Influenced to Influence

``If you're here today and and you are living in a rebellious lifestyle, know that his grace is available to you, his mercy is always present and his love is here. But I can't promise you, it will always be available for you tomorrow because maybe that meteor that's gonna hit me might take you out as well. Right? And then you've gotta stand in front of the judgment of God and he's gonna say, why should I let you into my presence? Because I was standing next to pastor Paul and a meteor hit us? That won't do. He's gonna say, you didn't accept Jesus. You can't come in. [01:06:16] (35 seconds)  #GraceIsAvailableNow

We don't we don't just hang out in our holy huddle waiting for Jesus to return. No. We're living holy righteous lives today, waiting in anticipation, but not just isolating ourselves from the world while we're living in the world. God, who gave himself Jesus gave himself up to redeem us from all the wickedness and to purify for himself. You ready? You're part of this group. Purify him for himself, a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. We just sang a song that had part of those words in it. Right? Right? Eager to do what is good. You are purified for him. [01:01:39] (45 seconds)  #PurifiedAndEager

If you have devoted if you have trusted in Jesus Christ today, look at that last sentence. Devote yourself to doing what? To doing good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Don't just holler up in your holy huddle, throw stones over the fence, but church, do good. Do good. The gospel influences us. We too were rebellious. Every single one of us were rebellious at one time. We knew what was right and we did what was wrong. We knew what God wanted and refused to do it. His kindness led us to repentance. [01:05:38] (39 seconds)  #DevoteToDoingGood

See, Titus had a lasting impact. He had a lasting influence on those people who lived on the island of Crete. And that wasn't the that wasn't the best place to live. That wasn't a place filled with righteous, moral, awesome people. It was filled with a bunch of people who were liars and cheats and adulterers, people who who were lazy gluttons, Paul will say, we'll look at in a second. It was a very very difficult place to live. And Paul left Titus on Crete. Crete had an influence problem. [00:44:12] (35 seconds)  #LastingImpactInToughPlaces

It is permeated with with what's good for me is good for me and it doesn't matter if it affects you or not. As long as it's good for me, right, that is that's that's a note that just seeps deep within the California culture, radical individualism. Another thing he says is California life can feel like a joyous irresponsibility of a picnic. Think about that for a second. California can feel like the joyous irresponsibility of a picnic. The world is crashing about you, families are falling apart, social fabric is is rupturing and you're saying, hey, let's go to a picnic. [00:48:40] (38 seconds)  #ResistRadicalIndividualism

Complaining and grumbling about your situation in life, about where you're at, about about the fact that you did or didn't get that, grumbling about God or about where God has put you and going, no, God, I wanna be somewhere else. No. No. You can't grumble about that. You are here today to do what God has called you to do today. Right? To wait for the glory of Christ tomorrow. Grace teaches us to wait for the return of Jesus tomorrow. Meanwhile, you're living in California. [01:03:22] (29 seconds)  #GraceTeachesPatientService

Grace influences us to offer salvation for all people. Not just some people, not just people who look like us, act like us, or educated like us, for all people. Grace tells us to say no to ungodliness today. Don't worry about having strengths to say ungodliness for tomorrow, say no to ungodliness today. I was listening to a book and in the book, it's called Awe by John Beaner and Bremer, think. And in it, he talks about the five things in first Corinthians chapter 10, the five things that Paul says were sins. [01:02:24] (44 seconds)  #GraceForAllPeople

There is still a thriving church on the island of Crete today. Two thousand years later, Paul writes another letter. He writes a letter to the church at Ephesus. Church of Ephesus has faded from the pages of history. Paul writes another letter. He writes another letter to the church of Philippi. The church of Philippi is faded from the pages of history. He writes another letter to the church of Corinth that had a lot of problems. It is small. I think there's just a small remnant of that church. [00:43:10] (30 seconds)  #BuildALastingChurch