Grosey's Messages

Titus 2: 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

Titus 3:1
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

² to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

³ For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,

⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

⁸ This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Recently, I came across an article which revealed the ultimate tool for persuading somebody to your point of view. Do you know what it is? If you want to bring someone around to your way of thinking, make sure they have a cup of coffee in their hand. Researchers in Australia tell us that caffeine improves our ability to process information and agree with a persuasive message. In other words, if you want somebody to say "yes" to your request, make sure they have a cup of coffee.

The truth is... you and I are asked to say "yes" to all kinds of things... some of them good... and some not so good. We're invited to say "yes" to wind power... as the answer for global warming. We're invited to say "yes" to fruits and vegetables... to provide the ingredients of a healthy diet. We're invited to say "yes" to education.

Parents......can't always say "yes" to kids, but they should do it whenever possible. In fact, one study revealed that the more first grade teachers said the words "stop", "no", and "don't," the more frequently students misbehaved.

This study suggests that parents should do everything possible to practice positive language and say "yes" whenever we can.

Of course, I was most impressed with this advertisement to say "yes" to chocolate.

Some of you are saying, "Well, chocolate is not exactly low fat." But wait a minute. What if somebody told you that
chocolate can be good for you?
That's a study I like to hear about. Recent studies have
actually linked the consumption of small amounts of dark
chocolate with lower of blood pressure, lower bad
cholesterol count, increased insulin activity, and improved
blood-vessel function – all which reduce our risk of
cardiovascular disease. Can I get an "Amen?"

You see, we are almost inundated with invitations to say "yes" to a worthy cause, a worthwhile idea, or some advertising campaign. It's no wonder that a couple of

authors wrote a book called...

Don't Say Yes When You Want to Say No. Henry Cloud and John Townsend wrote a wonderful book a few years ago called, "Boundaries: When to Say Yes, When to Say No, To Take Control of Your Life.

We are nearly overwhelmed by invitations to say "yes" in life. But, did it ever occur to you that the most important "yes" you could ever say in life is a "yes" to God? And one of those things we are to say yes to is good works.

The Power of Doing Good

Titus 2: 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

(Titus 3:8) "I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone."

(Titus 3:1) "Remind the people to be ready to do whatever is good."

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people.

(Titus 3:14) "(Christ-followers) must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may not live unproductive lives." And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works for cases of urgent need, so that they will not be unfruitful.

Two Important Questions

1. Why should you do good?

Because the Lord did good to you.

3For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. 4 But when the goodness and love for man appeared from God our Savior, 5 He saved us— not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

"⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Do you realize the uniqueness in those three words, "He saved us?"

Folks, do you understand we live in a culture where we are taught there is no such thing as a free lunch. Many of us have been raised with a work ethic that says, "You earn every penny you make. You earn your way onto the football team. You earn good
marks at school. You earn it all. There is no free lunch!"

And because I've been conditioned that way, I can spend my entire life trying to impress God with all my good deeds and all my hard work and all my effort. And so can you.

You see the truth about life for most of us is we think we are better than we really are, so we're good at pretending!

Maybe you heard the story on the news Friday night about the zebras in Gaza Zoo? They are actually donkeys with stripes painted on them. They lost the old zebras. Well there was a story about the guy who saw an advertisement for a job at the zoo. When he got there, he was horrified to find the only job available was to play the part of a monkey. A lot of children were coming to the zoo in the next few days, and since the zoo had no monkeys, they needed somebody to impersonate one. Since money was tight, the man decided he'd take the job.

He arrived before sunrise, got into the monkey suit, and slipped into the cage. Finally the day dawned, and the children came. All he had to do was pace the floor, look like he could swing between the trees and eat peanuts and bananas whenever they fed him.

After 8 or 10 hours, he was exhausted. The bananas got the best of him. And as he swung from one tree to another, he slipped and fell right into the lion's den next door. He started screaming, "Help! Help!" About that time the lion leaned over and said, "If you
don't shut up, we'll both lose our jobs."

You see, that's the way it is with many of us. It's easy to pretend we're something we're not. It's easy to pretend we're better than we are. Ravi Zacharias said it like this: "Man attempts to build civilizations not knowing what it
means to be civilized. He tries to be a philosopher when
he does not know the master philosopher. He portrays
his artistic perceptions without knowing the master artist.
He moralizes on life but doesn't know the moral
lawgiver."

Listen again: 3For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

The famous philosopher G. K. Chesterton was once asked, "What do you think of civilization?" He said, "I think it's a great idea. Why doesn't
somebody start one."

Later on, after seeing a series of articles on "What's Wrong With the World?" Chesterton sent a short letter to the editor. He wrote, "'Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong With the World?' I am.' Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton."

Listen again 3For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

I want you to know something…I am what's wrong with this world. And you can say the same thing. God has told us for centuries that the fundamental problem with mankind is his heart. Every one of us has a twisted view of things that causes us to be bent toward evil. The Bible calls that sin.

One author said it like this: Dr. John R. W. Stott

"Many of the happenings in civilized society would not exist if it were not for sin. A promise is not enough; we need a contract. Doors are not enough; we have to lock and bolt them. The payment of fares is not enough; we have to be issued tickets, which are punched, inspected and collected. Law and order are not enough; we need the police to enforce them. We cannot trust each other. We need protection from one another. It is a sorry state of affairs."

You see, the Bible says that we're not as good as we think we are. Several years ago, the State of California made a 12-year study of 200 criminals. Not one of them admitted to being evil. They all said they were basically good. We might as well stop trying to impress God. We will never have a relationship with Him because of the good things that we have done.

The older I get, the more I realize it's possible to come up with ways to sin that I never thought of before. I feel like the guy who said, "If you knew me as I know me, you probably wouldn't sit there and listen to me right now.
But before you get up and leave, could I remind you that if I
knew you as you know you, I wouldn't even talk to you right
now."

You see, we do everything we can to make a good impression on others. We've all mastered the art of pretense.

But Paul said: 3For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.

"He saved us because of his mercy!."

⁴ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,⁵ not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His creation—created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

Because doing good is God's destiny for me.

(Ephesians 2:10) "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

(Titus 3:8) "I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone."

(Titus 3:1) "Remind the people to be ready to do whatever is good."

(Titus 3:14) "(Christ-followers) must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may not live unproductive lives."

2. Where should I do good?

Do Good to Whoever you can do good to.

Do you notice that doing good is about people? "In my view, people are never closer to living out the teachings of Christ than when they are adding value to someone else's life. And people who are far from God are rarely more impacted than when they see 21^st-Century Christ-followers behaving as Christ behaved." ~Bill Hybels

Titus 3:1
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

² to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

To ALL PEOPLE… Anyone everywhere!

(Luke 10:25-37) On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Notice verse 14

14 And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works for cases of urgent need, so that they will not be unfruitful.

Cases of necessary need.

Be careful to do good to those who are truly in need.

Paul had listed off a couple of friends.

13 Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, so that they will lack nothing

They were good examples of folks in need, urgent need. Unfortunately much of what proclaims to be need today isn't. There are professional hucksters who see it as the main game to take money out of your pocket and put it into their own.

I was disillusioned with one organisation that has their representatives living in 5 star hotels as they travel to churches to get money for their "charity". And then most of the money they raise actually goes to putting them into 5 star hotels as they raise money for their organisation. What percentage actually gets there? I don't know! And I don't want to know. I just know their executives live sumptuously off the gifts they raise for good works elsewhere.

I don't disparage a good days pay for a good days work. I do disparage those that live sumptuously when they are claiming to raise money for the Lord's work elsewhere.

"For what am I giving my life? How are you spending your life? Have you said, 'Yes, Jesus, I need your forgiveness? I know I have sinned. Would you forgive me and become the director of my life?'"

If you've not said that those words, that's where to start today. And if you've said "yes" and have experienced His mercy, then I want to ask you, "to what are you giving your
life? "

Do you realize that Jesus was all about one thing…and that one thing is people? People who are sick, people who are lonely, people who are wandering, depressed, and hopeless, people who are entangled in suffocating habits and destructive relationships. Jesus came for people. And He has left us here for the same reason. He has left those of us who are Christ followers on this earth to introduce as many people as possible to the God who desperately wants them to experience His mercy and grace.

If you're a Christ follower today, you have to be about people...people who face a Christ-less eternity... people who are ostracized, isolated and hopeless... people who are living for achievements that never satisfy. Above anything else, true followers of Jesus Christ give themselves to pointing people to the Savior. It's the highest and best use of a human life. When you live with that kind of preoccupation, you'll find that whenever Jesus asks you to do something, you'll only have one response…and that is to say, "yes."