In this opening message of a series through Titus, Harris Creek pastor explores Paul's charge to appoint godly elders in every town on the island of Crete. He examines the qualifications Paul lists, blamelessness, faithfulness in marriage, disciplined children, and upright character, and applies them to every believer's sphere of influence, whether home, workplace, or community. The sermon argues that God measures leadership maturity not by talent or skill but by ordinary, consistent obedience to his word.
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“One of your most powerful preaching gifts is your willingness to bring your own life into the text without making it about yourself. When you shared your 22-year marriage anniversary and said, "I've never loved my wife more.”
Read the full insights report →Six sermon moments, automatically clipped, subtitled, and sized for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts.
Unlock with your sermon →“Understanding the Truth Have you ever watched someone from a distance and thought they had it all together, only to get close and discover something was missing?”
Read all 5 days of the devotional →“Small Group Discussion Guide Leadership That Lasts: Building on What's True Based on the Sermon Series: Titus, Week 1 A Note to Facilitators: This guide is designed for 60-90 minutes.”
Open the discussion guide →Scroll-stopping captions, strategic hashtags, and posting strategy with best times to share.
Unlock with your sermon →“According to the pastor's interview with sibling groups from his young adult ministry, what was the single most consistent pattern in families that produced faithful children?”
Take the sermon quiz →“Crete was the largest Greek island in the Mediterranean, about 160 miles wide and 3,200 square miles in total. In Paul's day, it was a crossroads of trade, culture, and competing religions.”
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Unlock with your sermon →“Paul's opening is remarkable for its density. In the ancient world, letter openings identified sender, recipient, and greeting. Paul transforms this convention into a theological argument.”
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Unlock with your sermon →“A few years into ministry, I traveled with a mentor to Boulder, Colorado, to visit some churches. From the highway, those church buildings looked impressive, large, established, clearly doing something significant.”
Read the pastor's blog post →“What comes to mind when you hear the word "leader"? If you're like most of us, your first thought probably isn't yourself. Maybe you picture a CEO, a politician, or a pastor.”
Read the guest perspective →Talking points that let elders, deacons, and volunteer leaders share Sunday's message from their own accounts.
Unlock with your sermon →“From afar, I was very skeptical. I thought, you know, this is big. They've got 46 campuses. How do you shepherd 45,000 people? Like that's impossible. If it's big, it can't be biblical.”
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Unlock with your sermon →According to this sermon on Titus 1, a leader worth following is blameless, faithful in marriage, raises children in the faith, is not overbearing or quick-tempered, avoids drunkenness and dishonesty, and practices hospitality and self-control. God values who you are over what you can do.
This sermon teaches that children raised by parents who visibly live out their faith, sharing the gospel, serving others, and staying consistent between Sunday and daily life, are far more likely to follow Christ. Confining belief to Sunday while not living it out confuses children and disconnects faith from reality.
The sermon explains that while parents aren't ultimately sovereign over a child's salvation, elders and leaders are called to raise children in the faith through discipline, modeling, and living on mission. The standard reflects whether a leader faithfully shepherds their own household before shepherding God's household.
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