The transfer of ancient knowledge from one generation to the other

I invite you to go to the epistle of Titus, to Pastor Titus of the Apostle Paul. It is a very nutritious and very solid epistle. It has a very special teaching and it was written to a pastor by the Apostle Paul, a church that he had helped found and Tito had been assigned to that community to pastor it.

It was almost like putting up a construction site practically, and it was a bit of a tough community, that area seems to have been known as a bit of a trouble area and actually had a bad reputation. And Pablo felt the need to talk to Tito about how he should deal with this slightly troubled community. And it is important to know that in light of what he is advising Tito to preach, to speak, to teach, how he should behave, because he is doing it in the context of a difficult community, a troubled community, a community of one slightly prickly character. And for example, if you go before you start chapter 2, verse 1, in verse 12 Paul talks about this community, he says:

“…One of them, their own prophet said, the Cretans – because this was the region of Crete and then there was this community that Titus was shepherding and Paul says, – look, even one of their own people said about they, always liars, evil beasts, gluttonous, idle..."

Have you ever been called a bad beast? I hope no. but it is a good way to insult someone, bad beast, gluttonous, idle. What a terrible recommendation. And he says, this testimony is true, that is not false, it is true, they are like that. And says:

“…therefore rebuke them harshly so that they may be sound in the faith…”

He knows that there is also a place in pastoral work to rebuke people. So if I ever rebuke you, know that I am on the authority of the word. People believe that pastors are only to put their hands over their heads. There are times when you also have to confront, that is part of the pastoral work. How many say amen, Hallelujah! Glory to God.

Thank God that I am the complete opposite, a bundle of sweetness and blessing. Nobody has anything to say about me. But he says, "rebuke them harshly so that they may be sound in the faith."

What does the word do? When one preaches the word of the Lord, there are times when the word can be confrontational, it can be unpleasant, like it hurts one, but part of that is because it is also a medicine that heals us. Sometimes when they apply medicine to us, it stings and even hurts, but it is healing and generates life.

So, Paul says, use the word for these people you have to form their truly Christian character. So I believe that what Paul is saying has to be understood in the light of that negative context, of that harsh, carnal character that this community has that is being formed little by little to become a community that reflects the Christian character.

So here in chapter 2 he goes into a corrective teaching. He tells Tito, look, concentrate on this, preach this, form this type of character sensitivity in them, that your teaching be of this type to counteract those negative attitudes that they have. We pastors have to teach according to what we discern that our people need. We have to give them the food they need and the pastor chooses every Sunday, every time he intervenes as one discerns the needs of God's people. And then Paul says, these are the things that you have to speak and teach.

I believe that in our time in which we live, in this social context in which the church moves and that when people come to church, they also need to be formed. I feel that our call as pastors, as preachers, should be that, to forge in our people a certain sensitivity, a certain way of being, a character. I believe that this is the most important part of the Christian life, letting God and the Holy Spirit and the word of God shape our character, our personality, our way of being, acting and behaving.

So, Paul says, well, this is the diagnosis, this is what these people suffer from, these are their faults. Then he says:

“…But you… – he is talking about what he just touched on in his introduction – Tito, pastor that you are, you must do this, in this way you must teach, preach and behave. "But you speak what is in accordance with sound doctrine."

Brothers and sisters, you know that today there is tremendous pressure on pastors and churches to change doctrine or to repress and silence certain topics and certain teachings that people consider offensive, that the prevailing culture considers contrary to their appetites, their desires. , her preferences and what she considers moral, ethical, etc.

Our culture has changed in an extraordinary way, everything is being questioned in our times, from sexuality, human relations, politics, morality, it is a time of great change. And there is a very great pressure on the church and on the churches and on the pastors to only preach about certain things and not to preach about other things, so that people can come and enter the church and feel comfortable, not be Don't spoil their lunch when they leave the church, don't leave confronted, upset and restless. No, people come to be anesthetized. Many people come to church to be told something nice, to be consoled, encouraged, told that I am worth it, that God loves me, and everything is very necessary and very important. Church should not be a place where you go limping because the pastor has been spanking you the whole time while he is preaching. No. I think there has to be the other side. But many times you have to...

When I preach I have to draw my teaching from the word of God, not from the customs of the world, not from the times, but what the word of the Lord says. And we also have to come to church to be taught, to be instructed, to be formed and even when the pastor says something that we don't like, we have to meditate on it because this man who is here preaching is supposed to have the best intentions. I can only preach what my conscience tells me and what I feel the word of the Lord is saying. And if you don't agree, at least give me the benefit of the doubt that I am doing everything possible to preach what the Bible calls that sound doctrine. In other words, not the subtle, exotic, sophisticated, and sometimes heretical teachings, but that good, home-cooked, solid, time-tested food that stands up to the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit and when God examines it says, I approve, I put my stamp on it. approval of that teaching.

The church needs sound doctrine like never before. In these times especially I believe that people do not need so many theologically sophisticated teachings, although that is good from time to time, but what they need is solid food, spinach and protein because times are difficult.

“…speaks what is in accordance with sound doctrine – and then he gives you some examples and you will see that Paul includes a very diverse number of character qualities that Titus should emphasize in his teaching, many different qualities. We are going to see a diversity of things and characteristics that he should advise the members of his congregation to acquire and manifest.

But before I get into that I kind of see that the sum of it all, the coherence in all this diversity of things is about Christian character. There is a character, there is a personality, an attitude that should characterize the children of God. And I think that the emphasis that he places on all these different qualities is about sobriety, dignity, seriousness, discipline, a sort of collected behavior I might say. That is the emphasis, there are other qualities in other passages of scripture the Bible points out, but in this case what is being pointed out is those qualities such as seriousness, integrity, sober behavior, centric behavior, centralized.

So, a sober, dignified, disciplined, serious life. And then he says, to the elderly, and here I think he is referring not to the elderly, for example as pastors who are spiritually elderly, but rather to the older people, to the people who are entering age. And I think that we don't have to go too far here, from a person who is 80, 85, 90 years old. I think it can also refer to the older people in the congregation. But he says, to the elderly, because remember in those times old age was highly revered, the elderly in a community were like the people to whom one looked for an example, they were the people who were the models worthy of respect, reverence, veneration .

Then he says, in a congregation teach the elderly, the older people to be sober, serious and prudent. Those 3 things I think are characteristics that we all need to start developing and we will see later that when he talks about young men and young women of marriageable or married age, he is also suggesting that very similar spiritual profile. But he says about 6 characteristics about the elderly - I think the first ones are part of a whole - sober, serious and prudent and then he talks about being healthy in faith, love and patience.

But let's take a moment these 3 qualities. I don't think I have time to discuss them all, but I hope that in the end you will leave with a sediment of teaching that you can meditate on even if you do not manage to exhaust all of this passage. The first quality says that they are sober. That quality in the original Greek 'nefalios' refers specifically to not being…it's the opposite of a person who is subject to wine, who is addicted to wine, to alcohol, to be teetotal, to be sober, but I think that it goes much deeper than just a dependency on liquor. And the idea is that they are people who have subject their appetites and their impulses. I believe that as a man or woman of God grows and develops in maturity, they should be a person who is in control of their appetites. I think that this is something that one develops little by little over the years, but one gradually submits one's flesh, dependencies, appetites to the doctrine, the teaching of the Lord.

I believe that the word sobriety also refers to a person who is not at the mercy of circumstances, always with great enthusiasm or with great aversions to others. It is a person whose fluctuations are not from here to there but rather who moves in a very intermediate way, who is sober, restrained and disciplined in their emotions.

I believe that it is one of the things that we have to aim for every day in our lives, to be more and more in control of our emotions and our appetites and to ask the Lord every day to make us more aware of ourselves so that we know on which foot we literally limp so that then the Lord can bring those things under his discipline.

Let them be sober, let them be serious. That's a very interesting word, the word 'semnos' that actually how many were at the service this past Wednesday? I know that some of you were here and if not ask the Lord for forgiveness right now. I certainly forgive you. The Apostle Paul in the epistle to the Philippians also speaks of a series of qualities. When he says, by the way, brothers, everything that is true, everything that is just, everything that is honest, that honest word is the same word that Paul uses here for serious. I was saying that in Philippians that word that is translated into Spanish 'honest', is not exactly what the original Greek means.

The word semnos refers more to having a certain dignity, something honorable, a way of walking with a certain dignity. And it refers to that quality that a person, a man, a woman of God must have, an experience in the ways of the Lord, who must be distinguished by dignified behavior, honorable behavior, worthy of respect. So it is this idea that the servants of God are not tacky people who are always out there patting people on the back and telling jokes left and right. It is not that we are serious either, but there has to be a certain behavior, a certain dignity as one begins to mature in the Lord one must behave in a serious and sober and dignified manner.

The other word is prudent, 'sofron' or 'sofronein' which means that they have their own domain, that they have control. It is the same word that Paul uses when he says, because God has not given us a spirit of cowardice but of power, of love and the word sofronein, self-control, but it also means a sober mind, a sound mind. Let them be prudent.

Do you know what the word prudent means? A person who thinks things through, who speaks when he has to speak, who has the right word, who behaves discreetly. And as you can see these three words sober, serious, prudent, make like a photograph, a profile of a mature man in the Lord and this can also be applied to a woman. We have to have that collected character, that sober behavior, worthy of a person who has been treated by the Holy Spirit and who thinks about things before doing them, who does not allow himself to be carried away by emotions and appetites but is controlled by the God's word.

Quite the opposite of what the profile of these people is when they enter the church, the Cretans, beasts, gluttons, idlers, liars. This is the complete opposite. And certainly, as children of God, as we grow in faith, we have to ask the Lord, "Lord, make us behave more and more each day with that dignity, with that character that inspires reverence and respect from others."

So, sober, serious, prudent. He says to be healthy in faith, in love and in patience. In other words, that they are healthy means that they are balanced, treated, healthy in those 3 areas, in faith, obviously that they have a solid faith, that they are people of solid doctrine, that they are also people who know how to go through the trials, the difficulties of life, healthy in faith, in love. A mature man in the Lord, a mature woman in the Lord has to reflect that loving character, the older we get we must be the complete opposite of bloody fat. Have you seen the caricature of the bloody fat, aggressive, difficult, eccentric old man? The Christian must be the opposite. As the years go by they should become more loving, more tender, more tolerant of others, so that people want to be with them instead of the opposite.

In love and patience, that word patience is 'jupomone', it means in strength, in resistance, when trials and difficulties come. He is talking about men, but again I say that these things can certainly apply to all of us as well, but that the elders of the congregation, the mature people of the church, these must be some of the qualities of their character.

“Old women likewise be reverent in bearing.” That is a very nice idea. I wrote Catestemate ieroprepeis here and it means... it's very interesting because Paul wrote these things in the original Greek, that they should be of a demeanor suitable for a holy person, that they behave, that they walk, that when people see them, their profile, their behavior is suitable for a person who walks in holiness, which is interesting with this word of semnos, serious. He is applying those same kinds of qualities to a woman mature in the ways of the Lord as well.

I think that linking that with what I preached last Wednesday about everything honorable that we also say everything honest, let's think about these things. It is a quality of the son of God as God is dealing with us, I believe that certainly the servants of the Lord, servants of the Lord, must acquire that bearing. It doesn't mean that we don't laugh, it doesn't mean that we don't have a good sense of humor, but it does have to have that characteristic of a certain reverence in walking, in behaving, in a certain way.

Think of a king or a queen, Queen Elizabeth, for example, in England how when she greets, when she goes in a car and there is a crowd around her, she does that with her hand, very softly, a lot of reverence. Not so, "Hey, how are you?" that is here in the United States, here it is the opposite. Here the president is supposed to be with everyone, to have a beer with a person from television, to tell jokes. The ancient sensibility is one that the person walking on certain levels should conduct themselves with a certain reflective dignity. We are kings and priests, doesn't the word of the Lord say so? Say to yourself, I'm a queen, I'm a priest and behave like that then, let's see what's going on here.

Old women likewise be reverent in their demeanor. The worst thing out there is an old lady in a miniskirt and fishnet stockings pretending she's 25. I believe that one has to enter his age and the same for a man equally, with a great chain here at 80 years old, acting as if he were a teenager. No, you have to be reverent, you have to carry yourself in a certain way. We ask the Lord to help us grow old gracefully, with dignity. But it's not like we're going to die, sister, you understand, put on your lipstick and your heels, don't worry, as long as God allows you to do it, do it, that's good. But be reverent in your bearing.

Not slanderers. Listen to me, a gossipy old woman that's the worst thing in the world, brothers. And an old man too, an old man, no, no, we have to be... slander, gossip, gossip, these are things that are not appropriate for a son of God, a daughter of God. We have to rebuke that, get it completely out of the church. Our speaking has to be seasoned with salt, says the word. If you want to add a little sugar and cinnamon too, even better.

The son of God has to speak in a restrained way, that his words are weighty words, not slandering people by saying ill of people. People should trust a child of God because he knows that they are not going to stick a knife in his back.

Not slanderers, not slaves to wine. Imagine an old lady all drunk, walking around like that, that's death itself. Old women must be sober. But again, it's not just the idea of the drink, I think that any kind of… there he is referring to that self-control, that control that we must have. If your addiction is Coca Cola, well sister, ask the Lord to help you drink less Coca Cola, whatever, but that we be in control of our appetites, we are in control of our emotions.

Let us ask the Lord for that self-control that befits a son, a daughter of God. Are they still with me or are they bored? Because this is not a sophisticated teaching, this is rice with beans and stewed meat. It is homemade food but very healthy.

Not a slanderer, not slaves to wine, teachers of good. Caldidas calos. Say it 100 times real fast. It means that they are good instructors of good. A servant of God must be distinguished for something because words of teaching and wisdom come out of her mouth. And it's interesting that he then applies this to the role that the older, older women should play in instructing the younger women in the church.

I know that now all the sisters are saying, “Oh, that applies to me, I am the young woman and let the old women teach me.” Because there are no old women here. It says, teach the young women to love their husbands and their children.

I am going to get into something that can be a little controversial for the liberated women of our church, and modern professionals of our time. But I was struck by this idea of more experienced women discipling younger women. That was a custom that could be understood very well in ancient times, but today I think that the custom of young people looking for models, mentors to help them learn the role has been lost. of a mature woman, Christian in spirit.

And I want to apply that because in reality that was what captivated me the most about this passage, because I believe that in our times something has been lost that throughout the history of humanity has been a very important quality and that is the transfer of culture, the transfer of ancient knowledge from one generation to another. Today that is the opposite, where the youth... you see, for example, this idea of young adult churches causes me a lot of difficulty, as occurs so much in the United States at this time, churches where you don't see a only one older person but everyone from 20 to 30 years old, over there, and that's it. And I believe that this is contrary to the word of the Lord.

What I rather believe is that transference where the old instruct the young and receive energy from them and the young bless the old with their vitality, with their strength and learn from them and mutually treat each other, work on the each other. The devil has wanted to divide the generations in our time and you see that today the world is practically in many areas ruled by the youth. For example, the world of technology, the world of music, the world of cinema and the media, much of it is governed by people between the ages of 20 and 30, they are the ones who code the computers, the ones who look like the music, all those people are young. Today youth is glorified a lot, old age not so much. And I think that's part of what's causing a lot of the serious problems we have in our culture.

Paul tells Timothy, teach the older women to instruct and mentor the younger women and that means that the younger women must allow themselves to be mentored and project an attitude of wanting to be taught. Because many times adults and the elderly want to teach young people but one sees that barrier, don't touch me, don't interfere in my life, under a false sense of independence and like you have to respect my space. You see 10-year-olds telling their dad, “Respect my space.” And parents are often intimidated by that.

I believe that what God wants is a healthy rapport that adults who have had experience have been treated by life, go on teaching. And this was what captivated me the most about this passage and I want to dwell on that. You may not have that much time to unpack all that I am telling you here, but it does say to “teach the young women to love their husbands and their children, to be prudent, chaste, keepers of their homes, good, subject to their husbands. ”

I know that if I had been talking about my own meat now they would be throwing bananas, tomatoes, lettuce at me here, because this is so contrary to the culture in which we live. Many women than me, to take care of my house, to respect my husband, to hold on to him, forget it. Anyone who dares can attack him. That is why what I believe is said here, that it teaches sound doctrine, in other words the church has to teach what is for the healing of cultures and nations. When that is lost, when we pastors allow ourselves to be intimidated and do not preach these things because we are afraid of what people will think, we have lost the sound advice of the word. We are stealing from our congregations.

I believe that there is a profile of a man and a woman, I am already talking about youth and character, the behavior of a Christian man and woman that has nothing to do with the 21st century or the 20th century or the 25th century. or whatever, this is something millennial and eternal.

Paul tells him, to the older women teach the younger women in the congregation, disciple them, mentor them in loving their husbands and their children. As I say, I don't have much time to go into each of these things, but let me tell you something, I think that one of the things that has been lost in this time with the fluctuation of culture and changes in roles and freedoms that modern culture is taken for the formation of people, and even in many churches this type of thing cannot be preached because in a very subtle way what the word of the Lord says has been replaced by another type of understanding to which it has come little by little in a very quiet way and everybody has entered into an agreement. We are not going to preach these things and if we do preach them, we preach them by passing and running and going to the other verse where there is safe ground. And they stop preaching things that are so important.

Brothers, in this time when human sexuality is in such flux and change as never before in history, Christian families have to place great emphasis on instructing their children in what is a behavior of a man and a woman. women. Now I am not going to talk so much about character itself, but rather what it is to be a good wife, what it is to be a good husband, what it is to be a manly man and what it is to be a feminine woman because this is very important .

I know I am walking into very deep waters. Yesterday I was in a store and while I was walking through the store shelves I saw a woman about 40, 35 years old, American. She looked, I'm sure she was quite well educated, with a little girl who was about 10, 11 years old and when I saw her it shocked me and Meche says that I am very quarrelsome, because I am always looking at the human drama. So, it struck me that when I saw her, the girl was dressed in athletic pants, a sports beanie, and a sports tee shirt and I looked because she looked girly but frankly I wasn't sure. I saw her from behind and it could have been a little girl or a little boy. And I observed the mother as well… by the way, I may be having a world of imagination here but I think I am quite a good observer that God gives me a certain degree of discernment and I feel quite safe in saying what I am saying and if not anyway she doesn't even know we're talking about her.

The case was that I observed her carefully and then I saw her from the side and she was a little girl, a young girl because she already had her anatomy, she was developing to a certain point. But what captivated me is that apart from that his behavior was very difficult to detect if he was a male or a female. And I think that she was already reflecting some characteristics... she was more like androgynous, she could be a boy, she could be a girl and the mother was very calm. And I wondered, how will this mother feel? I suspect she was...

We are at a stage where even children today, I found out recently that they are being taught... Juan Carlos told me in Colombia and here in the United States there are parts where children are being taught, don't decide what you you still are, because you are neither male nor female, that is something that is decided little by little and that culture teaches you. There is a lot of talk about it and more and more every day in this culture here in the United States I see more and more people that you look at them and you don't know if they are men or women. Am I correct or not? How many of you have had that experience?

And sometimes you look and you don't know if it's a man or if it's a woman. Meche and I were traveling and another little girl, she was about 12, 13, 14 years old but again I studied her and examined her carefully but I didn't know, I couldn't say at certain times, or was she a girl and she was a little woman, Meche told me He claims that she was a woman, or she was a young girl with serious fluctuations in terms of her feminine identity, or a man, that's what I thought, with serious difficulties regarding her masculinity.

But today more and more in the world we live in, human sexuality is under question like never before in all of history. And we – what I want to say is the following – as the church of Jesus Christ, as fathers, mothers, you young mothers and fathers and those who are going to have children in the future, do not be afraid to teach your sons or your daughters to be male or female. I do believe that there is a way to be a man and to be a woman. Forgive me but that must be continuously taught. And since our children are born we have to teach them.

Because there is a biological virility that is anatomical and that is chemical, hormonal, but on top of that there is also what is virility, what is that masculine character, what is that feminine attitude, and I believe that this is important for health of the human being This little boys are playing with dolls, I'm good to a certain extent, but I think that little boys should still play with action heroes and we have to teach them to do things, because we are in a dangerous time. Nowadays one kind of has to tilt things in the opposite direction because there is so much force in the other direction that in our homes, we have to teach our children what it is to be a man, what it is to be a woman, our daughters, sisters, I believe that our daughters must be taught how to take care of a house.

I believe that as much as possible one should exercise…. I know that this is different, each one is different. Abigail knew from a very young age that she wanted to have children and she wanted to learn to cook and all that. It took Sonia more time, she is already entering that stage now. Sonia has been like more of an intellectual, professional orientation, but she is also already learning to take care of a house while looking towards getting married soon. And I think it's as important as possible that mothers disciple their daughters to look to the future when those daughters are going to have a home.

I believe that today in this modern world in which we live, young people enter 50 and 50, you take out the garbage today, I take it out tomorrow. You wash the dishes today, I'll wash them tomorrow. And I think there obviously has to be a mutuality. Here is Meche who won't let me lie. Meche, do I wash dishes in the house? Of course. If I have to wash, if I have to mop, I believe in all of that. I heal in health so that you understand what I am saying, sisters.

This idea that women are the ones who do everything in the house and the man comes and sits down to watch television while the woman comes home from work and also starts cooking and washing the dishes and doing everything, she goes to bed at 2 in the morning while he has been snoring since 9 at night, I don't believe in that. but I do believe that there is something very special that we have to teach young girls, because I see these young people today that one does not see in them at 13, 14, 17 years old, the ability to make a woman fall in love. How does a young woman fall in love? How do you talk to him, how do you treat a woman? When they have to enter a home to raise children, to educate them, where are they going to learn these things if there is no mentoring, if parents do not teach our children to be manly?

I believe that in what is a relationship between a man and a woman, the man has a certain natural aggressiveness that is necessary, as long as it is controlled. I believe that part of the homosexual's problem is that he has not learned to get in touch with that aggressive, masculine part with respect to women. And if you manage to find that voice many times, it is much easier to deal with that situation.

But I do believe that one owes everything possible to our children, the church of Jesus Christ has to educate our youth to be housewives, to take care of a home, to respect a husband, to submit to the leadership of a husband, while the man must also be educated to protect his wife, his family, not to be oppressive, not to be controlling, harmful, not to be violent with his loved ones, quite the contrary, to be a figure of Christ in the home, but also knowing that there is leadership.

I believe in the leadership of the man and I believe that there is something beautiful when the woman respects her husband and also when the man does not abuse that right and serves his wife as Christ says he served the church. So that's a wonderful dance where the woman respects her husband and the husband overflows loving his wife. That is beautiful.

And I believe that this should be preached, brothers, if the Church of Jesus Christ remains silent about these things because it is not politically correct, because it is contrary to culture, we are robbing our people of the need to hear these things. That is what is called sound doctrine, brothers, and that is what this society needs at this time and that we, the parents in the churches who are educating our children, are disciplining them, discipling them, teaching them.

Women of God, take time to educate. Mothers, educate your daughters to be feminine, prepare them for marriage, because many times those couples that are 50 percent, 50 percent, are going to have serious problems and that is what we are having today with marriage and with so many things. I think it must be simply where each one goes out of their way for each other.

That is something that I teach nothing else, brothers, it is this profile that I see here. Young women to love their husbands and their children, to be prudent, that word of prudence again, chaste, pure, women who behave well, who dress like married women, who conduct themselves in a collected and sober manner , that they be careful of their house, that they attend that their house is not sleeve by shoulder, with the pants thrown on the floor. Fix your house, take care of your house, be good, be meek, be simple, be subject to your husbands so that the word of God is not blasphemed.

In other words, because many times, as Christ made us free, we are equal, because then that often brings discredit and many men who could be attracted to the Gospel are scandalized by this behavior of that woman who is now finding her freedom and equality in Christ and then they are scandalized and do not come to church. I have seen many times husbands who do not come to church not because they are difficult, but because their wife does not set an example for them.

There are others who are simply stubborn and even if the woman fell on the floor they would continue to be stubborn. But many times the woman has to be wise. Sister, you receive this as far as you can and apply it as you can. I believe that he reads the word of the Lord and that has its applicability.

He also exhorts young people to be prudent, here is something for everyone, young people to be prudent. Old men, old women, young married women, and young men. I think that is also important, there is something beautiful when there is a youth that behaves in a respectful way. I thank the Lord, the young adults is something that I see something very beautiful in these young adults, this ministry of young adults and it is that God is raising that group in a very beautiful way and if there are any of them here I want to encourage them . I see some characteristics that I think are very solid characteristics, very biblical in the sense of people who want to help their church.

I recently heard that they say, look, we are spending air conditioning when we come when we meet and other things. We are going to start giving to help our church with its expenses as well. There is a certain obedience, a certain subjection, a certain ability to be taught, a certain meekness, that I see certain qualities that God is blessing and I hope that it remains that way, because it is something beautiful when there is a youth that allows itself to be taught, that he respects his adults, that he loves his adults, that he expresses that desire to have contact, to have intimacy, to have fellowship. That is very important.

That is the way the Christian family is going to prosper. It is an intergenerational family, the elderly already experienced and treated by the Holy Spirit have certain qualities, they instruct those who are going to go through different seasons in life, they mentor them, they disciple them. Those younger people let themselves be taught, they let themselves be instructed, they respect, they love. That is the glory of God on earth. There is blessing. The spirit of God then moves in a very beautiful way.

And to the shepherds he tells us, presenting yourself in everything as an example of good works. It is true, we have to set an example, we have to behave. Preach morality in underpants, how can one preach? It is not that we are perfect but we do have to be an example and we have to behave in a way that supports what we are preaching.

In teaching showing integrity and seriousness, healthy and blameless word so that the devil is ashamed and has nothing bad to say about you. And that is what I wanted to do this morning, brothers, to give a teaching as the word says, that is healthy, that is like an ointment that one puts on a wound that is resentful and that calms the burning and brings peace. to the heart and heal the people of God, because the people of God need that healing. Show integrity in what one preaches. That is to say, it is not what people like to hear but rather it is preaching what the Lord dictates.

This morning before I got up here I asked him, Lord, help me to preach your word, what you want me to preach, not what people want to hear, not what I want people to hear so that they say, oh , how good is the pastor, but a word that comes from the Holy Spirit for the people of God.

Let us learn to appreciate and be thankful when the word of the Lord is preached to us, even if we don't like it, even if it disturbs us a little, but that's why we come to the Lord's house, to be disturbed. May God create in us that character of a people treated by the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We are going to ask the Lord that as a church we can be that people that God is pleased with, that we can have healthy families and educate our children in the fear of the Lord. Father, we open our hearts to your word, we open our souls, Lord, to your teaching, it begins with us, Father, we present to our children, the generations ahead, that our church be a hospitable place for a healthy spirituality and that this pulpit can always be a place where a word of integrity is preached, a word that is backed by a life and that our men and women, our youth, our marriages, can reflect that health and healing that befits the house of God .

We deliver this word to you and we ask you to help us live it, Lord, each day for the glory of your name, in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.