So as you turn back to the book of Titus, page 1100 in those blue Bibles, I want to ask you a question to get us started today. How many of you have been to Barizona? Anyone been to Barizona around here? Cool. If you haven't, it's a totally fun place. My kids love it. It's a unique kind of zoo because instead of looking at the animals in a cage, you actually drive into their enclosures. So you're in the same place where mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bears, deer, elk, bison, you're where they actually live. The only separation between you and those animals is your windshield. And so it's fun. I enjoyed it. Totally fun. Kids loved it. Wasn't scared really much, even concerned at all, really, except with one animal. And if you've been there, I think you know what I'm talking about. It was the wolves. The wolves didn't like the wolves. As soon as we entered that enclosure, their beady little eyes were like right on us. And I'm sitting in my car, I'm seeing these wolves and they start coming towards me and I'm like, lock, lock, lock. I'm like, all the windows are up. Okay, good. Okay, we're safe. Everything's good. But then this like gray wolf comes right to my side of the car. Like, what in the world is happening? And he just brushes like right up against the side of my, like, can he smell my fear? Like, what is that? What's going on here? Not a fan of those wolves. Not a fan at all. Shoot, definitely made me incredibly nervous. But there's another kind of wolf that should make all of us nervous. And it is what Jesus said when he said, beware of false teachers, they are wolves in sheep's clothing. There are wolves, there are men and women out there who are false teachers pretending to be true teachers. They look like true teachers. They might sound a little bit like true teachers, but they are wolves. And here's the deal. You and I have to be able to spot them. We have to be able to recognize them. They should make you nervous. And if they don't, let me help you. Let me help make you nervous about them. See, false teachers would think, oh, there's a bunch of losers in a trailer park maybe somewhere. There's nobody following them. There's nothing. No, no. 2 Peter 2 says that many will follow them. There will be hundreds, thousands, millions of people that follow these false teachers. They can be very popular. Their ministries can even be accompanied by lying signs and wonders, like the sorcerers in Egypt with Moses. People, bad, really bad guys doing good miracles through demons. False teachers can lead you astray from the truth into myths, error, and heresy. Heresy being, if you believe it, you're not going to heaven. That kind of defeat or belief that keeps you from salvation, that they're going to spread that stuff and encourage you to embrace it with your whole life. False teachers will make you disciples of themselves and not Jesus. False teachers will exploit you. They will exploit your feelings, maybe even drawing some of you to take advantage of you sexually. And definitely they will seek to take advantage of your wallet. False teachers will add rules to salvation. So you must, you must do this. You must continue to do this. And if you don't do this, you will not be saved. You cannot be saved. You must obey these rules, follow these laws in order to be saved. False teachers will pretend to be for you when they are against you in every possible way. And they will do it with a smile. They will do it in the most friendly, wonderful of ways to get past all of your defenses so that you're left going, please tell me more as they trap you or using the illustration of the wolf as they devour you now and in eternity. In the end, they lead people to hell. That's why you should assume everyone claiming to be a true teacher is actually a false teacher until they prove otherwise. Well, how would you prove otherwise? What things, what truths, what ideas do you need to be able to look at whoever, what book you're reading, YouTube video you're watching and go, I'm not sure if I should believe this, not sure I should follow this. Is there some filter? Because here's the filter we typically use. Wow, they're so funny, right? Wow, they're so engaging. Gosh, they just really capture my attention. Oh, they're so good looking. None of which helps you identify a false teacher. No false teachers are like dressed in black and have like a crooked nose. They don't do that, right? They're not wolves in wolves clothing. They're wolves in sheep's clothing. You've got to be able to rip off that mask and go, I see you for who you really are. And that's why God gave us the New Testament. 26 out of 27 books in the New Testament either mention or are devoted to false teachers, making sure that you can identify them. And that's for your good. God gave us this book not so that we would be open minded, but so that we would have filters to know what we should let into our minds and what we should keep out. See, truth, the New Testament, the Bible is like your front door, right? You don't leave that door open and just let everybody in, do you? I hope you don't do that. That front door is closed and it's probably locked, right? Why? Because you're not letting anybody in unless you trust them, unless they're safe. Do I know you? Okay, now I can unlock the door and let you in. We do that with people, but we don't do that with ideas. We let anybody just, oh, read this book. Oh, watch this video. Oh, this is so great. We let them into the front door of our mind. And if we're not careful, they will devour us. This, you're like, oh, it's so dramatic. No, this is the way the New Testament describes it. It doesn't talk about them as butterflies and puppy dogs. It talks about them as wolves. And we need to be prepared for them. And that's what Paul is doing. If you're not there, like I'm not, you can turn to Titus chapter one. False teachers were running around the island of Crete. They were promoting their false teachings, a lot of it mixing Judaism with Christianity, which we'll see in a while when we get to the middle of the passage, in the middle of the chapter. They're upsetting entire families and churches. They're deceiving Christians. So Paul leaves Titus there to clean that up and to clean those guys out. And one of the ways that Paul helped Titus in his job to do that is to establish the credentials of a true teacher. He's gonna help with the words of verse four. He is establishing the credentials of a true pastor. What does a true pastor look like as opposed to a false one? How can you identify a true teacher from a false teacher? There are some telltale signs that distinguish the two. And you need to know these because like that wolf in Barizona, false teachers will come right up to your life and try to get into your life. You need to be able to spot them. And that's what this passage is gonna help us do. So to set the context, there's this long introduction in verses one to three. It's the third longest introduction in the New Testament. And after all that, Paul finally gets to who he's writing to, Titus. If you wanna know more about Titus, who he is, what he did, I did a whole message on him a few weeks ago called Introducing Titus the Man. You can find it on our website or on YouTube. But Titus was Paul's Navy SEAL pastor. He is the best of the best, it seems. When the problem was especially hard, Paul said, that's a job for Titus. He was smart, persuasive, kind. He could rally people to the direction that God wanted them to go. Titus was Paul's representative, his official delegate on the island of Crete. So he was Paul when Paul couldn't be there. And verse 4, therefore, I think is more than a greeting. These words actually establish Titus as Paul's representative on Crete for all who'd read this letter. So Titus would take this letter to the various Christians that he would meet on the island, and he would say, read this letter. And it would be that this letter establishes, like, this is my representative, Paul saying to the Christians, they're Treat him as if you would, the way that you would treat me. Well, you're like, great. Well, what does that mean for me to, you know, 20 centuries later? Because what Paul says about Titus is what God expects from every pastor. And you need that filter so you can know, Oh, wait a minute. Not quite sure about this one. Not sure if they're a true teacher or a false teacher. This, what we're going to see here in verse four is going to give us the, some of the grid that we need for this. So, because What Paul says about Titus is what God expects from every pastor. This is what's going to help us see who are the false teachers and who aren't in our day. So he establishes Titus credentials in verse 4 as well as the credentials of every true pastor when he says, verse 4, to Titus, my true child in a common faith. Stop right there. Now, you might not think that's what Paul's doing. Maybe he's like, oh, you know, there's some nice words and a greeting and, you know, in a letter that he's writing, you know, but I don't think that's what Paul's doing. Everything Paul has said from verses one to three, as you read the book, you realize, wait a minute, he's establishing everything he's going to say in these opening verses. And I think that's what he's doing in verse four. I don't think that there are any throwaway words in the Bible, like grace and peace to Titus. No, I don't think these are throwaway words. I think these words are establishing Titus as his representative on the island of Crete for everyone who reads this book. And like I said, the application is it establishes the credentials of every true pastor in this book, in this chapter one, verse four. So this word true child, let's start right there. This is a phrase that Paul uses for Timothy as well. And what it means is that Paul loved Titus. Titus got his understanding of the truth, understands how to live the Christian life. He learned that from Paul. That word child probably means that Titus was younger. He put various things together, maybe late thirties, early forties, something like that. So Paul nurtures him, disciples him in the Christian life, trains him for the Christian ministry, so as a result, verse 4, he's true, he's legitimate, he's the real deal, he's a genuine, sincere pastor. He knows, Paul's saying, you're going to stay true to what I've taught you. You're going to stay true to the spiritual parentage. You will fulfill the ministry that I gave you on Crete. So like I said, he's Paul's most trusted associate, trusted him to represent him well, to carry out the ministry at the highest levels. And it's just like a son with a father. He's saying, you know, Titus, you know, Titus is going to follow those instructions. He's going to be obedient and faithful to Paul, his spiritual father. Now, as we take a step back, this is the same for all true pastors. The first credential is this. True pastors, point number one, will follow Paul's ministry example. True pastors will follow Paul's ministry example. Again, this is discernment grid number one. As you interact with people and books and videos and all kinds of stuff out there, what is it that you need to fill? You need to filter it with Paul's ministry example. Why do I say this? Because Paul is the model, the prototype, the God-given pattern all pastors are to take their cues from. And true pastors know this. Now, no, Paul's not sinless. Only Jesus was sinless. He's not sinless, but Paul is the standard. His godliness, his work ethic, his passion, his drive, he's the paradigm. True pastors won't seek to deviate from that in how they live or what they teach. We just want to be like the Apostle Paul. That's what you will constantly hear from true pastors. Just want to be like the Apostle Paul. Just want to say what he said, do what he did. He will be their example. They will seek to follow that example. Why? That's just like Titus is doing on the island of Crete or did on the island of Crete because he was his true child. So you should be able to read about Paul's life and say, yeah, that's like so-and-so I listened to on the radio. Yeah, I heard Paul describe, or I was reading in the Bible this week, and Paul was described this way. Yeah, that's like that guy I watch on YouTube. You should be able to see Paul's life, and you should be able to put his life onto the pattern of the people that are influencing you and go, yeah, I see the same thing. I see the same thing. And in particular, as we kind of drill down into this idea, Paul's ministry can be summarized in two ways, with two words, teaching and life. So a pastor, a true pastor, is seeking to take Paul's life and see it as a paradigm for his life. So true pastors, 1 Corinthians 11, 1, follow Paul as he follows Christ. I've counted six times in the New Testament where Paul tells Christians to imitate his example. And since all six of those are in the New Testament, that's really God telling us to follow Paul's example. 2 Timothy 3.10. He's talking to Timothy, another associate of his, and he says, hey, I'm going to commend you for following, quote, my conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions, and sufferings. that Timothy, I'm praising you because you are following my example in these various ways. And then in the same passage, he also says, Timothy, you're doing a great job because you are also following me in your teaching, in your doctrine. So whether it is life or doctrine, the true pastor is seeking to follow the example of the apostle Paul. False teachers, Romans 16, 17, teach, quote, contrary to the doctrine that Paul taught. So like, or 2 Timothy 2.2, Paul says to Timothy, hey, Timothy, here's what I want you to do. Let me summarize part of your ministry. What you've heard from me, he says, in the presence of many witnesses, so take what you've heard in my teaching, I want you to take this, and I want you to entrust it to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So we are here today because faithful men, after faithful men for centuries, have taken the teachings of the New Testament and passed them down to faithful people who then pass it down and pass it down and pass it down until we get to this day. And Paul's saying, pass down my teaching. And he says, follow my life example. So like Titus, a true pastor will be a true child of Paul's, a genuine representative of his life in theology, faithful to the example God left us in the New Testament. Well, the question after all of that is this. Well, how do you know if some pastor is a genuine representative of the Apostle Paul? How do you know if he's faithful to Paul's example in life and ministry and theology? Do you have the ability to discern the real deal and who's a counterfeit? Do you have a heretic radar? Or are you too nice for that? It means that for most of us, we need to know more about Paul so that we can have the kind of discernment that tells us whether or not a pastor claiming to be genuine really is or if he isn't. Why, again, spiritual wolves are looking for people to devour. And you know why they are so successful at that? It's because most people in church this morning, in church today, around the world, don't know their Bibles. Or they know just enough of their Bible to be dangerous, but not discerning. We want you reading the Bible every day. That's why we have a Bible reading plan. We want you here every Sunday or on the live stream. We want you in growth groups talking about the Bible with others because of this. Yes, we want you to grow in your love for Jesus as you learn more about him in his word. Yes, we want you to grow in spiritual maturity through the teaching of God's word. But three, we want you to grow in discernment, especially concerning the ideas out there that people are propagating about God and truth and right and wrong and all that stuff. Are they true teachers or are they false teachers? You must be able to see this first credential clearly. Namely, do they follow Paul's life and teaching? Do they remain in that over the long haul or not? Second credential, a true pastors back in verse four to Titus, my true child in a common faith. This is one of the reasons why Paul can trust that he's a faithful representative of his. Titus was his child, but he's also his brother because they shared a common faith. This distinguishes Titus from the false teachers who did not have the faith in common with Paul. The question in this verse is, what does Paul mean by faith? Is he talking about doctrine, like the faith, the truth, the things, the gospel that we believe, the ideas, the teachings? Or is he talking about commitment, faith in Jesus, committing one's life to him? Oh, you know, I had a teacher say, it's not either or, most of these questions, John, it's both and. And I think that's the same here. He had the same trust in Jesus that Paul had, and Titus had the same true doctrine about Jesus that Paul had. So he had the faith, the doctrine, that was the same, and the same commitment to Christ that Paul had. They both believed. They both gave their lives to Christ. So what Paul is doing with that, those words, a common faith, true child and common faith, he's saying the first thing, a true pastor is going to be saved. Do we all agree with that right now? There are no true pastors who are not saved. Can we agree with that? Okay. The second thing is this, both in their beliefs and in their commitment to Jesus, Paul and Titus and all true teachers are the same. This is, like I said, so the second credential in true pastors is this. True pastors will, point number two, insist on a lifelong commitment to the biblical gospel. They will insist on a lifelong commitment to the biblical gospel. The biblical gospel is the faith. It's the truth. It's this body of teaching. And it is commitment. It's the response of faith to that truth. This is what true pastors do. They insist on people making lifelong commitments to Jesus by believing in him through the biblical message about him called the gospel. And they never deviate from that. This is the tenor. It's the bottom line. It's the focus of their ministry. They might talk about a number of different things all the time, but it always seems like they just keep coming back to this one idea, faith in Jesus alone apart from works to be saved from the wrath of God for our sins. The gospel message is what Christians have affirmed since the book of Acts. It has been held by every true Christian throughout all of history. And I want you to see an example of this. So turn to Acts chapter 17. Acts 17. It's page 1026 in those blue Bibles. Acts 17. So Paul's traveling around the Roman empire, and he's in the city of Athens in Greece. And in Athens, there are all these philosophers, and they just sit around all day talking to each other about various ideas and getting paid for it. And they heard about Paul, and they're like, hey, we want you to come talk to us. And so they invite him up to their little place where they'd go, the Areopagus, where they'd talk about ideas. And so Paul starts talking to them in verse 22. And I want you to notice. It can be five things, five characteristics of a biblical gospel, okay? The first, the place where Paul starts is not the person, he starts with God. Look at verse 22. So Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said, men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. Let me say that again. He does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him. Yet he's not actually far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. So as we're thinking through a biblical gospel, point number one is this. God is your creator. That's what he's saying here. God has created you. He's created everybody. The God of the Bible is the one creator of the universe. But then second, built into what we just said, and in verse 29, we see second step in a biblical gospel is that God is holy. Look at verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord, being in charge, being above, being sovereign over heaven and earth, He doesn't live in temples made by man. He's separate from that. He's holy. He's distinct. He doesn't live in temples. He's not going to house himself there. No, not a chance. Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. He's not like us. He has no needs because he's God. He's separate from us. He's holy and above us. And in particular, looking at the rest of the Bible, he is holy in regards to our sin. He is perfect. We are not. He is good. We are not. Number three, God is just. God is just. Verse 29, back to his holiness being then God's offspring. We are not to think that he's that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. He is separate from humans. He's their creator. He's separate from all other so-called gods. He is the one true God. In verse 30, the times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. So God is your creator, God is holy, and God is just. Meaning God will punish sin, he will judge sin. But fourth, God is loving. Look back at the text. He's gonna judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. We know who that man is, that man is Jesus. And of this, he's given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. That here is this good news that this one who he appointed, his chosen one, his Messiah, that he came to earth and he died in our place and he rose from the dead, that that is good news for those of us who have sinned against this holy God. So how do we respond to this good news? What should we do? How should we respond to that? Look at verse 30. Number five. So if you're taking notes, God is creator. God is holy. God is just. God is loving. And number five, believe and repent. Believe and repent. Verse 30. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, to turn from their sins, to turn from their rebellion. Say, okay, I'm not gonna push against you anymore. I'm going to submit to you. I'm gonna take myself off the throne of my life and I'm gonna put you on it. You're in charge, you're the king, I surrender. And notice verse 32, they hear about the resurrection, like, oh, this guy's crazy. And others like, I want to hear more from you. But there's a third group. Notice verse 34. But some men joined him. And there's our word believed faith trust. See, that's the gospel. God is your creator, holy and just. That's bad news. Gospel means good news that God is loving and he's provided a way of escape. He's provided an arc in the midst of the storm of his wrath. And his name is Jesus. Trust him, give your life to him, submit to him. Believe in him. This is the biblical gospel. And the reason it's the biblical gospel is because it matches what the Bible says. So the biblical gospel, the message that saves is not believe in God. It's not, I grew up going to church. It's not be a good person. It's not be a nice person. It's not make the world a better place. The biblical gospel is you are a sinner and Jesus is the only one who can save you from God's wrath for your sins. Now, you and I both know that that is heard as so intolerant in our day, right? So how do you deal with that? Tolerance used to mean disagreeing agreeably, right? And being nice and rejecting ideas, but not the people who are espousing them. Tolerance was for people, not ideas. It used to be that you can only tolerate something you disagree with. Not anymore. Today tolerance means acceptance. And it's moved beyond acceptance in our day to celebrating. Celebrating what is agreed upon. So in a conversation or on social media, if you don't agree with something and celebrate your agreement with some kind of virtue signaling, it is assumed that you are automatically an intolerant bigot. And that brings us to the most difficult objection to Christianity that we're gonna face. Why do I have to believe what you believe? Like, why do I have to believe in Jesus? Why isn't belief in Buddha or Muhammad or Joseph Smith or somebody else, why isn't that just as good as believing in Jesus? Jesus being the only way is so narrow and bigoted and intolerant of those who disagree with you, isn't it? Well, when the biblical gospel is at odds with the culture, what does the true pastor do? That's why I use the word insists. He insists on a lifelong commitment to Jesus regardless. But how he does that in our day is critical. Being nice and happy, you know, while you say that to them, so you're a nice and happy bigot, but you're still the bigot. So what I suggest that you do, if that question or that statement is posed to you, I suggest that you ask a question. Ask two questions, actually. If someone says, why do I need to believe in Jesus? I'm a nice person. I believe in God and try to be a good person. Like, isn't that enough? Why is that wrong? You Christians are judgmental. You should just let people believe what they want to believe. What would you say? Well, you know, I would, I would start here. I wouldn't, I wouldn't recommend you start here. So this is like, this is like question zero, but this is where I would start. Is it wrong and judgmental for me to correct people believing something that I don't believe? Well, yes, of course it is. Okay. So then why is it okay for you to correct me saying something that you don't believe? I mean, that's awfully judgmental and bigoted of you, isn't it? Now, first time you're like, oh, see, the first service didn't get it. The second service kind of erupted in laughter and you guys didn't, but whatever. Seriously, though, to the objection is Jesus. Jesus is the only way to heaven. To that objection, you know, ask this first question. OK, number one, do you think moral crime should be punished? Do you think moral crime should be punished? And if you know the person, pick their hot button. Animal rights, the environment, child abuse, whatever it is, should that be punished? See, what you're doing is you're tugging at their moral intuition for justice in the face of evil. So all of them are going to say, yes, moral crime should be punished, okay? Now ask the second question. Have you ever committed a moral crime? Like, who's gonna say no to that? I've talked to many people who've said no to that. And so here's what you do. You go to Exodus 20, you take them to the 10 commandments and you just start walking through it. Eventually they'll go, yes, okay, I've committed a moral crime. Well, now what? Well, what you've just done, you haven't stood there and said, you're a sinner and you're a bad person, blah, blah, blah. You've just helped them realize I'm a sinner. And now God is my creator, holy, just, and he's going to punish sin because he's a good judge. And that's what good judges do. They punish the guilty. And if I if I take a look at my life compared to his law, it's like, oh, I have committed moral crimes and I will be found guilty. And it's at this moment that instead of saying you, you say we. Because, right, we're not on top of Holy Mountain going, you're such a sinner, and look at me, I'm great. No, it's not that, right? It's we have sinned against him. We will be found guilty. However, the good news is that the judge stepped off the bench and took our place, right? He received the punishment that we deserve for our moral crimes, every single one of them. That's why all of us need to believe in Jesus. He is the only one who fixed the problem of our moral crimes before the God that exists. Not me trying to fix it with my good works or my good intentions. He fixed it. And then he rose from the dead to prove that he fixed it. So again, come to Christ. Give your life to him. Believe in him. Now, a true pastor will insist on the biblical gospel. He will equip you in it so that you will know it and you'll be able to hear it when you're out and about in the world and hearing things, but even maybe able to share it with the people you know and love. See, a true pastor will insist on the gospel like pastors have done for almost 2,000 years when the seasons are friendly to it and when the seasons aren't friendly to it, when kings and governments agree with the gospel and when they killed pastors for preaching the gospel. When it was rewarded and when it was reviled, true pastors just kept right on insisting on an all-in life commitment to Jesus called faith in the gospel, called the faith, the good news message about Jesus' substitutionary death and glorious resurrection to save us from God's wrath for our sins. Now, if a pastor can't do that today, when things are relatively safe for him to do so, probably not a true pastor. If a pastor substitutes the biblical gospel for something else and that that's the real tenor of their ministry, like, yeah, you know, they add the gospel on here and there, but what they're really about is fill in the blank. Chances are they're not a true pastor. If faith is merely a mental thing and not a lifelong commitment, that's not a true pastor. If someone is modifying the word gospel with words like social or postmodern or something else other than the word biblical. That's a false teacher. Paul knew Titus wouldn't fold. He would certainly insist on a lifelong commitment to Jesus and to this biblical truth about Jesus. And so he says, verse four, back in Titus chapter one, grace and peace from God, the father and Christ Jesus, our savior. See, the words grace and peace are in the greeting of every one of Paul's letters. And so, again, really smart guys like, oh, you know, it's just the typical way that people greeted each other in the first century. Non-Jews said grace, Jews said peace. It's just a typical greeting that Paul combined from both worlds and made it a typical Christian greeting. And that's all it is. It doesn't really have much meaning. I'm just not comfortable with that. I don't think that's what he's doing. I think, again, he's establishing Titus's credentials. And he's doing that by saying this, Titus, you're my true child. We have a common faith. And so what you need to be successful in the ministry that I've given you on Creed is two things, grace and peace. Grace, yes, it's all that God did in Christ to save us, wrapped up in one word, stressing that salvation is God's work and it's a free gift to those who don't deserve it. But Titus is already a Christian, right? So this can't be about salvation. He's already a Christian. He doesn't need grace to be saved. He needs grace to continue the Christian life. Well, what would that look like in a Christian's life? It would look like two things. It would look like God's favor, resting on his life in ministry, and it would look like God's forgiveness for his sins after becoming a Christian. And then if grace is the fountain, peace is the river. So when God in His grace saves the person, peace is the result. The war between God and the sinner is over. But this peace... is the kind of peace that is the absence of conflict in a Christian's life. It's the harmony and well-being between Christians. Paul's saying, if you're going to have success on the island of Crete, then you need peace. As you're cruising around all these churches talking to them, I'm praying and hoping and wishing for you that you're going to have grace, that you're going to recognize when you've got things wrong, that God's favor is going to rest upon you, and you're going to have unity. unity in doctrine and unity in relationships. And that's what he's praying here. And that's the same for all true pastors. Grace and peace is everything Titus needed to fulfill his ministry on Crete and is everything a pastor needs. Three credentials. The third credential for true pastors is this. True pastors will depend on God for ministry success. Depend on God for ministry success. Without grace and peace, Titus would not have success among the Christians on Crete. Now that word success is in quotes because it is so misunderstood today. I mean, it is thought to be buildings, budgets, and people sitting in seats. Success is fulfilling the assignment you've been given. That's biblical success for ministry. This is how Jesus defines success. John 17 4, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. This is the same thing that Paul, this is how Paul defines success, Acts 20, 24. I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus. What is that, Paul? What is it that you're bent on finishing? He says to testify to the gospel of God's grace. Point number one, insisting on a biblical gospel. That's going to be that's my reward. Finishing well. And that's what he says at the end of his life. Second Timothy four, six. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering. The pieces of sand in the hourglass of my life are running out. The time of my departure has come. And then at this moment, he doesn't go into, oh, this is how many people were saved, and this is how many churches I planted, and went all over the world preaching Jesus. No, he boils it down to the most important thing, and he says this. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. Translation, I was faithful. I did what God wanted me to do. Henceforth, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing." That's success. And that's the result of grace and peace, both of which, verse four, come from God. So the true pastor is also a dependent man. He's dependent on God for his favor, to rest on his life and his ministry and his marriage and his preaching and his counseling and his decision-making and his leadership, everything. This is what I've prayed for more often almost than anything is, God, let this be this four-year-old church turnaround. Let us be a church where people look at it and go, that clearly had nothing to do with John. That is that is a miracle that God accomplished. The thing that I'm most afraid of is standing before the Lord and I'm saying, John, I had nothing to do with that. You did all of that on your own. That would be the worst thing I could hear. But this being dependent, God, it's your favor. It's your name. It's your fame that matters. Next, he's dependent on God for his gracious forgiveness. He doesn't take advantage of grace. He recognizes his need for grace. He's humble. He recognizes he's not perfect. He's gonna make mistakes in his life, in his marriage, in his decision-making, in his leadership, in his ministry. He's gonna make mistakes all over the place, and he's got a humble heart that's ready to say, yes, I recognize that I need God's forgiveness, and seeks it from God and the people that he's wronged. Number three, he's also dependent on God for peace. kind of piece. Number one, it creates a unity around shared theology, shared doctrine in the midst of all the lies and all the, all the nonsense out there. He's there is a theological unity among the people in the church and there's relational unity. There is just a love and a togetherness that's being striven for, that's being pursued. And then when it's had, there's a blessing. We're going to hold on to this. And it's not just amongst all the people in the church. It's not just like, we're fighting with someone over there, so we have to sit on opposite sides of the room. He's like, no God, none of that. Why? Because Titus is gonna be going around to all these churches and he's gonna be saying like, hey, these things aren't good. And hey, what this guy's teaching isn't good. And he's praying, you need grace on, you need favor on your ministry and you need peace to be produced. That when you get to these churches, there's gonna be harmony. There's gonna be harmony around the truth. There's gonna be harmony in relationship. That's what Titus needs. That's what every true pastor is dependent on God for. These are the three filters. that help you see, is the person that I'm listening to, is the person that I'm reading, is the person who's video I'm watching or podcast I'm listening to, is this person a true teacher or a false teacher? Now in closing, the elders here, we believe that we have a true pastor when it comes to Costi Hinn, the pastor that we are adding to our staff this evening. Like the elders, we believe that he's following Paul's example in ministry, in his life, and in his teaching. We've watched his life. We've watched his doctrine to make sure that he's preaching a biblical gospel, that he's calling people to a lifelong commitment to Jesus. We believe God's favor is on his life, that he's humbly seeking forgiveness, that we have both theological agreement as well as relational harmony with him. And he can spot the wolves, right? He can see the wolves out there in a way that few people can, that I've met at least, which means that he will be able to help us do the same thing. And so tonight at 5 o'clock, we're doing a special service where we're going to install him here as a pastor at Redeemer Bible Church. And so what does that mean? It means we're going to sing some songs. We're going to hear from the pastor of the church that he used to be a part of. And so he's going to come here, and he's going to preach, showing the solidarity between our churches. Kosti is going to speak for a little bit. Then I'm going to give the elder commitments, and we're all going to pray. And that's going to be it. See, what we want installing a pastor in a church is a big deal. And from from here on out, we've never done this before. But for me or not, we want to say this is a big deal. And so we're going to continue to do this as God adds pastors to our staff, Lord willing. And we're doing this, too, because in a world, even a Christian world that looks down on pastors, they're like used car salesman with a Bible. Like we want to elevate the calling. We want to elevate the office, not the man. So hear me. I want to elevate the calling and the office to the biblical place that it deserves. So that's tonight, five o'clock. Join us here if you're able. Let's pray.