WEBVTT 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.400 This is your daily reminder. God has not run 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.220 out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:12.240 to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome, whether 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.080 you're tuning in today for the very first time 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.300 or you've been following along with us. Welcome 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:19.719 to the New Mercies Podcast today. My reading 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:24.339 plan goes back to Titus 3 again. I know you're 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:26.579 thinking, you have done this a couple of times 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:32.229 now. Yeah, absolutely. reading plan that our 00:00:32.229 --> 00:00:34.289 church is going through follows along with what 00:00:34.289 --> 00:00:36.289 we teach on Sundays. What we taught on Sunday 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:40.409 was Titus 3, and so we look at Titus 3 a couple 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:41.770 times last week, and then we're going to look 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:44.170 at it again today to see. We're going to read 00:00:44.170 --> 00:00:46.770 it with fresh eyes again after hearing it proclaimed 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:50.070 and preached. from the pulpit, and now we're 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.289 going to see what is it that sticks out to us. 00:00:53.509 --> 00:00:55.829 Well, today I want to share something out of 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:59.070 the very end of Titus chapter 3, the end of Paul's 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:02.979 letter to Titus while he is in Crete. And he 00:01:02.979 --> 00:01:05.079 gives some final instructions. The letter part 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.379 is over at this point that I'm about to read. 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:09.219 I encourage you to read the whole chapter again. 00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:12.260 See what stands out. Write it down. What stood 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.359 out? Why did it stand out? What can you do with 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.219 that today? Why do you think it stood out to 00:01:16.219 --> 00:01:19.659 you today? Allow it to soak in and soak it up. 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:21.500 But I want to read just a couple verses after 00:01:21.500 --> 00:01:23.159 Paul finishes the letter, and then he gives some 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:26.519 final instructions and a final greeting and saying, 00:01:26.989 --> 00:01:29.890 Thank you and grace be with you that moment that 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.730 Paul finishes a letter. He says in verse number 00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:36.469 12 of chapter 3, I'm going to send a couple people 00:01:36.469 --> 00:01:39.030 to you. I want you to meet me here in this city 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:41.109 because I plan on wintering there. I plan on 00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:43.250 staying there in the wintertime. Then he says, 00:01:43.370 --> 00:01:46.269 verse number 13, what stuck out to me, this may 00:01:46.269 --> 00:01:48.689 stick out to you. It may not. If it does, if 00:01:48.689 --> 00:01:51.750 it doesn't, whatever. But let me just share a 00:01:51.750 --> 00:01:54.250 little bit of a background from verses 13 and 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:57.700 14. He says in verse 13, do your best to speed 00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:01.700 Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way. See 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:03.939 that they lack nothing. Before I go any further 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:07.239 and read another verse, I want to say this is 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:12.599 ministry 101. To any of my ministry friends that 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:15.990 are out there or... small group leaders, or even 00:02:15.990 --> 00:02:18.330 church members that have a ministry calling in 00:02:18.330 --> 00:02:20.990 your life, ministry is not always about a position 00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:25.330 and serving in a church body in a way that is 00:02:25.330 --> 00:02:29.590 a staff position. Sometimes ministry is as simple 00:02:29.590 --> 00:02:32.710 and practical as this verse. When he says, do 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:35.009 your best to speed, Zenos the lawyer. That's 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:37.469 the only time I do not know who this guy is. 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:40.090 Is he a Jew? Is he a Gentile? I don't know. I 00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:42.770 know he's a lawyer. That's what I know. Not mentioned 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:44.889 anywhere else in the scripture. This is one of 00:02:44.889 --> 00:02:46.689 those unique places in the Bible. We get a little 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:50.129 bit of chance to see there's people that are 00:02:50.129 --> 00:02:53.490 being commissioned to go and spread the gospel. 00:02:54.289 --> 00:02:57.210 Zenos is one of those people. I want you to think 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:00.949 about this. It's a guy that we don't know. It's 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:02.990 a person we've never met in the Scripture. It's 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:06.620 a person that obviously is... is faithful on 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.780 the island of Crete, been there so long that 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:12.400 Paul knew of him. Maybe Paul led him to the Lord. 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:13.939 We don't know. Whenever Paul was there for his 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:17.240 short little season. But we do know that him 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:20.319 and Apollos, I love seeing Apollos in the scripture. 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:23.099 He was that skilled orator, that preacher that 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:25.800 could just preach and people loved it. If he 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:29.020 was ever the preacher on the stage, everybody 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:30.939 was there. If they knew Apollos was preaching, 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:33.020 they were showing up. They loved when this guy 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:34.939 could preach. He was such a skilled orator. orator. 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:39.020 He was trained by a couple of great Bible scholars, 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:42.620 trained by them and helped to explain more of 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:44.539 what the Word of God meant and this person of 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:47.379 Christ. So Apollos has been traveling. Somewhere 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:50.439 on his itinerary, he showed up in Crete. I want 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:52.340 you to think about this. They're traveling all 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:54.340 over the country, all over the countryside, all 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:56.560 over the world, all over that side of the hemisphere. 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:59.419 Apollos ended up here, and there's this other 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:03.439 person, this lawyer named Zenos, who he tells 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.860 Titus, Titus, your job is to speed up their calling 00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:10.080 and their preparation so they can go. They need 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.360 to go. The gospel's on the move. We've got to 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:16.459 send out more people, Titus. Be sure that you 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:18.439 don't just hold on to them because they're your 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:20.500 favorites. You love whenever he's preaching at 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:22.959 a church. You love whenever this person has a 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.399 lot of hospitality and they're caring for people 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:27.980 or whatever Zenos is doing. I don't know. What 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:32.220 I do know is that he is this. faithful believer 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:34.620 that Paul is commissioning out and saying, this 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:36.540 person needs to go. They need to go. They need 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:39.600 to go. Speed up that time. Let them be on their 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.100 way and see that they lack nothing. You know, 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:45.480 it was hard to travel in this season. It was 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:47.699 hard to travel, especially the political climate 00:04:47.699 --> 00:04:49.600 going on right now. There's some speculation 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.680 as to where Paul is when he writes this letter. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:54.319 I've got thoughts. They don't really matter much, 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.939 but I believe there's a moment where he was in 00:04:56.939 --> 00:04:58.819 Corinth and there was some problems in Corinth. 00:04:58.899 --> 00:05:01.819 He was trying to make it down to this city in 00:05:01.819 --> 00:05:04.079 verse 12 where he's trying to winter. He's trying 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:06.459 to get there. Did he ever make it there? I don't 00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:08.889 know. I've got speculation. Other scholars have 00:05:08.889 --> 00:05:10.910 speculation. I say other scholars. I'm not a 00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:13.910 scholar. The scholars that I read have speculation. 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:18.089 But I do know that Paul says these two guys are 00:05:18.089 --> 00:05:21.569 ready to go, and you know they need to have nothing 00:05:21.569 --> 00:05:25.769 that is lacking. You need to give them what they 00:05:25.769 --> 00:05:28.769 need. Don't halfway do it. Give them what they 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:31.769 need. It's tough to be a missionary in the first 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:35.649 century. Nero is already blazing things out. 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.149 He is persecuting people. There's all kinds of 00:05:38.149 --> 00:05:40.029 persecution, all kinds of pressure happening, 00:05:40.170 --> 00:05:43.009 and the church is exploding, and the opposition 00:05:43.009 --> 00:05:46.709 is rising. Paul says, send these two guys and 00:05:46.709 --> 00:05:48.990 send them out with nothing lacking. Make sure 00:05:48.990 --> 00:05:53.069 they're held to this comfort level. Make sure 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:55.769 they're held to this sustainability where they 00:05:55.769 --> 00:05:58.709 can go and not be slowed down because the gospel's 00:05:58.709 --> 00:06:10.350 got to keep going. He says in verse 14, I really 00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:14.689 love the phrase unfruitful. A lot of times, in 00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:17.129 my personal ministry journey as I've been at 00:06:17.129 --> 00:06:19.509 several churches and been in a lot of different 00:06:19.509 --> 00:06:21.509 ministry settings and seen a lot of ministry 00:06:21.509 --> 00:06:23.350 happen around the country and around the world, 00:06:23.410 --> 00:06:27.089 I've noticed we maybe have the wrong terminology. 00:06:27.329 --> 00:06:30.029 A lot of times we look for really faithful people. 00:06:30.149 --> 00:06:31.949 We say, oh, you're real faithful. You're faithful. 00:06:32.149 --> 00:06:34.310 You're faithful. Now, it's good to be faithful. 00:06:34.529 --> 00:06:36.029 Don't get me wrong. It's good to be faithful. 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:37.810 I'm glad that you're at church all the time. 00:06:37.930 --> 00:06:41.550 I am. I love you being faithful, being at church. 00:06:42.490 --> 00:06:44.730 That's what we look at as faithfulness, though. 00:06:45.350 --> 00:06:47.610 Paul even kind of takes it another step further, 00:06:47.670 --> 00:06:49.269 and I love to take it the next step further. 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:52.269 I'm not asking if you're faithful. I'm asking, 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:57.550 are you fruitful? Are you producing fruit? You 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.129 can be at church every single week and not be 00:07:00.129 --> 00:07:03.509 fruitful. God didn't call us to be attendance 00:07:03.509 --> 00:07:06.790 guys. He didn't call us to be at church all the 00:07:06.790 --> 00:07:09.209 time to check our attendance box to be faithful 00:07:09.209 --> 00:07:12.850 in that. He called us to be fruitful. to be producing 00:07:12.850 --> 00:07:16.529 the fruit of the Spirit. And the call in our 00:07:16.529 --> 00:07:18.709 life, the mission is to go and make disciples. 00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:21.850 Are we making disciples or not? Well, but I'm 00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:25.089 a faithful churchgoer. Are you fruitful? That's 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:27.689 the question we need to ask. I want you to examine 00:07:27.689 --> 00:07:29.250 your life today. Here's what I had to do today, 00:07:29.370 --> 00:07:33.529 even after a message, after a Sunday, after a 00:07:33.529 --> 00:07:35.629 time where we were in the Word and we were celebrating 00:07:35.629 --> 00:07:37.769 what God's doing together. I had to sit down 00:07:37.769 --> 00:07:40.459 and say, am I fruitful or not? Just because I'm 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:43.360 faithful doesn't make me fruitful. Now, faithfulness 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.819 should result in fruitfulness, but what kind 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:49.160 of fruit are you producing? What's coming out 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:52.319 of your life that you can say, this is eternal. 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:56.600 This is going to last. That's the question of 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:59.060 the day. Then verse 15, the way he wraps the 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:01.430 whole letter up. All who are with me send greetings 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.149 to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. 00:08:04.490 --> 00:08:08.949 Grace be with you all. I love how he says, grace 00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:11.209 be with you all, because what's happening in 00:08:11.209 --> 00:08:13.769 Crete? If you know much about the story and the 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:17.170 place of Crete, you know how the Cretans are, 00:08:17.410 --> 00:08:20.410 you know the calling, the ministry that Titus 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:23.509 is called to is not easy. It is not an easy ministry. 00:08:24.189 --> 00:08:28.370 Paul says, grace to you. You need a lot of grace 00:08:28.370 --> 00:08:32.230 when you're going into a place that is all about 00:08:32.230 --> 00:08:34.789 worldly passions and you're trying to guide toward 00:08:34.789 --> 00:08:39.250 holiness. All about self -indulgence and you're 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:41.570 having to teach self -control. You need a lot 00:08:41.570 --> 00:08:45.409 of grace. Grace be with you all. Today, let me 00:08:45.409 --> 00:08:47.850 encourage you in this. I want you to be fruitful. 00:08:48.190 --> 00:08:50.950 I want you to be a fruitful believer that is 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:53.309 practicing holiness, practicing godliness, and 00:08:53.309 --> 00:08:56.289 producing fruit. I'm not asking, are you faithful? 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.539 I'm asking, are you fruitful? What are you producing 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:03.480 in your life? And then my encouragement to you 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.419 is grace be with you because it takes a lot of 00:09:07.419 --> 00:09:09.940 grace to be a fruitful person in this culture. 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:12.000 Grace be with you today.