Titus chapter 1 and verse 1. And what we're going to be doing tonight is taking an introduction and an overview of this letter, quite possibly written the same day as the letter to Timothy, certainly within the same time frame it appears. The subject matter is very similar to that of 1 Timothy. He deals in this letter with both the necessity of sound doctrine, and he gives instruction on the appointment of elders and the qualification of elders in the church. So, Titus 1.1, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, But at the proper time manifested even His Word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. To Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. Lord, thank You that You provided us with Your Word, the inspired Word that You have spoken through the apostles. Lord, thank You that You've opened our hearts and our minds that we believe in Your Word, that we believe in what You have set forth here. That we understand that You desire that we follow Your instruction in Your Word. And Lord, we pray that You would teach our hearts tonight by the power of Your Spirit, in Christ's name. What do you think about this greeting here, Paul's identification of himself? How would you characterize it in comparison to some of his other letters? Well, other than the greeting found in Romans, this greeting here is longer than any of those in any other of Paul's epistles. Now, we're going to see he and Titus knew each other very well. So if he didn't set forth his qualifications in this lengthy fashion for the benefit of Titus, whose benefit do you suppose he had written this for? That church, that's right. He is essentially writing here a letter to Titus, but he is giving Titus his authority here. And he is telling the church, Titus speaks for me. And that's really what's going on here. This letter is to constitute a written commission and authorization from Paul for Titus for the benefit and for the use of the Cretan believers. So where was Paul when he wrote this? Look down at verse 5 here. Paul wrote, I left you in Crete. Now this tells us Paul had been in Crete. at the same time as Titus. And we also saw in 1st Timothy that Paul wrote of leaving Timothy in Ephesus as he, Paul, departed for Macedonia. Now if he did write these two letters at the same time, he wrote them from the same place. And Macedonia would be the most likely candidate for that. And given the many similarities between this letter and 1 Timothy, and the fact that most believe these letters were written very close to the same time, there's at least a reasonable inference that both were written from Macedonia. Now, you will recall, I trust, that from our study of 1 Timothy, Paul had likely been released from his first imprisonment in Rome, which ran from roughly the year 60 AD to the year 62 AD. That imprisonment began, as Luke recorded it in Acts 28, and while he was in that two-year imprisonment in Rome, he wrote letters to Ephesus, to Colossae, to Philippi, and a letter to Philemon. And then Paul was released. And he had been apparently in both Crete and Ephesus. And then he'd left both places. He left Titus in one place, Timothy in the other. Not as pastors, but as his apostolic representatives. Now, there's no complete record of Paul's travels during this time between his two imprisonments. But we know that he'd been in these two places and that he'd left both of these places. I looked up the distance. I thought, well, Crete and Ephesus must be pretty close together. If he's been released in 62, he's going to be back in prison, probably 64, 65, he's going to be executed. Because the difficulties with Nero were about to become exaggerated, let's say. The distance from Crete to Ephesus is 465 miles. Now, I don't know how he's doing all this traveling, but this is what he did. 58 minutes by plane. By plane. But this was Paul. I mean, this was his whole life after that incident on the road to Damascus. So we have testimony now from the early church that Paul had been released. I mean, we don't just dream these things up. There's testimony from the early church that Paul was released and then later imprisoned again. And then we know from 2 Timothy, he's in prison again and expecting to die soon. So now we're in that in-between period between the two imprisonments. And so, these two letters are written in that period between his imprisonments. Now, here's a letter of 1 Clement. Now, Clement's an early church father. He writes this in A.D. 96. And I believe he's writing to the church in Corinth. I'd have to double-check that. But here's what he writes during this time. Paul preached in the east and the west and won noble renown for his faith. He taught righteousness to the whole world and went to the western limit. The western limit would be Spain. He bore witness before the rulers and then passed out of the world and went on to the holy place, having proved himself the greatest pattern of endurance. And so, this is what we can glean from the early church fathers. Now if you look to chapter 3, verse 12, You'll see Paul plan to winter in a place called Nicopolis. This is about 200 miles northwest of Athens on the west coast of Greece. This is a long way from where he, from Crete and from Ephesus for that matter. And that Paul had sent Artemis and Tukikos. Now Tukikos was the man who brought the letters to Colossae and Philemon. And they're apparently with him at this time. And he's going to send them to take over for Titus when Titus leaves Crete. And in 312 he encourages Titus to come to him in this, in Nicopolis. In chapter 3, verse 13, look down one verse, we see Apollos and a lawyer named Zenos who were also in Crete and may have been with Paul. And many believe they had delivered this letter to Titus. And now they're coming to Crete. And he commends them to Titus. And as this letter was being written, so Paul had left Crete. Titus is behind there to straighten things out. He wants him to set the congregation of believers in order. Now this is a new kind of church. It is not established in the way Ephesus was by this time. And we're going to see in a minute that there's a real difference between what the circumstance was in Crete from that in Ephesus. What Timothy had to deal with versus what Titus had to deal with. He's going to be told by Paul here to establish order and to select an appointment to serve the people as teachers and shepherds. So who was Titus? Well, we didn't see Titus' name in the book of Acts, but there he was in Acts chapter 15. We know that because when we turn to Galatians chapter 2 and verse 1, Galatians 2-1, He writes, then after an interval of fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up. Now you hear me talk about Jesus having appeared to or speaking to Paul at least six times. This is one of them. He's told to go up to Jerusalem. And I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but in private to those who were of reputation. Now this would seem to mean Peter, John, James, and other of the apostles, although he doesn't identify them here. I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear I might be running or had run in vain. But look at this, Galatians 2, 3, But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. So these Pharisees were identified in Acts 15 as believers. But they're saying, we're not believing a gospel that says you don't have to be circumcised or that you don't have to comply with the law of Moses. So they had this gospel that basically had them requiring them to essentially become a Jew. And of course the Jerusalem Council said, no, that's not the way it is. So we can take Acts 15 and this passage and we can see that after this first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas were sent up to Jerusalem and that Titus went along with them. And he was the Greek, the uncircumcised one, who kind of became one of those who was the subject of the dispute. So they demanded that he be circumcised. Paul says no. Galatians 2.5, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. So they decide, look, God's saving people how? How does He save people? What's the instrument? The gospel. And so you are saved by faith. Believing the gospel. By believing the gospel. So the Judaizers, of course, Paul's going to encounter them in Galatia and many other places. We've seen it here in Ephesus. They're preaching. They want to be preachers of the law. So now, in 2 Corinthians 2.12, we're going to start to see Titus involved in working on ... Remember all the problems they had in Corinth. There were divisions. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Paul. I'm of Peter. And there were many problems there. Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth was obviously answers to questions that were being put to him. What do we do about this? What do we do about that? We've got a man who's having a relationship with his stepmother. What do we do about that? And Paul's having to tell him, look, he can't stay in the church if he's going to continue in this. So Titus, we meet him by name here in 2 Corinthians 2.12, as we did in Galatians. When I came to Troas, now that's a port city in Asia. When I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. So this tells us Titus was involved in the ministry early on. Taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. And that's, of course, he wanted to go up into Bithynia. And the Spirit tells him, no, you've got to go over here to Europe. So we don't hear anything else about Titus until Paul's third missionary journey is reached. And during this journey, Titus is sent to Corinth on several occasions. And basically what's happened here, Paul has traveled from Troas to Macedonia. Titus informed him that the Corinthians had disciplined that sinner, the man who was in immorality. As a result, the sinner had repented. And in light of that, he encouraged the congregation to restore the repentant sinner. Titus is the one who is informing Paul as to the good resolution of this. So turn to 2 Corinthians 7, 6. And we'll read a little bit about Titus here. 2 Corinthians 7, 6. And Titus will be prominent in chapters 7 and 8 here. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus. Now what's that tell us about their relationship? Paul and Titus were not only fellow workers, but they were close friends. And not also by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you. So Titus was instrumental in working out some really big problems in Corinth such that he was comforted by their response to Paul's advice and Paul's instruction. And he reported to Paul your mourning, your longing, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more." 2 Corinthians 7, 13, And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame. So, you know, Paul was confident that the Lord would work in these people in Corinth. And, you know, without going back into the whole letter and the whole situation there, there was much difficulty there. We believe he wrote two more letters than what we know as 1 and 2 Corinthians. And he had to make a special trip there from Ephesus on one occasion to try and calm things down there. But it looks like Titus had a great positive impact on the situation in Corinth. And he says in verse 15, 2 Corinthians 7, that his affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling." So Titus is not the young guy that Timothy is. Titus is a kind of a veteran worker for the gospel here. And he's very effective. Now, 2 Corinthians 8, 1, He's writing about this. Remember, they were taking up a collection to take to the poor and needy saints in Jerusalem. Now they're taking this up in Greece. And this is a heck of a long ways. This is in Europe. And of course, Jerusalem's in the Middle East. So he writes here, Brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty, overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participating in the support of the saints. They begged for the right to contribute to this. And this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus, that as He had previously made a beginning. Now this is in Macedonia now. So He would also complete in you this gracious work as well. very trusted ambassador of the gospel and, of course, representative of Paul. And then 2 Corinthians 8, 16, But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. You know, and it's very easy, and many of us, we read through these letters, such as Corinthians, and we don't end up thinking a whole lot about Titus. Because he's one of several people who get named here. But as we come now to this letter and to the situation he's dealing with, now these things take on a little different complexion for us. He thanks for the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. Now what's that tell us about Titus? He said, I'm going here. There's work to be done. He didn't just need to be told. He was a motivated man. We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches. And he doesn't tell us who that is. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you. And then 2 Corinthians 12, 18. I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. ... And this is the same brother, I believe. ...Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps? So that's pretty much all that we have of Titus. Those are all the places he's mentioned in the New Testament. But we can see he's not a minor player. He is one who along with Silas and Barnabas was very instrumental in the spread of the gospel in the first generation. So now, Titus, who had been charged with this pretty difficult task. I mean, we'd have to go back and kind of read through 1 Corinthians, and maybe you should do that this week, just to get a sense of what Titus had been dealing with there. And we're not going to do that tonight. But he's got another situation now in Crete. And Paul believes he's the man for this job. Paul expected that he would meet him, we saw back in Troas. He didn't find him there. He was very troubled that he didn't meet up with him there. He went to Europe. And, you know, we read here, his spirit was refreshed and his heart filled with joy when he not only met Titus but heard from his lips the report which on the whole was favorable. So, you know, that situation in Corinth was very, very difficult. And Paul had great difficulty resolving all of the problems there. Titus had had great success there. He'd acted on the principle that the way we are going to overcome evil is with good. And that's what he did. There then follows this long interval. We don't seem to hear anything about Titus from about, and again we have to estimate these years, A.D. 56 until this letter written about A.D. 63. We don't hear anything about him. And the next time we read his name anywhere is right here in this letter that we just read. He was a Greek. He remained uncircumcised as a test case for the gospel in Jerusalem. He was Paul's fellow worker. Paul thought very highly of this man. He undertook difficult assignments. And now here he is in Crete. Now, Crete was a fairly new field, a new church plant. And although Paul had been there, he didn't leave a nice, well-established and orderly church. He left with, again, problems. I mean, issues to be resolved. Who is going to—we need to have somebody pastoring, shepherding these people. And we have to impress upon them the necessity for sound doctrine. So, the people knew Paul, but it seems as though from his preamble here, from his greeting, that he felt he had to make sure they understood who it was that he was sending and what Paul's authority was to send Titus there. So, whoever refuses, refused to heed what Titus was saying to them, was going to actually be rejecting Paul. And Paul says, I'm sent by Christ. So when they were in Crete together, obviously the gospel was being proclaimed, there'd been some disciples gathered, but there was no sense of organization to the churches there. And probably multiple congregations. But Paul had to move on. Remember, he had to leave Ephesus too when there were still serious matters to deal with. Now, we're going to be referring back to the letter to 1 Timothy. We're not going to repeat everything we talked about in 1 Timothy in terms of the qualifications of elders, for example. We'll make reference to them, and we'll read through them, but qualifications don't change. The wording's a little different in a couple places, but There isn't any consensus, by the way, on whether Titus or 1 Timothy was written first. There is consensus that 2 Timothy is the last letter written by Paul because of Paul's situation and his expectation that he expects to be killed soon. But Titus seems more aggressive, more of a leader. Timothy seems younger and perhaps more of a follower. Titus is the type of man who we just saw him. He's going ahead on his own accord. And there's no right or wrong in that. But Titus also seems a more veteran presence in the church. Remember, Paul wrote to Timothy, let no one despise your youth. So, we figure Timothy's maybe mid-30s at most. And to Titus in chapter 2, 15, he writes, "...exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one despise you." Not talking about his youth. So, that would seem to indicate he was older than Timothy. He loved the Lord. He loved this work. I mean, you have to love this work to undertake the things he undertook. What's more unpleasant than going into a room full of people who are in conflict with each other? This is what he's doing. This is what he did in Corinth. Now, I don't know that the situation was that bad in Crete, although Paul will quote some as saying all Cretans are liars, but we'll see. But, you know, he took on this work with relish. He was like Paul in personality, it seems. He was tactful, he was courageous, but he was also bold. And he's Paul's representative here. Paul is Christ's apostle. He's sent by Christ. And Titus is sent by Paul. So he has a position on this island of Crete. He's not a pastor. He's not appointed to stay there and do this. He's appointed as an apostolic representative, as Timothy was in Ephesus. And they're there under Paul's authority and instruction. And they're to establish these churches and put them in order, in a sense of order, and raise up shepherds to lead the flock there in both places. And the assembly in Crete seems to be smaller than that in Ephesus. Remember, Ephesus was a major city. Maybe the major city in Asia at the time. Crete's a little island. And the church in Crete was newer. This is the only time we read about it, really, other than in Acts chapter 2 on Pentecost. There were some who came from Crete to Jerusalem that day. But the instructions are similar, and why would that be that the instructions in the two letters are so similar? I'm sorry? What about the two situations? They're similar. They were dealing with the same. In fact, these are fairly representative of what some deal with today in the church. So the dangers are quite similar, and the answer is what Mike just said, the Word of God. I mean, that has to be the answer. And so, as in 1 Timothy, Paul immediately, he almost abruptly, after this long greeting of four verses, he gets right to the business of the letter. There's no word of thanksgiving. There's no word of praise of God. There's just, here's what we need to do. Now, he and Titus know each other. So, you know, that shouldn't really surprise us. One, Paul knows he's getting near the end here, but at the same time, Titus doesn't need to be urged these things. Titus just needs this instruction. So in Titus, Paul now stresses again the necessity of sound doctrine in the communication of new life and in the sanctification of believers. This is the problem with false doctrine. This is the problem when preachers stand in a place like this and say, well, doctrine isn't all that important. No, it's the truth of the Word of God. It's the sound doctrine that's the issue in both of these letters. I mean, why was Paul writing 13 letters, if not to impart sound doctrine? The whole point of the Christian life is the application of the doctrine that we're taught in Scripture. So, Paul is writing to encourage godliness. To a people, in and among a people, who are marked by verse 12 of chapter 1, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Paul wanted to teach them sound doctrine and godliness. You cannot help but stand back in admiration at these early apostles and fellow workers of Paul. So we see Titus is a leader kind of guy. Timothy is a follower. Yet they're both having to deal with these same issues. All right, so the greeting. Let's go back to the greeting now. Paul, a slave of God. Now, a lot of versions translate this, a servant, a bondservant. But Paul uses the word doulos here, as he frequently does. And why does he do that? Why does he use this phrase, a slave of God? What's it in contrast to? Bondage to? Bondage to sin. I mean, this is what those middle chapters of Romans are all about. You know, you were once a slave of sin, held in bondage to it. Now you are a slave of righteousness. And he saw himself as having no right to question anything God said to him. I'm a slave. Whatever you want me to do, that's what I'm going to do. So he's a slave of God. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. Writes both. Now that's not to say Christ is not God, obviously. But we are all called to be servants of God, as your translation may have. But the word doulos means something more than ordinary subjection. It denotes, in this case, a minister. One who's called to a particular task and one who is completely sold out to the will of God. And Paul authenticates his call to apostleship by connecting it here. Look what he says, for the faith of those chosen of God, as if he said there's a mutuality of purpose between my apostleship and the faith that the people, the elect of God now have. This is what I'm here for, is to impart saving faith in the elect. According to the faith of the elect of God, that is the knowledge of that truth which is according to godliness. This clause explains what is the nature of genuine saving faith. What is it? What's the word here that jumps off this page here in this little clause? Would you say godliness? That's the word. Genuine saving faith is manifested in godliness, a devotion to God and to His Word, a life of obedience to Him. And we know we can't be saved by our works. Of course not. But godliness is the manifestation of saving faith. I'm finding a new way to say something I say all the time here. But the truth is our lives do reveal what we really believe. So this long, long preamble, this greeting, this recitation of his apostleship shows us Paul's not talking to Titus. He's not trying to convince Titus. He wants the church at Crete to understand. This is an apostolic letter, an apostolic instruction. Titus wasn't questioning Paul. Congregation maybe was. So his design was to bring those who might be rebellious into subjection. Here's an apostle of Christ sending this messenger. Now you need to listen to him, to bring them into. And so he goes out of his way here, look at it, in describing his apostleship. slave of God, apostle of Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God, and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ago, but at the proper time manifested, even in His Word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. We would write on our letter, Dear Mike, this is what Paul writes. So he's making a point here. He's making a very important point. This word truth here. You notice that just kind of right there in the middle. And the knowledge of the truth. It expresses more clearly the certainty which is demanded by the nature of saving faith. What is our faith in but in the truth? You see there's a world out there trying to understand and figure out what's the truth. You guys really believe? Well, why do we believe? Because it's the truth, and we know it's the truth. It's a wonderful word, truth, because it's really not capable of various interpretations. It's only capable of one interpretation. Truth is truth. In fact, I'm not sure there's a word we could use to define truth that defines it as perfectly as it defines itself, because we understand what it means. Calvin says, faith only holds to what is true. Saving faith only holds to what is true. And this isn't every kind of truth. It's the heavenly truth we're talking about. Yes, two and two is four. That won't save you. He's talking about the heavenly doctrine. The divine truth. Those are just wonderful words. Divine truth. Now, divine truth would be contrasted with what? What would be in contrast to divine truth? Well, lies certainly. The inventions of whom? The inventions of men, the inventions of Satan. Whatever men come up with, whatever men devise as a way to eternal life, as a way to forgiveness of sins, is false. Truth is such a critical thing and I think we all know it's kind of It's kind of lost a sense of its genuine importance throughout the church, writ large. The truth. God has revealed to us the truth here. And now Paul is telling these people, I'm an apostle for the faith of those chosen and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. Our faith, then. Verse 2. is in the hope of, in the hope of, when we're talking about this in Scripture and the believer, we're talking about not something we wish might happen, we're talking about a certain expectation of eternal life. Our faith is with a certain expectation of eternal life. This is the joy of being a Christian. This is the joy of being called to Christ by His Spirit. This is the joy and the contentment and the comfort that we have in being made spiritually alive and having the truth just opened up to us. Faith and the practice of godliness begin with, he says, with the meditation on the heavenly life. In like manner, he says in Colossians 1.5, he raises the faith and love of the Colossians. He says it's because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. That's pretty good motivation to continue in the faith. So accordingly, it ought to always be the aim of the preacher, Calvin says, to turn away the eyes of men from the stuff of the world and the wisdom of the world and turn men's eyes to the glories of heaven. I wish I could describe the glory of heaven better. I wish I had the ability to comprehend it better and to try to communicate it better. I suspect there's no words in any human language that could describe the glory of God and of His heaven. And this promise, this hope of eternal life, God promised long ages ago. When did He, where did He promise this? What did He promise us? First, before the foundation of the world, and then after He created the world. And men sinned against Him. Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Difficult to understand if you don't understand the context in which God said that and what He was going to do. Genesis 12.3, to Abraham, in your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 22.3, in you, in your seed, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And He says, look, not only did God say that, but God cannot lie. It is impossible. Because if God could lie, He would not be what? He wouldn't be God. Wouldn't be righteous? He wouldn't be God. And he says, God promised it long ago, but at the proper time, verse 3, has been manifested. God has manifested the word concerning eternal life. How? You've said it before tonight. The gospel. The gospel is another great word. Look at all these great words we have. Truth. Gospel. Divine truth. He has manifested the Word concerning eternal life by the Gospel, by the preaching of the Gospel. The preaching of the Gospel is that which conveys eternal life. And it's by the preaching of the Gospel, not only is there life, but there begins this transformation of the sinner into someone who is conformed to the image of whom. Think about the worst you ever were. And now think, by the work of God, you will be conformed to the image of Christ. There's another concept a little difficult to wrap our arms around, isn't it? But it's true. And Paul says in verse 3, With which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. Now why is he calling God our Savior? Is God our Savior? He sure is. Now the Father and the Son are both involved. Look, the three persons of the Trinity never act totally independent of one another. Yes, only Christ was incarnate. But He was incarnate by the work of whom? Who overshadowed Mary? God the Holy Spirit. Who sent the Son, the Father? The Father is called our Savior because He redeemed us by sending His Son. So He could make us heirs of eternal life. The Son is our Savior because He shed His blood. The Spirit is our Savior because He is given to us as a pledge, carrying Him around in our heart right now. So the Son has brought salvation to us from the Father. Spirit has applied this salvation to us and indwelt us. For Titus himself, who for such a long time has been associated with Paul, maybe clear back to the year 50, maybe even a little before, he didn't need to hear any of this. He'd known Paul for years. This wasn't information new to Timothy either. But these letters serve the same purpose. And he speaks to both of them in the same way. Look at verse 4, "...to Titus, my true child, and a common faith." There's an interesting thing about this little phrase. He sees himself, and he was a mentor to Titus and Timothy. I don't think it's clear that either one was actually born again under Paul's preaching. It's certainly possible. Most take that position because of verses like this. But in either event, both were serving the Lord with Paul as their mentor. So he says, to Titus, my own son, my true child, according to a common faith. Meaning, I may be a spiritual kind of father to you, but we both are subject to the one and same Father in heaven. The common faith. We all share the common faith. There is no hierarchy. There is an organizational structure in the church. There's even authority in the church. But again, we're all subject to the authority of God and to His Word. He concludes the greeting, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. Now normally that would have been in verse 2. But he's presented his authority to Titus as if to hand him and say, here, here's your authority with the people in Crete. And finally, and we'll stop here for tonight, for this reason I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. And this, all of a sudden, sounds like his letter to Timothy. Now Timothy may have had greater problems dealing with false teachers, but we'll see what Titus had to deal with as we go on. Thank you that you've sent Paul. Thank you that you've sent and called so many of these great missionaries and evangelists in the early church. Not only Titus, but Silas, and Barnabas, and Luke, and Lord, so many others. We thank you, Lord, for their witness. We thank you for the service that they rendered, them and each of the apostles. The women who helped them in so many ways. It's just a miracle that your church was able to flourish under such difficult circumstances. And yet we know that your hand was behind it all. That your power and your wisdom and your will and your purpose were going to be served. And that the gates of hell would not prevail against your church. So Lord, thank You. Thank You that because of all that was done in that first century. All that was done at the cross by Your Son. The work of Your Spirit in our hearts that we can stand here nearly 2,000 years later. Part of the same church sharing a common faith with Paul, with Titus, and with all those, Lord, whom You've called to Yourself. In Christ's name, Amen.