Good morning, y'all. Y'all all right?
Y'all learning? Y'all learning?
Y'all learning. I just like that.
I want to do it again. Good morning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess I've been up here enough
that y'all just know how to get down, huh?
I like it. I like it, man.
What are we after? Cole kind of did his thing and
LED us all in prayer. Bro, I was almost like, I don't
need to really go up here. I think we think we kind of
nailed it. Cole had had also said some
things that that really resonated with me.
This can be a confusing week for some, hard to week for others.
Troubling, even fearful. We're going to, we're going to
talk to do some things today. One thing he also said was, you
know, being a truth speaker even when you're scared to do it,
We're also called to speak the truth and love.
So we're going to talk about love a little bit today.
And it is crazy. God's sovereignty and his timing
with this message and even how the week is.
So let me start back to introducing myself.
If you can't tell the loud people in here kind of kind of
know how I am. I also want to kind of queue it
up today. If you haven't heard me preach
before, I'm probably one of the loudest people we got up in
here. So, so yeah, so, so be ready.
And I got I got, you know, I'm not a tenor like some of our or
other leaders. So my voice might kind of hit
you in the chest a little bit. Just just let it happen.
It'd be alright. But also, I am Will and I have
the privilege and honor to being part of the preaching team.
Like I was saying, we're we're continue to we're continue to
trudge through Titus today and we officially officially
graduated to Titus too. So shout out to that definitely
after a few weeks, but I don't know if y'all remember, but when
we first started like hey, we're about to go through Titus 17
weeks. Cole had asked the the church to
read, listen and meditate the entire book of Titus at least
once a week, which would minimally put you at like 17
times reading, praying, listening and meditating on the
Scripture. Now, I ain't that guy that's
going to tell you like, hey, who's been doing that?
Who's the good Christian? Raise your hand.
That's not really my style. I see you, Casey.
I appreciate that. But I know some of you are going
to be like, yeah, man, I've been doing that.
Like, Casey, there's some of you that's out there.
That's like, man, bro, I totally forgot he even asked us to do
that. And then there's some of you
that's like, man, I kind of remember, but I really didn't
have the time or I was supposed to, but I just kept pushing it
off. This came up, that came up, this
came up. So with that, some of you are
encouraged because you've been doing it.
So shout out to that with that, this was a reminder and we need
you. The ones that that forgot to
lock in and pay attention. And then there's some who might
be kind of convicted because they've been dropping the ball
on doing that. Something your lead pastor asks
you to do. I'm going to be honest with you
all. If you didn't bring your steel
toe boots today, you might need them.
And I also expect y'all to buckle up because that, that
tone of our, our lead passer asking and some doing it feeling
encouraged, some who need to lock in and some who need to be
reminded that bro, your, your lead passer asking do something
for a reason. Those, those feelings and those
three, we're going to probably be sitting in a lot of those
feelings and emotions for the next 4550 minutes.
I'm coming in hot this Sunday. I ain't going to lie.
I even asked Co to pray for me with that.
But I got some things for you. I promise you two things.
You're not alone. You're not alone, and you're
going to be all right. You're not alone and you're
going to be all right. And for those that this is your
first time here and you had no idea what you're supposed to do
that and you're like, man, how do I forget my homework on the
first day? I'm showing up, bro, don't trip.
Don't worry at all because you're not alone and you're
going to be all right. All right, So before we dive in,
let me give you the play by play.
I'm, I'm big on setting expectations and, and giving
people a heads up, especially if I think the conversation might
be kind of tough in, in, in a tough love kind of way.
I just love just kind of giving people like, all right, this is
the framework. This is what we're going to go
through today. We're going to read the word,
then we're going to pray. We're going to then go through
the word and I'm going to break it down.
And then we're going to see how does all this point to Jesus or
what does this have to do with Jesus?
And then after that, we're going to go into what does this even
mean for Frontier Church? That would give you some example
of how I've seen this lived out in the impact it's had on me.
I'm going to give you all some go dudes, some application, and
then we're going to pray and we're going to be out of here.
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. Let's pray.
Father, Father, we need you today.
We ask for your for your wisdom as we go on through the text.
We ask that you encourage those who need to be encouraged,
comfort those who need to be comforted, convict those who
need to be convicted by the Father.
Do it all while holding us in your arms and continually to
remind us that you will never leave or forsake us.
Jesus name we pray, Amen. All right, all right, all right,
so let's read. We're reading Titus 21 and 2.
But As for you teach what occurs with sound doctrine.
Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self
controlled, sound in faith, sound and love and sound and
steadfastness or endurance. I'm just going to read that one
more time. I just, I just want to kind of
sink in on that a little bit. But As for you teach what
accords with sound doctrine? Older men are to be sober
minded, dignified, self-control, sound and faith, sound and love
and sound and steadfastness or endurance.
Let's stand and read that one more time.
But As for you teach what is a what accords with sound
doctrine? Older men are to be sober
minded, dignified, self-control, sound and faith, sound and love
and sound and set fastness or endurance.
Heavenly Father, as we read then we go through this again.
We need your wisdom and guidance.
We love you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
You may be seated. Now before we break this, break
this down a couple things to to kind of set the stage again.
Cole in chapter 1 broke down the relationship between Paul and
Titus, the discipleship relationship, the the fatherly
and son relationship. He then sends Titus to Creed and
Titus is there to help develop the church.
So one of the first thing Paul tells Titus to do is to qualify
and appoint elders. And then Paul goes over those
qualifications. Having church leaders is a must
and is something that needs to happen first, needs to happen
first. Then Paul warns Titus about fake
leaders and fake believers so we can further discern between the
two, between the real and between the fake and to protect
the church. Also, as you, as you probably
can discern, this message is it's geared towards the men in
our church because obviously we're talking about older men.
Crazy. But my ask to to our sisters in
the congregation, please don't check out.
Please don't think none of this matters or applies to you.
Please stay engaged, stay locked in because this will affect the
body of our church. And as a sister in Christ, you
will still have some go do's at the end of this sermon.
So let's go with verse one. But As for you teach what is the
what accords with sound doctrine?
But As for you again, this is pivoting from the many who are
described in verse 10 in chapter 1, the many who are insubording
empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision party. You know the the ones described
again in 16. They profess to know God, but
they deny him by their works, and they're described as being
detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
We got to understand why that butt is there.
But As for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound
doctrine? Teach.
What does teach mean? To teach is simply defined as to
show or explain to someone how to do something to impart
knowledge or a skill. A good teacher understands the
four types of learners, right? You have your visual learners,
you have your auditory learners, you have your people that learn
just by simply reading and writing, and then you have your
kinesthetic learners. The the people who need to do it
themselves. Me, I'm kind of kinesthetically
hard headed. I need to do it myself and fall
and fail a couple of times for it to really kind of register.
Thank God for his mercy and grace.
So Titus, he's called to show them sound doctrine, preach to
them sound doctrine, have them read about sound doctrine, and
then have them go and live out sound doctrine.
Sound here really just means healthy.
It's going to come up again. So I I need this.
I need this to really stick again.
Sound means healthy. Sound means healthy.
What does sound mean? Come on, now.
Yeah. Now, look, look.
I need y'all to be locked in. What does sound mean?
Amen. Amen.
Tim Tester says that this
teaching that leads to a spiritual and emotional health.
Titus is to lead his people to a healthy life or a good life
which is characterized by good works.
The good works is evidence of healthy and sound doctrine.
Verse two older men are to be sober minded, dignified or or
worthy of respect, self controlled, sound in faith,
sound in love and sound in steadfastness or endurance.
Older men in the Bible are held with high regard.
They're held to a high standard. They are seen above all,
especially during those ancient times.
It was it was insane for someone to continue to live and and gain
the privilege of having crown of grey.
Like for example Proverbs 1631-A Gray hair is a crown of
splendor. Proverbs 2322 Listen to your
father who gave you life. Do not despise your mother when
she is old. Leviticus 1932 You shall rise
before the Gray haired and show honor to the aged for God, for
your fear your God. I am the Lord aged and being
blessed to have Gray hairs be blessed to be around for some
time. It's something that should be
honored during those times and and even still in in a lot of
eastern culture today. Having an older man that is,
that fits these descriptions was critical and crucial because
they had massive influence on everyone else.
Their word held weight and was held at high regard. 1
commentator says that elders in a church are ordinarily older
men. They are people with experience
of life, living in the faith. There is a proper authority,
again, that comes with age. They've seen some things,
experienced some things. A lot of young people don't know
what you don't know. That's right.
Amen. So again, not everyone lives
long enough to have Grays, wrinkles, experience and wisdom.
But if they fit those categories, we should show them
respect. But I'm here to tell you two
things that the reference of older men in this about this
reference in this text 1 is it's not talking about eldership or
being a pastor. It is referring to members in
the church in the body and the term of older men.
And it's also not simply referring to age, but to also
maturity in the faith. I'll give you an example of this
again. Paul tells Timothy, a leader in
the church, not to let anyone look down on him for his youth,
who was roughly probably in his 30s at that time.
Timothy, like Titus who was sent out by Paul and Timothy was out
there grinding so hard, dealing with so much craziness.
Bro Paul wrote him 2 letters. Another example of this is Job
32 six through 10. So context, Job's life went into
shambles. His friends, his three friends
plus a young man came to comfort him, refute him and condemn him
to find out what he did as to why his life went down the
tubes. Eliu AKA the young man, was it
actually mad at Job because he had to, He justified himself
rather than justifying God, and then was also mad at his friends
because they couldn't refute anything Job was saying that he
didn't do, but yet they still tried to condemn him.
So what do you say? He replied.
I am young in years while you all are old.
Therefore I was timid, afraid to tell you what I know.
I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach
wisdom, but it is the Spirit in a person, the breath from the
Almighty that gives you anyone understanding.
It is the spirit in a person, the breath from the Almighty
that gives anyone understanding. It is not only the old who are
wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.
After you will cause out everyone, God then speaks right?
God then calls out everyone, reminds Joel who are you to
question anything I do, then tells his three friends, you
must be out your mind talking to my servant Job like that.
You need to repent and then ask Joel to pray for you because I'm
not going to hear it. But God didn't call out the
young man. He didn't ask the young man to
repent. Why?
Because it is the Spirit in a person, the breath from the
Almighty, that gives anyone understanding and wisdom.
So let's say this older slash which spiritually mature men are
to be sober minded, dignified, worthy of respect, self-control,
sound in faith, sound in love, sound the steadfastest and sound
and endurance. So let's let's dive into these
characteristics sober minded sober minded sober minded mean
anything that alters your states after after one consumption.
If you drink something or eat something or do something and
all of a sudden you are no longer sober, you are out there.
Maybe you should stick to 0. If there's anything that alter
your states after 5-6 or whatever, how many consumptions?
Maybe you should only stick to two.
Why? Because you need to be of sober
mind. Not at some of the time.
Not when it feels good. This needs to be your lifestyle.
Yes, Jesus drank wine, but he wasn't out there drunk.
It's a difference. OK, dignified or where they
respect, have integrity, have a work ethic, show respect to
others, Treat people like people.
Better yet, treat people like the image bearers they are.
Treat people like the image bearers they are. self-control.
Know thyself. People think of self-control so
often is hey you can say no to every temptation.
You're just that strong willed. Which yes, that can be true and
that is a factor. But true self-control and truly
knowing thyself is avoiding situations that would put you in
a compromising situation. That's self-control.
So a little bit about me. I have a degree in forensic
psychology. That's why I went to school for
study. Did all the shebang in school
needs to say I, I took what it felt like an endless amount of
like psych classes. Ridiculous, but it was, it was
beneficial. I get it.
But the, the, the reason I bring this up is because during that
time I learned about cognitive behavioral theory, right?
And what that is in short, in short, is a situation occurs, it
impacts your thoughts that then impacts your emotions, that then
impacts your behaviors or your reaction, which then has an
adverse impact on your body, which then again impacts your
thoughts and then the cycle continues.
Cognitive behavior theory. So in the aspect of this of, of
this theory, like when a, when a situation or or triggering event
occurs, like with with some therapists, do it this time he's
like, OK, what, what can we change in your behavior when
something triggering happens or a situation occurs with
practice, What can we change in your behavior that would then
change how your body would react in terms of fight or flight,
which will then change your thoughts on that situation
because you did different actions, which would then impact
your emotions, which ideally would lead to a better result,
right? So why bring that up?
Why is that? What does this have to do with
these, these characteristics we just went over?
I'm here to tell you, you can actually learn to be sober
minded, dignified, where they respect and learn how to have
self-control. You can learn these behaviors
to, to imitate that, to show that there are some people in
your lives. And I'm sure when I say this,
everyone has a vision of somebody.
There's people in your life that already execute these three
things and are not believers. There's people in your lives
that you know who, who are often sober people in your lives that
you know, that are really respectable people.
And, and, and seeing the honorable people, there's people
in your lives that again, have, have that self-control.
You can learn those behaviors and it doesn't mean you're a
believer. But there's a reason that there
are three more virtues. Let's go into them.
You will be sound in faith, sound in love and sound in
steadfastness or endurance. They must be sound.
And what does sound mean again? Look at it one more time.
What does sound mean? Again?
Thank you, thank you, thank you. So you must be healthy in faith,
healthy in love, healthy in steadfastness and endurance,
healthy in faith, healthy in faith first.
We are saved by faith. Faith is first on the list and
it is paramount for a reason. We are saved by our faith.
Someone who is healthy in faith, you know what?
They they have a healthy relationship with God.
Someone who is healthy in faith, what does that look like?
They have a healthy relationship with God.
OK, we'll dive in a little bit deeper, Will.
OK, I got you. Will you say I do that?
So they have a healthy prayer life.
They have a healthy relationship and a constant study of the word
and they have healthy fast rhythms.
They have healthy faith rhythms, healthy in love.
Someone who is healthy in love has a healthy relationship with
God's image bearers. Someone who is healthy in love
has a healthy relationship with God's image bearers.
Well, what does that mean? Well, let's look at First
Corinthians 13, four and seven. What is love?
Well, love is patient. Love is kind.
Love does not envy. Love is not boastful, it is not
arrogant, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not
irritable and does not keep a record of wrongs.
Love finds joy and does not find joy in the unrighteousness, but
rejoice in truth. It bears all things, believes
all things, hope all things, endures, all things healthy and
love. It's a healthy relationship with
God's image bearers. You're showing people patience.
You're showing His image bearers kindness.
You're showing them that you do not envy.
You show them that you're not boastful.
You show them that you're not arrogant.
You're not rude to them. You're not self seeking.
You're not irritable. You don't keep a record of their
wrongs. You find you don't find joy in
their own righteousness, but you rejoice in the truth and you
bear they're things you believe they're things you hope in Jesus
and you endure all things. Healthy love means healthy
relational love with God's image bearers, healthy and steadfast
and endurance. You must be spiritually tough
living in this dark broken world and being a believer which is so
counter cultural in this world. If this week didn't show you
that just how polarizing this week has been and it is a
challenge. Persecution is promised and we
are told to pick up our cross and follow Him.
You need to be healthy and endurance to deal with the sin
of the world. You need to be healthy and
endurance to deal with the sin of the world.
Being healthy in these virtues does not again equate to being
perfect in these virtues. That's what I mean is like you.
It's not that it's an expectation.
You show this 24/7 that you are the righteous of the righteous
because Romans tells us no, not one is righteous but it must be
seen or associated with your character most of the time.
But because we can't be perfect, thank God there was somebody
that was perfect that executed these, that was Jesus.
He was the perfect example of the mature believer.
He lived a life clear mind and always staying on the path.
Also being 100% God needs to say he was dignified and lived a
life worthy of respect. He had also had to be self
controlled again because he's 100% God and he allowed himself
to be disrespected and humiliated from creatures made
from the dirt. You have to have some
self-control to do that. He was also sound in faith, in a
constant relationship with the Father, praying, fasting,
teaching Scripture, and emphasizing the heart of
Scripture, not just reading the words.
He was also the embodiment of love, obeying the Father out of
love, sacrificing himself out of love for the world, for God's
image bearers, and also being 100% man.
He endured. He endured being beaten.
He endured being humiliated. He endured nails in His feet.
He endured His hands being pierced.
He endured a crown of thorns. He endured salt being thrown in
His wombs. He endured the sins of the
world. He endured being forsaken by the
Father the only time He cried out and died.
Why do you do this? So He can rise on the third day
and free you from the bondage of sin and send down the Holy
Spirit after His ascension. This is paramount because though
there are tools that you can learn, we talk about cognitive
behavior theory. Those are our tools and
practices in ways you can learn to be the first three to get
those qualities. Only the Holy Spirit can give
you faith, only the Holy Spirit can give you love, and only the
Holy Spirit can give you endurance.
So with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will grow in faith,
you will grow in love, you will grow in endurance, and then the
cognitive 3 will come, AKA. Let's call this spiritual
cognitive theory. As the Holy Spirit grows and
mature you, He will convict, encourage and morph your
behaviors, your wants, your thoughts, your desires and
change them. So when the situation happens,
when a trigger occurs, next thing you know you're more sober
minded, you have more self-control and you're treating
the people of God and God's image bears with dignity and
respect. But why do this?
Why? Why focus on older or mature
Christians? Why did the Holy Spirit come to
do this? Why?
Why even do this in this in the 1st place?
Some of your immediate response because we are blessed to be in
a theologically sound congregation in church.
Some of your immediate response when I said why does the Holy
Spirit does this, in this why did Jesus sends the send us the
Holy Spirit? Some of your, your first thought
was sanctification and to be more like Jesus.
Again, sanctification and to be more like Jesus.
And I'm here to tell you, yes, yes, that is true.
But that's only half of it. It's more of a a yes.
And Jesus tells you why he's sitting his people at Helper.
He tells you also what you're supposed to do when he ascends.
He tells us in Matthew 2819 through 20.
Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe everything I've commanded you.
And remember I'm with you always to the end of age.
Jesus, it's telling you why. And he also did this perfectly.
He walked with the 12, he ate with the 12, he taught the 12.
He corrected the 12. He showed the 12 what right
looks like went over scriptures with the 12.
So let's so so he showed them how to live.
He preached them how to live out the word.
He had them read and study the word and then he had them go do
it and live out the word and then he taught them to do the
same for others and equip them. This wasn't a a once in a week,
once a week thing. This wasn't every blue moon
thing of doing this. This was truly living life
together, a true investment in a relationship, a discipleship
relationship, a discipling relationship.
And Jesus did this for a reason. So then now let's go back.
How does this what does this the heck this got to do with with
Titus one and two will how how did we get here?
Well, Paul is telling Titus is telling this to Titus and, and,
and pointing out qualities in older or mature men in the
church and what they should have so they can pour into younger
men so they can pour into younger men and make disciples.
So he's telling Titus so Titus can see what men in the church
have Holy Spirit and be able to discern that and see who are
qualified. So he can then direct them and
show them how to delete it and show it to other younger men to
make more older and mature men. This is crucial for a healthy
church. We have to reach 1 and teach
one. Yes, people in our body are all
gifted in different ways to serve our church.
Absolutely, absolutely. Some sing, some are great with
their hands and handy. Some are great with landscape.
Some are passionate with kids and roots.
Thank God for those people. Some people are great at
hospitality, some people are are great at teaching.
Some people can are great cooks and can do all the things.
Some are business savvy. Some some are just savvy in
other ways that can help other people.
There's tons of gifts. Tons of gifts.
And yes, we are all we all have spiritual gifts and uniquely
made to further God's Kingdom. But every last one of us were
given a mission from Jesus to go and make disciples of all
nations. Every last one of us, we're
called to do that. So what does, what does
discipleship look like? I know I'm, I'm, I'm tell you
right now I'm about to go over what discipleship look like
really quickly. I'm gonna give you like a, a
30,000 foot overview of it. I know coal is going to be
probably diving a lot deeper into this in a couple weeks and
I ain't trying to take all this Thunder, but we need, if I'm
going to keep using this word discipleship, I got to make sure
we're all on the same page of what this means.
So for discipleship 1, you show them how to live out God's word
in your everyday life. They must see it when you're
killing it. They must see when you're on top
of your game, when you have healthy rhythms, when everything
is going smooth, How you rejoice, how you see his glory
in everyday life, how you study, how you pray, how you interact
with God's people, how you fast, how you interact with your
family. They must see that, and they
also must see how you repent when you fall short.
They also must see when you fall and when you fail.
How do you reconcile relationships?
How do you deal with seasons when you feel God is silent?
How do you endure hardships? How do you push through when you
don't have any answers? How you lament?
How do you try to bounce back when you're having a low season
and not the best rhythms at that moment?
You are not perfect. There was only one man that was
perfect and they must see you endure two.
You must preach to them the Word.
You must speak the Word into their lives.
Go over scriptures. Teach the scriptures to them.
The Bible is a crucial part of that.
You have to open up the word if you're discipling somebody.
It is not just watching a video on YouTube, it is not an
Instagram Reel, it is not a TikTok, and y'all go over that.
You have to open up the scriptures and go over the word
with them. Three, have them read the Word.
Have them take notes, discuss their thoughts, help them
understand what they read. You must teach them how to own
their faith, how to own their study of the Word. 4 Walk with
them in their lives as they attempt to live out the Word.
Walk with them, encourage them, speak hard truths and love to
them. And when they are mature and you
walk with them as they'd also walk with someone younger in the
faith again, reach one, teach one.
Have them make disciples. Train them up so they can make
disciples. This isn't just a random meet
up, a random chill random hangout, but a true investment
in someone's life and opening your life to someone, not just
showing them the pretty Hallmark pictures, movies of it.
Show them your life. So what does this mean for
Frontier, right? Let's be honest, we're a very
young church age wise. Again, we're blessed and
privileged to have some some older gospel centered men in our
in our congregation with a crown of grey.
But All in all, the average age of our church is probably from
27 to 34. We're a young church and that's
a give or take estimation. Again, think of older men as
mature men in faith. I'm going to give you one last
example of this in the Bible, Hebrews 513 through 14.
Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the
message about righteousness because he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature, for those whose senses
have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Again, maturity is not determined by age, but for those
who have since been trained to distinguish between God's Word
in the broken world's word. Frontier Church.
My fear, my angst is that some of us in this church have been
trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Again, we have a church that has strong theology and know all the
answers in this book, know how to discern what's God's Word and
what's not God's Word. Some of us are mature men and
yet we're choosing to remain on milk when we are ready for solid
food. We are choosing to remain on
milk and be infants and be lazy when we are ready for solid
food. There are men in their 70s that
may have just came to Christ. They may be only being a
Christian for for a week or a month or even a year and they're
only able to drink milk and that is fine.
That is OK. Nothing wrong with that.
I'm not talking to any new believers.
I don't care what your age is. I'm not talking to a new
believer, and you are welcome, my brother.
But there are men in our churches that are in their 20s,
their 30s, their 40s, and even some in their early 50s who are
ready for solid food, that are mature, that do fit these
qualities. That the Holy Spirit has changed
their life drastically, that has shaped them, that has mold them.
And they know the difference between God's will, His word,
and what the broken world is telling us what to do.
And they are sitting on their thumbs and drinking milk.
We need to lock in and wake up. The world is counting on us to
do that. We cannot come here with the
mind and the heart to just check a box.
I served today, check. I went to CG this week, check.
I looked at the verse of the day today.
Check. I was a good Christian this
week. We must remember the Great
Commission. We must remember the Great
Commission. Let's read again Matthew 2819
and 20. Go therefore, and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
baptize them in the name of the Son, and baptizing them in the
name of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
everything I have commanded you. And remember I'm with you always
to the end of age. So if that's the Great
Commission, I'm ready for solid food.
So who are y'all discipling then?
And yes, some of us are fathers and have families.
And yes, we are called to disciple our children and lead
our families. Yes, we are also called to show
them how to pour into others outside of the home.
We are also called to show them how to love others.
What does a spiritual father and son relationship look like?
We have to demonstrate that. So your child shouldn't be your
excuse for not doing it, but it should be another reason,
another motivation to show them what discipleship looks like
outside the home. What is being a man of God looks
like. But I want to emphasize again,
if you if, if you're feel, if you feel that you're still in
the situation and it will. I'm still so new.
My faith, I, I, I barely I, I just learned John 316 yesterday.
I, I, I'm still right. I need to just be drinking milk.
My brother, my sister. That is OK.
I just have one question for you, though.
Who's discipling you so that you can become mature, so then you
can go and make disciples again? We're blessed to be part of a
church with a congregation with strong theology.
But how are we living it out? James 226 tells us.
For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, also faith
without works is dead. The do say ratio has to equal
up. So how can we claim to have
strong theology? How can we claim to have sound
faith, sound and love for Jesus if we are not living out?
Matthew 28/19/20. You can't say one thing and not
do the other. That was literally the person
you called your Lord and Savior, the last thing he told you to do
before he ascended. The reason he sent you the
helper. But church, I, I know
discipleship can't be uncomfortable.
You're letting somebody in. You got to be vulnerable.
It's hard, it's messy, it can be inconvenient, it can be
mentally, physically, emotionally taxing.
You might might not even see the full fruit of all the time and
emotional and mental investment you made in this person and you
might not even see the fruit of it.
It's hard. But what does that last line and
Matthew 20/28/20 say? And remember I Jesus and with
you always to the end of the age.
You are not alone in this. The Holy Spirit is with you,
Jesus is with you, the Father is with you.
The passions at this church are with you.
Your brothers and your sisters in Christ are with you.
You are not alone in this walk. This this can bring us to our
big idea for for the for these men in our church.
Sorry my son, that crazy sometimes.
Mature men are to have a sound biblical life to adhere to the
Great Commission. Say it one time.
Mature men are to have a sound biblical life to adhere to the
Great Commission. And I, like I told y'all to play
by play. I want to give y'all some some
examples of mature men that were in my life that had major
impacts at the time and and even the time when I I should have
sought out a mature man in the faith in my in my life.
So the first one back in, back in Louisville, those who don't
know me and my family moved from Louisville, KY 2 years ago.
So back in Louisville, me and my wife, we were not a, it was, it
was a, we had a season where we were just beefing and not in a
great place. Honestly, I couldn't even tell
you what we was beefing over. Who knows, you know, I probably
left something on the stove or something, who knows it.
I don't even know what the beef was.
That's, that's, that's not really the point.
But I was definitely in my feelings.
I was emotional. I'm emotional.
But I met with a mature man from our church and his name was
Lavar Bro. I'm my man's was probably the
coolest cat I've ever met in my life.
Bro still my dude, cool dude. And like he like meets all the
characteristics and and and Titus of what they describe what
an older man should be. So like I look, bro, that was
that was my guy. So I'm I'm I'm talking to him.
I'm hot, like I'm snapping, I'm hot.
I'm I'm telling him my plight, how I'm just, you know, so
wronged and I'm just the perfect husband.
All the things like I'm, I'm in my feelings snapping like
anybody else does. And this man, as I'm as I'm
talking, he starts laughing at me just laughing.
And I'm like now I'm like, Paul, It's like, bro, what you what
you laughing for? I just, I just told you like,
like this is hurting me right now.
And you, you laughing. And he goes.
He was like, look, my brother. I mean, I mean no disrespect.
He was like, and I know, I, I know how you feel right now and,
and he was like, it's and I know you're like you really going
through and he was like, it's, it's just so funny bro, because
like me and my wife went through the same exact thing 15 years
ago. And then after he says that and
points that out and he is he immediately able even to tell me
my feelings that I couldn't even articulate at the time, he then
proceeds to tell me and remind me how God calls us his husband
to love our wives and how we're called to work through
struggles. That conversation was such a
transformational time and me and my wife's marriage.
That conversation was so freeing in a great spiritual, cognitive,
behavioral mindset shift. Mindset shift.
Another example, last year as I saw my baby out here screaming
we found out that we were having a baby and the reason that's
crazy is because I have a 13 year old boy and 11 year old
daughter. I've been need to say I've been
out the game for a little bit before having another baby and
y'all I was freaking out. I was stressed, overwhelmed.
How am I going to do this again? What am I going to do?
How can we even afford this again?
I haven't dealt with this for 10 years and a mature man by the
name of Carlos Sims sat me down and and told me not to be
anxious but rather to trust in the one who blessed me with this
child and truly helped calm me and reassure me that he will
never leave or forsake me. He also reminded me when we
first joined Frontier, one of my things where I used to say was,
man, I don't know how I'm going to relate to many, to relate to
many families out here because most of our church has little
little kids and all mine are like grown and self-sufficient.
Yeah, be careful. What you what you ask for.
Nah, you're a blessing. I love him.
Look at him walking down the
hall. Look.
Come on, bro. No.
Hey. And then lastly, last example of
when I when I should have sought a mature man.
This year, October 12th, it will be 10 years since my mother
passed my my children don't really have memories of her and
my blessing of a child that God gave me will never know her will
be 10 years October 12th in May of that of 2015.
So that May of that year me and my mom had a had a massive
fight. The argument that didn't end
well with us talking to each other and the next time I was
ever going to see her or even speak to her was going to be in
late September when she was on life support and had her chain
in her throat and I would never be able to hear her voice again.
I let my pride, my arrogance take precious time away from you
and my mother. I should have sought a mature
man. It's a point to me and disciple
me who I'm sure would have told me to reconcile and not because
we don't know if tomorrow's promise or not, not because of
you never know when anyone's last day.
That's that's not why I would tell someone to reconcile.
And I know a mature man in the faith would tell me to
reconcile. That's not the why.
The why is because we're called to do it as followers of Christ.
We're called to be sound, in love, healthy, in love with
image bearers. Those 3 examples are crucial
Church. That's what that can practically
look like in our lives. We have to stop being lazy and
choosing milk. We can't in one breath say we
are mature and we're theologically strong and sound
and we are not living Matthew 28 in making disciples, in
furthering the Kingdom. I promise y'all I would give you
all some go dues and I and I promise I'll I don't need it
anyway. Smooth.
You see how smooth I did that? I promise you I'll get out you
all here. So this week you'll go dues my
brothers in Christ. Or to evaluate yourself, reach
out to a leader in our church and have them evaluate you.
Are you choosing milk? Are you ready for solid food or
are? Or are you only in a position
where all you can have right now is milk?
To pray and ask God to help you think through discipleship and
discern where you are. Should you be discipling?
Who you should be discipling, And even if you are mature, even
if you will consider yourself strong and mature and you're
executing all those things, you still should have someone
pouring into you. Iron sharpens iron.
So again, even if you are discipling, who's discipling
you, Wives, talk through this with your husbands and pray for
them and pray for them. And my sisters, encourage your
brothers in Christ to reach out to be discipled or to disciples,
someone or both. And my sisters, please pray for
us. Imagine the church or growth
would have if we did this. I assure you we would have more
CGS. You want to know why?
Because we would have more leaders and more leaders would
come out of our CGS because they're becoming mature.
And ready to lead. We would have so many men in the
leadership courses that that Cole puts on at our church, that
Cole would be overwhelmed. Overwhelmed because we have so
many men beating down his door ready for this solid food.
I'll tell you another thing. The vibe in the field of Iowa
needs good dudes. That conference, oh, it would
hit even different and go even further and the conference would
also be too big to be held in this building.
All men in our church, all men in our church would have a
strong spiritual father figure that they can go to and lean on.
All men in our church. Cole was talking about revival.
Now imagine if we did this, the revival we would really have in
our city, how many people we would have fight for joy in the
joy of Des Moines. Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your word, thank
you for your son, thank you for the Holy Spirit.
Father, we love you and we need you.
As we worship, as we leave, as we even eventually get
dismissed, please keep our hearts.
Our mind stayed on You Father, and help us build a life where
You are our foundation. That when people see us and
interact with us, they see and feel that we have a healthy
faith and relationship with you. A healthy love and relationship
with your image bears and a healthy, strong, firm foundation
in you. So we can endure this dark and
cruel world. Jesus and we prayer.