The Church of Eleven22 - Hope of Eternal Life - Titus - Wk 1

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Our world urgently needs Jesus. The book of Titus reveals that people everywhere, from ancient Crete to our modern cities, are spiritually lost and in need of a Savior. Are you a player, prayer or payer when it comes to sending? - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen, amen. How are we doing church? Good? I'm Pastor Brits. Good to see you. You look, well, except for the one person clapping, you look a little disappointed. You know? You thought Brock Purdy was about to walk out here.

I know what's going on in your mind. You didn't even know you go to church with Brock Purdy, but you do. And you can rest assured that he feels the same way about you. And what an encouraging word. What an encouraging thing to see someone that's got some spotlight on them, living their life and leveraging it for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Titus. Over the last couple of months in our church, we've been studying what are known as the pastoral epistles. And these are letters written from the

Apostle Paul to two of his spiritual sons. We just finished First Timothy, and today we're starting Titus. And these spiritual sons that Paul has been investing in and been raising up, they're church planners, their pastors all over the Roman Empire. And one of the the things that stands out when you study these epistles is that to the to God, the local church is a really big deal. That's really what these letters are all about. To God, the local church is a really big deal. I mean, when I think about my life, every good thing of significance that has happened to me in my life has happened in the context of a local church. I mean, I grew up in a healthy church. I grew up in a church very similar to 1122, an aggressive, gospel-centered, Bible-preaching

church with solid godly leaders preaching the Bible weekend and week out. And we used to do this event called Starlight Crusade where we would gather on our high school football field and we would put a stage there and put a big sound system up and we'd bring in all the best musicians and all the best preachers, much like what saturated it is for 1122. And year after year after year, we would just hear the gospel over and over and over and over again. And it was in this environment where I began to learn to hear the sound of the Lord's voice in my life. That's significant. Where I began to hear and know what it meant to repent of my sins, to surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, where I began to really understand what it meant

that God loved me and he sent Jesus to die for me. These are life-shaping, eternally changing realities that all were formed in me inside the local church. When I was a teenager in high school, I'm driving down the road and there's a little country church on the outskirts of the town where I grew up and it had a sign on it and it said missions conference tonight. And I just pulled in and I attended this missions conference and there was a missionary there preaching. He'd been on the field for like 40 years and he's just talking about how God is a missionary God and what God's heart for the nations. And it was in this little local church where my eyes began to open up that God is doing the work

all over the world where he is bringing every tribe, every tongue and every nation under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And I began to see a global God at work. That's life-changing. I was at church camp after college, and I was serving in ministry and I was working, and I met my wife at church camp. That changed things, right? Church camp's a good place to meet your wife. Met my wife. The two most formative questions that I believe you'll answer in regard to how you live your life are this.

Number one, who you marry, and number two, what local church you choose to belong to. I believe the pastoral epistles teach this. I recently had a parent moment. I don't know if you've ever had these as a parent, but I had that moment where one of my children did something and I go, oh, no, I have spawned, you know? I am terrible at directions, just terrible. Like, I can't, thank God for maps on my phone. I've always had a terrible sense of direction. I'm even worse at following instructions.

Hell to me would be assembling IKEA furniture for the rest of my life. This is the seventh level. It just doesn't get any worse than this. Okay? So we were recently at Disney, and I'm trying to raise responsible children. And so I look at my kids, and I'm like, all right, girls, we're going to go from where we are, which is inside of a restaurant. Our next ride is Guardians of the Galaxy. And, yeah, that's right.

Let's go. And so we're going to leave here and go to Guardians of the Galaxy. But Mom and I, we're not going to help you. You have to find your way to Guardians of the Galaxy without us giving you any instruction. Do you know what my oldest daughter did? She walks out. She looks around at the people, and immediately she just looks up into the sky at the clouds. And I'm like, what are you doing?

Like, are you Christopher Columbus navigating the ocean blue here? Trying to read the signs of times on this. She had no clue what to do next. She's got no sense of direction. She's just like her dad. Maybe the clouds will show her. Here's the thing about the instruction in the pastoral epistles. The reason God gave us these instructions is so that we don't have to guess how the church is supposed to be ordered, what the church has been ordained to do, and the power in which the church has been given to do the thing God's called it to do.

We don't have to look in the sky and try to figure it out. The pastoral epistles are the directions that we need. So we're going to pick up in Titus chapter 1. So what's the problem? If the Apostle Paul is out raising up all these young pastors and planting churches all over the place, what's the problem? go with me to verse 10 of chapter 1, and we're going to kind of work our way from back to forward in chapter 1. Verse 10, here's what it says. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced

since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain. That what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and to commands of the people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. Do you think the Apostle Paul might have had some thoughts about what was going on in Crete?

Cretans are from Crete. And here's the thing about Crete. Here's the thing about any city in the world you go to at any time in the world. And the same is true of what's happening in Crete, is that Crete was full of sinners. So what's the problem that the Apostle Paul is trying to address by planting churches. Well, the problem is this, that people need Jesus. People need Jesus. They don't just need a better plan. They don't just need tips and tricks for a better life.

They need Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Cretans lived in Crete. And Crete was a beach town. It was booming. It was ethnically diverse. It was socioeconomically diverse. There were both Greeks there and Jews there. And they shared a common language that they would use this word all the time,

Savior, Savior, Savior, Savior. And it was almost like a savior competition in their culture. To the Greeks, they had, like, deified these Roman, former Roman rulers, and they had kind of picked off the shelf some Greek gods and turned them into Roman gods and given them different names. And so there was all these false teachings and false gods that were being worshipped. And among the Jews, they were putting into practice some, like, mythological folklore, where they were doing a kind of a weird type of ancestry worship.

And all this was going on in Crete. And what Paul is saying is that all of these people are far from God, and what they need is a revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to plant a church because in the middle of the church, Jesus Christ is exalted, and that's what every city needs. That's what every city needs. So the brass tax is this. People in Crete and in our cities and all cities around the world were spiritually lost. They were disconnected from a God who created them, and they were completely unaware of it in Crete at the time. because in general their life was pretty good.

There is nothing more intoxicating than an average life because you don't realize you're drinking it down until it's over. There are people in their city and in our city who didn't know Jesus because they haven't heard. There are people who had heard but had not yet believed and they were all equally lost and all equally in need of a Savior. This past week, I was with some folks

who spend their life all day, every day, just thinking about the spiritual, condition of the world that we live in. And they're called missiologist, and they just think about and research and study what's going on all over the world in regards to the spiritual condition of the world. And some new data has come out, and it hasn't come out in quite a few years. And the truth was pretty, it was a good reminder for me. It was a good wake-up call for me.

And here's what's going to happen when the data comes out. The truth is that you and I, we live during a time when one, we live during a time when lostness, and what I mean by lostness is people who are spiritually disconnected from a God who loves them because they've not yet placed their faith in Jesus Christ and surrendered their life to Him, and they've not been reconciled in the right relationship with God through Jesus. That's what I mean when I mean lossness. We live in a time when lostness is an all-time high. Never in human history has lostness been as vast as it is right now and it's growing.

Currently, it is estimated that there are 12,355 people groups on the planet that represent 8.9 billion people. Of those people groups, 7,409 of them representing 4.9 billion people are unreached, which means that less than 2% of those people groups are evangelical Christians professing Christ's Lord. There are currently another, just over 3,000 people groups that have no evangelical presence. They have no Bibles in their language. They have no verbal witness. They have no church and they have no access to the gospel. That means that every day, more than 100,000 people die without Christ around the globe. We know that lostness is not just a problem, it is the problem.

It is the world's greatest problem because it's the only problem that comes with eternal consequences. We also know that there is a solution, and the solution is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need people, we need men and women to take the gospel to those who have not heard it and to people who do not believe it. Let me read a prayer request that came in this week from some of our 1122 missionaries that are serving in the southern Sudan. This is what the prayer request came in earlier this week.

It says this. It says, please stop what you're doing right now and pray for our Sudanese Christian leaders and the students in our Bible schools. These students have been taken by military and the leader has been beaten pretty bad. We don't know what is happening or what will happen. We are currently unable to get in touch with them. We know that an armed clash broke out, but we don't know what will happen next. Will you please pray for this desperate nation? Oh, Lord, please hear us, answer us and show yourself strong.

Listen to me, my friends. We are not here playing tiddly winks. This is not Country Club Christianity. We are beating down hell in Jesus' name, and we are joining in the Spirit of God, and we are advancing the kingdom around the world, even among the darkest places and the hardest to reach places. We believe that Jesus Christ came and lived our life in our place, and that he died on the cross instead of us. And that three days later, by the Spirit of God and the power of God,

he rose from the dead and we proclaimed a resurrected Christ that has victory over life, over death, and over hell. And we will take His gospel to the ends of the earth. Make no mistake about it, that God has an enemy and God's church has an enemy, but we stand on the victory of Jesus Christ. But it's not just some reality, this lostness is not just something that's happening out there somewhere. It is true right here as well. It is true right here as well.

I was not too long ago. I have a dog. I actually have two dogs. And I didn't want a dog, and now I have two. And the way the second dog happened was my wife texted me, and she said, hey, I think we should get another dog one for each kid. And I'm like, well, babe, pretty much you let me play as much golf as I want, so you can have as many dog as you want.

So the first dog I was against. I'm at my house. my wife, she's like, the dog's coming today, and I'm like, that's fine. And whatever, I've already lost. I'll just, you know, take my punishment. And so the dog shows up at my house, and she's in our house for like 12 minutes. And she's laying on my chest and she starts licking my beard. And I'm like, oh, I love you so much.

You know, and now she's like my bestie. Okay. So one day I got this dog and I take her to the, like, the dog haircut in place. The groomer, Dog hair cut in place. You keep that, write that down. I'll take her to the dog haircut and place. And I'm just standing there.

I got my little golden doodle. I'm just petting it. And there's a lady at the check-in desk and evidently she'd had a rough morning. And she may be here this morning, I hope so. And she's telling a story about her morning. Evidently, a trailer had flipped over on JTB near the beaches and some pigs got out and it caused this big traffic jam.

I don't know, man. hashtag North Florida. What am I supposed to do? This is just what happens. Okay? So I'm just standing there. Well, as she's telling her story, she's very frustrated, and she's using some very descriptive terms, most of which start with four letters.

All right? And I'm just kind of chilling with my dog. And as she gets done telling her story, she turns around to leave, and she looks at me. And she goes, oh, beep, you're one of my pastors. That's what she said. I'm just standing there, I'm like, I have a dog. Like, I don't, what do you want me to do? She's like, you're not even going to believe this.

My husband's out in the car right now. We were watching you on the YouTube's this morning. You got to come outside and meet my husband. And so I'm like, okay. And I follow her outside, and I'm looking over my shoulder. I'm like, if I don't come back, something has gone wrong, you know? And so I meet him, and I'm like, tell me your story. Tell me your story.

And true story, they had lived in Jacksonville in the same house for 40 years. 40 years, never been to church, never been invited to church, never heard the truth of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And one day, some new neighbors moved in. And as she told me the story, she said, these new neighbors moved in and they had one of them stickers on the back of their car. And I made the mistake of asking about it. And at that point in time, they had been attending our church for a couple of months, and they had surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and were very soon going to be baptized. at our beach baptism. Praise God for it. A couple of things I love about that story. Number one, we say all the time that we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus

Christ, and that includes people who cuss at their pastors at the dog haircut in place. I'm into it. I love it so much. Listen, if you're not into messy, you're not into the local church. If you're not into messy, then you're not into what God's doing in his people all over the world, because people are messy. People are messy. And we say that we're not just a movement for all people. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the point, is that we deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. And the way that people grow in God's love, the way and people grow in the understanding of the revelation of divine grace, the way people begin to understand God's word and apply it to their life, the way people encounter the truth of

God's word, internalize it and are changed and live forever. The context that, in which God has set up for people to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ is the local church. So the problem is people need Jesus. What's the solution? Titus chapter 1, verse 5. The Apostle Paul says, Titus, this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. I want you to organize local churches. That's what he's saying.

If anyone is above approach, the husband of one wife and his children, are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination, for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he might be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it. Anywhere there are people, there is a need for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means there is a need for local churches led by biblically qualified leaders.

Problem. People need Jesus. Solution. Plant churches all over the world full of people who are telling them about Jesus. Jesus in Matthew chapter 7 paints a picture of reality. And in this sermon that Jesus is giving, he's saying that what I'm about to tell you is more real than anything you've ever experienced is real. There's everything that you call normal.

And then behind that, there's the reality of the kingdom of God. And it is more real than anything you've ever experienced. In Matthew 7, this is what Jesus says about reality. He says, picking up in verse 13, he says, you can enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. Verse 14, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Jesus is saying is that there's a crossroads between life and death. There is a crossroads between an eternity spent flourishing in God's promises in heaven and an eternity spent apart from God's presence in hell, that there's a crossroads between the abundant life as offered by Jesus Christ and the average life that this world would prescribe or the apathetic life that we could so easily fall into, that there is a crossroads between the fullness of joy forever and the, emptiness of self-indulgence forever. And at this crossroads, there is a people gathered. And they're there like a signpost. And these people are pointing to a person. And they are

pointing to a person. And his name is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That this is the narrow gate that leads this life. And at the middle of these people who are pointing at Jesus Christ, God raises up and appoints qualified pastors and elders that have been given the sacred task of holding this word and contending for Jesus Christ and his kingdom on this earth. And I want to introduce you today to one of these qualified leaders, one of these qualified pastors. He's one of our own. He's been serving at the Church of 1122 for the last seven or eight years. And the most recent post that he's been in here is that he has been the campus pastor of our Fleming Island campus.

And his name is Todd Hickox. And we love him very much. Now, I need all you Fleming Island people to calm down. I'm talking right now. So I can hear y'all yelling from Clay County all the way over here. And the Clay County people get on to me there like every time you say Jacksonville, you know, we're not from Jacksonville. We're from Clay County.

Okay, all right, fine. Right. But he's been serving as the, he's been serving as the Fleming Island campus pastor. And God has called him to leave our staff and to go plant a church that he'll be the lead pastor of. And we're so excited for him. We're so pumped for he and his wife, Heather. Over the last handful of years, our church has partnered together to plant 774 local churches all over the world. Praise God for that.

So, for those of you that know Todd, you love him. For those of you that are just getting to know him, you are in for a real treat. I'm going to throw it to a video that's going to give a little backstory on what you. where Pastor Todd's going and the church that he's going to be planting, and then he's going to come up and he's going to finish preaching the rest of our text through Titus 1. So as soon as this video's over, you're going to give him a gangbuster 1122 welcome. Amen. Amen. Church, Pastor Todd Hickokx. My name is Todd Hickox, and this is my wife, Heather. We have served here at 1122 for the last eight years. We launched our Fleming Island campus.

and now we are going to plant a church in Bozeman, Montana. The name of that church is Bridger Church. So the year 2020 was a year that, you know, we're all going to remember. But the focus of our church that year was sinned. Like, here I am, sinned me. So we're praying those prayers, just like everybody else is. We just didn't know quite what the Lord was up to. Well, a conversation happened with a church planner named Jeff Luni.

Jeff is the pastor at Docks of Church in Green Cove, but he was just sharing with me his prayer and desire for the Big Sea Church. And I went straight from that. We had saturated that night at the response, it was time to go pray, and we went down and prayed. And I just looked to her, and I said, I think maybe the Lord wants us to plant a church.

That was nowhere in my mind or brain, so it was shocking to me when he said it, and I did tell him, we just got here. We were very happy and kind of comfortable where we were. And thinking of changing again was not on my mind and not something that I was, I don't think I was ready to hear it in that moment when he told me. Bridger Church is a light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. That whole light language came from in my Bible reading plan I happened to be in 1st John.

He talks a lot about walking as children of light, being in the light as he is in the light. And I just said, that's what I want. That's what the gospel is. That's what gospel people do. And our hope for Bridge of Church in the next couple of years is that people would come to know Christ, that they would have an encounter with him and they would start to live life in him. Bozeman is a, it can be, and it is a pretty dark place. People move to Montana for a way of life.

And I want to enjoy that too, while pointing to the creator that gave this life, the creator that made these hills. One thing the Lord's teaching me is just taking the next faithful step and what that looks like. But it's neat to see how God's already moving even before we get there. So it's just joining him in that and what that looks like. That's something that I'm learning is to pray bold prayers. One of our big prayers is to have some older people join us to. That's something where right now it's kind of our age and younger going.

We're looking for some older people. I think that people sitting in our seats that are part of this gospel-centered mission-focused movement that is 11-22 are also ready to go. Whether you're in college, whether they're in your 30s and you've got three kids, or whether you're retired, you might be ready to go. And we would say, come. You could send us by praying, and then you can send it by funding us. The more that people are able to say, you know what, I can't go.

I will pray. And I want to be a gospel patron to this thing, then man, praise God. And if you would like more information or you want to be able to donate or stay connected in any way, you can visit us at bridgerchurch.com. Wow, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Be seated. Please. Thank you. Hey, I, uh, I want y'all to give it up for my wife. Wasn't she amazing in that video? I love you so much, babe. Pastor Britt, I was forever changed by a local church as well. Westside Baptist Church, my mom started going to that church first. She was saved when I was about two years old.

And then they did something called visitation. So imagine Tuesday night you're having dinner. That's when the Baptist knock on your door and interrupt your dinner. That's what that is. And the pastor showed up at my house. Knocks on the door, introduces himself, leads my dad to Christ in the living room. And so we start going to that church. And I was raised in that church and disciples in that church. I got saved when I was in the fifth grade.

Met my wife in that church. Also on visitation. I was then the high schooler that knocked on her door with the youth pastor. And that's the first time I met my wife. We're church people, man. We got it all up in us. And then I want to know, I want you to know, I'm thankful for this local church, man. 1122. I got to thank you so much for living the abundant life, for making him the one thing that drives everything, for putting Jesus before all things. Because of you, my life is forever changed. My family has discovered and deepened in our relationship with Jesus Christ because of you. I'm a child, like Paul would tell Titus and Timothy, their true children in the faith. I'm a child of this place. And I got to thank you. My daughter was saved and baptized at Beach Baptism a couple

years ago. We adopted two kids because of this place. We got two more kids in our house because of the one initiative. That was our next step of faith. We knew that God wanted us to do that, so we're doing it. And now the Lord is calling us to plant a church. But you got to know, church. I love you so, so, so much. I want to finish our text together. We're going to be in Titus, you already know that. We're in Titus. We're going to be in verse one, and I get to finish. He says this in verse one.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth. Paul is very clear here. Men, in a year that we are all called to stand firm and act like men, I would say this to you, based on what Paul just said. fortunate is the man that knows who he is and why he is here. Paul is very clear, I'm a servant of God and I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. He says he's a servant first.

John 13 is where we get this picture of what true servanthood is. In John 13, Jesus, knowing that all power and all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him, what did he do with that? He took off his outer garment. He wrapped a towel around his waist. and he washed his disciples' feet. Men, we follow his example here. We follow Jesus on this one, guys.

You serve first in your home, in your workplace, and in this place. You serve your bride, and you serve this bride, the bride, the church. You serve. You're a servant of God. Do you know who you are? And do you know why you're here? Paul was here for the sake of the church, for the faith of God's elect, and for their knowledge of the truth.

you and I, men and women, have been given that same God-given authority to be sent ones. That's what an apostle is, to be sent ones into every place that you plant your feet. We are ambassadors for Christ, Paul would tell the Corinthians. That would mean we are speaking on behalf of the king in a place that we do not belong. Our citizenship is in heaven. And so we speak to the language of the king while we are here. You're an ambassador for Christ. Do you know who you are?

and do you know why you are here? And then he says this, which accords with godliness. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect, which accords with godliness, or which also can mean is consistent with godliness. Godliness is going to be a theme

that we're going to see over and over and over again as we study Titus together. Godliness. 1122, deepening and your relationship with Jesus Christ is godliness. And it also leads to godliness. And I want to say this. Beware of the disconnect that can happen

between your faith and your knowledge of the truth and the way that you live your life. You see, here's the deal. In 2020, when we were walking out this, what it meant to be sent, what it meant to pray the prayer, here I am, send to me, when we all in 2020 took a look at Isaiah chapter 6 and we were praying those prayers.

My family and I were too. And what I knew to be a call from God when I had that conversation with Jeff that led to just this crisis of faith in my life, what I could have done was just said, no, we're good, man, we're comfortable. This is good. We're comfortable. We just got here. The next thing that we want to do in our life, it'll just come later. Lord, I know that this is the call from you.

what I could have done is just said, we're good. But I knew that there was the knowledge of the truth in my faith and my life in connection to that. That is what I'm talking about when I say godliness. Godliness can be defined using Paul's words right here in Titus chapter one as living out your knowledge of the truth by faith. And then he says in verse two, in hope of eternal life. This is a phrase that I want to hone in on this one.

morning that I want to be crystal clear on. Now here's what I want to make sure you understand. I don't want you to be confused by what Paul is saying here. Because if you're unfamiliar with biblical texts, what you can do is you can read that and say, well, it seems like that Paul is an apostle and he's a servant for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, hoping that one day he will get eternal life. That is not the way the gospel works. We use the word hope differently than the New Testament uses the word hope. Let me give you an example. I hope the Jags are good this year, man. I hope so bad. Every single year, I hope so bad that the Jags are good. We enter into it and then we get eight

games in. And I'm like, we suck again. You know, like it's the worst. And then, Coach Liam shows. up and he gives us his Duvall. And now I have so much hope. I have so much hope. We got Big Bo in the office. This is going to be an amazing year. But we don't know, man. We don't know. This is not what Paul is talking about. It's not that kind of hope. I'm not talking about an optimistic feeling about something good that may happen in the future. When the new tech, Testament uses the word hope, we are talking about something that is sure and solid as the foundation that I am standing on right now. A hope that we have that is anchored not, this is, I'm going to give you an English lesson today, okay? You came to church, here's some English. What is a noun?

It is a person, place, or thing. We use it in the terms of like a verb. It's an action that we take. We are hoping. Well, in the New Testament, you know, uses the word hope. It is not a noun, or excuse me, it's not a verb. It is a noun. It's not some action that you take or something that you do or something that you strive for. It is an action that God did on our behalf to save us. That is the hope of eternal life. I do not want you to be confused about this. It is a person, place, and thing. It is the person of Jesus. It is the place of heaven. And it is the thing of salvation. that is eternal life and it is abundant life.

And let me tell you something, church. Eternal life starts right now. Right now. It's not something that we're waiting on. See, salvation is not our fire insurance that just keeps us out of hell. Salvation is an abundant life that Jesus, his life in us,

the hope of glory, eternal life starts right now. You want to know how you can live eternal life right now? You can join you. You can join God in the eternal work that he is doing all around you right now. Henry Blackaby would say this, and I'm reading this book again this year, experiencing God.

He would say, you see where God is at work, and you join him in that work. So you can join him in that work. And you can also go with us to Bozeman. It's not a joke, man. I'm serious as a heart attack right now. You see, every sending church has players, prayers, and payers. Every sending church. You know what we're praying?

We're praying that 100 people from 1122 go with us to Bozeman to plant this church. 100 people. And you might think, dude, you are crazy. I know. I know. I'm praying those big, bold, audacious prayers because the scripture says, immeasurably more is what God's into. And so I don't want something that I can make up and make sense of in my head.

I want something that God makes sense of and that only he can do. That's what we need. That's what we need. A hundred of you. Prayers. Now, some of you are going to go, all right? And I love it that the Holy Spirit's making all you all uncomfortable. I love it so much.

But what we need from all of you is we need you to pray. when you plant a church, it is a declaration of war, y'all. Do you understand? And you declare that these people and this place belongs to the kingdom of God when you plant a church. And the enemy comes against that with everything that he's got. You know what we need? We need people on their knees, fighting with us and for us. We need all of you to pray. And then some of you are payers. Praise God. You would say, man, I can't go, but you know what I can do? I can be a gospel patron to this thing. I can be a gospel patron to this thing because of generosity in my life, because of the gift that God has given me.

I want to fuel and fund what God is doing through this local mission known as Bridger Church. My friend and dear brother, Pastor Ben Williams, I heard him say this one time and it's always stuck with me. The gospel is free. Praise God, it's free. but the road that the gospel ministry runs on is paved with cash and it ain't cheap in Bozeman so praise God man for gospel patrons I want you to do this a step that you can take right now is to pull out your phone and text the word bridger that is B-R-I-D-G-E-R-Bidger to 4-4-1-1-2-4-1-212 and there you will be sent a link where you can begin to take some of

those steps. We've got a couple of interest nights coming up at some of our 1122 campuses, and you can be in attendance just to hear more. Now, you may say, well, if I show up, does that mean I got to go? No, that's not what that means. That's not what an interest night is. It's no ways that you can know how you can join what God is doing, either by playing, praying, or paying. So text the word Bridger to 44, 1122. So how can we know with confidence, this hope that we're talking about in Titus chapter one. How can we know? Well, I'm glad you asked, church.

Look at, he keeps going. In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, and I think this is funny, but it's worth pointing out. Of course we know God never lies. But why would Paul say this to Titus? Well, Pastor Britt read in the text earlier that the Christians that he's surrounded by are liars. They're all liars.

So he's reminding Titus, this man who is standing and proclaiming the gospel. listen, don't succumb to the lies of the people that they're going to lie to you. You remember that all of this is anchored in a God who never lies. Our God never lies. And he promised before the ages began. Listen, this salvation was secured before anything ever happened. Paul would tell the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter one that you were saved before the foundations of the world. And look at this.

And at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching, with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. So what Paul was made manifest in the word by preaching? The hope of eternal life. The gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what we stand and we proclaim. This is why 1122 at every single gathering, it will be centered on the preaching of the Word of God.

It will be centered on the preaching of the Word of God. And we proclaim the hope of Jesus Christ every time that we gather. And this is why we plant churches. This is why we go out to the four corners of the world and just proclaim the truth of the gospel. This is why we want you to discover and deepen in your relationship with Jesus Christ. And hope that is deferred makes the heart sick. So don't defer this hope. Go and live life on mission.

Come with us to Bozeman. Go be faithful in your workplace because the gospel and a life on mission, is worth it. It's worth it, church. Paul's message to Titus is still true today. Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Preach the gospel. You see, you and I, every man and woman in this place, was made to be in a relationship with a holy God.

We were made for that. We were made for that. The word says that eternity was imprinted on every human being. When Adam was formed out of the dust of the ground, And God breathed the breath of life into him when Adam opened his eyes. The first thing that he saw was God, his creator. And that's what we were made for. We were made for that.

And then just a few moments later, what they began to do as they were living in the garden, just at peace with God and at peace with themselves, they began to hear whispers and lies. And they began to doubt the work and the worth and the word of God. and when that happened they believed a lie and a great rebellion took place and they sinned

and the Bible says in Romans 3 23 Paul would tell these Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that all means every single one of us so there was something we were created for but sin fractured

that relationship the wages of sin, the Bible would also say in Romans, is death. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6, 23. It's crazy how much we love the darkness. It's crazy how much we are so comfortable with the darkness. You see, our sin, when you wake up in the morning, many of you are going to go to work, and you're going to earn a wage. Well, did you know that your sin also goes to work for you, and it earns you a wage, and that wage is death? The wages of sin is death, but that verse keeps going. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now how does this make

sense? Redemption is taking place. In Romans 5-8 it says this, but God demonstrated his love for you. And for me and for us, God showed his love for us that while we were still sinners earning the wage of death that Christ died for us. Christ died for us. He didn't just die for us. You hear our pastor say this all the time. He died instead of us. In love, Jesus took your place because our sin earns us a wage. But what Jesus did on the cross is he took that from us. In love, the father poured out wrath that was stored for us, for our sin, on Jesus, the son. And it killed him. It killed him. The sinless one. dead. And they pulled him off of that cross. After he cried out, it is finished, and he made that

full payment. They pulled him off of the cross like a wet spaghetti noodle dead. He wasn't swooned, and he wasn't passed out, and he didn't need just a little bit of water. He was gone. And they put him in a tomb, but it was a borrowed tomb because my God rose from the dead. Three days later, we're going to celebrate this in just a few weeks. Three days later, they put him in that tomb, And on Sunday, when Sunday happened, he came out of that tomb. Colossians 1 says that Jesus is the firstborn from among the dead. Do you know why it says that? Go back to what I just said just a minute ago when man rebelled.

Because of that first man, Adam, sinning, we all inherited that sin nature. And Adam killed us all. He killed us all. But Jesus being the firstborn from among the dead, having paid the full payment, rose from the dead so that we could have life again. This is the beauty of the gospel. This is why Jesus is alive. I need you to recognize something, church.

If Jesus is not alive, then what are we doing here? Why would we sing songs like, because he lives, I can face tomorrow? Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because he lives, all of this life is worth a living, church. We serve a risen savior. A risen savior. Some of y'all are excited. Some of y'all are looking at me like, you don't know what in the heck,

talking about. He's alive, church. And because he is alive, we are alive. And we can be alive. And how do we respond? We respond in repentance and faith. Repentance and faith. The Bible says that if whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. You believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. Have you ever done that? The name of the Lord is Jesus, by the way. His name is. means salvation or saving one. It's as if you are hearing the gospel message and you are knowing that counts for me. And I believe it. I believe it not. I believe it for the first time here today. And you call on the name of Jesus and you say, Jesus, I believe that what you did counts for me.

Save me, Jesus. Save me. And if you've never done that today, I want to give you an opportunity to do that today. I want you to bow your heads and you want you to close your eyes with me. As we wrap up our service, I want to give you an opportunity if you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus, the one who I just told you about. John 316 says, for God so loved the world, that means he loved you, that whoever believes in him won't perish, but we'll have eternal life. You know what that word says? Whoever believes in him, a lot of people mess that up and they think, I got to understand everything there is to know about the Bible before. I do this.

No, it says, whoever believes in him won't perish, but have eternal life. And if you would say for the first time today, you know what, I hear that message, and I admit it, I am a sinner. I'm a part of that all category, and I need a savior. I admit it. And you believe, you believe that not only do you believe that he rose from the dead, but you believe that it counts for you, the one sitting in your seat. It counts for you.

and then I want you to confess him as Lord. And the way that you can do that right now, for the first time you want to trust in Jesus today, you can lift your hand in the air by signifying, here I am, Jesus, save me. I want you to lift your hand in the air and say, here I am, Jesus, save me. Praise God.

Jesus, thank you so much for the gospel. I thank you for saving faith in this place. I thank you that my confidence is not in the messenger. It's not in me. but it is in the power of the gospel to save. I thank you for the message that you gave Titus through Paul, to stand firm, to stand firm into what it means to have hope and eternal life with the God who never lies.

I love you, Jesus, and I pray all of this in your name, and everybody said. Amen. Amen. Amen. Church, give it up for my brother, Pastor Todd Hickokx. Man, thanks for where I grew up, they called that Shuckin' Gospel Corn. That's what that's called. And, yeah, man, thanks for bringing the word, bro.

We're so proud of you. We're so thankful for you. As your church family, we want you and Heather to know we love you. We send you. Many of us are going with you. So thank you, man. God bless you. When I met this guy, he's hugging me, man.

He's hugging me. When I met this guy, we were in my office a few years ago. And it was just clear that he had an an anointing on his life. for gospel ministry, that he was qualified, that he was called, and is such an honor to serve Christ with you. Amen. Amen. I love you. I love you. Thanks for the hug. Don't y'all get any ideas about hugging me later. None of y'all. No touching. All right? Here's how we're going to respond. You heard Pastor Todd say it. A couple of things. If you haven't texted Bridger Church or Bridger to 44-11-22, do that right now. You can get all the information you want to know about Bridger Church.

coming up at our campuses, one at our North Jacks campus and one at our Mandarin campus on both sides of town and 1122, we're going to show up and we're going to show up in support of what God's doing through Bridger Church coming up starting next weekend. These are happening. So that's a way you can respond is to text in, get the link, and sign up an RSVP to be at the Vision night. Maybe you are a player. Maybe you are a little uncomfortable. Maybe you've been sensing for a little while that God is leading you to a significant next step. You just didn't have words for it. And today, God is saying, you have put your yes on the table, but I want to move it

to a new location on the map and you're going to go with Todd. Praise God for it. And you may be sitting there thinking, what kind of church sends their people to another church? Are these people crazy? Well, the truth is, you're not our people. We are God's people and we go wherever he sits. So maybe you're a player. Maybe you're a prayer.

We're about to respond in prayer. and invite everyone to spend time praying for for Bridger Church and for what God's doing there. And then last, maybe you're a payer and you want to sow some gospel seed. You're going to be financially generous to the work that God's doing through Bridger Church. We would encourage you to do so. At all of our campuses, if you would stand with me, we're going to respond to the gospel. We're going to respond to the good news of the revelation of Jesus Christ and all that he's done for us and all that we are now because of who he is.

So let me pray for us and then we're going to respond. Jesus, we love you. We thank you. We thank you for the gospel message. We thank you for your word that is timeless and trustworthy. We thank you for the good news of salvation. We thank you for loving us, for adopting us, for calling us into your family. God, we thank you that you loved us first.

And because you loved us first, we can now receive your love and we can love one another. I pray for Pastor Todd and I pray for Heather as they step into faithful obedience. God, I pray that you would buy us. up the enemy that would come against them. And I lose flourishing. I lose wholeness. I lose peace. I lose authority.

I lose the mantle of leadership. God, we pray that you would raise up an army of men and women to come alongside of them and to serve shoulder to shoulder to advance the gospel across our country and across our nation and across our world. God, you have called us and we put our yes on the table. And we trust you to put it on the mat. As we respond, Father, we pray that your heart is blessed and that our lives are changed. We love you more than anything in this world.

And you pray these things in the power of Jesus' resurrection. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. Would you come? Would you pray for Bridger Church? Let's respond. The reality is everything already belongs to God. And when we give financially, we're acknowledging that we trust him.

If you just watch this and feel led to make a donation, text the word donate to 441122 or visit C-O-E-2.com slash donate. Your generosity is not only an act of worship, but an investment so all people can discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.