Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, hello again, again. If we haven't met, my name is Michael Tropea and I am excited for the series that we are going to be going into in these coming weeks. And so we are going to be going through the letter of Titus.
[00:00:16] And there's reason for that. What's been big on my heart really over this past couple years is this idea of, hey, why do we do this whole thing called church?
[00:00:26] What is God's design for it as a local body? Why does it matter? It needs to be led.
[00:00:31] Well, what does it mean for us individually and communally as a people in our relationship with one another? And what is the point of it? To be a witness to the world.
[00:00:40] And as I've been praying through that and God's design for it, I've been thinking, I think we need this as a church. I think we need to regain a clarity, multi generationally about why this matters, why the local gathering, why the local people of God, why the local body matters, and what does a healthy church actually look like? And so, and I just don't want to talk about living out the gospel. I want to actually live it out where God calls us to and not just talk about it anymore. And so we are going to unpack that.
[00:01:10] And Titus is a letter that does just that. And so I want to dive right in to the letter. If you already opened up to Titus, Titus 1, great. If you aren't, if you can open there.
[00:01:23] But I want to give Seth some background for us before diving into this letter. I want to say, hey, what context matters in what this letter was written into? And so if you've guessed who the author is, it's Paul. Ding, ding, ding. You are right, correct.
[00:01:37] Paul was writing to one of his co workers, co laborers, disciple of Titus. He's a trusted co worker and partner in the Gospel ministry.
[00:01:48] And Titus was a Greek Christian. He was not, and that's an important detail. He was not Jewish in nature, but he was a gentile who had been grafted in because of the Gospel, because of what Jesus has done on the cross and the redemption that he found. And then Paul had sent him to Crete.
[00:02:06] And Crete was an island off of the coast of Greece. One of the places on my bucket list one day I want to go to. Just looks nice, right?
[00:02:14] But Crete was a place that was strategically important in that time and space of the world.
[00:02:21] Because Crete was a port town. It had a lot of trade happening, trade routes, travelers from all over the world, and economic activity happening. So it was from Paul's Perspective, a beautiful place for the gospel to be planted. And there were a whole bunch of local small churches that were on this island disseminating the gospel to that whole known world at the time.
[00:02:44] But the thing is, Crete had a reputation.
[00:02:47] Even Paul, in the scripture in Titus, right there, was quoting one of the Cretan poets. It says. What did it say? Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And Paul even says, hey, that is true. Right?
[00:03:01] How would you like to describe yourself? As crazy gluttons. Right. Lazy gluttons. Always liars, evil beasts. That's a great tagline, LinkedIn profile name, right? Like that's what you want to be known by. But that is the people, the culture that Paul was sending Titus into, they were dishonest, corrupt, violent, greedy.
[00:03:23] But these new church communities are trying to follow Jesus in a deeply unhealthy culture.
[00:03:30] But even worse than that, corruption has started showing up inside the church.
[00:03:36] False teachers are stirring up confusion, upsetting households, and using religion for selfish gain. That never happens today. Right?
[00:03:45] But that's why Titus is here.
[00:03:48] Paul leaves him in Crete, as we'll see, to set things in order.
[00:03:55] So basically, Titus gets dropped into this spiritually messy island full of young churches, compromised leaders, cultural chaos, theological confusion. Who's signing up for that job?
[00:04:08] Not a lot of us.
[00:04:10] But Paul is going to lay out to Titus for the instruction how to lead this by God's grace, into a healthy church body, healthy flourishing churches, to be a witness to the world. And so we're going to understand that today.
[00:04:25] If I were to say this question, who loves chaos in this room?
[00:04:29] There probably wouldn't be many of us that are like, I love it.
[00:04:32] Weirdly, I actually enjoy it. Not in experiencing it. Sometimes I come in after getting done with a workday and we have a tornado of a son named Abram, who's one and a half, and there's stuff all around the house. And that's chaos to me.
[00:04:46] I'm not talking about that, loving that chaos. But I love understanding, hey, how things are chaotic and how is it brought back into order, or how do we maintain order and thriving from a place of chaos? And one of those places where I continually see chaos is we just got back from New York, like I said last week, and inevitably, every time we fly back into DFW and we come back to Tyler, we have to pass through this place in Terrell, and most of you know it.
[00:05:16] There should be a picture of it there, there, there. Buc ee's right.
[00:05:24] I don't know about you, but like, I went there this past Saturday at 12pm on a Saturday, the worst possible time to go to BUC EE's, because there are hundreds and hundreds of cars passing through, trying to get gas. People pouring into the doors, right? More brisket than I've ever seen on human on our earth being made.
[00:05:48] There's families everywhere. My daughter was trying to go to the bathroom and they do have like 4800 bathroom seats, but there was a line out the door, right? And so there has been so much things there that are happening. People grabbing stuff off the shelves continuously. It's one of the busiest, chaotic retail environments you'll ever experience.
[00:06:08] But here's the thing.
[00:06:10] It actually works and moves.
[00:06:13] It actually works and moves.
[00:06:16] And why is that? Because someone has been entrusted with bringing order to the chaos of BUC EE's.
[00:06:25] Like, I walk out of BUC EE's, going back to my car, and I see the sign displayed for a job for general manager making 275 to 375,000, and I'm like, I made the wrong career choice.
[00:06:38] I would drive to Terrell every day if that was the case. Right?
[00:06:43] But they don't get paid to just stand around.
[00:06:46] They don't get paid that much money because it's easy. They get paid that because they have to bring a lot of chaos and bring order to the chaos. They don't just sit around.
[00:06:59] You see, without leadership, that place becomes a disaster.
[00:07:04] Like gas pumps will be backed up, food doesn't get replenished. What happens? The bathrooms? If there's not people ordering the cleaning of those bathrooms, those things become nasty quick.
[00:07:17] Employees don't know who is responsible for what. Customers become frustrated, the experience falls apart.
[00:07:26] The chaos doesn't disappear because people are just good.
[00:07:30] The chaos is brought into order because it's stewarded when leaders are present.
[00:07:36] And here, here's what God is saying through Paul to Titus, the church, the household of grace, is infinitely more valuable than a convenience store.
[00:07:49] You see, people are coming in each and every Sunday. And I know this to be the fact. With broken marriages, with Saturday night addictions and hangovers coming in here, doubts, sufferings, questions, new believers who actually need discipling, mature believers who need shepherding, children who need teaching, widows who need care and conflict that needs wisdom and also false teaching that must be confronted.
[00:08:17] You see, left alone, sin doesn't organize itself into holiness.
[00:08:23] It drifts toward further disorder.
[00:08:26] And that's why Paul says to Titus regarding the chaos that is happening in the church in Titus 1:5, he says, this is why I left you in Crete, so that you may put what remained into order to bring things from unhealth to health.
[00:08:44] And what does Paul say next that helps bring it into order?
[00:08:50] Does Paul say, hey, you need to run this program in order for it to run in a healthy way?
[00:08:57] Does he say, hey, you need a charismatic and a great speaker and teacher to bring things into work order?
[00:09:06] Does he say, hey, you need these lights, you need this sound, you need the certain buildings to bring things into order?
[00:09:13] No, what does he say?
[00:09:17] What does he say next? Appoint elders in every town as I directed you.
[00:09:24] God uses people to steward his people.
[00:09:28] Not programs, not personalities, not buildings, godly shepherds.
[00:09:33] So here's what I want to tease out from this morning. It's this. God orders his church through qualified leaders.
[00:09:42] God orders his church through qualified leaders. Notice I have quotations around that. Because none of us are qualified in our own right, but it's because Christ qualifies us that we are able to lead as God has intended.
[00:09:58] Paul says to Titus, these household churches that are being ravaged by corrupt, insubordinate, lying believers, order needs to be brought in.
[00:10:07] Not control for control's sake, not bureaucracy. Because we need a higher bureaucracy. Not personality driven leadership, but holy protective gospel shaped order.
[00:10:21] And see, that tells us something about his church, something important.
[00:10:27] Spiritual life and spiritual order are not enemies.
[00:10:31] They're not enemies. Some people think, well, you know, let the Spirit move right and just get out of the way.
[00:10:39] No Spirit filled homes need order. To bring and position things for long term health or the grace of God does not make leadership unnecessary. If anything, it makes it more necessary to steward that rightly and healthy churches need recognized, tested and accountable shepherds. Put another way, it's this. The fire needs a fireplace to feel the full warmth and intention and light things up in a way that's healthy and good.
[00:11:09] That's God's design.
[00:11:11] And God cares who is entrusted with the keys and cares how it is ordered in healthy, transformative ways.
[00:11:18] So he gives us the Paul says to Titus, leadership is necessary. And what do these qualified leaders look like for order and health within the church? Well, we see it in Titus 1, verses 5 through 9 and I'll read it.
[00:11:33] Appoint elders in every town as I have directed you.
[00:11:37] If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. There's those words again.
[00:11:52] He must not be arrogant or quick tempered, or a drunkard, or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
[00:12:05] He must hold firm the trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound, healthy, right doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. I read that list. I'm exhausted.
[00:12:19] That's heavy.
[00:12:23] What is Paul trying to say to Titus here?
[00:12:27] I think it's simply this, that qualified leaders are marked by character, not charisma.
[00:12:33] Qualified leaders are marked by the character and transformative work of Jesus in their lives, not just by the charisma in which they show up with and again, there's a reason why I'm using the term qualified leader. Because it's Christ who qualifies each and every one of us.
[00:12:52] And one of the things I want to just be right out of the gate with here as we believe as it relates to elders in these passages right here and also in First Timothy, we as Grace Community Church believe in this idea and in God's word. It says that an elder, an overseer in our midst is one led by a man.
[00:13:13] This role, this office, is one led by a man. It's not moving towards the cultural wings of the culture and the time we find itself in. And we're not trying to downplay the giftedness, beauty, honor, dignity worth of women in this room. If anything, I want to elevate the role of women, especially giftedness, with teaching in further ways. But we believe as God's design and the complementarian design within God's household of grace.
[00:13:41] Then we need qualified men, leaders that are men that don't lead and move in a cultural moment but have root themselves in who God is.
[00:13:51] And if anything, the role of overseer is a call for a man to come and die and lay down his life for the sheep. And that's a high call that we are responsible to God for.
[00:14:03] And what we see from the Scripture isn't that these are superhuman, perfect men that are qualified to be elders.
[00:14:10] It's extremely ordinary but godly men.
[00:14:15] And let's list off of the Paul's elder qualifications that are strikingly ordinary.
[00:14:20] Well, it starts, the scripture starts off with the private life of these men. What does it say?
[00:14:26] They are faithful in their marriage, they are responsible in their home, above reproach in their private life.
[00:14:36] Like those are extraordinary, extraordinarily ordinary things. But that has to be ordered and done well there in their private lives. Holding to Jesus there with the relationships God has entrusted to them.
[00:14:50] But what does it say about their public life that really comes from their private life? That they are not arrogant, not quick tempered, they're not boozing it up all the time, they're not violent, they're not greedy, they're hospitable, lover of good, self controlled, upright, holy, disciplined.
[00:15:08] What Paul is putting before Titus and what Paul is putting before us today is this, that it's not a talent resume, but a picture of character.
[00:15:20] It's a picture of the character and the content that Jesus transforms them into.
[00:15:25] And beyond all of that, these men that Paul is telling Titus to put in place at the local churches and the ones that lead us, they realize that they are merely under shepherds, stewards, they're not dictators.
[00:15:42] Paul is saying, before a man can care for God's household, look at how he lives in his own.
[00:15:48] Before he handles the church's wounds, look at how he handles his own anger.
[00:15:53] Before he manages spiritual authority, look at how he handles money, his appetite, the hospitality in which he lives, the self controlling which he exhibits in his life. Paul is saying godly leaders are transformed by Jesus and formed into men of character in their private and public lives.
[00:16:12] Now I can teach all this right, I can teach all these, this idea for God's design for overseers. But we all live in this world and there's broken leadership at every single level of institutions, even within the church.
[00:16:27] And so it can taint our idea of this being good and right in God's design. I mean, just this week I've read four different accounts of churches in America that have either had a pastor fall because there has been private life hasn't matched what they're speaking publicly. Elders that have allowed certain things to be skirted under rugs, they didn't want to deal with it. And so it has come now out and it's breaking churches. So like those things exist.
[00:16:52] I'm not wiping that underneath a carpet, but the fact is there's. So that's a small percentage of the good work God is doing through godly churches where with godly elder oversight within our church.
[00:17:06] And if you knew some of these men who lived these characteristics out, you'd be hard pressed to say I don't wanna follow them.
[00:17:15] Like if you knew and we are grateful to have here grace ub these men with these lives above reproach doesn't mean they're perfect. But I wanna go with them to the brokenness of my marriage and say, hey, help me Follow Jesus with where I'm finding my marriage.
[00:17:29] Like I want to walk with them. Hey, I'm walking through this difficult job transition and I need faith because I just don't see God providing. Help me walk through this in a way that is right and whole. I want to follow them and bring this to them. I want to pray. If I'm walking through addiction with these men because they are living these lives, not because they're great, but because they're holding to the one that is great.
[00:17:50] And if we had churches that healthy churches of these type of men that leading us, I don't think we'd have actually a problem with. With men leading in these spaces and offices because that's how God designed it.
[00:18:04] You see, God orders his church by qualifying elders of character, not merely charisma, the substance in whom they hold to transforms them into God's image and men of character.
[00:18:18] I just got done this week watching a movie that some of you may have watched. It's on Amazon Prime. I think I have a picture of it up here, the Sheep Detectives.
[00:18:28] And maybe some of you have watched it.
[00:18:30] It's funny, it's funny. It's something.
[00:18:34] And I was like, I have this. This goes in line. So we're going with it little bit. I'm not going to spoil it for you in full, but Hugh Jackman is the shepherd of these sheep.
[00:18:44] And he is different from any one of the townspeople that you come into contact with in the movie. And he's different than the shepherd, the other shepherd in the town.
[00:18:54] You see, he doesn't see these sheep as products to be used, but as ones to be cared for. He protects them, he disciplines them, he gives them this blue medicine stuff and he cares for them. But he also, at the end of every night, reads a mystery novel to them. And they just sit there watching, listening, and they're talking about it amongst themselves. He doesn't hear, he doesn't understand it, obviously, but he reads these mystery novels to them. The sheep don't understand why at the time, but they're just stories until the shepherd dies. Hugh Jackman, sorry if I spoiled it for you, but he dies. And you'll see it all play out. I'm not telling you the outcome, but he dies.
[00:19:30] But here's the thing.
[00:19:32] Suddenly these sheep, the flock is on its own. And they begin to face the mystery of how to solve who killed this shepherd.
[00:19:44] They realize something from this process. They realized that the content that Hugh Jackman's shepherd has been reading to them matters. For how they Solve this crime.
[00:19:57] It formed the way the sheep thought. They taught them how to recognize danger, how to discern what is true, how to respond to this mystery when no longer the shepherd was there with him. It's funny talking about sheep that way, like they're humans, but that's what they were.
[00:20:13] You see, it wasn't the shepherd's personality that protected them after he was gone. It was the truth from those mystery novels that he had faithfully given them.
[00:20:23] You see, that's similar thought to what Paul is getting at here in Titus 1.
[00:20:29] The church, the health of this church. The health of churches ultimately doesn't rest on the charisma or the thoughts of its leaders. It rests on qualified leaders who hold firmly to the trustworthy word of God.
[00:20:42] Qualified leaders who hold firmly to the trustworthy word of God. Verse 9 says this.
[00:20:51] He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
[00:21:02] Why is that important?
[00:21:05] Why does that matter? So that they can encourage God's people with what is right and confront false teaching that often arises within the culture and the church.
[00:21:14] I mean, we have pretty crazy thought messages within the world, do we not? Today, hey, you can continue to be what you feel.
[00:21:23] You know, do what feels right to you. Bigger, better, more. That's the aim of this world.
[00:21:30] Do whatever feels good.
[00:21:32] Or some of the false gospel messages, even within the church, is this Jesus plus wealth? What is that? You sow a seed, you get a seed.
[00:21:41] You know, wealthy, the wealth, the prosperity gospel that can rise up within churches. Or this idea of Jesus plus works like, yes, Jesus did die for me, but I need to work, and so my good outweighs the bad, so I'll get in.
[00:21:56] Instead of Jesus by faith alone in Jesus, or one that hits closer to home a little bit, is Jesus plus political party. You can only follow Jesus if you vote Republican.
[00:22:08] People believe that.
[00:22:10] Well, you can only. You're only a Christian if you're voting Democrat and you're tolerant of people. And so the social gospel goes across like that is a false gospel message.
[00:22:25] Hear me when I say this. We need now more than ever elders, qualified leaders, men and women that hold firm to this book, hold firm to who this book says is in control.
[00:22:41] To know what this book says and knows what it doesn't say.
[00:22:48] How it's just by Jesus alone, by grace alone in Jesus not anything plus messages within our own midst and not only instructing in the sound doctrine, healthy Right, theology. But it's also meant we hold to this word to rebuke. Rebuke, which is a strong term, but necessary to rebuke what is false.
[00:23:11] Because even Jesus, hey, there's gonna be wolves among you.
[00:23:16] And so we must have gospel qualified leaders standing upon the word of God, holding fast to Jesus, that confront and rebuke to bring into correction, not to tear down, but to bring in the opportunity of restoration for that broken person who's trying to stir up discord amongst the sheep.
[00:23:37] We must hold fast to this word, not just a cultural thought, or what is the cultural thought of today.
[00:23:47] Qualified elders must hold tightly to God's word so that God's people can hold tightly to Christ.
[00:23:53] You see, this is our source material, that if you come to any one of us as elders, we're gonna point you back to this. If you have a marriage that is broken, we're gonna point you back to what God's design is for men and women within marriage and say, are you holding to this? Are you repenting yourself? Are you taking the plank out of your own eye or are taking it out of your spouses? If you're coming to us with brokenness and addiction, we're gonna say, hey, we're gonna lovingly meet you there on the ground. We're gonna walk with you, but we're gonna point you back to what God's word says.
[00:24:22] That's what we will hold to. And that will bring order from the disorder and brokenness in our midst as we hold fast to Christ.
[00:24:34] And so we have qualified leaders that are marked by character, not charisma. We have qualified leaders holding fast the trustworthy word of God. But what's the point?
[00:24:45] What is the goal of using elders to bring order from Paul's viewpoint to Titus and to us?
[00:24:52] It's not just merely that the church runs more efficiently.
[00:24:57] It's not merely that we want cleaner budgets, better running gatherings, or more polished ministries. No, the goal is a healthy household of faith that reflects the new humanity Jesus has created.
[00:25:13] A people whose lives display the transforming power of the Gospel.
[00:25:19] The goal is a healthy household of faith that reflects the new humanity Jesus has created.
[00:25:27] That's why Paul is so passionate in Titus 1. That's why I'm so passionate about this.
[00:25:33] Because the sickness he is confronting in Crete isn't ultimately organizational, but it's spiritual and it's within their midst. Verse 16 speaks to that.
[00:25:43] When Paul writes this, they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
[00:25:50] You see, the leaders within those Churches had the right vocabulary, but the wrong lives.
[00:25:58] Their confession and their conduct was misaligned.
[00:26:03] There was brokenness within the household of God that Paul wanted to encourage Titus to bring into order.
[00:26:12] When I was in my 20s, someone said a quote to me and I can't remember who, but they said this quote to me that just stuck with me. And it was this quote that says the greatest evil in America is not merely the darkness outside the church, but when the church fails to be the light it has been called to be.
[00:26:33] The greatest evil in America isn't the darkness outside of the church. Put another way, it's the darkness within. From the church leaders, specifically from this place where I'm standing, and from the leaders God has entrusted over his household of grace.
[00:26:48] And that's sobering.
[00:26:52] The greatest threat to the witness of the church isn't just what unbelievers do. It's when God's people, and especially God's leaders say all the right things while living contrary to the gospel they proclaim.
[00:27:04] That's exactly why Paul spends so much time describing the character of those who lead us.
[00:27:11] And the church will rise, rarely rise above the spiritual health of those who lead it.
[00:27:20] I am deeply grateful and I know I'm way over time and so you're just going to have to sit there.
[00:27:27] I'm deeply grateful for the men I get to lead and serve alongside who call Grace Community Church their home. Then they shepherd and lead as elders here at Grace ub. Here's a picture of all of them.
[00:27:39] It'll be up here in a minute.
[00:27:42] Brian Brandt, someone who leads, who's faithfully led a number of years here within Grace Community Church staff, but also serves our community in a number of ways, linking us with Bethesda and serves our community in a myriad of ways.
[00:27:54] Kirk Hudson, who is our executive pastor of operations and has served here for a number of years. Richard Carey, who serves our community from teaching here every once in a while, but also is a counselor at Living well. Robbie Maintain, who has been here for a number of years, teaches every once in a while, but also serves our kids and student ministries. Jeff Miller, who serves on our PPO team and also cares for students within the Forge and cultivates that ministry as well. Thomas Newhoff serves our community on boards, but also serves faithfully here. Fred Pate, I think he disciples 10 men right now as he's. This is halftime of his life and he invests himself every single Sunday. You'll see him out on the probably on the golf cart trying to get You a place from the sweltering heat in here. Danny Price, who's over in South Africa right now leading a team or leads a group on a Sunday morning. Kelly Starr, who's been here for a number of years serving on the stewardship team and serving our body. Jacob Taylor, new elder here, but he serves on our PPO team and also disciples men. Brent Wadle down here. He doesn't like that I'm calling him out right here. Has lived and breathed leadership here for a number of years. Leads a group on Sunday morning. Scott Wilson, our pastor of mission here, these are the men that lead us.
[00:29:17] These are the men I get to serve alongside that are in the trenches wanting to pray and walk with you. And they are qualified men because of who they hold to, not because their qualifications are in and of themselves.
[00:29:29] I am grateful for their spouses that serve alongside them in their oneness, but these are men we get to walk alongside as they lead and shepherd and hold me to account.
[00:29:41] And these are men I will go to bat with until the Lord calls me otherwise. And I am grateful for them because they are men of character.
[00:29:49] They are men that are holding to Christ. They will say they are imperfect because they know they are, but they will say that Jesus is the the one that's continuing to call them to lead. And they laid down their lives each and every week for us. And I'm grateful to serve alongside them without question. It's the greatest gift of my life. And I want you to know that I thank God for elders who understand their leadership isn't about power or position. It's about faithfully holding fast to the trustworthy word of God and modeling a life that is increasingly worthy of imitation. And their lives do just that. They reflect Jesus.
[00:30:22] And it is for our order to bring broken things into order by God's grace and God's grace alone. So when I teach this, what is the if you're sitting out there right now and you're like, what does this matter to me?
[00:30:34] Why does this matter for our time and space? And what can I do with this? Well, one of the things I need you to know is I want you to pray for us as elders here.
[00:30:42] We need your prayers to continue to be above reproach in our marriages, in our parenting, but also to lead and serve you well so the enemy doesn't deceive us. So we are strengthened by God and God alone. So we need your prayers.
[00:30:57] Like that's not a light thing. That's not just a tip of the hat to say hey, we just need you to pray for us. No, we need you to pray for us so that we can point people deeper into Christ's heart as we lead out here all the days he gives us.
[00:31:10] That's what you can do from this message. But also my heart is that you also pursue Christ.
[00:31:18] Like I want every man and woman in here to pursue Christ, to be elder qualified in these characteristics.
[00:31:25] You may not be in the office, but I want us to pursue Christ where we become above reproach, where we become self controlled, where we open our hands and say, God, it's all yours. I want to give it back to make you known. I want to be sharing the gospel. I want us to be hospitable lovers of good, be able to confront wrong thinking and wrong theology, to be put to bed division within the wolves in our nature. Because if we do all that, that is a healthy church and that's God's design for his church, that we are to be led well by qualified leaders who hold fast to Christ. The character is transformed because of him and they hold fast to this word. And if we do that, I believe God uses that to shine a light to the world who's desperately needing the gospel to transform communities and people's lives.
[00:32:18] So pray, but also pursue Christ together.
[00:32:23] Next week I'll talk more, but every single person in this room has a role to play in that design. We'll talk about older men and younger men, older women and younger women. And we all have a role to play in this church body that will make us healthy as we hold fast to Christ Church. Let's pray.
[00:32:43] God, I thank you.
[00:32:47] I thank you that you are the chief shepherd and we are not.
[00:32:52] I thank you that you are the one that transforms by your grace. And as we submit to you as savior and lord of our lives, you transform us to become more like you.
[00:33:03] And I thank you for our elders that I get to serve alongside and lead alongside with that, cultivate the ground to be available, to serve, to point people towards you in your heart. And I thank you for them. And I pray for their marriages, I pray for their parenting, I pray for their service.
[00:33:19] And I thank you for their witness to the world.
[00:33:23] But God, I pray for everyone in this room right now, every man, every woman, that if they are holding fast to you, I pray that you transform them by your spirit to produce fruit of patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, living above reproach lives, if they're married, to be husbands, well, wives, well, that have children that are reverent to them. And walking in the ways of you God and I pray that you transform them by your spirit to become elder qualified holding to you not necessarily for an office but to hold a place in our body that they are called to serve and we need that.
[00:34:06] But God, if there's anyone outside of faith in Jesus today, I pray that they acknowledge their need and their brokenness apart from you that their sin becomes so dissatisfying that you can't help but point to them, to their need for Jesus and the transforming work by his Spirit to submit as Savior and king. And if that is anyone in this room, I pray that you move on their heart right now to submit to you as King and Lord and God, I thank you for you being the King of king and the Lord of Lords and that we are not and we can declare your excellency and your truth that you are restoring and forgiving and transforming a people into your own image as originally designed in the garden. God, we need you and apart from you we can do nothing. We love you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.
