Engaged: Setting Things in Order

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey bethany kids i'm miss ernestine and i'm miss jane and today we continue to kid size the book of titus titus as we refer to him because he was a pretty cool awesome as they say tight kind of guy and in today's verses we see that the apostle paul had sent him some pretty tough rules to follow when he was picking men to be elders from the church you're an elder haha well if i'm an elder you're an older elder whatever anyways as i was saying paul wanted titus to pick some men to be in charge of the church and he called them elders but not necessarily because they had to be old so what are the requirements to be an elder well as i said they don't have to be old but they just have to follow a lot of rules whatever okay listen to this ham you are to appoint elders in every town as i directed you an elder must be blameless faithful to his wife a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient since an overseer manages god's household he must be blameless and not overbearing not quick tempered not given to drunkenness not violent not pursuing dishonest gain but rather he must be honorable one who loves what is good is self-controlled and holy upright and disciplined wow that's pretty a harsh group of rules i guess i couldn't be an older elder or younger elder for that matter yep god wants our elders to be pretty much blameless and their kids have to be under control too that's very interesting you know several years ago my dad was an elder here at bethany church and at that time in my life as a young adult i was a crazy person doing all sorts of things i should not have been doing so what did he do knock you upside of your head well i think i'd rather he did that than what he did do he told me he was going to have to not be an elder anymore because he told me in the bible it says that you have to have children that are believers and are under control and are not being wild and disobedient when he told me that i thought i would die well that must have been embarrassing for the whole church or to find out what a nut you were well i didn't let it happen i told my dad i'd straighten up because i didn't want him to have to tell the whole church his daughter was not living the way an elder's child should be living you might say i was scared straight well i'm glad your dad was an amazing elder you might not have ever grown up to be an older elder i am not an older elder and i can't be because i'm a girl and because you're crazy too i think you're the one that made me that way whatever and kids remember when you sin against god it doesn't just affect you it can affect your parents and your church and will everyone so stay strong and we will see you next week you're an old elder than i no i'm not you're the really older elder whatever see you next time kids bye bye [Music] that's a fun story to hear well welcome and good morning um to the live stream audience that we have joining us hello and welcome and to the in-house the first people here for our 9 a.m service welcome thank you so much for joining us today we're glad you are here and we are just excited to be together both as an online congregation this morning and as a congregation in person in this room together to be able to hear each other's voices and we just are excited to to be moving in that direction and continuing to to open up the doors of the sanctuary and be together again as a church through this uh hard season that we've all journeyed but this is a fun step and an encouraging step in that direction so just as usual i just encourage you guys whether you're here or whether you're online to connect with us and fill out our online connect card let us know that you are here today let us know how we can be praying for you let us know what god is doing in your life because we love hearing from you guys we love praying for you so we just encourage you to connect with us in that way and we just also encourage you today to open up your heart to god open up your your mind your your ears to his spirit to what he has to speak to you today and i just pray that today we will all be blessed as we worship him as we sing together as we hear from his word from pastor jeff later let's just open up our hands to him now so we're going to open up with a song that just it speaks of that it just asks the spirit to move in our hearts so if you're able would you stand with us and just join in your voices lift up your your spirit your song and your worship to god sing with me [Music] god [Music] me [Music] god [Music] god [Music] god [Music] failing [Music] god [Music] yes [Music] when all i see is the battle you see my victory [Music] when all i see is the mountain you see a mountain moon and as i walk through the shadow your love surrounds me thank you there's nothing to fear now before [Music] i'll sing through the night oh god the battle belongs to you [Music] and if you are formed who can be against me for jesus [Music] thank you god [Music] so when [Music] oh almighty4 you go before us nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadows you in every battle nothing can stand against the power of our god all my fortunes [Music] [Music] stand against the power of a god and all mighty forces nothing can stand against the power nothing can stand against the power of our gods belongs [Music] your feet [Music] amen [Music] empty praise and treasures the face then you came along put me back together [Music] and every desire is now satisfied here in your [Music] there's lord better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing nothing is [Music] [Applause] [Music] free [Music] not a is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only one who cares you turn born into dancing you [Music] you turn shame into glory [Music] you turn foes into armies you touch [Music] oh you're nothing better than you there's nothing better than you lord there's nothing nothing is [Music] is [Music] there's nothing like you lord you're holy [Music] we worship you further cry holy holy lord holy holy holy [Music] our sun shall rise [Music] merciful [Music] holy holy holy [Music] though the darkness thy glory may not see thou [Music] art [Music] is [Music] [Music] holy holy holy earth and sky and sea [Music] foreign [Music] god is [Music] amen amen praise god praise god so great to sing together well good morning welcome to bethany church it is it is wonderful to have to acknowledge two audiences our audience in the auditorium here great to see you guys and our our home audience on the live stream great to see you as well um you'll have to excuse me i don't know quite where to look today you guys are at the camera for a year up on stage i've been looking right at the camera and uh i don't want to exclude the people on on the live stream but i don't want to exclude any of you as well so it's something to get used to kind of like where do you sit when you come to church now right before covet everybody had their seat and you didn't sit in somebody else's seat but now the seats have all moved and so where do you sit it was also wonderful up here to look out and and you knew right where to look for different people and you knew who was at church and and it was just encouraging to see everybody at church because they were in their seat i don't know where anybody is anymore so you kind of have to scan the whole place and say oh next week they'll be somewhere else but it's it's wonderful to see all of you here i'm so good to be back inside and to see all of you so good to have you at home here as well just want to acknowledge we do have two indoor services nine o'clock like like you've come to here if nine o'clock doesn't work for you if this is too early you can come at 10 45 but the only service we'll be live streaming is our nine o'clock service so those of you online keep coming at nine o'clock we'll be here every week for you i do wanna just acknowledge god was so good to us last year and provided the finances we needed to purchase new sound equipment so that we could do both in person and online at the same time before coveted we wouldn't have been able to do that but god in his wonderful provision gave gave the finances necessary for that and so that's something we praise god for that we don't have to stop doing online while we're in person so it's good with that said uh kids programming is available both services if if you have kids ages three months through fifth grade we have kids programming available both services so don't let that dictate which service you come to we would love for all of you though to connect with us via our our digital connect card um that's on our website again we're not going to have the the cards in in the seat in front of you um for a while so connect with us via via the digital connect card let us know a praise let us know how we might pray for you let us know that you're here but but just connect connection i think if you know we've learned anything in this last year it's how important connection is so connect with us we would ask every week let us know you're here let us know how to pray also real important right now not maybe so much for this service but especially if you want to come at 10 45 reserve your seat and let us know you're coming it's it's uh we're still limited as you can see the way the seats are set up we're still limited to capacity so we need to know you're coming every monday the link should be available for the following week and we would love for you to just go online there's a blue button my note said blue button i went to the website and checked it is blue click on that blue button make sure you reserve your seats for the following week okay let's see what else i want to let you know also on our website is information for several activities that are going on during the week our young adults started a bible study in the looking at the parable of the prodigal son this last thursday and that's continuing for a number of thursdays at 7 00 pm that's over in the well ministry center this coming tuesday night we are going to start a men's bible study looking at the topic of discipleship what does it mean to be a disciple what does it mean to make disciples it's a five-week study starting at 6 30 p.m i don't remember the location so go to our website but go to our website also to register for that and then next sunday night is our monthly time of prayer and we we pray for our church we pray for our city and community we pray for our missionaries that's at 6 30 p.m we would love to have you join us this month we're going back to in person there's not going to be a zoom option this time so we'll be meeting over in the well we'd love to see you there at 6 30 and um and just join us for a time of prayer we pray for our missionaries too i remember if i said that or not but every every month we have a missionary joining us and we we pray for them as well so uh it's it's so good to see all of you here will you join me in prayer we're going to pray for pastor jeff now heavenly father thank you for this morning thank you for those that are online thank you for those here in person god you are marvelous in all your ways blessing our church blessing our church family giving us the the resources we needed lord to to be able to purchase the equipment to be able to live stream and have in person a year ago we couldn't do that and god as hard as as this last year has been there have been so many blessings through this last year and this this ability to do both kinds of services at the same time as one of those blessings we praise you for that lord god this morning whatever our week has held whatever we've come to this morning whatever distractions we've come with god would you set those aside help us to set those aside and lay them down and focus on you and your word we pray god you would give pastor jeff a fresh feeling of your spirit to speak to us the words you have for for us this morning thank you god for communicating to us through your word through pastor jeff we pray god that we would be recipients who are open to whatever it is you have for us today in jesus name amen the teaching passage for today is taken from titus chapter 1 from verse 5 to 9. i'm reading from the new international version the reason i left you in crete was that you might put in order that what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as i directed you an elder must be blameless faithful to his wife a man who whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient since an overseer manages god's household he must be blameless not overbearing not quick tempered not given to drunkenness not violent not pursuing this honest gain rather he must be hospitable one who believes what is good who is self-controlled upright holy and disciplined he must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it this is the word of the lord the teaching passage for today is taken from titus joining us online thank you for streaming i know it's a little bit different with the mask and those are some of the requirements for having in-person services so bear with us in that as we wait for the orders to change we started last week a series in a letter to a young man named titus and we've called this series engaged where we've been looking at how do we live a life of faith in light of the gospel how do we allow ourselves to be fully engaged mentally emotionally spiritually and last week we looked at how an engaged life is one where our identity is the foundation for our actions that is we understand ourselves to be servants of god as we understand ourselves to be sent ones that we surrender our will to the god who loved us and gave himself up for us we then saw how that informs our mission to save the lost and to see people transformed by the truth of god's word we engage in this kind of a life motivated by our relationship with jesus recognizing that he has given to us an eternal kind of life not just a life that will be with him forever but a life that will be with him that he's ultimately called us not into a series of rituals but into a relationship and that because of that relationship the things that matter to him matter to us we saw a call to a life of obedience that we have been given a command to go and to make disciples of all nations that that's not a suggestion but the way that we live out our lives is to seek people that we can lead into a relationship with jesus we saw that our message is the gospel and that for us as believers that is ultimate reality that we recognize that everything we do is impacted by the reality of a god who loved us and gave himself up for us that we bring a common faith a message that's powerful to transform us to change our lives an act of mercy that has transformed our hearts lastly we saw that it changed our position that for those of us who are justified by faith we have peace with god that we now stand in his grace fully loved fully accepted we have received an unmerited favor that god has bestowed on those who he loves and so we're going to look this morning at one of the reasons that titus was left in crete to establish leadership within the church and to provide structure and guidance i've had the privilege of serving with the elders here at bethany for over three years i've enjoyed so much learning with them growing with them i'm not sure if you guys are aware of some of the things that we do as elders as we're serving the church when i first started we used to have marathon meetings that would go till about 11 o'clock and so as soon as i became the lead pastor i thought i don't know if i can stay up till 11 every time we meet so we split the meetings up and so we do one business meeting at the beginning of the month and then we do a meeting where we focus on spiritual development where we're reading books together we're cultivating our theology we're coming to a place of understanding what we believe and why we believe it as we ultimately seek to lead this church to glorify god and to fulfill our vision we've been praying for you guys and and so those prayer requests that you send in through the connect cards we take time every month to pray and so if you've got things that you want us to pray for put those on the connect parts that we can do that and then ultimately we've been looking at how how to exercise church discipline what does membership mean these are all things that are that are at the core of how a church functions it's structure that ultimately as you become members you're bringing yourselves under the spiritual authority of the elders and that our role and position is not just to lord it over you but to encourage you in your faith call you out when you're getting sideways to provide loving correction it's it's a high calling and an incredible role and i'm so thankful for the board that we have right now you're going to get to see their pictures and i'm going to encourage you to connect with them but but just some godly men who sincerely desire what's best for you so looking at our passage this morning we're going to ask the question how how did this church get birthed there there's a sense in which based on the letter we can see that that it was probably paul and titus who had went there as part of paul's missionary journeys that he ends up on the island of crete it doesn't seem like he was there for a very long time because the church there wasn't very structured and so he leaves titus behind and this is the reason i left you in crete now it's possible that titus and paul as they were ministering there actually found believers already on the island you remember that in the day of pentecost after jesus ascension the spirit was poured out on the apostles and they began speaking in other tongues and everybody was able to hear them and understand them in their own language so jews from all over the area had come to jerusalem and in acts 2 verse 11 we're told that christians were there so as they heard the apostle peter explaining the gospel thousands of them had come to faith and eventually would return back to the areas that they came from and would bring the life-changing message of the gospel with them so it's possible that that's how some of the church was formed however the church there needed work from the letter we're going to see that it needed structure we're going to see that it needed leadership next week we're going to see that it needed protection from false teaching and that the remainder of the letter is really instruction in godly living how are we as followers of jesus to conduct ourselves in relationship with one another in relationship to the world around us so titus 1-5 for this reason i left you in crete that you would set an order what remains and appoint elders in every city as i directed you and before we get into titus's responsibilities i want to point out what titus represents titus represents reproduction titus is the fruit of paul's ministry paul had invested in titus's life in such a way that he could be released with authority and responsibility was a product of discipleship and he had proved himself faithful to take what he had received and apply it but then to take what he had received and to give it away titus is also a demonstration of paul's humility and think about this from the perspective of leadership that paul was able to let somebody else complete the work that he started that his ego wasn't in it that ultimately the thing that mattered most was that jesus was elevated to the highest place and so paul was willing to release authority and responsibility to someone else to complete the work that he had begun he puts titus in charge of putting others in charge others who would reflect a life formed by the implications of the gospel and who would ultimately reproduce themselves for the advancement and the development of the kingdom so what we see the first thing that titus is sent to do is to set an order what remains this is a general statement of the work that titus was to do and the phrase set in order really frames out the remainder of the letter titus was to bring structure organized around godly leadership that would assist the church to live out their lives in light of the gospel now specifically titus was to appoint elders in every city engaged leaders who were faithful to their commitments who demonstrate godly character and to accurately handle the word of truth you see engaged leaders are those whose lives reflect the impact and implications of the gospel in their family life in their personal life and in their pastoral life so the first thing if you're taking notes is we're going to see gospel reflections in family life gospel reflections and family life titus 1 6 namely if any man is above reproach the husband of one wife having children who believe not accused of dissipation or rebellion if any man is above reproach be honest with you you sit down with this passage and you're preparing to teach it and you get to that first one and you're like the standard and an expectation of those who would serve in the role of elder is incredibly high now this word translated above reproach could also be translated blameless now what this can't mean is sinless or morally perfect because all of sin and fall short of the glory of god i bet you ask any of those who are serving as elders right now and they would feel like like i don't i don't deserve to be here i i've heard them express that and just recognizing their desire to glorify god in the way that they fulfill all of these expectations so this isn't sinlessness but i love what one commentator said it's living in the present in a way that is consistent with what the grace of the gospel confers on those who believe it and receive it and that's really the key to this letter and the instruction that it gives us we all and especially our leaders are called to a consistent and coherent demonstration of the gospel's influence on our lives so for elders this is demonstrated in how they care for their families they are the husband of one wife or a one woman man now this is interesting faithfulness to god is demonstrated in faithfulness to one's wife right care for their covenant partner qualifies one to care for jesus's covenant partner that we as his church are his bride and that those who have the office of elder have the responsibility to nurture jesus's bride and one of the ways that they demonstrate that they're capable of doing that is by nurturing and caring for their wife a deeply sacrificial posture is is the um invitation for those who would love their wife as christ loved the church he gave himself up for her and those who lead christ's church model the gospel in their marriages let's go back to the genesis series right you remember we were looking at the pre-fall conditions of genesis 2 and this beautiful picture of how adam and eve existed in the image of god but together they existed in the image of the gospel that god was communicating to the world around us the type of relationship the nature of the relationship that he would have with us is his bride and so we see elders being called to a sacrificial love and to a commitment a faithfulness to their covenant partner but then they also have children who believe and are not accused of dissipation or rebellion and the implication here is that these are children who are dependent on their parents these aren't adult children who are living outside of the home but as an overseer of the church they must oversee their family now it's interesting before you get to any of the moral requirements that the qualifications for an elder begin at home it's an interesting order to me and ultimately paul fills this out in first timothy his letter to timothy but if a man does not know how to manage his own household how will he take care of the church of god so he loves and he invests in his children and he creates a context that promotes faith within his home because his primary ministry is to his family that he's to love and to nurture them and should his children be accused of dissipation and rebellion behaviors that could distort or discredit the gospel message their focus and attention should be on caring for and serving their family and so they would they would step down from that role like like jane said in that video you know recognizing that incredible responsibility and being willing to set down the calling that they would receive from the church to focus on helping their children come back to the lord so next paul's going to describe what the personal life of the elder should look like and so if you're taking notes gospel reflections in character and conduct we're going to see gospel reflections and character and conduct titus 1 7-8 for the overseer must be above reproach as god steward not self-willed not quick-tempered not addicted to wine not pugnacious not fond of sordid gain but hospitable loving what is good sensible just devout self-control now it's telling that this section would again begin by acknowledging that this person is to be above reproach the reason for that is this is an incredibly visible role those who are within the church are looking to those who serve in the office of elder to provide an example one that carries with it the responsibility of demonstrating a life of faith and faithfulness so he's also now described as god steward and another translation for this would be god's household manager that he's caring for something that is very dear to god it's precious to him a body of believers for whom christ died for i think about that in my role and the the um what's at stake right that i'm holding on to and leading something so precious to jesus and i've expressed this to you before you know i my desire is that when jesus comes back that we as his church this local congregation bethany church that we would be like a bride ready for her groom that we would be conducting ourselves in a way that demonstrates that we're focused on the mission and the task that god has given us that we're not lukewarm right that we would be passionate about seeing others come to faith in jesus but also recognizing that i'm going to be held accountable for how i lead the church it's an incredible weight and an incredible privilege what an honor to be chosen to serve in that kind of a role but as god steward this person is being entrusted to love and to nurture the church to care for her now paul's going to give five things and elders shouldn't be and six things that should characterize their life and the way that i want to approach this is by looking at it through the lens of what they should do right so so we're going to take these negatives and we're going to we're going to look at how the positive version of that would look so it says that he's not self-willed this word could also be translated arrogant it's the picture of someone who's overbearing who's self-important and so the opposite of that person would be a person who is characterized by humility a servant leader who recognizes that their will is no longer their own but they've been surrendered to god now i served for 12 years at the long beach rescue mission and when i first got there there was about eight men in the program and we as a staff committed to pray for 40 men in our program i remember standing around in the courtyard at that time it had a big huge tree and we would pray that god would bring 40 men to this program another thing that was true about the rescue mission is that it was disorganized that when i got there there wasn't much of a program that you had people who would come and they'd sleep and they'd leave we used to call it three hots and a cot and we recognized that we were being entrusted with these precious souls and so we wanted to help in every way do what we could to see them grow and develop and one of the things that we did is we assigned them responsibilities if you were going to come you were going to stay at the rescue mission then you had a part whether that was cleaning and sanitizing doors doing laundry i mean making beds giving rolls out i mean that was that was the expectation and it was a shift in the culture rather than come and we're just going to hand you things that you're going to come and you're going to help us operate this mission one of the things that i learned during that time of ministry is offering people resources without accountability creates dependency and what we didn't want was to make people dependent on us what we wanted to do was empower them to live the life that god was calling them to live so as we started to assign these chores one of the challenges was getting people to do what we were asking them to do and so i was working evenings at that time and the bathroom needed to be cleaned and so i would grab rags and i'd grab sanitizer and i'd grab a mop and i'd head into the bathroom and i would work with a crew that was cleaning the bathrooms and i wouldn't leave until everything was clean and it was amazing to me how that model drew people in to acts of service that as they saw me grab the broom they're like oh chaplain jeff let me get that for you it's like no no i'm going to work with you guys we're going to get this done and so it's the release of that will and it's saying look if chairs need to be moved i'm going to move chairs if i've got to wipe down a urinal i'm going to wipe down a urinal that whatever we're doing is elders we're recognizing that our primary responsibility is service that it's not about our ego and it's not about making our names known it's about serving christ they should not be quick tempered james reminds us that we are to be slow to anger james 1 19-20 this you know my beloved brethren but everyone must be quick to hear slow to speak and slow to anger for the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of god so in a positive sense an overseer or an elder should be one who demonstrates patience who's long-suffering i think of the qualifications and i can't help but but remember god's self-disclosure to moses that when he reveals himself he says i'm gracious and compassionate slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness and truth and you see that and you hold that up against these qualifications and you recognize that ultimately what god is calling his elders to do is to be like him to be a model of his character and his nature that god is slow to anger i think sometimes we have this picture of god just like waiting for us to mess up and then as soon as we do he's just going to stomp on us that's not his disposition towards us he perseveres with us because he loves us the overseer of god's church must demonstrate patience because listen ministry will give you plenty of opportunities to be upset ministry will give you plenty i can tell you about emails i received there are ample opportunities to allow yourself to be frustrated by the experience and and trying to lead a church and yet carefully applied patients will go farther in preserving unity than the pressure created by an outburst of anger let me say that again carefully applied patients will go further in preserving unity than the pressure created by an outburst of anger or to be patient the next thing we see is that they are not to be addicted to wine ephesians 5 18-19 and do not get drunk with wine for that is a waste but be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in psalms and hems and spiritual songs singing and making melody with your heart to the lord they are to be spirit filled not filled with spirits right there to be spirit-filled not filled with spirits led by the spirit rather than bound by addiction that they're to be self-controlled in that area now they're not to be pugnacious how many of you guys have used that word recently pugnacious it's a good word it means violent and that could be literally or psychologically they're not to be violent rather they're to be peacemakers that would be the positive version of that matthew 5 9 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god god is the greatest peacemaker there is that he sent his son to die on a cross in order to remove the enmity that existed between us and him to bring us from being enemies and sons of disobedience to now being at peace with him reconciled to those leading the church ought to reflect god's nature and activity concerning jesus it says in micah 5 5 this one will be our peace and so as elders are promoting the advancement of the gospel that ultimately they are stewarding that message and helping people to understand the peace that we now have with god as they experience and see that in us now they're not to be fond of sordid gain rather they're to be satisfied with the provision that god has provided they're to be content they're not they're not in it for the money because they love the mission more than they do the money this isn't to say that pastors and overseers shouldn't be compensated or able to make a living through the gospel first timothy 5 17 tells us that elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching notice that it's their ruling well and working hard that demonstrates that they're focused not on compensation but on the great commission that they're not in it to fleece the sheep they're in it to feed them they recognize that as their responsibility now paul offers six positive attributes that should be embodied by the elder the first is that they should be hospitable they should be hospitable they should be leveraging their resources their space to serve others so regardless of whether they're outside of the faith or brothers and sisters in christ there's a social social openness that creates a context for ministry and that blesses others that our homes are open that our hearts are open that we're willing to receive whoever they love what is good and i appreciated reading this isn't a philosophical kind of love this is the the kind of love for what is good that works to see good flourish it's not a theoretical love both in and out of the church their love for what is good is not idle but active what does it mean that something's good that it's worthy of approval so ultimately when it talks about god being good we're recognizing him as being worthy of approval worthy of our praise worthy of our worship and so we seek to pursue those things that are worthy of approval that ultimately god would be glorified with they're sensible which means they have a right perspective so one commentator said they're under mental and emotional control and so he applies wisdom and common sense to the different situations that they encounter and he sees the world the way that god sees it from his perspective that this is what guides his actions that he's got his mind right and he's really seeking to see how they can how we can glorify god in the way that we live an elder is also just this word could mean righteous or upright they deal fairly they deal honestly they do the right things for the right reasons they're devout this means that they are holy or set apart for god so being just and devout demonstrate that these men are sanctified towards others and towards god the last attribute is that they're self-controlled and this is really an important attribute especially in the season that we've been in there's a steadiness a dependability that comes from not being tossed to and fro by the circumstances that they experience although one commentator said they're not at the mercy of pressures external to themselves so paul presents this beautiful picture and it's it's challenging to teach through a list of attributes but but as as we look at these things what we're seeing is a life that has been wholly captured and captivated by the gospel that this is a person whose life has been fully surrendered because of that the last thing that we're going to see gospel reflections and pastoral responsibilities titus 1 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able to both exhort and sound doctrine and refute those who contradict holding fast the faithful word means that this is a person who is devoted to god's truth they see scripture as authoritative they see it as true they cling to them as words of life jesus said man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god as i was reading this you remember the the tough teaching that jesus gave in john i think it's john chapter six where he was telling the disciples unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no part with me and just this really difficult uh teaching from jesus and you start to see some of his disciples leave him and so jesus looks to the twelve and he asks them the question are you going to leave too and their response to him is where would we go you have words of eternal life that they became um instructed by god's word and formed by god's word they valued god's word so these are men of the book they reverence god's word they practice its truth and they're able to convey it to others and this word exhort it means to encourage it's tender that these are men who know how to nurture people with the word of god in this season there's been an incredible amount of grief people that have lost loved ones some of it unexpected some of it has just been a long incredibly difficult journey and and so that role of elder comes alongside people who are in grief or whatever the circumstances of their life are and they accurately apply god's word to the circumstances that they find themselves in one of the passages that's brought me such great comfort and that i've been able to use to prescribe to people if you will is out of the psalms where it talks about trust in him at all times o people pour out your heart before him god is a refuge for us and that as people are navigating grief for difficult circumstances that there's an invitation to be real with god from a posture of dependence upon him that you trust in him at all times no matter what the circumstances are that you find yourself in but you were invited to pour out your heart before him that you you don't have to pretend that pain is not real you don't have to pretend like you have it all together that you have all the answers or all understanding but he is a refuge for us and so an elder takes god's word and faithfully applies it they're to exhort and sound doctrine they're also to be able to refute those who contradict this word refute it's stronger it's stern it doesn't mean attack and so they're able to use god's word to guide people to his truth they don't use it as a weapon but as a witness to their heir so as people present something that's false or some kind of a teaching that's off course that the elder can take that against the word of god hold it up to it and hopefully help people see how they've gone wrong i love this quote from calvin he says a pastor needs two voices one for gathering the sheep the other for driving away wolves and thieves it's an incredibly high calling you know as i've served here and and i've been at bethany now for 18 years there's been one person who and trust me there's there's a lot of men who would would fit this and and that have served our church well uh but there's there's one who served as an elder for over 20 years john dargini would you stand up for a second i just want to honor you listen john john is one of those behind the scenes kind of guys who loves and serves this church and you all have benefited from his godly leadership and and i i just i think of that and i i hold him up against these qualifications and it just encourages me that there are men who conduct their lives in such a way that we can see that in them now if you're a current or former elder can i have you guys stand up current or former elders let's give these guys a hand these men have sacrificed in order to see god's kingdom advance i know for some of them it's been in incredibly difficult times and they have in their love for christ and in their service of this church sacrificed and led and guided and anchored themselves to god's truth and use that to direct their steps so what do we do with this maybe you're wondering what this has to do with you if it's not an office that you aspire to i said this earlier it's a high calling because it's supposed to provide for us a model for who we're all supposed to be we don't get a pass because we're not in the role to the calling that they've received ultimately we're going to see later on all of the instructions that we've been given and there's similarities but those who serve in the role of elder to provide for us a model of the life that we're being called to sensible self-controlled all of the patient all of those things are being asked of anyone who has devoted themselves to following jesus they simply provide the example for us and i would love for you to get to know your elders so we've got our current elders up on the screen and you can find their information on our website if you see them around say hi to them i know that our elders are going to reach out and say hi to you if they haven't seen you but these are men that you'd want to get to know because these are men who are doing what we have been called to do now another practical application is to say for those of you who would aspire to this role you're aspiring to a good thing timothy is told that it's a trustworthy statement that if any man aspires to the office of overseer it's a fine work that he desires to do and so if that's something that you aspire to do then live your life in such a way that when it comes time we can tap you on the shoulder and you're ready to go to serve christ's church now this is my last sunday teaching for about five weeks some of you guys asked me if there's any news on baby marigold she has not arrived yet i think lauren is now 37 weeks will be 38 weeks this thursday and so you can join me in praying we're going to take some time off and go out to the desert we're going to pray that baby marigold doesn't surprise us while we're out there and so as as we've been preparing the teaching schedule i'm going to be taking about four weeks off to spend time with mom and baby i'll be here sunday mornings i'm sure that lauren will like the reprieve for me to grab scarlet you'll see us running around on sunday mornings but be taking some time to spend with her i am so thankful i mean we have a wonderful team of teachers who are going to take us through the rest of the letter to titus and so i'm i'm grateful that there's a team that's available to make this possible when i come back so may 30th is is when i'll be returning we're going to be kicking off a new series in the gospel of john we're going to take four weeks sorry we're going to take 10 weeks to go through the first four chapters of john's gospel so some of the time away will be preparing for that as i'll be teaching the next three weeks when i get back so thank you guys for your faithfulness to come and to be a part of what bethany is doing those of you guys who are online thank you for your grace as we figure out how to navigate these two services but let me pray and then we're going to continue in a time of worship father god we thank you so much just for the men that you've raised up over the years to help lead and guide bethany god i thank you for the men currently serving in this role and i pray that you would protect them from the evil one god i thank you for the diversity and unity that exists within the elder board currently and i thank you that you have granted these men to be examples to our church father i pray that we would not see these requirements as something that we don't have to concern ourselves with but rather that we would see that we've all been invited into this type of life a life that is changed by the grace that we stand in a life that is a response to the love that we have received in you and i thank you for this morning and i just pray that you would embody our worship the rest of the time that we have here god be seated on the throne of our praises we ask this in jesus name amen amen thank you pastor jeff for that encouraging word and just a good call for all of us right to live lives of godliness of being upright and men and women of integrity god help us all amen well i want to encourage you and invite you to participate with us financially as a church thank you so much to those of you who have been faithfully giving through this season um and we still have the three ways to give that we've always had um online as well you know you can give online you can give by text and you can mail in checks but for those of you in person what we're going to be doing for the time being is collecting at the door on the way out after the service so if you have a check you'd like to to put in the offering we just encourage you to prepare that and just use this time to do that but then those will be collected at the end of the service so let's continue now in worship and just give praise to god and remind our our hearts of who he is and how good he is to us [Music] without [Music] till the virgin came the [Music] praise the father praise the son praise the spirit [Music] praise forever [Music] to redeem the whole [Music] knowing this was our salvation jesus foreign [Music] glory [Music] a king [Music] and conquered death and the dead rose from their tombs and the angel stood in for the souls of all who'd come to the father are restored and the church of christ was born not faint by his blood [Music] me [Music] love keys well whether you're here in person or if you're online thank you for joining us for worship today so good to see your faces um i would ask maybe whatever you need as a reminder whether you set an alarm whether you put something on your calendar for this evening or for each evening for the morning but would you pray for us those of us who serve as your elders it is not an easy job you can you can talk to some of our former pastors former elders current elders and ask them we really want you to be all you can be as god's child as a christian living in this world that is becoming increasingly imposed to things of faith and we sometimes agonize over how to lead you and how to lead bethany and so would you please pray for us pray for wisdom pray for clarity pray for our marriages pray for all the different ways that satan would want to attack us um we love to pray for you we would love to have you praying for us as well all right let's let's let that be the takeaway maybe for this week um i want to give a special happy birthday to andrea hendricks she is up in the media booth you may not even see her this morning she's waving but her birthday is tomorrow and if you would send her an email a card a note a text whatever it may be i know she'd love to be encouraged by you and also two two last things we have usher standing at the doors holding offering bags we are not able to pass a bag right now and so if you would love to give to bethany and you still do it the old school way by writing a check or or bringing cash there at the doors to take your offering and then um i'll say this as lovingly as i can we need you to leave okay we have another service in less than 45 minutes and we need to clean and sanitize the sanctuary for the people who are coming behind you so we would love for you to stick around and talk outdoors all right connect outdoors thank you for being here so good to see you god bless you look forward to seeing you next week [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Bethany Church Long Beach

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Id: WVX6_reHwF0

Length: 79min 35sec (4775 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021