So as you are turning now, please, to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11, that's page 1019 in those blue Bibles. I want to start by asking you this question. Are you a biography person? Do you read biographies? Do you like biographies? Is that a nerdy thing? Or have you ever read those? And reflecting on this recently, I realized that I've liked biographies for almost 30 years. I remember some of the first biographies I read. You know when you transition as a kid from pop-up books and cartoon books to real books? I mean, there's maybe some pictures in there, but they're not the same. Well, I remember as I'm making that transition in junior high that the first books I read were biographies, particularly of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So then God saved me, and it was like this love for biographies continued. Really fast forward. In fact, if you want an introduction to Christian biography, you're like, oh, I'd like to know more about that. Go to John Piper's website. Find his sermons, his biography messages. There are about 20 of them, and all of them are absolutely riveting. Listen to all of them, or you can buy the books and read them. They are incredible. I know for me, I like biographies because those people are relatable. It's hard for me to relate to someone like Moses or David or Peter. They just seem otherworldly. But when it's a normal person that God uses, a normal person like you and me, it's like, yeah, that makes sense, and that encourages me. Well, Hebrews 13, 7 is kind of a verse for biographies that says, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. And so that's what we're going to do today with Titus. We're going to consider his life. We're going to consider and remember him. And we're going to see, are there ways that we can imitate his faith, his commitment to Christ? Now, many of you told me I loved Jonah, that whole series that we did on Jonah just a couple months ago. And as I reflected on that, what I think was interesting is that when I asked why, everyone kept pointing to his life and how interesting his life was, and that it was mostly biographical that people were drawn to. So I thought, well, before we jump into the details of Titus, Well, let's take a look at Titus's life. Let's do a short biography of Titus. And that's what we're going to do today. It's going to feel a little different than a normal Redeemer message, because we're not going to be tied to one text. What I've tried to do is take all 13 texts of the New Testament that talk about Titus and weave them together into his story, a short biography organized with these five headings to tell his story. So I hope you'll find the same thing I did, that Titus is one incredible man, one incredible Christian leader. And so, well, let's meet Titus, Acts chapter 11. You're going to see him and be like, Titus isn't even there. Well, he might be. So very little is known about Titus in the Bible. Like I said, he's only mentioned 13 times, so he's not Paul and Peter. He's very little known. We know some things about him, like his name is not Jewish, so he's not Jewish. He's mentioned nowhere in the book of Acts. You're like, why are we in Acts 11? You'll see. And other than the book named after him, he's only mentioned in Galatians, 2 Corinthians, and 2 Timothy. Now that's enough of that big picture detail kind of stuff. Now let's jump into the text with this. Our introduction to his life begins with point number one, transformation. Transformation in Antioch, question mark. Transformation in Antioch, question mark. And you'll see why that's a question mark in a second. We can't know for sure the events surrounding his salvation. How was it that God saved him? We don't know that. We don't have a verse that says, and Titus was saved at this time. So what we've got to do is make some educated guesses. So I'm going to try to do that today. Now in Titus 1-4, Paul calls Titus, quote, my true child in a common faith. So scholars look at that and go, see, he was, he was saved under Titus ministry. He was, uh, Paul was his spiritual father. He's a spiritual child, but it could mean that, or it could just mean that they share the same commitment to the truth. Paul was his mentor, but we don't know. But if he was saved under Paul's ministry, when did that happen? Look at acts 11. There's a revival that breaks out. Okay. There are Christians that leave Jerusalem. They go North to Antioch. And they're having a ministry among the Jews, but some of them say, you know, we're going to leave ministry to the Jews, and we're going to go to the non-Jewish people. Look at verse 20. There were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists. That's the non-Jews. That's the Greeks. Notice it says, they're preaching the Lord Jesus. So what happened under their preaching? The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of those Greeks, they believed and turned to the Lord. So there's this revival that breaks out among non-Jewish people, and that might be when Titus was saved. But let's keep reading. Because the leaders in Jerusalem, they hear about this revival, so they send Barnabas, one of their own. So look at verse 22. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. And when he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad. He exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord, to stand fast purpose. He's a good man, full of the spirit and of faith. And notice this. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So maybe Titus was saved then after Barnabas shows up and there's more people coming to Christ. A great many people, it says there. So maybe he was saved there or keeps going. Verse 25. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. This is getting too much out of hand. What are we going to do with all these new believers? We need to teach them. Verse 26. And when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. And for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. So maybe Titus was one of those. Maybe he was saved after Paul showed up and he's part of this group of people that were taught for a whole year under Paul's ministry. Now, if you look at verse 27, bad news is predicted. Now in these days, prophets came out from Jerusalem to to Antioch, came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world." And then Luke shows he's a true prophet with that statement there, this took place in the days of Claudius. So what this prophet said came true. Well, what are they going to do? How are they going to respond to this person standing up and saying, there's a famine coming? Verse 29, the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. So they're like, hey, we need to do a collection. We need to get some money, as much as you can give. It says there, according to your ability, we need to care for the people in Jerusalem who are going to be suffering. And so let's put some money together. So they did. What are you going to do with that? How's the money going to get there? Verse 30. And they did so. They collected all the money, sending it to the elders in Jerusalem by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Now, why did I take you through all of that? Because I think this visit to Jerusalem in Acts 1130 is the same one Paul describes in Galatians chapter two. And in Galatians chapter two, when Paul says, hey, we showed up in Jerusalem, it was me and Barnabas. He also says, and Titus was with me. Titus was with me. So what's the point? The point is this. If Titus shows up in this, in verse 30 goes to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas. If he did that, that means he saved before that in one of those three places that I showed you. So that's why it says their transformation in Antioch question mark. Maybe it happened. It doesn't say anywhere. This is when Titus was saved. He's not even mentioned in the book of Acts, but I think he's saved in one of those three places because he shows up in Jerusalem on this trip in chapter 11, verse 30. Great, John, what's the point? The point is this, Titus was transformed. Like every Christian, he wasn't born a Christian. He was transformed, he was saved. In the words of Ephesians 2, Titus was spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins, and he was made alive in Christ. God gave him spiritual life. In the words of John 3, 3, he was born again or born from above. In the words of John 1, 13, he was born from God. He was born of God, that God gave his life to Titus. That new life makes all who believe a new creation, a new person. The old is gone instantly. The new is here forever. That transformation happened in Titus life. And that transformation has happened in the lives of all who are going to go to heaven when they die. But Jesus said this, Matthew 7, 21, that many, not some, not a few, many will say to me, When they stand before him, they will be 100% convinced that they are saved when they are not. They will stand before Jesus and think, I made it. I'm in heaven. This is fantastic. Only to find that they will not go there, but they will go to hell. Let that sink in for a minute. You can be tricked into thinking you are a Christian when you're not. One of the major deceptions out there, one of the major ways that people are tricked about their own salvation is this. People think you can be saved, you can have a relationship with God, you can be assured of heaven when you die without transformation, without being changed, without being a different person. It should bother you to no end if you cannot look back at your life and see a time when you stopped being you. and you started being a new you because God's life was living inside of you with new desires to please Him, new desires to know Him, new affections that love Him. If you can't look back on some time in your life, I'm not talking about a day, an hour, a minute, the alignment of the sun, all of that stuff, but I'm saying some time in your life when you can say, I'm not the same person I used to be. You should cry out to God with words like, have I been transformed? Lord, let me know, am I born again? Have I been transformed? Am I changed? Am I a new creation? Am I a different person? Do I have your life coursing through my spiritual veins? Titus did, he was transformed. Now turn to Galatians chapter two. Let's look at this moment in Titus's life. Galatians chapter two, page 1075. Galatians chapter two. in what may have been a very early incident in his life. Like I think he's saved in Antioch and then he goes on this journey. Maybe he'd been a Christian for a year or so. And he shows up in Jerusalem at this meeting and he gets caught up in the middle of some infighting between Christians. However, in this battle, this doctrinal battle, he showed himself to be point number two, immovable in Jerusalem. immovable in Jerusalem. Paul describes this infighting among Christians, starting in verse one. He says, then after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. Okay, so they're in Jerusalem, Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, they're in Jerusalem. Now, why is Paul there? We saw before Acts 11, he's there to bring money to the people in Jerusalem to help them. Like it says in chapter two, verse 10, remember the poor, he's doing that. But there's another reason, look at verse two. I went up to Jerusalem because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, set before them the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. What does that mean? See, the argument that Paul's making is this. Nobody taught me the message of salvation. I received it chapter one verse 10 by a revelation from God. God showed up and said, here's the message. Well, what he's doing in Jerusalem is he's going to meet the apostles. Now, who are those guys? These are the guys that walk with Jesus. These are the guys that. Well, that learned from him what the gospel is, what the message of salvation is. And so here's Paul teaching one message, here's the apostles teaching another message, and Paul wants them, God wants them to make sure that they see, hey, their messages match. Even though the apostles never discipled Paul, even though he had very little interaction with them, what God's gonna show is that, hey, Through both of us, the message of salvation is going to people. Through the apostles to the Jews, through Paul to non-Jews, but people are getting saved. Now, you and I think about, look at that, and we're like, well, that's not really the issues going on today in the church. And let me just say, aren't you glad? Right? I don't know about you. I'm a Gentile. I'm a non-Jewish. I'm really glad I don't have to become Jewish in order to be a Christian. Become Jewish in order to be saved. And I think all of us would agree with that. That's the fight. Because you're the early Christians, like, do we have to become Jews in order to be saved? I mean, everyone else did. When Jewish religion, you had to become circumcised, you had to follow all the rules, and then you were saved as a non-Jewish person. Is that going to be true in Christianity? The answer is no, and one of the ways you know it's no is because Titus went with them. Titus, the non-Jew. Look at verse three. But even Titus, Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. What does that mean? That means that here's Titus, a guy who's not a Jewish person, but he was saved and the apostles looked at him and said, he's our brother. He's our brother. He's one of us. Well, why is that important? Because look at verse four. There are other people there who disagree. They don't like that people are getting saved through Paul's message because it has nothing to do with being Jewish. Look at verse four. Yet, because of false brothers, brothers, people who were pretending to be Christians but who really weren't, they secretly were brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ so that they might bring us into slavery. Why is that important? What's going on here? Here's the controversy. Paul's saying, hey, either salvation is by grace alone, a gift from God and has nothing to do with you and me, or it's by works, or it's by you and me earning our salvation by our good works. Would they accept this brother, this non-Jewish guy who claims to be a Christian, or would they say, no, no, we're not going to accept you until you get circumcised? What are they going to do? Look at verse 5. To them, to these false brothers, we did not yield in submission even for a moment. Now notice that word. It doesn't say I. So Paul's not standing there going, I did not do this. I stood strong in the midst of all of this nonsense, in the midst of all this false teaching. It doesn't say I. It says what? It says we, which includes Titus. Titus stood strong. So it says there, so to these false teachers, we, including Titus, we did not yield in submission for a moment. We didn't give in to the idea that a person must become a Jew and go through Jewish ceremonies in order to be saved. Why did we do that? Notice the text, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. See, this message, this truth, this message that God uses to save people must be protected. He said, and so we were immovable. Titus was a man of conviction. He didn't hand the truth over to these false teachers and say, hey, go ahead and distort this for people. He was unstoppable. He was immovable when it came to the gospel. And as we see, I don't know about you, I'm really glad that at the end of the day, they figured out, oh, wait a minute. We're saved by faith alone, apart from works. Titus was proof of that. He was a living trophy of salvation by grace, not works. Now, if being a Christian without being transformed is one of the major deceptions out there concerning how to be saved, Titus fought the major deception here. And that major deception is this, that you can earn your salvation, that you can buy your acceptance with God at the price of your good works. As I've told you before, most people alive today, most people in church today believe that lie. That as they come to die, as they're facing death squarely in the face, in that moment, they are holding onto their baptism. They're holding onto their confirmation. I did this thing. They're holding onto that. Or they're holding on to some record of good works before God, so that God will see how wonderful they are and say, yes, of course you should be in my heaven. You're such a good person. That is the most effective lie about salvation. And I just want you to see this quickly. Look at chapter 2 of Galatians, verse 16. We know, 2.16, we know settled conclusion certainty that a person is not justified. not declared right with God by works of the law, but through what? Faith in Christ. That we are made right with God, not by trusting our good works, we are made right with God, how? By trusting in Christ, that he is our hope in life and death, that we're holding onto him as we're facing death in the face, not our good works. Look at chapter two, verse 11. I do not nullify the grace of God." Well, how would you do that, Paul? How would you cancel the grace of God? This, for if righteousness were through the law, if you were, you cancel God's grace by saying, well, I can be right with God through obedience to the law. If I do that, I nullify the grace of God because then Christ died for what? For no reason, no purpose. Why? If I can make myself right with God, then what do I need Jesus for? If I can do this by my own good works, why do I need Jesus dying on a cross? I don't. I've got, like, thanks for it. The cross becomes, like, one of those, like, Valentines that you don't really want to get, right? From that pretty, like, you remember when you were a kid? You're like, I don't really want that. Thanks. You know? I mean, that becomes the cross. Thanks, Jesus. I got it. I got this myself. But, you know, thanks for doing that nice thing for me, I guess. That's what the cross becomes if you can do this on your own. Look at chapter 3, verse 10. For all who rely on works of the law, all who trust in their obedience to what God says in the Bible, to being a good person, all who rely on that are under a what? Can you say that again? But wait a minute, they're good people. They're just kind of off a little bit. They're trusting in their good works, their baptism, their word of wisdom, or whatever. They're trusting in that. They're not trusting in that. But they're nice people. What does the text say? Some who do that? How many? All are under a curse who trust in their own good works to save them. What we need is verse 13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. That's what we need. We need a substitute, one who would take our curse so that we could receive grace. You see, either salvation is a gift God gives you by his grace, or salvation is a kind of gift that you give God based on your good works. Here, God, look at how great I am. Here, now let me in. It's like a little bribe. Human good works cancel grace and make the cross useless. Jesus didn't need to die for your sins if your good works balance out your sins. There's no salvation in a message that says you must be baptized to be saved. There's no salvation in a message that says you must perform some ceremony, some ritual, and some supposedly sacred building in order to be saved. There's no salvation in a message that says you must keep even one rule or have some kind of religious supernatural feeling or phenomenon to be saved. No, there was infighting in the early church. Do people need to become Jewish or stay non-Jewish in order to be saved? Is salvation by works, or is salvation by grace alone through faith alone? And the reason we believe that today, the reason there was that battle and the battle came out on the right side, is not because Titus and Paul were sitting there like, hey, let's try to find a middle ground between you guys. No, they fought hard for the immovable truth of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. Titus and his conviction had a part to play in that. Now, Galatians, this is all happening around 47-ish BC. I'm sorry, AD. And we don't hear about him again until almost 10 years later in 2 Corinthians. So turn to 2 Corinthians, one book to the left. And in second Corinthians, we find him point number three is trustworthy in Corinth. Second Corinthians chapter seven, page 1069. And here's the thing about the church in Corinth. We have 30 chapters in the Bible on the church in Corinth. And you know why that is? Because if there was a trophy for the most difficult church in the first century, they would have won that hands down. No one could have beaten them. I mean, if you want false teachers, warring factions in the church, sexual sin, Christians taking each other to court, paganism in the church, and fighting with Paul himself, then you have got the church in Corinth. They are the superstars of that. Now, this is a rough church. So rough at times that Paul can't even go there. Too much volatility. So what does he do three times? He sends Titus. And Titus, his job is to get this troubled, crazy church back on track. And he does. So by the time Paul does this with Titus, sends him to Corinth, he's been ministering him for 10 years. And if there's an important mission, it seems like Titus gets the job. He's Paul's trusted representative. 2 Corinthians 2.13, he says, Titus is my brother. He's my comrade. There's affection. And I know I can trust him. That's how close we are. Well, about a year before he writes this letter, Paul sends Titus to Corinth and says, hey, there's a lot of bad stuff going on, a lot of Christians who are in need. So hey, let's go around to our churches and try to get a collection so that we can take it to the poor in Jerusalem. And so he sends him there to do that. Now, shortly after writing 1 Corinthians, Paul sends him back because he finds that church has gone insane. If you read 1 Corinthians, you know this church is absolutely crazy. So he sends Titus there and says, hey, man, fix this. Fix this stuff. Well, Paul and Titus eventually meet up after that, and we see the result of that in chapter 7, verse 5. So Paul and Titus meet after Titus is trying to fix things in this church, and let's see how it goes. Chapter 7, verse 5. For even when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without fears within. So inside of Paul, there's this tension, this turmoil. He's even depressed. He's sad. He's melancholy. Verse 6. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of what? Titus. See, there's just this kind of person in your life, maybe hopefully that when they show up, they bring you comfort and peace. And that was Titus for Paul. Now keep going. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you. When I heard how you treated him, even though there was tension with us, but eventually that all worked out and you were so kind to him. He said that comforted me even more as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoice still more. The report he brought back from this crazy group of Christians, Gave Paul great comfort. Now drop down to verse 13, because he continues. We are comforted, therefore we're comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice some more at the joy of Titus. Why? Because notice his spirit was refreshed by you. So these crazy group of Christians were figuring it out so much so that they actually became a blessing to Titus. Well, how did that happen? It happened because of Titus' leadership. Continue, verse 14. For whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you is true, so also our boasting before Titus is proved true. And notice this, and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. Notice that word affection. He had a deep love for this very difficult group of Christians. His mission was successful there, but it wasn't just a job for him. He was a true shepherd. He was a committed pastor. He loved these people. I don't know about you, it's easy to love people that are easy. It's hard to love people that are difficult. And here's Titus. Notice verse 15, his affection is even greater. He has a great, a deep affection for this very difficult group of Christians. Now, by the time second Corinthians shows up, Paul knows that false teachers have come into this church. It's all these crazy things going on. And so because he knows, Hey, there's some people that are might not, might not like Titus. Paul made sure that they knew he had his full endorsement. Look at chapter eight, verse six. Accordingly, we urge Titus that as he started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. So we're sending him back in order to complete this act of grace, which is giving to these poor Christians. Now look at verse 16. Thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. Let me stop right there. Remember I said before, like Paul, Peter, Moses, these guys are like otherworldly in my opinion. You try to like model your life after them in your life. Gosh, that is just, that's just hard to do. But notice what he says here. The same earnest care I have for you is in Titus's heart. That he is just like me, that he's become just like me, that he loves you like I love you. And notice what else it says, for he not only accepted our appeal, we asked him to go back to you. We asked him to continue this ministry to raise money for the poor Christians. But notice this, but being himself very earnest, he is going to you of his own accord. Translation, he volunteered to go back to this crazy church. I don't know about you, when I was in school, I didn't volunteer for the hardest stuff. Right? Teacher, give me the hardest stuff that you could give me. I'm not doing that in high school, junior high, not a chance. Give me the, I'm looking at every assignment. Like I get to choose my assignment, which is the easiest one here. That's the one I'm doing. Titus is like, give me your hardest assignment, Paul. I want to go there. Oh, Corinth, I'm there. Second time, I'm there. Third time, I will volunteer to go there. That's Titus. He loves them, but he has this kind of like moxie, this confident determination. I'm going to serve them. I'm going to get them on the right track. Look at verse 23 of chapter eight. As for Titus, he is my partner. We have the same mind about ministry, the same mind about theology. We are one on that. And fellow worker. He's a colleague. He's not slacking off. He's not putting in the minimal. He's working hard notice for your benefit. He's a shepherd. He sees his life as I exist to be a benefit to other people. And Paul's like, that's just like me. And what we find in Acts chapter 20, Paul eventually gets to Corinth. And when he gets there, no problem at all. Everything's good. Doesn't say anything about any craziness. Why? Because Titus fulfilled his mission. Difficult assignment. He completed it. He was no understudy or B team pastor. When Paul sent Titus, he sent his best. Now, second Corinthians. A couple of years later, Paul is arrested and put in prison and he spends two years in prison. And that's the book of Acts. That's where Acts ends. Acts doesn't tell us this, that 1 Peter, 2 Peter and Titus suggest pretty strongly that he got out and did more ministry. And the next place we see Titus is about five years after 2 Corinthians, about 63 AD, where he is point number four and under shepherd on Crete, under shepherd on Crete. So turn to Titus chapter one, page one, page 1100. In those blue Bibles, Titus chapter one. So again, what are we doing? We're just kind of looking at Titus. Who is this guy that this letter is written to and seeing now we're going to fast forward a little bit and see, OK, how does his life, how can his life impact ours? So when we get to the book of Titus, at some point, Paul and Titus reunite after Paul gets out of prison and they decide to do some ministry on this island. We talked about that last week. And here's his ministry assignment. Verse five. This is why I left you in Crete. So they were there together. He took off. He knows I can leave Titus there. He's good. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained in order. So there's a lot of stuff going on on this island. A lot of problems. I left you there to put it all in order. Well, you read the book. You find that there are Christians there, but they have no leaders. There are false teachers running around. And there are a lot of Christians claiming to be Christians, but living like Satan is their Lord. And so Paul's like, yeah, you need to stay there. And you're going to be my representative on Crete. They need order. They need organization. They need confrontation. Those false teachers need to be expunged, all of that. And so here's Paul going, well, he nailed it with Corinth, so I can leave him here. I got no problem with this. He knows how to minister to Christians who are immature, selfish, causing factions, and loving the world too much. By now, he's been working with Paul for almost 20 years. So his maturity, his doctrine, his leadership, his dependability, and his shepherd's heart, Paul has no problem leaving his there. He's like, I don't need to stay here. You stay. You take care of this. I'm going to keep working. That's how much he trusted him. He trusted him that much. He left him with the worst church. And when it comes to Corinth, he leaves him there, sends him there three times. And so he's like, look, I can leave you here. This is nothing compared to Corinth. He knew what Paul wanted churches to be, knew what he wanted churches to do, and so he had the skills to make it happen. So it seems like when it comes to Titus, as you see that name on your Bible right there, it seems to me that Paul had no better pastor than Titus. He was Paul's Navy SEAL. He was his fixer, he was his cleaner. When a difficult job needed to be done and done right, Titus seemed to be the man for the job. And Paul had more for him to do. Look at Titus chapter three, verse 12. You're not going to stay there on Crete and build a house and stay there forever. No, look at chapter three, verse 12. When I send Artemis or Titicus to you, so I'm going to send these guys to your island eventually, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis. So you're going to move on. I've got another assignment for you. And so you're going to leave Crete and go on. I have no problem. I don't need to keep you there forever because I know you're going to handle this. Well, about a year later, probably 64 AD, Titus is mentioned one last time. So you're in Titus, turn to 2 Timothy, which is one book to the left, page 1099 in the Blue Bibles. Paul is rearrested, and this time he knows that he's not going to get out. He is prepared to die. He knows he's going to be executed, so he writes to Timothy. And he says, Timothy, I got some last instructions for you, but I want you to notice what he says in chapter four, verse 10. Starting verse nine, he says to Timothy, do your best to come to me soon. Translation, I'm going to die. I could die any day. So please come before that happens. Why? Well, verse 10, I'm kind of lonely because Demus, in love with this present world, has deserted me. Gone to Thessalonica. I had a fake friend and he pretended to be my friend, but he left. Crescens, he's gone to Galatia. And notice this, Titus to Dalmatia. Now, Dalmatia is not where all the Dalmatians live, OK? Dalmatia is modern Croatia and Bosnia kind of put together. It's just to the right of the Italian boot across the Adriatic. That is the area that Titus went to. So Titus was with Paul in Rome, and then he leaves for Dalmatia. I want you to think about this for a second. In the New Testament, there is no mention of Dalmatia except this verse right here. What that means is that Titus is not going to someplace where Christians are already. Titus is leaving to do a pioneering mission work. No churches in that region, but Titus following Paul for 20 years, he's like, I know what to do. So he's determined. He's courageous. He's sacrificial. He's going to do what Paul always did, preach the gospel, plant churches, disciple believers, raise up leaders, love people, repeat over and over again. And that's what he did. And that's the last we hear about Titus in the New Testament. So from this short bio, I think it's clear that point number five, that he is a standard for ministry. Titus is a standard for ministry. Now, all of us are ministers somewhere. You might be a minister to your children in your home. You might be a minister to other kids at school. You might be a minister at your job. You might be one who has oversight and seeking to do what's best for a group of people. That's ministry. It's not the same as pastoral ministry, but it's along the same like, like there is oversight and there's working for the good of other people. He's definitely someone who can say with Paul, first Corinthians 11, one be imitators of me as I imitate Christ. Think about it. Galatians, we see a man of theological conviction who refused to compromise the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. Refused to compromise, immovable, unstoppable. I don't know about you. There's a lot of opportunity to compromise for Christians in this modern day, but not Titus. Titus was immovable, and we can learn from that. In Corinth, he proved himself to be dependable and sacrificial, even volunteering to take hard assignments. He got positive results. He was determined. to get that church back on track with the Lord, and he did it. You know people in your life that need to get back on track with the Lord? God could use you to do that too. And Titus was no type A mission is more important than people type of leader. Yeah, he was a hard worker, but he could encourage people who are sad. And he deeply loved very hard group of Christians in Corinth with a shepherd's heart. Are there hard people in your life? Like God, please save them. Maybe he will use a loving heart and a heart of love coming from you in order to do that. By the time we see him in the letter named after him, he has a proven ministry track record. He's a trusted minister. He's maybe Paul's best minister. And clearly, he's become a partner with Paul. Same mind, same work ethic. He's Paul, and Paul couldn't be there. And at the end of his life, the end of Paul's life, Titus is like, I love you, sir. But it's time for the student become the, to become the master. And I'm going to go do what you taught me to do for 20 years. I'm going to go find a place where Jesus isn't named and I'm going to go reach them for Christ. I'm going to plant churches and I'm going to see people save just like you taught me to do. And that's what he did. He's a leader. He takes the gospel to people who hadn't heard it. So we may have very little go on, 13 verses, but what little we have shows that Titus is trustworthy, loyal, brave. He's a troubleshooter, he's energetic, he's effective with difficult situations and with difficult people. And he does all of that with the loving heart of a shepherd. It really is too bad for us that there isn't more that's said about him in the New Testament. He is what every pastor should aspire to. He's what every church should look for in a pastor. He's what every Christian should pattern themselves after. He's an example of 1 Corinthians 15, 58. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. So you and I give our time, our talent, and our treasure to things that really are going to be in vain when we look back on it. but not when we give those things to the Lord. Giving ourselves to his work in this world pays dividends in this life and the next. He knew that, he took Romans 12, 11 seriously. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. He knew what mattered. He had only so much energy, so much time, so many resources. So he said, I'm gonna use these to serve the Lord because he knew that's the most important thing. No surprise then, he's just like his mentor, 2 Corinthians 12, 15 that says, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. That's Titus. My life belongs to the people that God puts in front of me. My life belongs to them. If I can benefit their life with my life, then that's what I'm here to do. So that is Titus. That is Titus, our cross, the cure says. He's a sinner transformed by the gospel, who was immovable on the gospel, proved to be a trustworthy shepherd, and became a standard for all ministers after him. Or better. That's what Jesus did in Titus, right? Because when Jesus saves a person, he doesn't just leave them there. He begins to sanctify them and he starts to make them more like him. So if you look at that list, you know, wait a minute, Jesus didn't need to be transformed, but Jesus was a movable on doctrine, right? Would you say Jesus was trustworthy? I hope so. Right. And Jesus wasn't an under shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's the lead pastor. And he is our standard for conduct. And so this is really what God did as he shaped a transformed man, a man transformed by the gospel. He shaped him into the image of Jesus using these traits that we see here. Now, there is a rest of the story to Titus's life. The church historian named Eusebius, he's writing about 300 AD, said Titus eventually returned to Crete and he became the bishop of that island. It said he lived there and ministered among the Christians for the rest of his life until he died. And if you were to go to Crete today, 95 plus percent of the people who live on Crete identify as Christians. And when asked, why do you identify as a Christian? They typically point back to Titus and say, because of his ministry here. Now supposedly, if you were to go to the island and do some of that, you would find that there is a place on the island where you could find his grave and his head. It's the St. Titus Church on Crete. It's there now, but it wasn't there for a thousand years. For a thousand years, it was in Venice, his head. And that's because the Venetians attacked Crete. And when they won, I'm sure they took a lot of, you know, spoils, gold, you know, expensive things. I mean, that's what I would have done if I was a soldier. Right. But they said, you know what, let's take Titus's head. Not sure why they would do that, but they did. So they stole his head and they kept it in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice for a thousand years until it was returned around 1960. And one final thing about Titus. Have you ever heard of the Order of Titus? You ever heard of that before? The Order of Titus is a, it is the only award presented by US Army Chief of Chaplains. It's presented to chaplains, chaplains assistants, or staff chaplains who train unit military teams. It recognizes outstanding performance while highlighting, quote, the great importance of realistic, doctrinally guided support to the American soldier. So think about that. How appropriate that this award is named after a man who did the same thing, real world, doctrinally guided ministry in the churches of Jerusalem, Corinth, and Crete, in support of his mentor, the Apostle Paul. a man who was immovable, a man who was completely, utterly trustworthy and under shepherd of the chief shepherd and someone who is our standard, not just my standard, not just someone I want to be because I'm a pastor, but someone who we can all look at and go, that's what it looks. That's one of the ways it looks for a God to get a hold of someone's heart and use him in this world. May God do the same with each of us. Let's pray.