Keep Moving Forward | Weekend Service | Josiah Smith

A message by Pastor Josiah Smith on Titus 3:12-15.

Compass Bible Church South Valley is located in Kuna, Idaho. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church go to https://www.compassbiblesv.org/

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Transcript

Pre-Launch Story And Prayer Roots

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, today is a special Sunday because this, if you're newer to our church, you may not have the full background to what got us here today. This is our final what we've been calling pre-launch service. Now, the whole plan to plant Compass Bowl Church South Valley started years ago. But the launch team, that's people from Treasure Valley or Sending Church, that made a commitment to being a part of the seed group, if you will, to plant this church, to put in the work, to put in the extra labor and effort. The launch team started meeting together back in August of 2025. August 13th, 2025, was our very first meeting together. And it was that meeting that we kind of laid out the roadmap of what our time would be of preparation and just fellowship and even training to get us to pre-launch services. So we had over the course of those months leading up to January, we had 13 different prayer meetings. And that was just we would get together on a Wednesday night, we'd share a meal for uh half hour, 45 minutes, and then we would just spend an hour straight seeking the Lord in prayer. And that was the majority of what we did in preparation to seeing this lampstand lit, seeing this church planted was praying, committing ourselves to prayer. So we met 13 different times on 13 different Wednesdays just to seek the Lord in prayer. We have a genuine reliance on prayer, and we recognize that the task of planting a church, the task of making disciples, is far too big for us. We needed, we needed divine help. And we continue to need divine help and divine resources. So we go to the Father and we ask in the name of the Son. 13 prayer meetings. We also had four different trainings. We talked about the structure of Compass Bible Church, how we're elder-led and deacon-supported and member engaged. We talked about the mission of Compass Bible Church to make disciples. We talked about the doctrinal distinctives and the philosophical commitments. And we just spent some time training together. And on those nights, we had different team leads of the various ministries that you experience on a Sunday morning. We had team leads that were doing individual trainings with their respective teams, whether that was our security team or our coffee team, our hospitality team, our bookstore team. We had different team leads leading various trainings on those different nights. Then we had four fellowships where the goal was just we want to develop in relationship with one another. We want to love one another. We want to know one another. A lot of the people on the launch team really didn't have uh relationships before planting this church. And so we wanted to spend some dedicated, devoted time uh just getting to know one another. And that brought us to January of this year, January of 2026. The second Sunday of January, January 11th, was our commissioning Sunday. That's where we were sent off by Compass Bible Church, Treasure Valley, uh just north of here, and uh with the commission and with the uh the goal of seeing this church planting and seeing others one to Christ with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That was on January 11th. And then on January 18th, the very next Sunday, was our first pre-launch Sunday. We went we met right here in Cune High School. We did a full service, full setup. Uh, that was a wild day. If you were there setting up with us, it was pretty chaotic. Uh we didn't get things done until the downbeat of 1030 when we started, it felt like. Um, but through all of that, the Lord has been so faithful. The Lord has been so generous every step of the way in this process. We've gone to the Father, we've asked, and he's given. He's provided a space for us to meet. Uh, look at this school. I mean, the the school district that met however many years ago to decide uh that they would build this high school. They, I guarantee you, did not have in their mind that Compass Bible Church South Valley would be meeting here. And yet here we are. God chose in his graciousness and kindness uh to give us the favor with the school district to be able to meet here and to worship together, to sing praises to God, to to look at God's word. We we've asked and he's answered. We've we've prayed and he's uh provided. And I want you to know that, of course, on a Sunday morning you you show up and uh there are banners in the back that say connect and hospitality. There's there's hot coffee that's being served, both in carafes in the back and espresso in the in the corner. There's children's ministry happening. We have a tech booth back there with guys right now working hard. You only really notice them when things go wrong, right? So there's some some sacred servants back there just doing the hard work, and uh, there's all kinds of different ministries that happen week in and week out. This was a team effort. Uh we don't do this alone. This was not one person. This was not me as the lead pastor. This was a team effort. It still continues to be a team effort every single Sunday. We have a setup team that comes early. We have a teardown team that stays late. We have servants right now in kids' ministry uh serving your kids, teaching them the word of God. There are so many different servants, so many different teams. Even just six weeks into the life of our church, we have people that are fully invested, fully devoted to seeing others be zealous for good works, teaching them about the gospel of Jesus Christ, training them, uh, discipling them, helping them to see the light and the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and showing them how it fleshes itself out in their life through their actions and their good works. Now, this is again, it's a it's a team effort. We need that. We need to continue to have a team that's on the same page, that's working towards the same goal, ultimately to keep moving forward. We're six weeks in, our public launch is next Sunday, and uh we we have a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do. There are souls that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are others that need to be disciple, there are people that need encouragement, there are people that need sharpening in their understanding of scripture, and we need a team that's ready and willing to say, Here I am. Let's let's roll up our sleeves, let's get to work, let's get to work being zealous for good works, so that this area and beyond will be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And today, as we finish our study of the book of Titus, Paul is going to give us four different encouragements to keep moving forward. He's going to give us encouragements for us as a team to continue to be on the same page, to continue to have the same goal, and to keep moving forward in our pursuit of being zealous for good works. Four different goals, just from four different verses at the end of Titus. So if you got your Bibles, please go there. Titus chapter 3, verses 12 through 15 is where we will be this morning. But I want you to be encouraged. We've been talking about good works every single Sunday for the last six weeks, and I want you to see just the encouragement that Paul ends with to help us to keep moving forward, to help us to keep prioritizing the teen effort to pursue zealously the good works that God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Let's look at it together. Titus chapter 3, beginning in verse 12. Paul says, When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis. For I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollos on their way. See that they lack nothing, and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you, greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Now, one of the first things that we notice in these concluding verses is these names, these people. Did you notice that? Artemis, Tychicus, Zenus, Apollos, all of these different names that Paul is strategically kind of moving around like chess pieces on a board to put them in positions to be zealous for good works, to put them in positions to serve the body, to teach the good news of the gospel, to help a brother and sister to mature in the faith. Paul surrounds himself with a godly roster of sorts in his pursuit of being zealous for good works, in his encouragement to Titus to do the same. He surrounds himself with other godly individuals to help in that pursuit, to help in that aim. And that's something that we need to take notice of. The individuals in our lives, are they helping us pursue good works? Are they aiding in our being zealous of good works? And Paul gives us a good example of the type of people that we should surround ourselves with in our pursuit of good works. That's point number one. I want you to surround yourself with godly individuals. If we're going to keep moving forward, if we're going to keep keep being fruitful and helpful, if we're going to keep extending to others, like we talked about last week, what is excellent and profitable, we need the right team. And you need to surround yourself with godly individuals. And in some ways, we end the letter of Titus the way that we began. Do you remember how Paul began in Titus 1, verse 5? He says, This is why I left you, Titus, in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed. Now, of course, that context is specific to the actual office of elder and the office of pastor. But nevertheless, if we zoom out, Paul is organizing, strategizing towards gifted men, stepping into various ministry roles for the good of the church. And so Paul has a habit in the New Testament of surrounding himself with those kinds of men, men who are gifted and qualified, men who love the Lord Jesus Christ, men who are familiar with the scriptures. He fills his roster with those kinds of men because he recognizes the type of team that he needs to keep moving forward. These names are made up of a mix of known individuals and unknown individuals. There are some people that we know some things about and some things that we see in other parts of the New Testament, but there are other individuals that we don't see anything other than their name mentioned here once in Titus chapter three. Let's start with Artemis. Artemis. He says, When I send Artemis to you, here's everything that we know about Artemis. Absolutely nothing. We know nothing about this guy. But what I will say is that he made it on the list. He made it on the list. This is a list of people that Paul's moving around for ministry purposes. He's saying, I want them to go there, and I want these people to come here, and I want that so that Christ will be magnified and the body of Christ will be built up. And so though we don't know anything about Artemis, we don't know his background, we don't know what where he came from, we don't know what he was involved in, we know that he had the type of character of the men that Paul surrounded himself with. And I think that's an encouragement because there are different kinds of servants, and there are different types of people that you might surround yourself with. There are those that maybe are more well known. You know those people that in a church context, they seem to know everyone. Everyone is their best friend somehow, and they they're well known and they're well loved. And maybe that's an Apollos. We'll get to him in a second. Apollos is well known, he seems to be well loved. People are fighting over him in the book of Corinthians. I follow Apollos, people are saying. Apoll's telling them to cut it out. But nevertheless, we have those types of people that feel well known. They feel well loved. We have those other types of people that maybe we don't know much about them. Maybe they're the artemises of the world that uh we don't know their history, we don't know their background, they're not very loud in sense of the way that they speak. They don't speak very often. Maybe they're quiet in life groups, but nevertheless, they make it on the list and they're faithful. And they are the type of people that you want to surround yourself with. They're the type of people that are gonna help you to keep moving forward in your pursuit of good works. And I think that's what we see with Artemis. Again, we don't know anything about him, but he made it on the list. And these are men, each one of them you see that Paul is encouraging and putting forth as men that you should look to and rely on because they're faithful. And that's the type of people that you gotta surround yourself with. Surround yourself with godly individuals. So we see Artemis. We don't know much about him. He made it on the list, though. Then we also see Ticicus, that's the very next name. Paul's sending Artemis and Ticacus together to help Titus, to help in this process of encouraging the church to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, the grace of God that has appeared, bringing salvation to all. And he's saying, I want these men to help you with that. It's it's a team effort. But then he also says Ticachus is one of those individuals. And Tychicus is seen in a variety of different places in the New Testament. Specifically, we see him in the book of Acts. He was a traveling companion with Paul. He served as one of the apostles' trusted associates. He kind of held the dual role of a beloved brother, Paul tells us, and a faithful minister in the Lord. And that positioned him as both a spiritual peer of Paul, but also a capable servant in Paul's missionary work. Here's what Paul says about Ticchus in Ephesians 6, 21 and 22. Paul says, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Ticachus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. Even in Colossians, Colossians 4, verse 7, it says, Ticachis will tell you all about my activity, activities. He is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord. You see those phrases? Beloved brother, faithful minister, a fellow servant in the Lord. These are the kinds of people that Paul surrounded himself with. These are the kinds of people that Paul, as he's strategizing for ministry, he's saying, receive these men, lean on these men, rely on these men, Artemis and Tychicus, they are faithful, beloved brothers in the Lord, and it's their faithfulness that Paul uh endorses as he writes to Titus. And then we move on to Zenus, right, in verse 13. Do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer. Now, we don't know much about Zenus either. He doesn't appear beyond really uh his mention here, but we know that he's a lawyer. We know that he's educated. And at this time, that that comes with it some level of status, some level of perhaps financial, uh financially being well off. Uh but Zenus is a lawyer, he's educated, and again, he makes the list. And he's uh saying to Titus, speed them along. So it seems like Titus is with Zenus, and Paul wants him to return. He wants Zenus to come back for other ministry efforts, other ministry opportunities. So again, we don't know much about him, but we know that he's on the list, and we know that he's a faithful brother. He's someone that Paul surrounded himself by. And perhaps most famously of all these names, we have next Apollos. Apollos, again, we mentioned in 1 Corinthians, was one of the individuals that the church of Corinth was fighting over. Well, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas. And Paul's like, I'm so glad I didn't baptize you because you're you're bragging about all the wrong things. If you're gonna boast, boast in the Lord, not in these men. They're just servants. In fact, that's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 5 and 6. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Now, Apollos was a Jewish Christian from Alexandria who arrived in Ephesus, and he possessed both rhetorical skill and biblical knowledge. And the Bible says he taught about Jesus with zeal, with enthusiasm and accuracy, though his understanding of certain things was slightly off. In Acts chapter 18, this is when we're introduced to Apollos, verse 24, it says, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross the Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that Christ was Jesus, that the Christ was a Jesus. So we learn a variety of different things about Apollos. We we learn that he can speak very well, and that's part partly why the people were preferring him and arguing over him. I want to listen to Apollos. He's a great speaker. Well, he was a great uh speaker, he had great eloquence, he uh was speaking boldly, it says, in the synagogue. But we also see something interesting about the humility of Apollos because Priscilla and Aquila, they're hearing him and they're saying, uh your theology is not quite there, Apollos. And they pull him to the side, it says that they they pulled him to a side, and they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And the implication is that he received it. He he said, Thank you. I I need to understand this, I need to grow. And he had a level of humility to receive correction, to receive further uh instruction. And these are the kind of men that Paul would surround himself with, those who were eager uh to teach the scriptures, those who were servants, those who would humbly receive a correction, those who loved the word. It says there in Acts 18, 28 that Apollos showing by the scriptures, he's refuting the Jews in public that Jesus was the Christ. He was familiar with the word, he was familiar with the truth of who God was, and he received humbly correction when he needed it. And you need those types of people in your life. You need to surround yourself with the kind of people that are gonna push you forward in your pursuit of good works, they're gonna put their arm around you and say, keep moving, keep going, keep moving forward. That may even pull you to the side at times and say, hey, hey, hey, that's not quite right. Let's talk about this. Let's get this straight. Let's go back to the word. You need those kinds of people in your life if you're going to keep moving forward, being zealous for good works. I thought of the movie uh Moneyball. I don't know if you're familiar with that movie, but Moneyball, it's about the Oakland A's baseball team and the transition that they went through from basically zero to hero. They had limited resources, they were trying to turn a team around, they were seeking to win the World Series, and as a result, they they changed their strategy. They, up until this point, were trying to, they were swinging for the fences. They were trying to go for the all-stars, uh, the apolises of the world, if you will. They were trying to go for the people that had the highest batting percentages and that can throw the best kinds of pitches or whatever. And they they were striking out. No one wanted to play for the Oakland A's. And so they trained, they changed their strategy. They stopped going for all-stars, and what did they do instead? They went for men that simply got on base. That was if you watch the movie, there's a dramatic meeting uh where there's a whiteboard in the back, and they're they're looking for all the different players that they could add to this team, and and they basically just kept going, does he get on base? Put him on the team. Does he get on base? He's on the team. And there's a transformation of this team because they they got players that simply did something right and they did it well. And I would say for you, if you're gonna surround yourself with godly individuals, think of it that way: surround yourself with others who just get on base. They're not fancy, they're not flashy, they're just faithful. They're they're just consistent, they're reliable, they're steady. You know what you're gonna get. Surround yourself with those types of people. And I would encourage you, if you're gonna surround yourself with those types of people, you have to seek to be that kind of person. Seek to be a godly individual that other people are seeking for you to be around them. Seek to be the kind of person that helps others in their walk with Christ, that helps them along to keep moving forward. Seek to be this and also surround yourself with godly uh individuals. Of course, this assumes that you're consistently engaging in community. This assumes that you're rightly prioritizing the body of Christ. This assumes uh that you have people in your life to surround yourself with that are godly, and you're gonna find that, of course, I trust, in the context of the local church. But it also assumes that that you're you're choosing with some level of discernment, you're choosing wisely, you're choosing the type of people that again they're gonna put wind in your sail. As you keep striving to be faithful to God, as you keep striving to be zealous for good works. Paul's main point here in the book of Titus, you need the right people. You need to surround yourself with godly individuals. Then we also see these individuals that not only do they surround Paul, do they help him? They're also part of his sort of ministry strategy. Look again in verse 12. Paul says, When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis. Again, the mental image of my mind is just chess. He's just moving pieces around, and there's an ultimate goal in view. He says, Do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenus, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way. See that they lack nothing. And Paul was nothing, if not a ministry strategist. He was always working for ministry opportunities. He was always thinking about, scheming towards, strategizing for ministry opportunities. And that's the second encouragement today. I want you to strategize for ongoing ministry opportunities. If we're going to keep moving forward, we need the right people around us, surround ourselves with godly individuals, but we also need to strategize for intentional ministry opportunities. Intentional opportunities to serve the Lord, to serve others, to be a blessing, to use the gifts that God has given us as good stewards of God's varied grace and to serve one another with those gifts. Strategize towards that end, towards ongoing ministry opportunities. If you got your Bibles, keep your finger in Titus and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians 16. I want you to see another example of Paul the strategist, the ministry strategist. He was always just thinking about ministry. How can I do ministry? How can I help others do ministry? How can I equip them, train them, rely on them, teach them to aid in ongoing ministry opportunity. So if you're there, 1 Corinthians 16, I want you to look down at verse 5. Verse 5, Paul says, I will visit. I want you just to, as we read this, I want you to notice all the different plans that Paul has. Starting at verse 5, I will visit you after passing through Macedonia. For I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Do you hear all the ministry planning there? All the strategizing? I will visit you. I intend to pass through Macedonia. I will stay. I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits, but I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. All of this strategizing and thinking about and working towards ministry opportunities, or in the context of Titus, working towards being zealous for good works. And then this is something that I think we can take a page out of Paul's playbook and adopt this sort of mentality of strategizing always for ongoing ministry opportunities. And I want you to think about your life in several spheres. God has given you several spheres of opportunity for ministry, opportunity to strategize for ministry. And the first and perhaps most obvious is in your home. You should be strategizing for ministry opportunities in your home. Whether you are just married or whether you have kids, or even if you're single and you live with other family, whatever the case may be, have strategy for ministry opportunities in your home. Think about parents, your children. Think about the way that you are called to instruct them in the discipline of the Lord and strategize to that. It's not just, it's not gonna happen. It doesn't just happen. It doesn't just appear. You don't just suddenly find yourself at the dinner table with a Bible open in front of you, uh, and you're you're reading it, and it didn't, there was no thought in that. You have to plan for it. You have to strategize for it. And we know that with younger kids and they're loud and they're distracted and it can be challenging and you can get discouraged, but strategize for that. Strategize for ongoing ministry opportunities in your home, whether it's with your kids or with your spouse, ministry opportunities to serve your husband, to serve your wife, many ministry opportunities even for your family to serve the church together, and you see some overlapping opportunities there where your family is being invested in and your church at the same time because you're strategizing to invest in both of those spheres simultaneously. Identify ministry opportunities in your home. But I would also say identify ministry opportunities in your work. If you work outside the home, there's opportunities that God has placed before you to strategize for ministry opportunities. Remember we talked about last week that our good work should have a spilling over effect so that others may experience what is excellent and profitable? We want others around us, whether they're a Christian or not, to experience what is excellent and profitable. And in your work, in your job, that's a primary opportunity for you to do just that, to help other people see what is excellent and profitable because of the way that you're pursuing and identifying ministry opportunities. You got to plan for it. Again, it doesn't just happen. Sometimes the Lord does bring things that you weren't expecting, but you also have to strategize. You have to think about this. Work towards ministry opportunities in your work. And I would also say you need to identify, intentionally identify ministry opportunities in your community. Both uh the community at large that you live in, but I would also say even more close to home in your neighborhood. I won't ask you to raise your hand, but how many of you have neighbors right next to you that you've never talked to, you've never spoken to, and now you're so deep in the not talking that you're too far, you're too far gone, and there's no opportunity to break the awkwardness, or at least you feel that way. Right? We we can do this all the time where we live next to people for years and we never talk to them, we never invest in them, we never invite them over to dinner. There's opportunities right literally in our backyard to strategize for ongoing ministry. Think about that in your community, in your neighborhood. This is something that McKinsey and I think about. We we strategize towards. We're seeking to be faithful in this. We're growing, it is uncomfortable. I share that with you, but we we gotta be faithful and we got to strategize towards this and work towards being intentional about identifying ministry opportunities in our community, in our neighborhoods. And finally, and of course, you should identify ministry opportunities in your church. We are a church plant. I mean, we're six weeks old. This is our sixth week in existence. But one of our distinctives, even as a church plan, is that we're always working to plant new churches. And so if that's going to happen at some day, at some point in the future, and that is something that we aspire to, that's a goal that we have. Of course, that's not something that we're actively working towards in the moment, but that's always something on our mind. That's always something that we're hoping for and praying for. That doesn't just happen. We have to plan for that. We have to strategize towards that. This church was not just planted by a haphazard afterthought. There was years of prayer, years of planning, uh, months of intense planning and prayer and teams assembling, in people taking on more responsibility, and all of those things coming together to see what we have right now in our church. Uh we are always working to plant new churches. And so we need always to be strategizing for ongoing opportunities. And I would say Paul does a good job of not just showing us that he strategizes for opportunities for ministry, but he's also willing to adjust the the how, the when, uh, and the where. Did you see that in 1 Corinthians 16 where he says, I want to uh see you, I intend to pass through Macedonia, perhaps I will stay. But then he says, But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. I will stay. I desire to be with you, I desire to be there, but I will stay here. Paul's willing to adjust the how, the when, and the where. And in a sense, he's willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of ministry, for the sake of opportunities that God places in front of him. And ultimately, he shows us that what it looks like even to move towards the need, move towards the opportunity that God makes clear. He says he stays where he is, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me. And there are many adversaries. And we need this, we need to strategize for ongoing ministry opportunities. And you also need to understand that in this pursuit, uh, not everyone will do the same thing in the same way. There are different types of servants, you could say, different kinds of roles in this process, uh, different uh opportunities, different ministries, different personalities, different giftings, different backgrounds. There are different kinds of servants that are at all necessary coming together in concert to see the church keep moving forward and being zealous for good works. Think about it this way. Think about it uh like a conductor and a musician. What does a conductor uh do? A conductor uh sets the tempo, cues the entrances, shapes the dynamics of the song, holds the piece together. I want you to think about Paul as a ministry conductor. You see that in Titus 3? I'm gonna send them to you, you send them to me. I have these plans, I have these hopes, we're gonna do this together. Titus, even he's writing to Titus, giving him all these instructions. He writes to Timothy, gives him all these instructions. Uh Paul is a conductor. He's looking at the piece as a whole and making sure everyone knows when to come in and the dynamics by which to play. That's what Paul's doing. We see that in Titus. We also not just have conductors, we have musicians. A conductor, without musicians, is just someone waving their hands. That's all they do. Musicians play the music, they actually make the sounds, they they make up the beauty of the different instruments coming together in a piece. They follow the conductor, they skillfully play their instrument. And together, the conductor and the musicians, they make something beautiful and they make something worth listening to. The musicians in this example are Artemis, Tychicus, Zenus, Apollos. They're the musicians. They're not the ones writing the letters, they're the ones delivering the letters. They're not the ones giving the instructions, they're just the ones that are uh doing what Paul says uh and is seeking to be faithful behind the scenes. And by the way, these aren't hard categories, right? You you I'm not saying that you're only ever going to be a musician or you're only ever going to be a conductor. That's not what I'm saying. They're not hard categories, but I will say that typically God has given you sort of a leaning and an inkling towards one or the other, a musician or a conductor, an architect or a builder, uh, a quarterback or a wide receiver. You can't often do both. Typically, you lean in one direction. And so you gotta think about which one am I? Am I a uh conductor? Am I a musician? And uh again, we need both of those things, both of those types of people coming together in an orchestra to make beautiful music. That's what we need. We need those kinds of people working together, different servants, understanding their roles, whether they are a conductor or a musician, understanding where they fit in all of that, so that we can keep moving forward. So strategize for ongoing ministry opportunity, strategize towards that end. And let's look at verse 14. Paul gives another reminder, kind of repeating what he says towards the end of chapter three. Paul says, and let our people learn to devote themselves for good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. To help in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. He again warns that there are going to be distractions, whether there are people or just personally for yourself, there are gonna be distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. And point number three, I want you to be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. Be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. And of course, that's what we talked about last week in verses one through 11, where he talks about avoiding foolish controversies, avoiding genealogies and dissensions and quarrels. And as for a person who stirs up division, what do we do with him after warning him once and then twice? Have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. Now, the main goal, one of the main thrusts of the book of Titus is being zealous for good works. I want I want to just remind you of all the occurrences that we've seen this in this letter. Go back to chapter one of Titus. Titus chapter one, verse 16. It's the first example of good works. Paul says, They profess to know God, these false teachers, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. So there are those in the context of chapter one who are teaching for selfish gain. They are upsetting whole families, Paul says in chapter one. They are doing all of these things in the wrong way, teaching the wrong things, and they profess to know God, but they deny him by the way they live their life. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. That's the first occurrence of the phrase good work or good works. The second is in chapter two, verse seven, look there. After saying in verse six, likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled, he says, You, Titus, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. And in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned. So for Titus, he's saying, in contrast to those who are unfit for any good work, you are to show yourself a model of good works. That's the second occurrence. The the third is in verse 14 of chapter two. Look at that with me. So after the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, he talks about in verse 13, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. And that's the third occurrence. And Paul directly connects being zealous for good works to the purpose of the cross, the purpose of what Christ was seeking to accomplish by his life, death, burial, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, to set us free, to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. And then again, we see it in verse one of chapter three. Look at that with me. Paul says, Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. Remind them to be ready for every good work. Titus three verse eight. The saying is trustworthy. And I want you to insist on these things that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. And of course, our text today, Titus 3, 14, and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need. It's a neon sign for Paul in the letter of Titus. Be zealous for good works, work towards good works, and let our people learn. This is a process. It's not something that you just master in one sitting. You learn to devote yourselves to good works, and you learn to be helpful in cases of urgent need. You learn not to be unfruitful. You learn to do what is excellent and profitable. And the other passage that I thought about in connection to this was 2 Peter 1, 5 through 9. Peter says something similar to what Paul is saying throughout Titus. 2 Peter 1, beginning of verse 5, Peter says, For this very reason, making every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control. Do you hear the faith working itself out in the actions? Make every effort, Peter says, to supplement your faith with virtue, with knowledge, with self-control, self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. They keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful. And then he goes on and says, For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. I remember when I first got glasses, uh, it was back in the fall of 2019. At that point, I should have been wearing glasses. I was kind of in the stubborn phase of refusing to admit that I needed glasses. So I wasn't wearing them. McKinsey would often be fearful to drive with me, especially at night, because I would miss uh all of my turns on the highways because I couldn't read the signs. It was it was bad. Uh so I remember one day I went to the DMV and I took the vision test and I failed it. And the lady basically told me, if you fail this, I'm supposed to put some sort of restriction on your license, and I'm not supposed to let you do it again, but I'm gonna let you do it again. So I took it a second time and then I failed it again. And so then, because I don't know, just a grace in her heart that day for whatever reason, she moved me to a different machine as if that was gonna help. And um she because at this point I had seen the letters enough times where I memorized it somewhat, and so I just kind of from memory said the ones that I remembered, I missed the maximum amount that you could miss and not get the restriction on their license. And that put some fear in my heart. And so, literally in the parking lot of the DMV, I scheduled an eyeglass appointment and drove straight there. And I remember when I got my glasses and I put them on and I was driving home, how amazed I was at how at how clear I could see the leaves on the trees. Truly, it was it was October, uh, so the leaves were nice and orange. And uh I remember being like, I can see the leaves. And it was incredible. And I could finally, I I wasn't as nearsighted as I was uh before. Peter says, Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. And Peter says, make every effort to grow in these things, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, what are they gonna do? They're gonna keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful. You see how that connects to our passage in Titus 3 where he says, Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. That's what we want. You want that, right? You don't want to be unfruitful. You want to be fruitful, you want to be effective, you want to be helpful, helpful to the body, helpful to those around you. And what does Peter say? Well, it it comes from a life that isn't just about believing in the truth of things, it's about living that truth. It's truth lived out, as we've talked about. That's what godliness is. It's truth embodied, it's truth lived out, it's truth that moves from our head to our heart to our hands and worked itself out in the world. And Peter and Paul together say, if you want to be fruitful, live in that way, pursue good works, being reliant not on yourself, on the spirit of God and the word of God, but nevertheless, you are making every effort, as Peter says in 2 Peter 1, 5. Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, so that you may not be ineffective or unfruitful. Be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. And this is a primary concern to Titus and Paul in this book, because we've seen those who undermine good works. We've seen those who are unfruitful. He says in verse 10 of chapter 1, there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the unsur the circumcision party. They must be silenced. They are upsetting whole families. This is a primary concern. There are people that are unfruitful because they honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from them. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. They deny him by their works. Paul says, Be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. And the best way to guard against being unfruitful is to be saturated in God's word. The word is central and primary in this pursuit. This is what Paul says. In 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 16, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for approval, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. It goes back to a reliance on the centrality of the word. That's an encouragement to keep moving forward, be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness, and use the kind of life that Paul talks about in Titus and that Peter talks about in 2 Peter as a way to gauge whether or not you are effective and fruitful or ineffective and unfruitful. We want to be fruitful Christians that are helpful in cases of urgent need. We want to be helpful to those around us. We want to be zealous in our pursuit of good works. Be wary of distractions that lead to unfruitfulness. And here's how Paul ends all of this. The whole letter in verse 15 of chapter 3. Paul says, All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who have who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. And this is the final encouragement, the final reminder from Paul to us today in our pursuit of good works. We need to always remember that end to end, it's an act of grace. That's point number four. Rely on grace to keep moving forward. We're not interested in self-reliance. We're not interested in clenching our fists, tightening our jaw, going at it alone, pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We're not interested in any of that as Christians. We need to rely on grace to keep moving forward. That's how Paul begins in chapter one. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. That's how he ends. Grace be with you all. Right in the dead center of the book, we looked at Chatus 2, verse 11, for the grace of God. So the beginning is grace, the middle is grace, the end is grace, all of it is grace, according to the scriptures. In this pursuit of good works, never get it twisted that it's your self-reliance or your effort, so to speak, that makes the difference. It's the grace of God in you. And this is Paul's encouragement to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 2. Then you then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He recognized, he understood that what Timothy needed, he did not possess. And so he says, Be strengthened by something outside of yourself. Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And of course, we saw that a couple weeks ago in Titus 2.11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. And what does it do? Trains us to renounce on godliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. Our pursuit of good works as Compass Bible Church South Valley, our pursuit of good works as individual will not be fruitful if we do not rely on grace. I want you to think about grace. Uh, the the mental image in my mind is a sailboat. Uh like we're just a little, we're just not even a sailboat, we're just a rowboat in the middle of a giant ocean. And if we're gonna have an effective way of charting a course and making progress, we're gonna need to raise our sail and we're gonna need the wind of God's grace to blow us along. That's what grace is, it keeps us moving forward. Rely fully on the grace of God. Don't rely on yourself, don't rely on your own knowledge or wisdom. Paul talks about not many of you were wise, not many of you were of noble birth. So that the faith of men may not rest in the ability of man, but in the faithfulness of God, in the power of the Spirit. Rely on grace to keep moving forward. As we've studied throughout these last six weeks, we we are called to live lives being zealous for good works. And the final reminders from Paul in Titus three is we need the right team. We need to surround ourselves with godly individuals. We need to strategize for ongoing ministry opportunities. It doesn't just happen. We need to think towards that end, plan towards that end. We need to be wary of distractions that may lead to unfruitfulness, and we need to rely on grace to keep us moving forward all along the way.