We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

MESSAGE TEXT
Titus 2:1-8
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INTRODUCTION
“Dear Titus” - It’s a very short letter to a church leader named Titus to whom Paul is passing the baton.
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Titus 1 focuses almost entirely on the church itself and the need for leaders to lead in the church. Titus 1 is a blueprint for the type of leadership that is necessary for a healthy and thriving church.
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Titus 2 focuses on the people of the church and how both men and women should live in their homes and communities. Titus 2 is a blueprint for living out our roles and gender-based assignments.
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Titus 3 focuses on what it means to live as a Christian outside the church in the community and more specifically in the workplace. Titus 3 is a blueprint for public engagement.
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Things were disordered all over the island and in the fellowships. A church without qualified leaders guiding it is disordered. A home without a bible influencing it is disordered. A community without a believer engaging it is disordered.
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PROPOSITION
“Dear Titus” series. If week one was “Walk in your authority.” Week two: “Get your life in order.” Week three: “Tend to your attraction.” “Match your lifestyle with your beliefs.” One consistent message.
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SERMON FOCUS
Welcome to the Island of Crete. Where based on our text - older men are immature and self-centered, refusing to grow up and acting their age; where older women are gossiping drunkards and missing mentoring opportunities, where younger men are all about themselves and appetites gone wild and younger women are abandoning their husbands and children for their freedom and some payback for their husbands' sexual license. In fact, based on the counsel and recommendations that Paul makes, you get insight into this state of things. The idea of “self-control” comes up for every group mentioned. The Cretans were given to all these “excesses.” Everything was disordered on the island. Paul’s answer: a healthy blueprint for church and home – the ordering of the family specifically in Titus 2.
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What Paul is doing in this family talk is not telling Christians how to fit into their culture, but how to radically create a new culture, with new objectives, and new desires and new lifestyles and new relationships and new distinctives – a new attraction.
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Paul says in Titus 2:8 "...so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." And in Titus 2:10: "...so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." How are we to be attractive, vibrant, and memorable?
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Attractive...
Older Men
Older Women
Younger Women
Younger Men
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CONCLUSION
Three summaries of the incarnation dot the pages of Titus, providing a framework within which the Christian can view the work of God in the world and in individual lives (Titus 1:1–4; 2:11–14; 3:4–7). All three passages involve the manifestation, or appearance, of God in Christ, rooting the Christian faith in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate Servant-Leader. Invite Him to lead your life today by being his "Bond-servant" and you'll be attractive.