Titus 2:1-8

Good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find Titus chapter 2, Titus chapter 2 as we continue in our series in this book of Titus called Doctrine on Display.

And I was just thinking as we sang that song… in the first service the 146th Psalm came to my mind where the psalmist says:

[Psalm 146:2] ‘While I live, I will praise the Lord, I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.’

So at your very being, at the very core of your heart, you should be praising the Lord all the time. Amen? So…

And I have to do a commercial here. I’ve been told… I’m dutifully… told that I… they wanted me to make this announcement to you about the Saydel Sprint that’s coming up in a couple of weeks! And this is a community event. Do you love your community? Yes? And we are positioned in the Saydel area. And so we want to love our community, and this is going to be one of our ways in which we can do that. So on May 16th, from 10 to 2:00 there’s going to be a 5K. You can be older, younger. It doesn’t matter. You can be involved in the 5K. We’re going to have food. There’s gonna be bounce houses… tons of fun! And so, that’s all happening. In fact, next Sunday, next Sunday morning… not morning, Sunday night, and not even Sunday night, Sunday afternoon, we’re gonna have our Sunday Nights at Saylorville. It’ll actually begin at four p.m. so write that down.  It’s an unusual time, but there’s a reason for this. So at that service next Sunday night, we are going to introduce to you all of those in the core group of Atlas Church that are leaving Saylorville and going to Atlas Church. It’s a wonderful thing! It’s a stellar group of people. We’re super excited about it! We’re going to charge ’em. We’re going to pray over ’em, and we’re going to send ’em out. But we’re going to be done in this praise service at 5 p.m. and then we’re going to ask those of you who are here, if you’re willing, to go out and canvas the community around the church and around, Saydel, going toward… giving out flyers toward that big day. So would you put that in your thoughts? Would you do that? Say ‘yes,’ just say ‘yes,’ you’ll do that. You’ll put it in your thoughts. You can say that. I’ll put it in my thoughts. That’s like real low commitment level right there, okay? But we’d really like many of you to be committed to this. It’s gonna be an exciting thing. So there you go. Now back to the Bible, okay? Oh, before we do that, one more thing. Let’s just talk to God, shall we?

Our Father in Heaven, thank You so much as we come before You, we’re going into Your Word. This is a great passage of the Bible. A lot going on here, lots of challenges, encouragement, and so I pray that You would enlighten us through Your word today, You would speak to the hearts of those who don’t really know You. They’re not able to praise You as we just sang, but that they might be able to, by the end of today. That’d be a wonderful thing, Lord. Would You do that by Your Holy Spirit and Your Word, the preaching of it? We ask that. And we pray for our country. These are… continue to be times of great upheaval. Another assassination attempt on our President. And because You’ve instructed us to pray for those in authority, we ask Your blessing not only on him… but on our President but on our Governor, on our Senators, on our Representatives, all those involved in government and those who are protecting us, the law enforcement. And because we thank You for the freedoms that are afforded us in this country and without any promises in Your word to longevity, You’ve given us much freedom. Help us to take advantage of it for Your glory. And bless as we get into Your word now. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay, so I was… I’m gonna start by… Titus chapter 2… I was… I read the story about this rare book collector. Him and his friend were talking one day, and his friend had just told the rare book collector that he had just thrown away an old dusty Bible. And the rare book collector said, ‘Oh really?’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, some… it was printed by some Guten somebody or other.’ He goes, ‘Gutenberg?!’ And he said, ‘Yeah, that’s the one.’ He said, ‘You IDIOT! A Bible like that just sold for a million dollars at an auction a couple of weeks ago! You threw it away?’ And the guy says, ‘Ah, it could have been worth that, but some guy by the name of Martin Luther had scribbled all over the margins.’

So I’m wondering as we come into this text today if we treat our elderly a little bit like that guy treated an old dusty Bible, just sort of cast it aside. If that’s your attitude or you do that, you do that at the expense of the Scripture itself and what the Bible teaches, how what an integral part of the family of God elder people are to us to a healthy family.

And this is what the Apostle Paul has in mind in Titus chapter two. He has in mind the health of the family of God, and so just about everybody is mentioned in the family of God here. And just as a reminder, Jesus said:

[John 8:47] ‘He who is of God hears God’s words.’

Have you ever read that? So are you ready to… Are you of God? And if you’re of God, you’ll hear the words of God. So with that, Titus chapter 2, beginning in verse 1.

Titus 2:1-8

1 “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.'(There’s that word we were introduced to last week. Sound doctrine)

2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound (there it is again) in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

3 Older women (another category) likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,

4 and so train the young women (another category) to love their husbands and children,

5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

6 Likewise, urge the younger men (another category) to be self-controlled.

7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

8 and sound (there it is again) speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”

So as I emphasize the word sound that Colton mentioned last week, that’s in the first chapter in the ninth verse, is used three more times, not used that often, but here it is over and over again. Clearly the Apostle Paul is trying to get at something. It’s that word we get our English word “hygiene” from, and it basically means “to be healthy.” And he’s concerned… this is the Divine Doctor’s prescription to a healthy church family.

So there are five categories. I did not read the fifth which is the slave category. Not that we can’t touch upon that, but we’re not living in that culture right now, so I’m just going to deal with four categories; old men, old women, young men, young women. And even as we talk about the slave part, there are principles here, especially it’s in that context where Paul writes:

Titus 2:10b, ‘… adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, in all things.’

So without further ado, let’s have a word towards healthy older men. Notice he says:

Titus 2:1,  “But as for you, (he’s talking back to Titus again, his son in the faith) “teach what  accords with healthy doctrine.”

Now the word accords there, some of your Bibles may say, is fitting or might say something appropriate. The word is, again, this word isn’t used much, but it’s an interesting word. The literal meaning of the word is “to tower up.” It conveys the idea of somebody who’s towering. You know, if you’re six foot six, you know, you’re gonna be conspicuous in a crowd, right? They’re gonna see you. You’re gonna stand out. This is a talk about those who are conspicuously healthy in their older age. Towering figures stand out. And we have some godly, towering, elderly people here. Amen? We really do. Someone has said that:

“Older people reveal the future. Being with an older person is like being with ourselves in the future.” (un-named source)

There’s some truth to that. Now the focus here in verse two is on the older men. So if you’re an older guy, what should you do? You’re in retirement. You know, your health is still pretty decent. You know, it takes a little while to get out of the chair, you know, or out of bed. You might be doing the nursing home shuffle across the room, but you don’t have a cane just yet. What should you do? Sit back and relax? Buy that boat you’ve always wanted? Right? Pull back the Lazy Boy. Bust out that fishin’ tackle. Coast on the glory. And that’s not what he’s saying here, so what is he saying? He says, You need to be sober-minded. That means you need to be clear-headed. Listen, if you’re an older person, if you still have your wits about you, then use those wits to the glory of God, and speak into that younger generation. They need to hear from you. You’ve got tons of miles behind you, a lot of road behind you. Use that road and not just all the perfections of your road, not all the great things you’ve done. Be honest about life. It’ll help a ton of people.

You’re to be dignified. That’s another word here. It means “to be serious.” It means “to be worthy of respect.” Do you… have you ever known many older people that are not worthy of respect? They’re undignified? I think I met like three of them in the last service. Sure you have. That’s not where you’re to be if you’re an older person. You’re to be self-controlled. Remember that word. We’re going to come back to it. The idea is, as an older person you have a handle on your passions and on your excesses. You’re to be sound. There’s that word again. That’s that word “healthy.” And then he lists three areas you should be healthy in if you’re an older… your faith, your love, and your steadfastness. I love that word steadfastness. It conveys the idea… I love this… It conveys the idea of “cheerful endurance.” Now if you’re an older person, you understand what endurance, physically speaking, what enduring is, right? Again, it takes a little bit more to get you going. You’re not quite what you used to be. The older you get, the better you were… you know, all of that. But you’re not complaining. You’re not whining. You’re cheerfully enduring the aging process. You know… again, you’ve got a lot of miles behind you if you’re older. You’ve got a lot of broken things back there. You might have had a broken marriage. You might have broken kids. You might have broken grandkids. You have broken relationships, and while your heart might be broken, it’s never lost. You know, you might have a broken heart, but you don’t have a,… you’re not lost. You never lose heart.

Dick Ober is one of our… he’s not in this service. He was in the last one, and we actually had some fun with him. He turned 80 last week, so he’s apparently now a part of the elderly. He’s a great man of God. I’ve watched God work in this man, and the trajectory of his life has been amazing to me, inspiring to me. I knew his parents, which tells you a little bit about my age. I knew his parents. They were here, and I got here back in the late ’90s, and they were godly people. His mother, Ellen Ober… discipled my first wife… a godly woman, and great parents who produced great kids. And Dick Ober, if you’re still listening, you have made your momma proud! She raised a healthy son.

And we are talking about the health. And we want healthy elderly people… If you’re getting older like I am… be a godly older person. Strive toward that kind of health. That’s what makes the church go.

And secondly, a word towards healthy older women. And there… we see them in verse three. Let’s look at it again. They are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine, they’re to teach what’s good… and we’ll stop there.

So the word reverent… only time it ever appears in the Greek New Testament. It actually has the word “temple” sort of baked into it. A temple… when you think of a temple… Now, we don’t see a lot of a temples, but temples are ornate. They’re grand. They’re beautiful, and that’s the idea here. They’re admired for their beauty.

In my younger days… even here at Saylorville almost 30 years ago now when we showed up here, my wife and I were… we were in our early 40s, and I remember there was a woman, a godly woman, my wife looked at her… she was in her upper 80s, and these were her words, and I quote: “She’s pretty.” And I was thinking, She’s old! But the truth is, my wife saw the temple in this woman. She saw the dignity, the beauty, the godliness in this woman, and that’s what you should be aspiring to. This is why the psalmist in Psalm 92 says:

Psalm 92:12-15

12 ‘The righteous…’ (I love this! He says)

13 ‘those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bear fruit in old age… they shall be fresh and flourishing

15 to declare that the Lord is righteous and there is no unrighteousness in him.’

You know my favorite word in that passage at the end of Psalm 92 is? My favorite word to the elderly is this: still. They shall still bear fruit in old age. That’s a word against kicking back in the Lazy Boy and just sort of coasting. Keep going! — if God has given you the ability to do so, then do so for His glory, and you will bear fruit in the courts of your God. This is what Paul meant on the flip side of the Bible when he said:

[2 Corinthians 4:16b-18]

16 ‘Though our outer man is perishing, we don’t lose heart, (because our outer man is perishing, and every older person can say, Amen! Well, you before me. But anyway…) our inward man is being renewed day by day.

17 For our momentary, our light affliction is working for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory. (Why?)

18 Because we’re looking to the things that you can’t see. Because the things that are seen, they’re temporal. The things you can’t see, they’re eternal.’

That’s where your eyes must be fixed. Amen? And by the way, older gals, here’s a question. Is your behavior admirable? Are your words, are the liberties you take, are the lessons you teach, are they good at teaching what is good?

And speaking of teaching, you’re supposed to be teaching the younger women. And I beg of you if you are an elder gal, give yourself to the younger women. Some of you just sort of come together and you just talk amongst yourself. You’re not doing anybody any good! You just… love those older women that are your friends. There’s nothing like a good friend, but give yourself to the younger women. That’s the command here. And you might be older, but you can still be pretty, spiritually healthy, and believe me, the younger ladies… they’re watching.

Now move onto a word towards healthier or healthy younger women. So I just mentioned the younger women here, and these are the verses which kind of cause somebody, some people, to cringe a little bit. Let’s look at them again, verse four. This is the older women:

Titus 2:4-5a

4 “… and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands…”

Now why is it that those phrases in this passage make so many of us cringe? You know which one’s I’m talking about, right? Working at home… submissive to their own husbands. By the way, the phrase working at home in Greek literally means “working at home.” (audience laughing) Now that doesn’t… that does not mean God says you can’t be working outside the home. That’s not the point. But the sphere in which you should be most known is in the home.

And by the way, this is… the reason we cringe so much is this is especially true in this day in which we are living where there’s a resurgence of the advocates promoting women as pastors. These verses and others have been butchered by some and weaponized by others.  Both are wrong! Ladies, the culture that you are swimming in right now, the culture that you’re swimming in defines you by what you do. You have to be doing something. You’ve got to have a position. You’ve got to have power. You’ve got to have a profile or you’re nothing... and that… is a lie!

“Behold this truth before your eyes that all the world is lies and lies.” (Poem of undesignated origin)

And that’s one of them. That is one of them. And the culture is the stumbling block! Today, many who interpret the Scriptures that address this area of women and women in ministry, only… they do so only by the cultural setting of the day it was written and that particular town at the expense of the Scripture itself at face value! This is what Peter meant when he said at the end of his second epistle —

[2 Peter 3:16b] ‘… because some of Paul’s writings are hard to understand, those who are unlearned and untaught, they twist (literally, the word means “to torture”) to their own destruction.’

It’s happening with this very thing… and they get stuck! Some of you, you get stuck on that phrase working at home. “Ugg!” — and you miss the warning at the end of verse five.

[Titus 2:5, “… to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”]

I’m not putting it up there for you, but look at it! When you disobey this text you are… in fact, the Greek word is “blasphemeo,” where you can hear the English word for blasphemy in the word “revile.” In fact, if you’ve got a New King James it uses the word blasphemy. It’s a very strong word. You blaspheme the word of God. I don’t think anyone here who loves Jesus would want to blaspheme the word of God.

Now last week, we saw in the 10th verse in the first chapter–

[Titus 1:10, ” For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.”]

… that the false teachers were insubordinate. Same root word as the word here used about women being submissive to their own husbands. Now, we’re gonna circle back to this in a couple of weeks. Yeah, we’re going there! But before we move on, I’m gonna leave you with one of the wisest words I heard from a friend who’s now with the Lord, his daughter we support as a missionary in Germany. He said this.

“It’s got to be best at home. Whatever else other places are, (and I love this parenthetical thought… whatever else other places are) it cannot be better than home.” Mel Walker

Ladies, you make the home a healthy home. Remember that.

And finally, a word towards healthy younger men. And as we go here in verses six through eight–

[Titus 2:6-8

6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”]

… I just want you to know in my senior years, in my older years, I have dedicated my life to younger men. I’ve literally dedicated my life to younger men. I don’t mean, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you older people. I just don’t like hanging out with you all that much. I can’t, I don’t have a whole lot to offer you. But I love to hang out with younger men! I love their zeal, their vision, their passion, their risk-taking. I love it!  And I see myself in them.

In fact, I really believe that when David, that teenage David, cut the head off Goliath, after he killed him with a stone, whacked his head off, and the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 18 verse 1 that his heart and Jonathan’s heart were knit, right? And I believe Jonathan was at least 20 to 30 years older than David. And I think Jonathan saw with David and he said, ‘That’s a guy after my own heart right there!’

And I was just like that when I was young, and that’s why I love hanging out with young men. I’ve gotta tell you, I praise God for the mighty young men He’s raising up in this church who love God, love the Gospel, and are going at it with all their hearts! God bless you! The glory of young men is their strength, and get your strength behind the Gospel. I love it!

And by the way, since Stephen who was the first martyr who was stoned to death and then followed up shortly thereafter by James who had his head cut off, there’s been a plethora of people who have died for Jesus down through the centuries, right? And they’re usually young and they’re usually men… not always. This is why Jim Elliot wrote these words:

“I must not think it’s strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older.” (And then this powerful line) “God is peopling eternity, (What a line!) and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.”                                               Jim Elliot

He was 28 when he was killed for his faith.

But the virtues of young men can become their vice if not controlled, and control is the issue. Look at verse 6:

Titus 2:6, ‘Young men...’ (There it is. Some people think this is the only command of the young men, even though I think the rest of them kind of latch on to the young men too. But anyway… self-control. See it?) … self-controlled.’

One of your greatest enemies is the lack of self-control in your ambitions, in your temper, and with your inclination toward sexual temptation, especially.

In their book Over the Edge, the two authors who wrote this book Over the Edge… It’s a study of over 500 deaths that took place in the Grand Canyon over the last 150 years, give or take. And of those five… most of them were avoidable. Most of the deaths were avoidable. Anybody here who had been in the Grand Canyon? Okay. Did you get as close to the edge as you could to get a picture taken? That’s where half of them lop off the edge and never come back. And guess who the number one… by far… of the deceased are? You know where they are… young men engaged in stupidity where their zeal is just squirting in all kinds of directions other than the one they should have been.

This is fascinating to me, by the way! It’s fascinating that older men, and if you’ve… found in the text older men are also exhorted to be self-controlled verse 2.

[Titus 2:1-8

1 “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,

4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”]

But it’s listed 3. And younger women, you’re also told to be self-controlled, but it’s listed after you’ve gotten the order in the home down in verse 5. But it’s number one on you who are young men! It’s number one on your list. You’ve got to get a grip on your passions!

Galatians 5: 23 says:

Galatians 5: 22-23, “… the fruit of the Spirit is… self-control…” (Amen?)

And I think… listen to this… I think there’s a sexual connotation here. Every young man innately knows, you innately understand why it’s listed number one for you, just as every older man innately understands, why it’s number three — and why every young woman gets it because they’re usually so dedicated to their family in the earlier days. So get a grip.

There’s a… just quickly… there’s a plethora of other things in verses seven and eight for young men often lack modeling good works. The word models where we get a word “type.” It means “to make an impression.” What kind of impression are you making with your good works, integrity in your teaching?

I’m always a little bothered by the upstarts out there who when they’re 30 years old, they write a book, it’s a runaway bestseller. It’s all about church planting, or Gospel winning, or doing something for Jesus, and it’s flying off the rack, and then five years later they fall into sin. I mean, the ink is barely dried on their seminary degree.

Integrity in their teaching. I also notice that young men often… they just become a dog on a bone over one doctrine, one thought, and they’re just going after, and going after, and the next thing you know, they’ve distorted the whole thing. It’s like looking at one of those circus mirrors and everything just goes awhack!

So you’re urged to have integrity, and you have integrity if you’re a follower of Jesus, if you are like a dog on a bone on the whole council of God, the whole thing. And dignity, it’s the same word as used of old men, dignity. But just the idea is you’re not silly, you’re not flippant, you’re not disrespectful in the way you carry yourself. And then speech that doesn’t give ammunition to the opposition.

I wish I could talk to the younger Pat Nemmers before the younger Pat Nemmers got into the pulpit, for all the stupid things that came out of my mouth in those earlier days. I’ve written about a few of them. I mean, there’s a part of me that doesn’t regret it, because I learned from it. And there’s another part of me that says, ‘Oh, I wish I’d have read this. I’ve got to have speech that doesn’t give ammunition to the enemy.’ And I think the great Baptist preacher, Spurgeon, said it best:

“What young men are, old men will be.” Spurgeon

So watch your trajectory, young guys. Watch the trajectory that you’re on right now. Is it a trajectory going this way? That’s a good trajectory, because what you are, you will be. If it’s a bad trajectory or you’ve gone south in some way, praise God for repentance! Amen? Praise God for restoration. Praise God for forgiveness, and readjust that trajectory to the glory of God.

So look… young guys, you don’t want to be a selfish old man? — don’t be a selfish young man! You don’t want to be an undignified old man? Well, don’t be an undignified young man. Don’t want to be a grumpy old man? I met three of them before the first service! Don’t be a grumpy young man. You don’t want to be a dirty old man? Well, don’t be a dirty young man.

And by the way, just as the young ladies are looking at the older ladies, everybody’s watching us. I just thought of this just now. It’s in Luke 14:1. I can’t believe how this stuff comes to my head! But Luke 14:1. It says that Jesus’ detractors were watching Him!

[Luke 14:1, “One Sabbath, when He went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully.”]

And people are watching you, too. And the text tells us so… twice! And in verse 5, it says of the younger women that you’re to be working at home, submissive your husbands, pure and all that stuff, so that the word of God might not be blasphemed. Right? Who would do that? — outsiders looking in. And in verse 8, to the young men, it says that the reason why you need to have this kind of character in your life is so that those who oppose us don’t have any ammunition. Who are those who oppose us? The outsiders looking in. When somebody says to me, ‘I don’t care what anybody else thinks!’ I would say to you, ‘You better think again,’ because God is saying, ‘You should care!’ I don’t mean be a people pleaser, and there are times, there are times where you say, ‘I don’t care what anybody else says!’ There are times, but there aren’t as many as you think. And the fact of the matter is people are watching you, and you ought to be concerned about that. So the next time you’re tempted to say, “I don’t care what anybody else thinks…’ think again.

I remember when I was 28 years old, and I was a brand new pastor, and I was preaching… I remember the text. I was preaching on the Great Commission in this country church I was in. There’s very few people at the time, maybe there’re about 40 of us. I couldn’t ruin that many people at the time. And I preached on the Great Commission, I preached my guts out from Matthew chapter 28! And in the audience was an older, not old, but an older, fighting, fundamentalist, militant, Baptist pastor from Minnesota visiting that day. And I got done preaching, and I got a letter in the mail that week. And in the opening line is, You know, “Brother Pat, I appreciated your fine exposition of the…” I could see the “but” coming a mile away! And in the second paragraph, he said, “But I thought you were undignified in your appearance.” And I thought, “I think I ironed my shirt. I wasn’t disheveled or anything.” And he said, “There was hair touching both of your ears.” That really ticked me off! I got my pen in hand. That thing was on fire! I started writing, but just before I did, I called my brother up who had discipled me. I said, “Mike, …………………!!” I read the letter to him over the phone. I said, “What do you think I should do about it?” I mean, I’ve got that paper in hand. I’m ready!” He gives me one word: “Nothing.” I said, “Nothing?” He said, “Answer not a fool according to his folly.” Right? The proverb. And then he said, he gave me 1 Peter 2:15, which says:

1 Peter 2:15, ‘By your good works, you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.’

And that was so powerful to me as a young man. I learned a few things as a young guy, and that the best defense of the truth is a well-lived life.

Now, I do know a man, only One, but I do know a Man who never gave into the temptation so many of you young men have given into in your lives. Like many passionate young men He died prematurely, not because He took some stupid risk, but because He gave His precious life. He didn’t die for a thrill. He died for your sins. He died for my sins. And I want that Man in my life. You know, Jesus… His words, His two words He said over and over again were to people, “Follow Me.” — and they did!

You know, one time when the detractors were becoming His enemies, they sent out a detachment of soldiers to arrest Him. You can read about this at the end of John 7. And the soldiers come back to the religious leaders… no Jesus. They said, ‘Where is He? Why didn’t you bring Him? Why didn’t you grab Him? Why didn’t you arrest Him?’ And their answer… I love their answer! They said, ‘Because no man ever spoke like this Man!’ His character, His words, His holiness, stopped them in their tracks!

Every one of us who know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, you’re a part of the family of God, and God wants His family, whether you’re an old man, an old woman, a young man or a young woman, to be healthy, to be sound in our faith. Are you? And do you know the Man, capital M, who never messed up? Aren’t you glad you can have all of that just by trusting Him? Some you need to do it. Let’s pray.

Our Father, that’s our prayer today as we conclude our time in Your Word and in Titus. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to put our doctrine on display for older men. Encourage the older men and older women in our church, for those towering figures that we look up to. I pray that that’s you, dear friend, or you’re watching online, and you love Christ. Don’t settle for coasting. Be used of God. God, I pray that You would bless the young women. We have young women in this church. They’re still trying to figure out life, and some of them just got married trying to figure out what it means to be a wife, trying to figure out what it means to be a mommy, trying to figure out what it means to submit to their husbands, and they’re just… some of their husbands are just hardly worth submitting to, and yet there’s a command there. Help them. Help them, Lord.  Help them. I pray for our young men. O God, raise up mighty young men, and I thank You for the ones You have raised up, and raise up even more who have all that passion and zeal and its under control, its harness by You, by Your Holy Spirit, and directed in such a way that will glorify You no matter where they end up in life. And we pray all these things in The Man’s name, even the Lord Jesus’ name. Amen.