Remind Them

[00:00:00] Gracious and merciful heavenly Father, we thank you that your words are sweet, sweet to the ears of undeserving, wicked and hateful sinners. [00:00:12] Such sweet words that we hear. [00:00:16] That your Gospel must go to the Gentiles also. [00:00:21] That wherever there are sinners, there Christ's Gospel and words of salvation are to be proclaimed. [00:00:29] And wherever they are proclaimed, and wherever that message is joined by faith in the hearers, there you bring salvation. [00:00:41] We thank you that your salvation is free, that it is not something that we must earn, but something that you give us freely as a gift, simply to be received by believing in Jesus, your Son. [00:00:55] And we confess how greatly we need that salvation, for we are miserable sinners. [00:01:03] So we ask, O God, that you, having forgiven us through the blood of your Son, our Lamb, we ask that now you would touch our hearts by your word and spirit, help us to receive the truths of that you would have us receive. [00:01:24] Help us to see and understand them clearly. And then help us by the power of your spirit to obey them, that by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we might live out your word, and that not only to our blessing, but most especially to your glory. [00:01:43] In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [00:01:46] Please turn in your Bibles one more time to the Book of Titus. [00:01:54] Titus 3. Our sermon text will be the first three verses, but I'm going to begin reading in Titus 2:15 and then read through verse 7 of chapter 3. [00:02:12] So Titus 2:15, 3 7. Hear God's word. [00:02:17] Declare these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. [00:02:21] Let no one disregard you. [00:02:25] Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. [00:02:47] For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [00:03:08] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [00:03:43] Please be seated. [00:04:02] How many of you, when you're either on your way out your front door or maybe it's the door into the garage to get in your car. We don't use front doors very often, but you're on your Way out of the house. How many of you regularly receive reminders? Or perhaps you're the one giving the reminder. [00:04:22] All sorts of things we say when our loved ones are going out the door. [00:04:29] It might be as simple as, don't forget to take the lunch I made you. [00:04:36] It's in the fridge. [00:04:38] Or maybe it's remember to bring your homework with you. [00:04:44] Or perhaps it's, remember to be polite and say thank you when you're at your friend's house. [00:04:54] All sorts of reminders, right? [00:04:57] Simple ones, very serious, important ones. All right? Remember, look both ways before crossing the street. How many of you heard that over and over and over again every time you went out the house as a child? [00:05:12] Now think about those reminders that we give each other and we give our children. [00:05:19] Most of the reminders are things that are basic things, simple things, things that we already know. In fact, they're always things that we already know. That's why they're a reminder, right? [00:05:36] But as basic as they are, as obvious as they are, we feel the need to give those reminders again and again, again and again. [00:05:44] And as parents, as loved ones, as spouses to each other, we don't stop giving those reminders. [00:05:51] We don't stop giving them for all sorts of reasons. [00:05:54] They all kind of boil down to natural tendencies that we all have tendencies to do the opposite of the thing that we're being reminded to do. [00:06:05] Maybe it's because we're forgetful and that's our natural tendency, right? So. So don't leave your lunch in the fridge again. Remember to bring it with you. That's because we're forgetful. [00:06:19] But there's other reasons we give reminders, not just forgetfulness. Sometimes as basic as whatever it is, as many times as we've heard it and said it, the thing that we're reminding that loved one of is so important, so basic and fundamental, maybe to human safety, that we need to give that reminder again and again. [00:06:44] Look both ways before you cross the street. [00:06:49] Be polite and say thank you or no thank you. When you're asked or offered things at your friend's house, it's really important. So we give that reminder again and again. Well, you get the idea here. In verses 1 through 3. [00:07:06] Titus, as a pastor, is commanded by Paul the Apostle, and therefore by the Holy Spirit and by Jesus Christ as a pastor, to remind Christians, God's people, of a number of things. [00:07:19] These verses are a pastoral reminder, a pastor's reminders, the things he's supposed to say to his people every time they they go out the church door, you might say, every time you all leave the church or leave your homes and go out into the big bad wide world, these are the things that we as pastors are to remind you of and you are to remind each other of and to remind your children of and remind yourselves of. [00:07:52] And yeah, they're really basic. [00:07:56] You already know them if you're a Christian. These are truths you know, but you need to be reminded of them again and again because of how important they are, because of how basic they are to being a Christian. So here you go. Here are a pastor's reminders for his flock. [00:08:16] First, a reminder to obey. [00:08:21] Remember to obey. Secondly, remember to do good to everyone. [00:08:28] Remember to obey. Remember to do good to everyone. [00:08:31] And thirdly, remember your past. [00:08:34] Remember where you came from. [00:08:38] First, remember to obey. [00:08:47] You find that in verse one, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient. And that word there, that's translated to be obedient has specific reference to obedience to authorities or to rulers. [00:09:06] So he's saying the same thing twice, three times as it were. To be submissive to rulers, to be submissive to authorities, and then to be obedient to the government or to rulers. [00:09:19] He doesn't want us to miss the point. [00:09:23] As you go out the door into the big bad wide world, out into society, from your Christian home or your church out there where everybody else is, all the unbelievers are remember to obey the government, rulers and authorities here implies pretty much every level of human government or authority that God has appointed. We're to submit to all of them. [00:09:50] We're to submit to them and to obey them, to do what they say, to follow their laws, to pay the taxes that are levied on us, to obey their lawful commands. When the policeman pulls you over, you need to pull over when he tells you to do this or that. If it's a lawful command you are to obey isn't just that you're to obey it, but you're to submit to it. [00:10:18] This implies that you are to do so willingly, not just because he has a gun on his hip and he can threaten you with fines and imprisonment. [00:10:28] But the Bible tells us that we are to obey the lawful government and its lawful orders because God has appointed them. [00:10:38] And as Paul says in Romans 13, we are to obey them. Not just because he bears the sword, he can punish you, but for conscience sake. [00:10:48] That is because he represents God and his authority, so we are to obey them willingly. [00:10:57] Obedience and submission here also involves respecting or Honoring their lawful authority. We're not to mock the government, tear them down, because we disagree with this or that. We can disagree with policies, but we are to honor them, to obey them, and to submit to them. [00:11:20] Basic stuff, basic to the structure of human society. It's better to have a bad government and a little bit of government than no government and anarchy and chaos. Right? So you really can't live together in society without some kind of government. Pretty obvious stuff. [00:11:37] Everyone recognizes this, but we're reminded because of how serious it is. [00:11:44] It's important to disobey legitimate government that God has put over us. [00:11:50] If we disobey it as individuals, that means we've committed a crime, we've broken a law, we've done something terrible. [00:12:01] When we disobey legitimate government, God's lawful government that he's appointed, when we do that, when we disobey as a group, that's called insurrection or rebellion, civil war. Terrible stuff. [00:12:16] It's serious. [00:12:17] They're appointed by God for the good of society. [00:12:21] And so to rebel, to disobey is ultimately to rebel against God. So is it basic? Do we all know it? Yeah, but it's really serious. [00:12:32] And so there are lots of places in the New Testament, Jesus teaches on it, Paul teaches on it in multiple letters. Peter teaches about it, James teaches about it. [00:12:43] It's all over the New Testament. We are to obey and submit to lawful authority. Serious as it is, you can see that when we don't do that as Christians, as Christians, we bring shame on the name of Christ. Pretty serious stuff. [00:13:03] So we need the reminder because of how important and serious it is. But we also need the reminder because look at verse three. [00:13:11] We have disobedient, forgetful hearts. Verse three is the stuff that we once were, that Jesus saved us from. [00:13:22] We were foolish. That is, we were in spiritual darkness. And because we were foolish and in spiritual darkness, we did all of the other things in that verse. And the first thing listed is that we were disobedient. [00:13:35] That's who we were. [00:13:38] And the problem with sinners that Jesus saves in this life is that we tend to go back to our sin. [00:13:45] That's who we used to be. [00:13:48] We're forgetful and forgetfully. We go back to disobedience, go back to the thing that Jesus saved us from, our foolish rebellion. [00:13:57] And we have our excuses, don't we? [00:14:00] The taxes are too high. [00:14:03] The government uses the money foolishly, unwisely. They waste it. They use it to enact wicked laws. [00:14:12] We have all sorts of excuses for dishonoring disrespecting and even disobeying the government. [00:14:20] But as pastors, we're called to remind you to obey government that God has appointed. [00:14:28] Now, there are some things that we can press home here in this reminder. [00:14:35] Remind you that Paul is merely taking the basic teaching of our Lord Jesus and applying. Applying it to the pastoral context. The new church on the island of Crete. [00:14:47] Christ's command was to obey lawful government, even when that government was made up of wicked, sinful rulers who did all sorts of things they shouldn't. [00:14:59] Jesus even told the Jews to obey the leaders of the church of his day, lawful authorities whom God had appointed. He said, the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat. Those wicked Pharisees that Jesus is always teaching against. He says they sit in Moses seat. In other words, they have legitimate authority in the church. [00:15:22] So do and observe whatever they tell you, but do not do the works that they do. So don't follow them in their wickedness, but receive their legitimate ministry. [00:15:36] Similarly, he taught. Jesus taught of the civil government, that is, of kings and rulers and governors and so on. Mayors in our town, city councils. [00:15:46] Jesus said, therefore render to Caesar the Roman emperor, the king. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. [00:15:57] The reminder here is a reminder of Jesus clear teaching that we're to receive the authority and submit to it as God has appointed it. [00:16:06] This isn't just Jesus teaching and command. [00:16:10] We're reminded here of Christ's own example. [00:16:15] Jesus, all throughout his life, lived that righteous life that we couldn't live. And he did it so that he might die for our sins, for our disobedience. But he also did it as an example to show us how we're called to live before God. [00:16:30] Jesus lived in submission to his earthly parents, to Mary his mother, and to Joseph, his stepfather. [00:16:37] Jesus attended the synagogue and temple worship and submitted to the sinful, wicked rulers who were lawfully serving in God's church. [00:16:49] Jesus even honored civil government when it was at its very worst. [00:16:56] He honored the lawful government of the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin, when it convicted him falsely. [00:17:05] And he continued to honor lawful government when he stood before Pontius Pilate and testified the good confession before the very man who wrongfully admitted that he was wrongfully crucifying Jesus. [00:17:21] We have Jesus command, but we also have his example before us. [00:17:26] Now we continue to object, don't we? Because we know all of this, because it's so basic to the teaching of the New Testament. Yeah, Pastor, we've heard it all. But our rulers are evil men. [00:17:39] Doesn't really matter which party they're from, does it? Most of the time they're evil men. [00:17:45] Always the taxes are too high. [00:17:48] Nearly always our money is sent to Washington and used for evil purposes. [00:17:54] Quite often it's used to pay for abortions, but all sorts of other things too. [00:18:01] Well, if you go and you read your Old Testament, the prophets give you a helpful principle to answer these objections, understandable to some degree, objections that we raise as we suffer under wicked rulers. [00:18:15] The prophets give us this principle. [00:18:18] God very often gives bad governments to nations that are living wickedly. He often gives bad rulers to nations that are living in a wicked way. Isaiah 3:12 O my people. [00:18:37] He's lamenting how awful things are for Israel because their rulers are so awful. O my people. [00:18:47] Their oppressors are children and women rule over them. [00:18:55] He laments that they have terrible rulers. [00:19:00] But they have terrible rulers because they're wicked people and God is disciplining them. [00:19:06] So you can chew on that principle the next time your mind wells up and you get angry at all the awful things that are happening. Chew on that a bit and then pray about it. [00:19:18] But then come back to this. [00:19:22] You have Christ's teaching, you have Christ's example. You have that principle of how God raises up evil rulers sometimes. [00:19:33] One last thing for you to chew on. [00:19:36] Those evil rulers rule by the appointment of King Jesus. [00:19:45] Jesus sits on the throne of heaven. [00:19:49] All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. [00:19:57] Every power and principality is under Jesus feet. Ephesians 1:22 the Father put all things in subjection under Jesus feet. [00:20:11] If there's a king or a government or a mayor or a city council or a congress in our nation or in any other nation around the globe, it's there because Jesus has appointed it. [00:20:25] Jesus sits on the throne. He reigns over governments, and he does so on behalf of of his church. The second half of Ephesians 1:22. [00:20:37] He put all things in subjection under Jesus feet and gave him as head over all things to the Church. [00:20:46] Jesus reigns over the kings, and he raises them up and he tears them down and he replaces them for the good and the blessing of you, his people. [00:20:57] So the very kings and rulers whom you see their errors and their wickedness and their evil laws, you look at all of that. [00:21:05] But remember, Jesus has raised them up and appointed them for your good. [00:21:12] So submit to them. [00:21:14] Remember to obey. [00:21:16] Remember further, to do good to all men. [00:21:22] When you go out the door into the big bad evil world, Jesus wants you to do good to all Men, he says, verse one there of chapter three. Be ready to do every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. [00:21:48] Our calling as Christians. When we walk out the door, we leave our Christian circle and we're surrounded by unbelievers that we work with, play with, go to school with our neighbors on either side of our home. As we interact with all of these people, we are called to do good to them. [00:22:08] Now the contrast comes in the next verse, verse three. [00:22:14] You used to be a troublemaker. [00:22:17] Whenever you walked out the door to interact with all those people around you, you were trouble. [00:22:24] That's what Paul's saying here. [00:22:26] You formerly, we ourselves were formerly foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. We walked out the door and people said, there's trouble coming. [00:22:47] That's what we used to be. [00:22:50] We were ruled, enslaved by our sinful passions and pleasures. [00:22:56] Pride and selfishness kept us from doing good for others, always seeking our own good and our own interests. [00:23:05] Lust drove us not to seek good for others, but like David, to steal our fellow man's wife. [00:23:13] We live, Paul says, in malice, that's evil intent towards others. We passed our time think, thinking evil thoughts and having evil desires against others and being envious of them. So not only did we have evil thoughts, wanting them to do poorly, when they did well in envy, we resented that. [00:23:33] Now, if anything will keep you from doing good towards others, malice and envy will do it, won't it? [00:23:40] In fact, it drives us to speak ill of others, to go to work and stab our co workers in the back, to fight and quarrel with our neighbors over property lines or whatever, to feud incessantly with our relatives. [00:23:57] That's the picture he's giving us here in verse three. [00:24:01] And so he ends that verse by saying that we were absolutely horrible, where it says hated by others, the word hateful. [00:24:13] We were hateful, detestable. [00:24:18] So you see why we need this reminder that when we walk out the door, we're called to do good to all men, because the opposite of that is what's in our hearts in terms of our sinful nature. [00:24:36] Christ saved us from all of that. And he calls us to do good to the people out there, to unbelievers. If you remember chapter two, he gives instructions for older men, older women, younger women, younger men, in the home, in the church, for pastors. [00:24:54] Now he's talking about the church's attitude and approach to unbelievers. First to the governments, which most of the time are wicked, and then now to our fellow man. [00:25:08] And Christ wants us to be about the business of doing good, to walk out the door looking for opportunities, ready to do good, and to bless those around us, not passing around evil reports, but instead walking around saying, how can I speak a word that will build someone up, that will bless someone? And if I hear an evil report, I'm not going to repeat it. [00:25:36] He wants us to be peacemakers. [00:25:39] That's some basic instruction. Blessed are the peacemakers comes at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. [00:25:45] Here, Paul says that on the one hand, we're to avoid quarreling. We're not to be contentious and fighting, and instead, when faced with conflict, to be gentle. The gentle and the avoiding quarreling go together. [00:25:58] Here we're called to be gentle, to seek peace in the face of conflict. [00:26:06] Boy, that's hard to be ready for every good. Now he's drilling down, okay, so we're not to speak evil of others now. This being ready to be good to others, to do good in every respect, means that when we're faced with conflict, with difficulty, with people who are mad at us, who want to backstab us, how can we respond? With gentleness to bring peace to the situation. [00:26:30] That's life all day long. There's opportunities for conflict, whether it's bumping into someone at the grocery store in line or difficult situations at work. [00:26:41] We're called not just to avoid the fight, but to actively seek to resolve it, to turn the temperature down through gentleness, peace, and then to show courtesy perfectly is the way our translation reads it. [00:27:01] To show all gentleness or all meekness is maybe a little broader, but we don't use the word meekness as much anymore. [00:27:10] The word here has kind of got a broad, broad range. [00:27:16] It's the opposite of all the nasty stuff. [00:27:20] Being rough towards others, being nasty or mean. [00:27:23] The opposite of that. Meekness, gentleness, kindness. [00:27:30] We're not just to feel that, but to demonstrate it, to show it. Not just to desire that for others, but with our words and with our actions, to live that way. [00:27:41] The picture you get is that Jesus wants us to be, as we walk out the door, not just ready, but actually demonstrating and showing that we are people who bring peace and blessing to everyone that we interact with all day long. [00:28:01] Wonderful stuff. [00:28:05] But you see how hard it is, and you see why again, pastors are called to remind us that this is what we're to pursue. [00:28:13] We're called to be a blessing everywhere we go. [00:28:19] So this is your reminder to do good to all men. It's basic, basic stuff. In the kingdom of Jesus, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers. [00:28:34] And then a little later in that same Matthew, chapter five, Jesus says, don't just love those who are close to you. [00:28:42] The pagans do that. They're nice to their family members. They're nice to the people that are nice to them. [00:28:49] Jesus says, I want more from my people than that. [00:28:54] I want you to love your enemies, to pray for those who persecute you, to go out and actively be a blessing to the people around you that don't love you. [00:29:11] We have Jesus teaching, but of course we also have his example. [00:29:17] The reminder isn't just of what he said, but also who he was, what he did. And remember. That's as Jesus disciples, we're called, to follow him, to become like him, to be remade into his image. [00:29:34] And he was meek, harmless, gentle. [00:29:39] People came after him in all sorts of circumstances. And he carried himself with grace. [00:29:46] He never returned evil for good, but in every case, returned good for evil. He generally avoided contention and strife. And when it came up, he used his words to resolve it. [00:30:00] He answered the problems that were presented to him. He silenced his foes, and he called them to repentance. [00:30:08] And he was gentle. [00:30:10] Gentle with the most unloving and difficult of sinners. Think about the gerosene demoniac, the man who came out with that legion of demons. [00:30:20] In Matthew, the story is that there were two of them and they were extremely violent. [00:30:26] And they came near to Jesus and He cared for them, and he loved them, and he showed them grace and compassion, and he changed them. [00:30:38] And of course, the reminder here isn't just his teaching, his example, but in the context of Titus. [00:30:46] Jesus called for us to do good to all men every time we walk out the door. [00:30:52] That's his goal in dying. [00:30:56] Go back to chapter 2, verse 14. [00:30:59] Jesus died so that we might be this way. [00:31:04] He gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness, verse three of our text, and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. [00:31:21] There's a reminder to do good to all men. [00:31:26] But there's a third pastoral reminder here. In these verses, Paul tells pastors to remind Christians about their pasts. That's verse three. We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and so on. [00:31:44] Remember who you were. [00:31:47] You get up in the morning, you get ready, brush your teeth, get your breakfast. You're Getting ready to go and face the day. Go and face those evil co workers that backstab you, those neighbors or people in your life that are difficult to be with. [00:32:02] You're called to be ready to do good to them. [00:32:05] Paul says, also, remember who you were. [00:32:10] You were formerly foolish. Think of spiritual darkness and blindness, ignorance. [00:32:18] You were led astray by sin. [00:32:21] Worse, you were enslaved to passions. [00:32:25] And the result, as you read through verse three, the result of that state of being and living in existence is that you were a hateful thing. [00:32:37] You were something nobody would want or wanted to be around but God. You keep reading, Read verse four. [00:32:47] God in his love and compassion saw that hateful thing that you were, and he loved you. [00:32:53] He saw you in your misery, not getting along with other people. [00:32:58] And he said, I'm going to save you from that. [00:33:03] And he delivered you from that through the death of his son Jesus. And he began to change you, to make you a new person. [00:33:11] And he is changing you to be like his son Jesus. [00:33:17] So remember, remember who you were. And that reminder of who you are helps you. [00:33:25] It helps you when you are tempted to go back to the evil way of life. [00:33:31] We do that for all sorts of reasons, but maybe it's because in the moment it's easier to do that. It feels right to be mean, to withhold kindness. He doesn't deserve it. [00:33:45] But Jesus comes in this reminder. He comes to you and he says, look at how awful that life was that I saved you from. [00:33:53] Remember how miserable that was, hated and being and hating others. [00:34:00] How awful it was to live in malice and envy and everything, the strife and everything that came out of that, that's who you were. [00:34:10] And Jesus comes and he says, you don't want to go back to that. [00:34:15] Come, follow me in meekness, gentleness, in love, in goodness. [00:34:22] This reminder of who you were. [00:34:25] It helps you when you're tempted. [00:34:29] You can drill down into specific temptations. For example, when you are tempted to think evil thoughts towards someone else, this malice, you go out the door. [00:34:42] You encounter people who are ungrateful. You do lots of hard work for them. You bend over backwards and they're not thankful. [00:34:50] In fact, maybe they go around your back and they undercut you to get ahead. [00:34:56] You look at them and you say, this man or woman does not deserve my kindness. [00:35:02] I shouldn't seek to bring peace to him. [00:35:06] And that malice begins to well up within you. [00:35:11] And Jesus comes to you and says, remember who you were. [00:35:17] Jesus says, that's not who you are anymore because I came and died for you. I came to change you and to make you new. [00:35:29] That's who you were. That's not who you are today. [00:35:33] I loved you and I saved you from that. Come with me. Learn the way of peace. [00:35:41] The reminder of who you were helps you. [00:35:44] It helps you when it's hard to be gentle and to do good to the unbeliever. [00:35:51] It's often hard. [00:35:55] But Jesus comes as he reminds you of who you were. He comes to you and he says, my child, see who you were before I saved you. [00:36:06] That person that's hard to be gentle with. [00:36:10] You were just like him. [00:36:14] But I had compassion on you. [00:36:17] I saw how miserable it was for you to be you. [00:36:22] And I loved you and I gave myself for you, to redeem you from that lawlessness and to purify you for the good work of gentleness. [00:36:33] He says, come see them as I see them, the same way I see you. [00:36:42] Someone made in the image of God, fallen, but someone I have compassion on. [00:36:49] And for my sake, Jesus says, deal gently with them. Even if you can't see it, deal gently with them for my sake. [00:37:03] The reminder of who you were helps you. [00:37:07] It helps you when you're dealing with unbelievers and those who are difficult to be around. [00:37:15] It helps you to have hope for the lost. [00:37:22] As you spend time with people who are mean and miserable and awful, like what we read in verse three, you start to lose hope. [00:37:33] It's been five years of working with this co worker, working under this Boss. It's been 30 years of living with this cousin or mother in law who's a non Christian and they never change and they're still just as miserable and awful as ever. And we lose hope, don't we? We want to give up praying for them. [00:37:55] We don't want to see them. [00:37:59] But when Jesus comes and he says, remember who you were. [00:38:03] He restores our hope, our hope not in ourselves and not in that person, but he restores our hope in his power to save sinners. [00:38:15] Jesus comes to you and he says, you were just as lost, just as miserable, just as hateful as that person you don't want to be around. [00:38:25] You were just as enslaved to your passions. You spent just as much of your time in malice and envy, with dark thoughts. [00:38:34] But I came and saved you. [00:38:37] If there's hope for you, and there is because you're saved, there's hope for sinners who are just like you. [00:38:44] You see, Jesus came and he saved you and me. [00:38:48] He can save others too. [00:38:51] Everyone we encounter, no matter how awful they are, no Matter how miserable their life appears to be, whatever shambles it's in, whatever mess they've made of it, there's hope for them. And when we remember who we are were, we're reminded that Jesus can save them too. [00:39:15] So when you walk out the door into the big bad wide world, you need reminders. Not just to make sure your shoes are tied, that you brought your lunch and that you look both ways and you remember your manners. [00:39:26] Most of all, you need to remember who Jesus is and what he's done for you. [00:39:36] Because if you remember that, you remember that he is the all powerful Savior, the one whose blood atones for every sin. [00:39:45] If you remember that, you can remember there's hope not just for you, but for others too. [00:39:51] And if you remember his attitude towards you, you remember who he is, the smile in his eyes, the love and the joy that drove him to the cross. [00:40:03] You can say I'm the one who experienced that love and compassion, miserable though I was. [00:40:10] And I can show that to others too. Let's pray. [00:40:14] Our gracious God and our Savior, we confess that we were utterly without hope and lost in this world. [00:40:23] Our hearts were dark, blacker than night. [00:40:27] But we thank you that to you even the darkness is at light and the night is as day. To you, Lord Jesus, you came into our dark world and shown the light of heaven. [00:40:41] And through your death you have set us free from sin. And by your word and spirit you have changed us. And you are continuing to change us. [00:40:51] And so that gives us great hope. [00:40:53] Lord Jesus, we ask that you would forgive us yet our sins, all of them. Our sins of ingratitude, our sins of grumbling against the government, our sins of grumbling about those around us and not wanting to do good to them. [00:41:11] We ask that you would fill our hearts with thankfulness and joy, that no matter the darkness of others and their circumstances, no matter how hard life is, that you would sustain us. That we would be able to shine as lights in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation. [00:41:32] That as we live before you with joy, without grumbling and complaining, serving others, you would use us as instruments of peace, of hope, and ultimately use us to bring the hope of the gospel and of salvation in Christ to those around us. [00:41:49] We ask that you would do all of this not for our sakes, but for the sake of your glory and honor, that your kingdom might come, that you might be exalted, that one day soon you might come, and that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen. [00:42:13] Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior.