my car on my way to lunch and maybe give me some 412 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,720 vaguely spiritual advice that maybe includes the name of 413 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:24,840 Jesus. Why? 414 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,880 Why is that the way that why? Why would we prefer good advice 415 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:37,080 over good news? Why would we prefer life hacks 416 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,560 to the power of God for salvation? 417 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,280 And the answer to that question is because we mostly view 418 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:50,840 ourselves as decent people who just need a little bit of 419 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:56,320 improvement rather than as sinners who are desperate for 420 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,640 salvation. And if you think you're just 421 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,480 like a pretty decent person who's just like needs some Jesus 422 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,880 sprinkled on top, then what you want out of your church is just 423 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,960 give me some good advice, man. If, what if what you if you see 424 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,800 yourself as a Sinner desperate for salvation, though, you'll 425 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,040 posture yourselves in front of the gospel by saying I need 426 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,440 more. I need it in my preaching. 427 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,080 I need it in my singing. I need it and everything. 428 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,840 This is life or death for me. Life or death. 429 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:35,640 Like some moments are just moments, you experience them and 430 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,360 then you're done with them. There are these other moments 431 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:42,320 that when you go through them, you spend the rest of your life 432 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,520 looking back at it. I had one of these moments a 433 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,480 couple weeks ago. A month ago. 434 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,720 I was literally frozen in my tracks when it happened. 435 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,640 I couldn't believe how powerful the moment was to me. 436 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,760 I froze. It was almost like an auto body 437 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,040 experience. And the experience was I was in 438 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,600 Iowa City a couple weeks ago doing a couple different things, 439 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,320 but I was also visiting the Benton family who were in the 440 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:08,400 Iowa City hospital. And the Bentons are with us this 441 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:13,280 morning and they are my heroes. So we've been praying for the 442 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,200 Bentons. We've been encouraging the 443 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,040 Bentons. I would encourage you to 444 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,840 continue to to pray for these two. 445 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,560 These two are they're heroes of the faith they have. 446 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,080 These last couple weeks have so profoundly impacted my walk with 447 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:27,680 Jesus. And the way that it started for 448 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:33,520 me was Long story short, the Bentons gave birth to this 449 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,560 unbelievably gorgeous, beautiful little girl named Faye. 450 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,400 She's so gorgeous. And Faye came a little bit 451 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,040 earlier than everybody was expecting. 452 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,600 And so when Faye eventually, when Faye first came, everybody 453 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,320 was praying for her, thinking about her. 454 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,120 And I was talking with Josh and Josh talked about like, yeah, 455 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:53,320 face, she's weighing in, clocking in at about 1 LB. 456 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,520 And I remember thinking, I think I know what that looks like and 457 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,960 feels like it. So I had this image of Faye in 458 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,920 my mind as this beautiful little baby. 459 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,840 But it was it. My experience of stepping into 460 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,480 the hospital and visiting Faye was radically different. 461 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,880 I stepped into their hospital room excited to see this baby 462 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,840 girl that I've been praying for and heard so much about. 463 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,080 And I gave Josh Lauren really quick hug. 464 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,640 And then I stood in front of Faye and I'm not like I felt 465 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,200 gripped by the hand of God like this little baby girl has so 466 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,440 profoundly influenced me in the little bit of time that I spent 467 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,800 with her. I felt like I froze in front of 468 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:34,800 her. I froze because when I was 469 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:37,960 looking at Faye, I, I would, I couldn't believe how beautiful 470 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,720 she was. It's extraordinary, like every 471 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,360 little human feature that makes a human being beautiful is all 472 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,720 present in Faye and squished together in this gorgeous little 473 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,680 1 LB baby. And so I'm looking at this 474 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,840 beautiful 1 LB lump of humanity. It's just gorgeous baby. 475 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,000 And I'm just like, my breath is just taken away. 476 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,120 Like wow, I didn't know she would look like this. 477 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,440 And so I just froze. And the other thing that froze 478 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,520 me about this moment was as I'm as I'm looking at Faye, I did 479 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:15,080 not expect. I did not expect to see so 480 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:27,520 clearly in her my own condition. I'm looking at this beautiful 1 481 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:33,080 LB baby Faye and she's got all of these it it probably a dozen 482 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,400 of these little tubes, right, that are attached to her. 483 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,600 And it's extraordinary because these little tubes, they're 484 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,960 pumping her full of all the nutrients she needs to grow and 485 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,040 survive and keep moving forward. And it's extraordinary because 486 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,120 you can't look at a little baby girl like Faye right there in 487 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:53,200 that situation and kid yourself and the thinking she's an 488 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,520 independent, autonomous human being, right? 489 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:03,840 She's, she's completely and totally dependent upon the life 490 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,760 support that comes through those tubes to her. 491 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,400 And I'm looking at her and I felt like it was a word from the 492 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,240 Lord. And in the deepest part of my 493 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:24,240 heart, it just hit a part of my heart that I didn't know was in 494 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,280 there. Do you know what I'm saying? 495 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:30,400 Like you think you know what's going on in your heart and 496 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,640 someone says something or does something or God does something 497 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,520 or the Spirit moves in a certain way and you're like, I didn't 498 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,160 know that part was in my I don't know what's down there. 499 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,800 And as I'm looking at her, I feel sense here. 500 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:50,000 The Lord say so clearly to me. This is you, Cole. 501 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,480 Like this is the condition of the Christian before God. 502 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,800 Too often I think of myself as an independent, autonomous 503 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,720 Christian who's pretty strong willed and disciplined for the 504 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,000 most part and has a pretty good work ethic. 505 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,760 And it's pretty driven. And I can work through sickness 506 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,200 for the most part and push through feelings of exhaustion 507 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,160 to get the job done. And I probably at the end of the 508 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,840 day, I do a pretty good job following Jesus with my own 509 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,320 strength. And at the end of the day, I 510 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,640 probably need just a little, just a little help from the Lord 511 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:28,320 here and there. And that is, that's an illusion. 512 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:35,280 That's, that's not true. That's a mirage. 513 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,640 If I could see myself from the perspective of heaven, if I 514 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:48,520 could see myself through true reality, there would be 515 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,720 thousands, not dozens. There would be thousands of 516 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,280 invisible little tubes that God has graciously attached to me 517 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:00,160 that He is using to pump constant the proper nutrients 518 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,880 into me to keep me alive in every second. 519 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,600 If He pulled those tubes away from me, I would be gone. 520 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:11,840 I would vanish right in front of you. 521 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,360 Like do you know what Jesus means when He says apart from 522 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:17,360 me? You can do nothing? 523 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,680 He means you can't do anything apart from him. 524 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,040 The text means what it says. Like if you want to know what is 525 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,080 it that sustains me? His power alone sustains you. 526 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:32,840 His life alone upholds you. And if you're going to run the 527 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,120 Christian life, if I'm going to run the Christian life, I need 528 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:40,000 the gospel pumped into me through every single one of 529 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,080 these tubes that are attached to me. 530 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,640 The gospel is, yes, my past tense power for salvation, but 531 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,560 it is also my present tense power for sanctification. 532 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,360 And it is my future hope for glorification. 533 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,080 I need the gospel preached to me by my church. 534 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,560 I need to sing it through the worship music. 535 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:58,520 I need to pray it through the liturgy. 536 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,720 I need to see it through communion on a daily basis. 537 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,480 I need to hear the gospel come to me through my spouse, through 538 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,360 through my friends, through my church members. 539 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:11,520 I need to see the gospel echoed in the movies that I watch. 540 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,120 I need to hear the gospel echoed in the music that I listen to. 541 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,680 I need the gospel to so shape and form my thoughts that it is 542 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:24,000 in my mind whenever I have an inner dialogue for me, for you, 543 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,400 it is life or death. Or to quote Martin Luther from 544 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:31,640 500 years ago, I need the gospel every day because I forget the 545 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:37,200 gospel every day. I need it every day. 546 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:45,560 And if you do this, if you start to sit before the gospel of if 547 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:47,760 you start to just say, hey, I got to brush my teeth every day. 548 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,640 When I brush my teeth every day, I'm going to look at myself and 549 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:52,640 I'm going to preach the gospel to myself. 550 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:57,440 Cole, the God of the universe was crucified in your place to 551 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,600 take away your sins and cover you and his righteousness. 552 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,880 If you start to preach the gospel to yourself on a daily 553 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,720 basis, you will start to experience the gospel daily in 554 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,840 every facet of your life, every facet in your life. 555 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,679 Yes, it's the message that saves you, but you also grow to start 556 00:34:14,679 --> 00:34:17,280 seeing the gospel in your relationships with other people. 557 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,480 You'll start to recognize, Oh my goodness, the only thing that's 558 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,520 going to hold my friendships together is if I live out the 559 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,400 gospel. I understand friendships now, 560 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,440 like because of the gospel, like I need to be made like Jesus. 561 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:35,120 OK, what's Jesus like? He gets sinned a lot against and 562 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,760 he forgives people a lot. If I'm going to learn how to be 563 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,199 like that, I need to be sinned against and I need to forgive a 564 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:43,080 lot of people. And you start to live the gospel 565 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,880 out in your relationships and your friendships. 566 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,800 You start to see it at work. You start to, you start to, you 567 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,560 start to taste the gospel in your meals. 568 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:58,000 You find yourself hypothetically slobbering over a phenomenal 569 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,160 smash burger at Lachelle's. Amen. 570 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,920 A phenomenal smash burger at the shells and you find yourself 571 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,160 momentarily praising Jesus. Kids, you're like, I don't know 572 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,880 how the bread of Jesus could be better than this, but it is and 573 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,240 it must be. You start to taste it in your 574 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:18,720 food. You start to hear it in the in 575 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:23,480 the music. You find yourself being moved by 576 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,880 little pieces in movies where you're like, why am I tearing up 577 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:30,840 at this part in the movie? Why Cole? 578 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:35,560 I am 36 years old and I'm tearing up in the movie Friday 579 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:37,680 Night Lights. It's a high school football 580 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:42,240 movie. It's a pop movie for 17 year old 581 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:44,080 kids. Why am I tearing up? 582 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:47,400 Why is it so moving at the end of that movie where the football 583 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:51,760 player, he falls 1 yard short of the touchdown and his dad who 584 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,200 won A state championship comes down and he kneels down before 585 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,120 his kid. He takes his championship 586 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,920 football ring off and he puts it on his kids finger who just 587 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,800 failed. And I'm like Oh my gosh, why is 588 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,640 that so moving? And you realize it's because 589 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:10,200 it's an echo of the gospel. That's what Jesus did for us. 590 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,960 We failed, we fell short, He stooped down. 591 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,600 He took the ring that he earned and he put it on my finger. 592 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,240 So now when God looks at me, he sees the righteousness of 593 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:24,680 Christ, the victories of Christ now because I earned it, because 594 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,080 he gave it to me through the gospel, you start to see it 595 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,480 everywhere. You start to find yourself 596 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,520 showing up to church on a Sunday morning. 597 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:38,840 You start to hear me share some strange, ordinary story about my 598 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,640 life. And last year you would have 599 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,560 thought, I have no idea how this would connect to the gospel. 600 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:47,240 And suddenly after constant gospel exposure, you hear these 601 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:49,400 little stories and you go, I know where Cole's going with 602 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,240 this, and you can preach the gospel from it, and you connect 603 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:56,480 the gospel to it. You start to do that because 604 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:01,480 you're starting to connect the gospel to every area of your own 605 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,120 life. And if you do that, your 606 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,600 spiritual growth will go through the roof. 607 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:17,080 I heard it said this way. Religion says, oh crap, I 608 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:18,920 screwed up. My dad's going to kill me. 609 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:22,920 That's the religion we're all born with. 610 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,120 The gospel says, oh, crap, I screwed up. 611 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:32,800 Where's my dad? When you believe the gospel, the 612 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:36,400 crucifixion of Jesus for your sins, while you are yet an enemy 613 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,920 of God, you'll find yourself running to Jesus. 614 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:44,920 Not when you crush it, but even when you make colossally foolish 615 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,400 choices because you have been so radically saturated by the 616 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:54,840 gospel that when life cuts you, you bleed gospel out and just 617 00:37:54,840 --> 00:38:00,000 watch what happens to your joy. When the gospel becomes not just 618 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,920 some supplement you take once a week, but the life support that 619 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:07,560 sustains you in the presence of God, life becomes really, really 620 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,600 fun. Because Jesus is really, really 621 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:11,680 awesome. Amen. 622 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:14,520 We are an awesome morning in front of us. 623 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:16,360 In just a minute, we're going to dedicate kids. 624 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,440 Before we do that, though, we need to take communion together. 625 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,400 We need to see the gospel and taste it in bread and wine. 626 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,640 So if you are a believer, this is for you. 627 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,640 Do business with the Lord and whenever you've done business 628 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,800 with the Lord, we'll have the bread and the juice or the wine 629 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:32,880 prepared for you. Come at will. 630 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,400 Grab the bread, grab the juice, go back patiently and wait. 631 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,880 For the rest of us, we like to do it together as a symbol that 632 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,000 we're one family with one Jesus who believe in one gospel. 633 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,040 So if you've got kids downstairs and roots, now's the time to go 634 00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,480 grab them and bring them up. Communion will be waiting for 635 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,080 you. Let me pray and then you 636 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:51,840 respond. However God leads you. 637 00:38:55,720 --> 00:39:00,040 Lord, thank you so much for the Gospel of Jesus. 638 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,920 I pray that we would freshly experience it this morning. 639 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:09,200 Thank you for the Benton family. I just love them so much and I 640 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,080 don't want to draw too much attention to them. 641 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:12,880 I just want to let them enjoy this Sunday. 642 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,080 But I pray that our church would just be freshly inspired by 643 00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,560 their faithfulness, that they would continue to pray for Faye, 644 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:23,640 and that they would be equally influenced and moved by their 645 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,400 family as I have been these last couple weeks.