- Sunday Service 7/06/2025

Christ assured, steady anchor, in the fury of the storm. When the winds of doubt blow through me, and my sins of old and torn, in the suffering, in the sorrow. When my singing hearts are free, I will rise to thee, and it shall never be. When the winds of doubt blow through me, and my sins of old and torn, in the suffering, in the suffering, in the suffering.

Yeah, it's good. Let's meet in the corner to pray. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this.

I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this.

I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. I'm not having a chance to do this. We will now begin our service. Christ, our wisdom, we are humbled. When you hide your ways from us.

You have purposes unnumbered. Each one good and glorious. Help us trust when we grow weary. Free us from our anxious thoughts. Give us grace to see more clearly. You are God and we are not. Christ, our wisdom, be our gladness. When we fail to understand. You ordain all joy and sadness.

To fulfill your perfect plan. Help us know you rule with power. Over every raging flood. In our most uncertain hour. You are God and we are loved. Christ, our wisdom, we will follow. Christ, our wisdom, we will follow. Though the way ahead is best. As we journey, we will follow.

In our most uncertain hour. You are God and we are loved. Christ, our wisdom, we will follow. Christ, our wisdom, we will follow. Though the way ahead is best. As we journey through the shadows. Grant us faith where silence will. Help us claim to your commandments. Strengthened by your faithful word.

Christ, our wisdom, we will follow. We will never be abandoned. We will never be abandoned. You are God and we are yours. Christ, our wisdom, we adore you. Christ, our wisdom, we adore you. Christ, our wisdom, we adore you. For the beauty of the cross. Once in foolishness we scorned you.

But your blood has ransomed you. But your blood has ransomed us. Help us sing the endless mercies. Of your hopeful heart to see. Christ, our wisdom, Christ, our glory. You are God for any place. Help us sing the endless mercies. Of your hopeful heart to see. Christ, our wisdom, Christ, our glory.

You are God forever praised. Good morning, church family. And for those of you guys who are new, welcome to this morning's service. You should have seen the blue welcome table right in the middle of the courtyard. When the service is done, please do visit. Our team members would love to meet you and just answer any questions that you may have.

I do want to highlight a few important announcements of the things that are going on that are coming up soon. The first is that the outreach team is going to be hosting their regular outing at the local malls like the Irvine Spectrum and the Source on July 19th. So this month particularly is July 19th.

And then we're going to message out for August because we have our all church retreat. There's going to be just an adjustment on that schedule. So please just take note of that. The next thing is for people who are newer to the church and are interested in church membership, we have a new series coming up on July 20th.

So that is an eight week class. It starts at 9:30 and it covers the foundational Christian doctrines, but it serves as a basis for our philosophy of ministry. Why we do what we do here at church. So please sign up for that. You can sign up either on the website or on the app.

The next announcement is for our Jubilee ministry. Again, that's the family ministry where individuals who are 50 and above. There's going to be a fellowship picnic taking place July 20th at 1:00 p.m. over at Bill Barber Park, shelter number four. So please make sure to jot that down on our calendar.

Come out, participate, get to know a lot of the other members here at church. And then for our singles ministry, the BAM Summer Broom Balling, another fellowship event on Saturday, July 26th. That's going to take place at 5:30 p.m. at KHS Ice Arena. So please also mark that on your calendar so that you can fellowship with the rest of the group there.

I just want to make mention that the Korea team, they had just, you know, they took off on Friday evening and they arrived safely. You've probably already seen some of the photos, etc. But please keep them in prayer. They're going to be running. It's actually kind of a short trip, but they have two different camps that they're going to be doing, visiting various universities and college campuses to work with the college students.

So please pray that they would be a great, great witness and a testimony to the people there. Okay. At this time, we're going to be going into a time of offering. So per usual, if you brought a physical check, there is a offering box right by the entrance or otherwise we can go ahead and give that digitally.

Let's take a moment to pray together. Our God, we are so thankful to you. Lord, we are grateful for your blessing. We're so grateful for your love given to us by your spirit and truth. So this morning, we want to sing to you. We want to lift you up and we want to praise you.

Father God, we pray that more and more we would long for the filling of your spirit and your truth. Help us to long for just that intimacy of our relationship with you so that everything we're doing here would truly be the outflow of worship. And we take time to pray for our Korea team that it would be the same.

That, Lord, they're worshiping out there. They're praising your name. But God, help them to do so loudly and clearly so that the people there, especially the young students they're working with, would see their faith. Would see the love that you have given to them and their love for you.

And we pray, God, that you would bear much fruit. Lord, you would allow them to encounter individuals that your spirit is humbling and opening their ears and opening their hearts. We also take a moment to pray for the offering. God, whenever we give, we continue to do so with appreciation in our hearts.

Lord, you deserve all. God, you deserve every word of blessing and every thanksgiving. And we want to just express to you our heart of gratitude. And we do pray that the offering be used for your kingdom's work and the building up of your church. We thank you, God. It's in Christ's name.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

Let us all rise and I'll spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us.

Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us.

Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. Let us all rise and I'll see the north and I'll see the neighbors around us. Thank you. Let us all rise and I'll see the neighbors around us. praise God. Let us all rise and I'll see the north and I'll see the north and I'll see the north and I'll see the north.

Let us all rise and I'll see the north and I'll see the north and I'll see the north and I'll see the north. opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

Let's take a moment to pray. Father, as we witness Audrey's baptism, we again want to praise and thank you. Thank you, God, that you shine a glorious light on us to give to us salvation through your Son. Thank you for doing a spiritual work of enlightening our hearts and transforming it.

And God, as we see your word transforming the collective church, causing it to grow in every way, I pray that we would be receptive but also more than willing, even more so ambitious, that God, we would conform to the image of Christ. We thank you for this time in your word.

It's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. Well, something interesting happened to me some time ago where I got a phone call from an unknown number, and so immediately I just kind of sent it to my voicemail, but it kept calling multiple times. So I thought, oh, it must be some kind of emergency.

Maybe something happened at church. So I picked it up, and lo and behold, he was a church reviewer. He was an individual who visits churches, and he assesses the various elements of the church. So he wasn't necessarily here just to hear the message and get edified. He was actually observing our teams.

He was observing our parking team. He was observing our welcome team. How are they guiding people? And so for those of you guys who serve in cafe ministry, he visited there too and made a comment about whether you were nice or whether you were mean. Okay. And I don't say this just to be like, y'all better be on your good behavior.

I say this because I was really awkward. Immediately, I just, it's interesting. In the back of my head, I'm thinking, hey, brother, get a real job. Because that's weird. It's kind of like saying, you know, I'm a professional family reviewer. I'd like to visit your home and see how you do as a parent and see how you do in your fellowship.

But it raises an interesting idea, which is, so hypothetically speaking, if. If an individual who is not Christian came here, and rather than listening to just the pulpit, because he knows the pulpit is actually a well-crafted speech. To a non-Christian's eye, that's what that is. It's a well-crafted speech that's designed to either move you, motivate you, etc.

So he says, forget that. I'm not going to listen to the sermon. I'm just going to walk around and talk to people. I'm going to see how you talk to each other. I'm going to see what you say. I'm going to see how you welcome each other, fellowship, and more.

And the question is, would they come out of that with, this is what Christianity is? Right? Would they come out of that with the sense of, whoa, these people say they have this eternal hope far beyond anything this life holds, so they hold to all of this loosely, and they keep talking about this future hope to come.

Or do they, every time they get together, talk about the finances, the stocks, the cars, the houses, and all the woes of everyday life? Okay? We say we have such a security in God Almighty, you know, that we can walk through anything. We can walk through the valley, the shadow of death.

And I shall fear no evil, or are we just a mess because of all the woes, and we're just complaining and grumbling about my work, my family, how deficient we are in this? And so there's this question at hand, which is, outside of the pulpit teaching ministry, would an individual who was a reviewer look at the conversation and the kind of interaction of the church, and come away with, this is Christianity?

Okay? And the reason why I say that is, as I read the text today, this is what Apostle Paul is teaching Titus, to secure in the church. What is it? Healthy doctrine. Okay? When we think about, in synonymous terms, maybe sound doctrine, what comes to your mind? On one hand, we think about accuracy to the Bible.

We think about, do your due diligence to do your inductive study, observation, exegesis, and more, so that you come away with the right interpretation. You come away with the God-intended meaning of the text. That is true and good and godly. So much of the Scripture has to do with, down from the top, from the leaders to the congregation members.

Everybody needs to accurately handle the Word of God, accurately cut the Word of God, divide the Word of God, but also not sway to the left and the right, because we have the sure Word. Yes? But you know very well that on top of that. Not only are we talking about the accuracy of understanding, it has to be healthy because you have to exhibit it.

It has to be visible to the person who's watching you. In no way are we, am I saying now that we need to appease the masses? Oh gosh, they're watching, so we better shape up. What we're saying is the fruit of our faith needs to be so healthy, right?

What we're saying is the way that we practice theology and the way that we learn needs to be so sound, that it is lived out from every piece of the congregation. Young, old, everything in between, we want to be healthy. Amen? Now in thinking about this then, I want to say and begin with the first point, which is there is an ongoing problem.

First is just thinking about the problem. The point that I just said, hey, our orthodoxy leading to orthopraxy. Our thought that our theology should lead to application. I mean, you guys here have heard that all the time. But clearly, there's a problem. Clearly, there are issues that prevent that from happening.

Well, early on in the church, from the beginning establishment of the church, there have been problems. And what were the problems? First, A, there are spies in the church. Dun, dun, dun. There are bad people in the church. Now, as I say that, you know, obviously that's a little bit tongue-in-cheek in thinking about the fact that there are people who are set up by our opponent, our adversary, et cetera, to thwart this whole process.

Do you sometimes think like that? Or do you think a lot more maybe innocently? It's like, dude, everybody in the church here is, is here for good reasons. We shouldn't be judging people. Truth be told, I don't want you to be judging people. I don't want to overdo it where you're just all suspicious and like, are you the spy?

Don't do that, okay? We don't need to be suspicious and we don't need to be overly judgmental. But the scripture warns us in every season of the church, there has been spies. What do I mean? In Titus chapter 1, just a segment right before this, leading up to chapter 2, on the segment of holy living, healthy, sound doctrine in the various congregation members, this is what he says, starting from verse 10.

So Titus chapter 1, verse 10. He says, there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they're upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. Question, where are these rebellious men? Are they over there in Washington, D.C.?

And are they over there in Capitol Hill? And are they on the internet? And are they, where are they? They're on Twitter, you know, or X now, whatever. Social media, there's so many of them. No, no, no. These individuals are in the church, okay? Now, me saying that doesn't mean, again, that, oh, therefore, even here at Breen, we have so many spies, et cetera, et cetera.

But all I'm trying to say is, the warning has been given to us that our enemy, his typical strategy is to infiltrate. And so in the book of Galatians, notice how here it talks about the circumcision group. In the book of Galatians, it warns us that the circumcision group would spy out our freedom.

We have freedom in Christ to worship all we want. We don't need to obey the previous, you know, ceremonial laws, et cetera. They would spy out our freedom and hope to enslave us again. If you even hear then, therefore, in modern day, nobody says in our day to you like, hey, how come you're not doing the laws of Moses?

But there are people who've come by. They're like, hey, how come you're not doing this? How come you're not doing that? And there have been so many different fads. Why aren't you using this name for Jesus? Why aren't you part of this movement? Why don't you say this from your pulpit?

And every time I hear that, I don't react. I just say, eh, we'll see. Because so many fads have gone. So many people have expected this and that from the church. We have one authority in Christ. Amen? Now, in thinking about this then, there is a kind of second, there is a kind of second issue.

And I want you to turn your eyes to verse 14 through 16 of chapter 1. So chapter 1, 14 through 16, there's a second kind of problem that builds against the church. And that problem is, he says in verse 14, so don't pay attention to the Jewish myth and the commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their conscience are defiled. Here's the problem. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

So here's the backdrop. Are there those individuals who are supposed teachers? Yes. And to us, they're probably obvious. They're teaching prosperity. They're saying they're a prophet from God and they've got the direct revelation, etc. Those individuals are obvious. But the second problem is more subtle in that they're with you professing Christ.

They're saying, I am a believer. I've repented. I have Jesus. You have Jesus. I have Jesus. The issue, though, is in their pattern of life, their deeds are denying their Savior. And that's very difficult, isn't it? We don't want to be judgmental. That's true. We shouldn't be. It shouldn't knee-jerk into, like, you're not a Christian.

You're not a Christian. That's not how it's supposed to work. But nevertheless, the reality of this problem exists. The reality of this problem exists. Now, as I depict the problem, this issue, one can say, you know what? It is what it is. It's been like this through church history.

What are we supposed to do about it? But Apostle Paul places urgency and says, no, you teach otherwise. You teach sound doctrine. That's what he says, right? You speak, you exhort, you show them, you urge them, and you push. You push. You push this idea that it's not enough to have a low, low standard.

So long as I name Jesus, I'm fine in the church. Leave me alone. You guys understand that Scripture says, no, no, no. God the Father is a good father. He doesn't leave you at just profession. God will work in you to mature you. He will make you consistent with His Word.

He will make you consistent with His Spirit. And He will not leave you. Why? Because those He loves, He will reprove and discipline. But here and now, even today, we have ideologies that say, no, no, no, no. That's legalistic. Huh? It is legalistic to constantly push people to holiness.

And if they profess, we shouldn't be doubting anything. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's an emotion, yes. And on the extreme, that could be a danger. But here and now, in this passage in Titus chapter 2, the exhortation is, there has to be. There has to be soundness of doctrine.

Why? Moving forward to point number two, the idea of sound doctrine, okay? The idea of healthy doctrine is so important that He says, you can't just accept it as matter of fact, and you can't just be like, it is what it is. Why? Because the glory of God is at stake.

Now, when I say that, caveat, God's going to be glorified no matter what, even when He disciplines the whole church. But our expression, our witness, our testimony, it is given through the life of the church. And God has designed the church to be a glorious expression of His light.

And in this passage, the repeated idea is, the older men need to behave this way, the older women need to behave this way, the women, the younger men, everybody in the church needs to express the holy doctrines in their lives. Why? What did you say? Verse 5, so that God would not be dishonored.

So that the doctrines would be upheld. What does he say in verse 8? So that the opponents would be silenced. You don't want to affirm and confirm the opponent's voice. What are the opponents, what are they saying? Well, it's not like some kind of mystery. It's not newsflash. We know it.

Here in America, in the general, just mainstream Christianity, people scoff at the church. Why? Because we say a whole lot. Holy, holy, holy. He's going to be righteous, et cetera. And then we just don't show it in any way. So they say the church is empty. Too much hypocrisy.

I'm not validating their accusation, et cetera. But the idea here is, we dare not give credence to their accusation. And then if you look at verse 10, the reason why this is so important is because God must be honored in such a way that even the bond slaves, their subjection to their masters, and the way that they carry themselves, they do it in good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrines of God our Savior.

So what am I saying? There is a massive impetus for us to care about healthy doctrine as it relates not just simply to correctness of truth statements, but your life exhibiting everything you learn. So let's meditate and think about healthy doctrines. And I want to give you this push.

If you are here with us today and you have been a Christian for a long time, let's say long time meaning years, you know, years, and you just feel like you haven't grown much, is that you this morning? First, a level of sympathy to you. My guess is there are reasons for that.

It's not like we're just, I just don't care. You know, sometimes we get to that position, but even then, it's typically because you've had a hard experience and you've been jaded. It's typically because right now your life is busy and you have burdens. It's typically because you have priorities and you have burdens on your shoulders that it's like exceeding your capacity.

We all have various reasons. So first, a level of sympathy. But second, the exhortation. Our God, when he saved us, his ambition was to present you pure and blameless. That's his design for you. When you settle for less and you're like, I'm just going to kind of hide in the mass here.

I'm plateauing, I know, but you know, I'm just not really growing. I'm not bearing any fruit. I'm not evangelizing. I'm not praying more. I'm not deep in fellowship and stuff like that, but I'm just going to attend. You're resisting him. So that means, biblically speaking, there is no such thing as a plateau.

You can't say, you know, I'm just plateauing right now. You can't say that. Why? I want to give you a sense of the term sound doctrine. It's repeated like multiple times in the whole book. Chapter one talks about the overseers having to have, they must have sound doctrine. And then everybody in the church has to have sound doctrine.

Older people have to have soundness of doctrine. What is that? That term sound in the Greek sounds like hygiene, and it turns out to be the root word for the term hygiene. Good hygiene. How many of you guys have visited the dentist to visit a dental hygienist? Yes? Tell that person, you know, or your dentist, you know, good doctor, like, I've just been kind of plateauing with my flossing, but don't worry about it too much, right?

I got to be honest with you. I feel like when I'm at the dentist, I'm at an open confessional, you know? You know, it's like, how are you doing with the flossing? You know? And all of a sudden, I feel myself getting nervous, like, oh, you know, I try sometimes, and there are days, and et cetera, et cetera.

But they'll tell you that plaque that cements in your mouth, it doesn't take months and weeks. It just takes two days, 48 hours, and you'll start cementing of your plaque, right? Ask your doctor. It does not take long for the bacteria in your already existing in your mouth to ruin your gums.

And all of a sudden, your gums lead when they floss for you and stuff, and then now you're three times as embarrassed as you were before. Sorry. But you guys understand the analogy? Sometimes, spiritually, we think, you know, I'm plateauing, but I'm okay because I'm here. And scripture, by this admonition, people are like, no, soundness of doctrine, meaning your regular growth, your exhibition, your practice of the faith that you proclaim is of urgency, absolute necessity.

And he uses the term health, hygiene to describe it. So I want to just share that with you and motivate you by saying, for our church specifically, I hope that we don't get into a place where because of Berean pushing biblical doctrines, you feel safe because since now you know, you're able to discern, oh, that teaching is wrong.

That teaching is bad. That's not biblical. And we feel sometimes a sense of security or self-righteousness in that. Not on the, like, boastful, arrogant, like, I'm so good, but just in the fact that, like, oh, I'm fine. I'm okay. I want to remind you of a well-known passage, Revelations chapter 2.

Jesus himself looked at the church of Ephesus and said, I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, that you cannot tolerate evil men. And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not. And you found them to be false. Good. But then you know exactly in the next verse what he says.

But you need to repent. Why? Because their hearts were lukewarm. Because that element of the first love, the passion, the growth in trying to seek and hunger after Christ and truly exhibiting that was not there. So, just as it means to say, this passage has so much push for healthy, sound doctrine.

In so doing, let's talk about what he pushes then on the specific members of the church. For today, in this passage, in such a brief paragraph, he talks about everyone from older members, everyone from younger members to even just servants. But I'm going to focus for the sake of time on the older members, because what is told to them should be true for all of us.

What is expected of them as mature, older individuals expected of everybody? It's just that they are to be exemplary. Yes? So, first, I do want to talk about, in verse 2, what he says. So, this is point number 3 on healthy older men who are temperate, dignified, sensible. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and perseverance.

The first three I take as an interesting little pocket where it describes similar sentiments, temperance, dignity, and sensibility. And then it bleeds into a kind of summary statement of, this is sound faith. Okay? Now, as kind of like a side comment in thinking about this, I do think that in our day, in our modern culture of modern mainstream Christianity, we kind of have it wrong, which is, there are specific movements of churches that'll say, oh, we got to target the young people.

We got to work with the young people. And then there's this question like, why? Right? Why do we all of a sudden bypass the older members of the church? It is a very fleshly, worldly wisdom. It's not biblical wisdom. And I just want to mention that biblical wisdom values mature, older members of the church as setting the tone and pace of the body of Christ.

Here in Leviticus chapter 19.32, just as a quick reference, scripture says, you shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged. I know that sounds a little funny. People with the white hairs, we actually do honor them. Job 12.12 says, wisdom is with the aged, with long life is understanding.

All I'm saying is, there's kind of a cultural shift where we want to give voice to the young leaders. And we have this actual infatuation, I believe, in our culture that has actually made for a dangerous movement in the church, which is, we value not the wise, but the skill.

If there is something that has been a detriment to the health of the body, is to think that the older people had their time, now we need to give the leadership to the young. And you've got, you've probably heard me kind of criticize, there was a good movement from the young and the restless reformed.

There was a good movement of individuals who love reformed doctrines, but there was also the strange infatuation giving a voice and platform with young people with no experience to be like, oh, here are the central doctrines of the church. Why do I say that? You know, I remember having this kind of interesting moment when I was college pastor a long time ago.

We had seniors who were collegians lead small groups, and we still do. It's great. It's great experience for the seniors. It's great encouragement for the lower classmen, okay? But there was this one time, one of the seniors, as he was graduating, he posted pictures of his small group, and he posted pictures of his guys, and I was like, that's awesome.

And then he started writing in there this passage from John chapter, third John chapter four, verse four, whereas I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth, you know? And he was kind of talking like, after a semester of good Bible study discussion and stuff like that, he was just like, these are my children, and I'm so glad to see them, and I'm sitting in there like, interesting, you know?

Why? Well, part of it is, there is a huge difference with somebody who is just learning truth and saying like, here it is, this is good, versus somebody who has experienced the trials, had to persevere through their own failures, experienced maybe even their own pitfalls where they weren't temperate, where they maybe invested themselves overly into something that was to their own demise, and they've gone through the pains.

They've actually tried to be so faithful, and then said, here is the model. I would much rather have older men and women who are able to actually give the perspective, yes, also give that doctrine played out in their lives, teaching, children. Yes? Now, again, when our church was young, we didn't have a lot of people who were that older.

We had who we had, and that means younger people had to rise up, younger people had to grow, mature, and set the example, and that's what young Timothy did. But it's a blessing. It's not a necessity, but an absolute blessing to have godly individuals set the tone, and that's what the scripture is talking about.

So my prayer is that regardless of in this room, whether you feel like, oh, I am a bit older, et cetera, and I got to be honest with you, what's funny is that when our church was younger, even people who are like 32, when we took signups for small groups and events, and we would ask, oh, what's your age?

So we can put you in your appropriate small group. Some people would write in there like, oh, man, I'm so old. I'm a dinosaur. And people would put in there like, artifact. And then sometimes when we play, you know, like New Year's games, they would write in there like, oh, I'm too old for this, you know?

Okay. If you're 32, you're not that old, you know? But if you feel like that, definitely as an application to everybody, we do serve as older brothers, older sisters. And my prayer is every single one of you would see younger people as younger nephews and nieces and et cetera.

Part of the members of the family that we're giving an example for. So I want to slow down now and talk actually about what are the specific things Apostle Paul says that the older men have to be. This is not just like, you know, it'd be nice. It says, dude, there's a problem.

There's an issue. God's glory and the witness of the church. And he says this. Isn't it surprising? He begins with temperance. Older men need to be temperate. That took me by surprise because I got to be honest. If you, let's say, are coaching a team and maybe even more military, the first thing you would think is like, we got to be strong and ready to teach.

You older men, like, say something. You veterans on the team, make sure none of the rookies are goofing around. If you're in the military, you'd be like, you got to be ready to fight. You got to be able to take arms. Let's go. You know, that kind of thing.

That's kind of what I expected actually. If you're challenging, challenging people to, to take a stand in this perverse generation, don't you think they'd be geared to fight? But he says you have to be temperate and sober. Let's ask the question, like, what does this mean to be temperate?

The word here has the idea actually of being sober in the sense of not drunk. Okay, that's the most literal way to take it. It has a lot to do, used in a lot of contexts, referring to don't be drunk off wine, but be temperance, etc. This is the word for that.

But obviously, allegorically, or I guess more spiritually, it is talking about you being sober-minded, you not being so distracted, so consumed with the various things of life that you can watch and you know where you're going, that your sight's clear. This is the idea mentally speaking. And so, spiritually speaking, here is a big question for you.

Are you in currently a state of mind where you are free? You're free from the indulgences? You're free from excessiveness. How many of you guys have heard people say, or maybe you've said it yourself, like, you know, lately I just have this addictive personality. I get into something and blah, I'm just like all the way in.

I don't see anything else. I drop my responsibilities. I'm constantly thinking about it. People actually talk like that all the time. But praise be to God when older individuals who set the tone, they've experienced themselves do that. They get into something. They feel the pains of having to rip it out from themselves.

And then they're able to share with you, man, I got stories. You know, I remember when I got so into this emotionally and I was just a wreck. They have stories to share where it's like, every young man who starts to make money, they're going to be tempted with the same thing.

Scripture says, nothing has seized you, but it was common to man. Everybody's going to be tempted with how to use my expendable cash. What am I going to do when all of a sudden I make money? What am I going to do when I don't make money? How am I going to react to when I all of a sudden feel fear like, oh my gosh, I'm going to pay the bills?

Older individuals. I pray that rather than sharing earthly advice, oh, you got to secure yourself and you got to da-da-da-da, I pray you have stories for the spiritual advice. In those moments, you exercise your faith and you trust God. You don't run to earthly security. You run to God.

When you teach that, that has depth. Yes? When you teach that, that has weight. And that's what we want. And that's what Apostle Paul wants. What more does the idea of temperance means? So in the way that it's used, because of what temperance is, I just want you to get the picture actually.

You know, I'm not going to do it right now, but a drunk individual who is teeter-tottering, stumbling this way. And because they're trying to gain their balance, they struggle that way. And then because they try to get their balance, they struggle this way. Okay? Apostle Paul in other passages describes that is the immaturity of the child.

That is the kind of indiscretion and intoxication of somebody who has been filled with the world. There's a new fad, a new teacher. There's a new methodology. And it's like, oh, I should do this. And I do, oh, I should do that. What am I trying to say? I pray that the mature members of our church are like anchored solid ground.

You have Christ, you have this word, and you're not to be shifted left and right. We have different movements coming and going, and you're the one that says, ah, that's not new. That is not new. The teaching that says all you have to do is just know, you just have to appreciate Jesus, and you don't really have to teach the exhortations and the admonishments.

Dude, we've seen that a long time ago. This kind of teaching where it's all legalistic, and you're super self-righteous and arrogant about what you did. I saw that a long time ago. We need to be right here on Christ. We need older experienced individuals to set that tone. The next word, he says, older men must be dignified.

Dignified. The most common translation of that word is honorable. They should be respectable. Now, in this sense, I don't want you to get the picture where, like, the older men kind of walk around, you know? They're never silly with the kids, and in a sense, you get this picture in your mind, like, older men just have to be really boring, you know?

Older men, they can't ever have fun. That's not how that this works. I want you to think about something that's vain and fluffy. When are people least respectable? Think about that for a moment. When are people least respectable? People are least respectable when there's a whole lot of talk, kind of like salesmen.

You know, I did like a $10 million deal, and you know, I used to experience this, and actually, if you kind of think about it, if you imagine, maybe a worldly older person who just kind of says everything that's on their mind, they brag about their experience, but now they just sit back and watch people and criticize.

And all of a sudden, you just lose experience because it's all talk. It's all talk of things in the past, and they talk big about, oh, you know, I was a big old athlete then in my day, you know? And then I was this, and I was that, and I was this, and I was that, and you're just kind of like, but what are you doing now?

Now, and then for you young people, it's the exact same. If you met somebody who was all talk, they talk big about everything they could possibly do, you end up what? Losing respect for them. This idea of being dignified is they're venerated, they're revered, because they've got that weight.

They've got that weight to them, okay? The other way I want to think about this is over in that passage we read earlier, Titus chapter 1. I set the backdrop of what Apostle Paul is fighting against. There was a kind of culture existing, and he said, dude, the culture of the church people should not be like this.

What was that? Well, let's take a look. If you turn over to chapter 1, verse 12, okay? Chapter 1, verse 12. This is what he says. It says, one of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true.

Oh man, that's kind of messed up if you think about it. There's a whole host of people who are lazy and gluttonous. And so, if you think about what he's trying to contrast, laziness, laziness as a vice is something that causes you to lose respect for people. If an individual has a kind of air about them, where it's all intake, intake, feeding, feeding, okay?

What are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? But they're lazy to move. You have no respect for them. But on the flip side, you see somebody, they don't complain. They work diligently. They work humbly. You know that they have a lot of responsibility on their shoulder, but they keep persevering.

Isn't there a kind of weight to them? Right? Isn't there a kind of like gravity to them? Because they've put in the time and the perseverance. You know, nowadays when I'm on social media, there's a lot of talk of like aura. Have you guys heard that term? You know?

And what's funny is just kind of like, when someone does something kind of nifty, they're like, ooh, the aura. But then, but then, once in a while, you'll see an individual where when they walk into the room, because of the longevity, the consistency of their work, everybody looks at that person.

Now, am I saying that if you're an older individual here, you have to be that? You have to have like aura, and everybody respects you? That's not, that's not what I'm saying. This is what I'm saying. We want to be countercultural. Our, our society, our generation is an absolutely superficial generation.

And yes, it has infiltrated the church. It's all about like, you got to give the young ones opportunity, and this guy can preach, so put him up there. So long as they have something to their name, a book, a title, or a cool video, they get to go teach.

No. At our church, if somebody has been in a long, consistent fashion, faithful to God, without any desire for attention on self, humbly serving others, humbly walking with God, no grumbling. To me, to the Bible, they're VIPs. That's what I'm saying. They're VIPs in the church. We want to have it backwards, where people just keep putting flash, and keep putting this infatuation with leadership, with young people, and all that kind of stuff.

But we want to be countercultural to that, and that's my point. Now, the last thing he says is sensible. And I want you to notice that this term sensible is repeated multiple times. The older men, you have to be sensible. The older women, you have to be sensible. And younger men, you have to be sensible.

That's kind of like how the passage reads. Everybody needs to be sensible. And again, it kind of strikes you as odd. Like, what does that even mean? You know? And there's another question. It's like, why don't you just put in there, you just have to be super godly. Everybody has to just be obedient.

Okay? What is the term? Well, this sensibility, the most frequent way is the word sophron. And the way that it's used is to think about an individual who has deep understanding. Okay? Deep understanding. And that's why it's translated to someone who's sensible, and that there is a wisdom from deepness of mind.

Okay? But in the way that it's described in one of the lexicons, it says, this describes a person who is characterized by strong self-discipline, and in one's own self-restraint voluntarily. This individual voluntarily has restrained their passions. This individual has restrained their desires. So, I want you to kind of take a minute to think about this.

The natural kind of, like, long-term trajectory of life is I work hard, work hard, work hard, work hard. And when I get older, I get to do what I want. I've actually caught myself saying this out loud. I want to be like a grandpa. Like, I want to be an older man.

You know why? And my rationale, and I said it out loud, was just, because I just want to say whatever I want. Once you get old, you just say what comes to mind, and nobody cares, you know? And the moment when I said this was, one of my most favorite pastors, the speakers I like listening to is Alistair Begg.

And part of it is, beautiful Irish accent, okay? And the other part of it is, he's a great storyteller. He's an amazing preacher. Well, he came nearby to a pastor's conference, and they were doing a Q&A, and he kind of, like, out of character, because I've been listening to him for a long time.

In the Q&A, he just went off, and he just started saying extreme things, and I was like, ha ha. Why? Because I want to do that, you know? My point here is, in that sense, like, the natural thought is, the whole trajectory of life is actually, once you get older, you actually lose your restraints.

The whole trajectory of life is, like, right now, my purpose is to live for others, but then when I get older, I just kind of live for myself. I want to, again, be sensible and contrary to our modern culture. Scripture says it's very important for a man to be sensible in mind, in which he exercises such profound self-discipline of his mind.

And later, when he talks about the older woman, he is going to talk about the tongue more specifically and say, and in this way, the woman also has to be sensible. We all have to be sober-minded, emotionally, spiritually, yes, and therefore, we have to be exercising an incredible amount of self-restraint.

So, in thinking about this, I hope this was encouraging to you. What we want to see is not flash and, like, I am not thinking, like, oh, yeah, once you get older, you have to come up and lead praise, or you have to host the biggest event possible and put it all together.

We're talking about something that's not so flashy. Temperance, dignity, and sensibility. But these are so valuable to the tenor of the whole church. This is sound faith. This is persevering love. And this is the kind of endurance God wants to see. I want to also take a moment to just highlight two more things and give attention to verse 3 through 5.

Take a look there. In verse 3, it says, What I want to highlight here is, the passage, again, I would just want to reiterate, everything mentioned are all good, holy character traits applicable to all. But he says here that particularly for the ladies, they should be reverent in behavior.

There should be a kind of sacredness to the person. This term specifically used here in reverent behavior was used more of like a ceremony holiness. Essentially, when an individual walks, there should be an air of priestlyness, sacredness. So there's a question. What kind of behavior is he trying to correct?

What kind of behavior is he trying to fight against? And one application that he highlights in a woman's walk of holiness is the tongue. What does he say? He says, the older woman likewise be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips. Not malicious gossips. So that term for malicious gossip is also interesting because it comes from the root word diabolos, which is used for the devil.

What am I saying? I do think that, again, it is not just a problem unique to a woman. But God has said so many times that with the mouth, there's power of death and life. That is such a pervasive issue. Book of James chapter three, who can control it?

It's like a wildfire. It's like the rudder of a ship. It's like the bit that moves the horse. It's so small, but so powerful. Who can control this thing? We stumble in so many ways, but if you control this, oh my goodness, you've succeeded in godliness, right? I want to give to this challenge.

It's not, again, that the ladies have a unique struggle in this, but now we have at least just a highlight. A path to great, great holiness and godliness is to use the tool that God has given us, not to destroy, not to break down, not to complain, not to accuse, but rather to edify, to build up, to love.

The admonition and the example that God desires for all the ladies in the church, that they would be so filled with the love of Christ, they're exemplifying love for the husband, love for the children, essentially love for the entirety of the church. But if there was, you know, like just kind of commonalities, common struggles, things like gossip, things like complaining about how things are going in the home, complaining about the woes of life, etc., these are the common struggles.

So, by way of just kind of wrapping that up, we walk through, kind of slowly, various terms that Apostle Paul said, I want to see exhibited in the church. These uphold the holy doctrines. And what is that? If we were to sum up a grand picture of an individual, what is this, you know?

And I want to, again, just encourage every single one of you. Please, never grow tired and fatigued of like, oh, we just kind of do the same thing, learning and applying, learning and applying. There is so much maturity that comes from doing this for the long haul. And that's my challenge to you.

We live in a generation where people move communities left and right. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes you wrestle, wrestle, wrestle and make a hard decision. But the ideal, stay with the community for the long haul. Why? You want to wrestle through, especially those of you who are older and you give counsel to the younger ones.

You want to wrestle through the experience of seeing somebody maybe resist you, seeing somebody who doesn't listen to you, seeing somebody be like, oh my goodness, and have an epiphany, seeing somebody bear fruit, because all of that is an amazing privilege, just to be faithful, just to walk the long walk of faithfulness.

We absolutely live in a generation where we want to like flip on the switch. What do I need to know? And then I flip on the switch to holiness. I want to remind every single one of us today, this trajectory that God has for us is going to be a long walk of faithfulness and obedience.

Amen? Amen? My desire is to see older men and women set the tone and set the pace. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you because you have said you blessed the church and you gifted according to your good will. Thank you, God, that you have blessed Berean. And Lord God, we are blessed.

We now see parents coming to church with their children. We see generations of different individuals. What a blessing. Thank you, thank you. So we pray, then, that you would minister to every affinity, every pocket of the church, that we would be filled with the love of Christ. And Lord, that by the filling of your spirit and the filling of your word, we would be found faithful.

I pray, Father God, that we would have such a body of Christ that is active, every piece playing its part, every piece seeking to fulfill your design for us. And in all of this, we pray that you would receive the glory and honor. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise.

Christ assurance. Christ assurance, steady anchor, in the fury of the storm. With the lens of doubt blow through, and my sins have all been torn. And the suffering, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. It's in Christ's name, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn.

And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn.

And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn.

And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn.

And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. And my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn, and my sins have all been torn. We will cross the shore and steady anchor as we face the wave of death.

When these trials get way to glory as we go, we will cross the ground and rise and rise. We will cross the shore and rise and rise. We will cross the shore and rise and rise. We will be challenged this morning that, Lord, we may not have the power to change the world.

We don't have the power to change everybody else around us. But, God, we have your call to be faithful to you. That, Lord, we would walk with sobriety, self-control, and the vices that are in our own lives over the humble walk that we have with you, God, that we would be diligent to the task of growing in our faith, growing in truth and spirit.

Our prayer, Father God, is that you would empower every single one of us, but also, as a collective church, you would grow us in true health and soundness. And now, may the eternal love of God the Father, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you all now and forever.

Amen. Amen. God sent us out, in golden Jesus, we came to Him. In the end, in the day of time, to buy my power, an empty grave is there too. My Savior lives, because He lives, I give thanks to God, because He lives. All fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives.

God bless you.

- Sunday Service 7/06/2025

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