This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day two of our look together through the book of Titus,
chapter one, and we're going to talk about Titus today. We looked at the first
three verses, Paul didn't mention Titus yet, so I thought we'd wait until we got
to verse four for you and I to talk about who Titus is and how Paul's and
Titus's life had been intertwined in ways that are amazing. They are miraculous
in ways that you and I may not even understand in our culture.

In verse four, Paul says this, "To Titus, my true son in our common faith, grace
and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior, to Titus, my true son
in the common faith. " Now that might just sound like a simple statement to us,
but there is something amazingly miraculous about it. You see, Paul was a Jew,
in fact he was a Pharisee, he was a Jew who served the law legalistically to the
extent that he'd do everything he could to try to be pure according to what he
understood the law to say, and Titus was a Gentile.

That meant that in his former life, Paul would have seen Titus as an unclean
man. He would have seen Titus as someone, not only could he not address him, he
could not even get close to him, he couldn't eat a meal with him, he could not
touch him. He was a Gentile.

Look at what Jesus Christ has done in Paul's life and because of that in Titus's
life. Now this man that he never would have met, he never would have eaten a
meal with, he never would have addressed, now this man is his true son, and now
he's able to say we have common faith. Now you and I who didn't grow up in the
first century, it's hard for us to even approach an understanding of the miracle
of those simple words.

It is miraculous what Jesus Christ can do to put relationships together that we
could never put together. Paul writes to Titus, so who is he? Who is this man by
the name of Titus?

Titus was a Gentile, he was a Greek, you'll find that in Galatians chapter 2
verse 3. Titus also is a man who had a close relationship with Paul, obviously
from these verses, and you can see that all through the New Testament. Paul
called Titus my brother in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 13.

He called him my partner, my fellow worker in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 23. And
here, probably the closest address of all, he says my true son. He is my true
son, brother, partner, true son.

And in a way he really was his true son in the common faith in the sense of the
fact that Paul probably won Titus to faith. He brought him to a place where he
came to know Jesus Christ, he began his life in Jesus Christ. And I think that's
what he means by my true son in the common faith.

So Paul was able to witness to Titus and share with him in Antioch what it meant
to know Jesus Christ. He came to faith in Jesus Christ, and then out of that God
had a plan, and Titus began ministries in his life. We know ministries by Titus
in Corinth, you can read about that in 2 Corinthians 12, 18, and Dalmatia in 2
Timothy 4, 10, and Crete.

All the book of Titus, we're going to see his ministry in Crete. And as we see
all these different ministries, we're going to see throughout the New Testament
that apparently Titus became in ministry Paul's troubleshooter. He was the guy
he could send to difficult places.

He sends him to Corinth when the Corinthians are having trouble, when they're
having a difficult time. In fact, Paul is sending a letter, a very severe letter
with Titus to the Corinthians to talk to them about how they really need to
begin to live their faith. And he trusts Titus with that letter.

And now we're going to see in Crete, he sent him to Crete when they're having
trouble there, when the church is having difficulty, when there is fault
teaching there. Before all of that, when Paul needed to go to Jerusalem and they
were facing the struggles that they would have about whether Gentiles would be
accepted in the church or not, Titus went along with Paul. Now that tells me
that Titus was probably a pretty diplomatic man, but he was also a very strong
man.

In fact, you can find out some things about his character in the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 8, 16 to 17 talk about three character qualities of Titus. He was
a man of concern, he was a man of enthusiasm, he was a man of initiative.

What a great combination. He had a great concern for people, but he also had a
great enthusiasm for God, which you know that's what the word enthusiasm means,
many of you, in Theos. Theos is the Greek word for God, so he was in Theos, he
was enthusiastic, but he also had a great initiative.

He could get things started. That's who he was in his character. And Titus,
because of his character, because of his relationship with Paul, he had a great
ministry in the Apostle Paul's life.

In fact, I just brought some verses in. I wanted to share with you some verses
about the ministry that Titus had to Paul. And as I share these, maybe there are
some people in your life that you think of that either you've had a ministry to
them in their life or maybe they've had a ministry to you.

You get a sense as you read these verses of the close relationship that they
had. First verse, 2 Corinthians 2. 13, Paul says, "I still had no peace of mind
because I did not find my brother Titus there.

And so I said goodbye to them and I went to Macedonia. " Paul wanted to be with
Titus. He wanted to do ministry together with him.

There was something about that that fulfilled or completed him in ministry in
this stage of his life. "I couldn't have peace of mind," he said, "in this stage
of my life unless we were doing ministry together. " God's put people like that
probably in your life from time to time.

2 Corinthians 7. 6 gives us a little more insight into this. He says, "But God
who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus.

" Titus showed up and everybody was comforted. Don't you love having that kind
of person around? Paul sure did.

And I pray that God has that kind of person in your life, a friend who can
comfort you when you need lifting up, when things aren't going well. You look
for those kinds of people and in Titus Paul found one of those kinds of people.
2 Corinthians 7.

13-14. "By all this," Paul wrote, "we are encouraged. In addition to our own
encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was because
his spirit had been refreshed by all of you.

I had boasted to him about you and you've not embarrassed me. But just as
everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus was
proved to be true as well. " They had this great close relationship where Paul,
he took pride in having Titus see things that he took joy in.

When Titus saw the great things that were happening with the Corinthians, as we
get to 2 Corinthians better things are happening, Paul says, "That brought me
delight as well. " Do you have people like that in your life? It delights you to
see how they're delighted in doing God's work.

Maybe it's your own children or maybe it's people that you've helped to come to
know Christ or maybe there's somebody you're like that for them. As they look at
your life, as they look at the way that you live, it not only is something that
brings you joy but whether you know it or not, it's bringing them deep, deep
joy. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8.

6, "We urge Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning to bring also to
completion this act of grace on your part. " In 2 Corinthians 8. 16-17, he says,
"I thank God who put into the heart of Titus the same concern as I have for you,
for Titus not only welcomed our appeal, he's coming to you with much enthusiasm
and on his own initiative.

" So Titus is a man that did ministry together with Paul. He's a man who was a
true partner in ministry with Paul. It's a reminder.

I mean, we talk a lot about the apostle Paul, but the life of Titus is a
reminder to you and I that you cannot do ministry alone. If you think that Paul
was some lone ranger who went out there on these apostolic journeys all by
himself and it didn't really matter who journeyed along with him, you don't
understand the New Testament. First, there was Barnabas in Paul's life and they
journeyed together and he was a great encourager to him.

The name Barnabas means encourager. And then there came a point where Paul and
Barnabas went their separate ways. They had different values at that point in
ministry and sometimes that happens.

It didn't mean either of them were wrong. It just meant God had different paths
for them to take. So what did that mean for Paul?

Did that mean, "Well, I guess I'm on it all by myself from now on. I guess
there's no one else. " No.

No. God brought Titus into Paul's life along with some others like Timothy and
Silas and together they served for the rest of their lives. Luke, Paul, Titus,
Silas, all of them together serving for the rest of their lives.

There's a long list of those who served with Paul. As you look at this long
list, you realize we're not meant to do it alone. It's our American spirit
sometimes.

You may not be listening to this in America, but most of you are, and it's our
American spirit sometimes that leads us to think, "Oh, I've got to do it all by
myself. That is the right way. " But as you take a close look at the New
Testament, God has not meant for you to serve him alone.

That is not the way it's to go. So who has God put into your life? If you're
doing it all alone right now, who is it that God needs to put into your life so
that you can encourage them and they can encourage you?

Now before we end verse 4, I just have to remind you of what Paul says in the
last part of this verse because we often read right by it. He says to Titus, "My
true son in the common faith," and then he says, "Grace and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. " We skip by that sometimes because Paul
seems to start most of his letters with this, "Grace and peace.

" Don't overlook these words because you've seen them before because they may
sound familiar. "Grace and peace," that is not a bad way to start. You start
with grace and you start with peace.

The grace, the gift of God that's given freely in Jesus Christ and peace, what
God can do in our hearts because of Jesus Christ. I need that to start my day.
In fact, I need that at the start of a meeting.

I need that at the start of a new challenge that God's brought into life. It's
not a bad way to start. I don't know, maybe you're just starting your day or
ending your day as you're listening to this, but as you start the next new
thing, just remind yourself of those two words, grace and peace.

As you start the day, as you start a meeting, as you jump into your car, just
let those two words, in fact you might even write them on a card and put them
somewhere so you see them when you get into your car, so that you see them when
you open up your briefcase, so that you see them on the mirror as you start your
day. Grace and peace. Let's take a minute to pray about those two words right
now.

Lord, let me live by grace and let me live by peace. And I know that neither of
those are manufactured by some way of thinking or some willpower in my life.
Grace and peace are gifts.

You give us your grace by your sacrifice, Jesus. Thank you for the grace of your
forgiveness. Thank you for the grace of your life, new life.

Help us to know that we live in grace today. And you give us your peace. It is a
gift.

Peace I give to you, you said, Jesus, my peace I give to you. It's a peace that
can't be taken away. It's a peace that passes understanding.

It's a peace that goes to the depth of our soul. Thank you for your peace. And I
pray that instead of worry today, that peace, your peace, will be the gift with
which we live.

Thank you for grace and thank you for peace. And thank you for Titus. Thank you
for a man who lived in partnership with Paul.

Help me, help us, Lord, to know who we can live life in partnership with. How we
can do ministry together, whether it be somebody in our family or body, the
church body that we're part of, or maybe somebody across the world, or show us
how we can live for you together. We ask this in your name, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to talk together about where you begin in strengthening a
church and strengthening the life of a believer.