Sermon Central
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Are You Living Right? Series
Contributed by Jon Daniels on Jan 11, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Based on Titus 2:12 - Sermon challenges the hearers to consider the critical importance of staying in the Word of God &, by His grace, living a life that honors Him.
“ARE YOU LIVING RIGHT?” Titus 2:12
FBCF – 1/10/21
Jon Daniels
INTRO – “Time for a Checkup” series – 5 basic questions about our spiritual lives this month. Last week: “Are You Saved?” Today: “Are You Living Right?”
Maps – Used to use them to chart the course of a trip that we were going on. Buy them at convenience stores & truck stops. Glove compartments in our cars would be stuffed with them. Now, they’re virtually obsolete w/ the technology that we have available to us now.
But there’s still an important concept that maps teach us: The importance of knowing which is the right direction for us to go. Whether using a paper map or listening to a voice speaking to us from our phone, we all want to make sure that we are going in the right direction to reach our destination.
You have a map book in your hand right now. It’s a spiritual map book & it’s called the Bible.
- It’s the only true & living Word of God. SETTLE THAT & BELIEVE THAT! There’s no other book like it or equal to it – Not Koran, or Book of Mormon, or corrupt NWT from JWs.
o Hebrews 4:12 – “See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work & is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit & joints meet marrow, & it is quick to judge the inner reflections & attitudes of the heart.” (CJB)
- It’s given to us so that we will have the directions & instructions we need to go in the right direction in our lives.
o Evangelist Gipsy Smith told of a man who said he had received no inspiration from the Bible although he had "gone through it several times." Gipsy replied, "Let it go through YOU once, then you will tell a different story!"
- Its place in our lives must be a place of priority & practice.
o You’ve got to carve out some time out of each day to read the Bible. You need it to live spiritually as much as your body needs water to live physically. SO important to do this. (Big DOGS reading through the Bible together this year).
? To grow in your walk w/ the Lord, you need a plan for consistent intake of the Word. Devotional plans & books are great, but make sure that you are getting into the Word.
? Adrian Rogers: “No Bible – no breakfast.”
o Not enough just to read it. We read it, strive to understand its application for our lives, but then we must put it into practice in our daily lives.
o James 1:22 – “Be doers of the Word & not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (NKJV)
EXPLANATION – Titus 2:12
“Make no mistakes: What you believe will eventually determine how you behave” (Skip Heitzig, You Can Understand the Book of Revelation, p. 32). Paul’s instructions & counsel to Titus in this short letter are based on the firm foundation of solid Christian doctrine & theology.
- Oswald Chambers: “Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common, everyday relationships.”
- R.C. Sproul: “W/out right doctrine, right living is impossible. We have not really understood Scripture if we are not changed as a result of our study.”
Reading & studying Titus will help us understand how to live right by living a life that is pleasing to the Lord. It tells us what to do, & also what not to do – things we are to imitate & things we are to avoid. As we see in our Scripture verse today, there are things that we need to steer clear of & things that we need to strive to live right & glorify God in all that we do.
- Look at Titus 1:16 – How tragic if these words describe your life or my life!
- Look at Titus 3:3 – How tragic if these words describe your life or my life!
- Look at Titus 3:10-11 – How tragic if these words describe your life or my life!
The good news is that these don’t have to describe your life or my life! Like we said last week, we are saved FOR something, & that something is to serve the Lord. We don’t “get saved” & then just go & live any way that we want to live. Some people think that, if they pray a little prayer, they’ll get their “fire insurance” paid up so they won’t go to hell, but their lives never change. I would submit to you that that person was never truly saved in the first place. We certainly aren’t going to be a perfect person, but we certainly should live a different life b/c of the complete transformation that has happened to us when Jesus came into our lives.
