Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: One of the things I love about.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: The book of Titus is how it deals with belief in behavior. Now, my behavior doesn't save me. That's a finished work of the cross. But my behavior does prove that I'm saved.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: It's like the two sides of a coin, heads and tails. If you were to split it right.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Down the middle, that'd be hard to do, and it's hard to do in.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Our belief and behavior.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: So what I believe about myself and.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: My identity manifest in my behavior.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: So we want to be growing.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: In the book of Titus gives clear.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Instruction on how to deal with our.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Behavior, how to grow, and how to.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Allow God's grace to train us in.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: The way we should act. And the way we act matters because it puts God on display in the midst of a broken culture. We've lived in some really good days in America, many decades of just good. And good times can create. It does create weak men, and there's a lot of weakness all around us. The enemy, I think, can easily deceive people.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: Today.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: I mean, I ran into a guy today that was like. I was like, well, hey, man, you should come to church. And he's like, I don't really do that anymore, but I'm still spiritual.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: And I said, well, you're not spiritual.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: In the form of following Christ. I mean, you can't abandon the community and then say that you're a Christ follower. And he was like, well, yeah, I just like to fish and be out in nature and stuff like that. And I said, well, it sounds to me like the enemy's deceived you.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: And I said, don't be one of.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Those weak men in our world today. And I told him, I said, if.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: You want to believe Christ, then you've.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Got to act accordingly. Right now, in this day and age, we need men who are focused on honoring God in their lives, who are focused on what grace is training us to do. In Titus, 211 and twelve says, the.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Grace of God brings salvation to all mankind, and it trains us to renounce ungodliness.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: So renouncing to me is like it.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Means to make a formal declaration for.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Me to formally declare that the power of sin no longer has power over me because of the cross, because of the blood of Christ. And so that's renouncing.
And you can do that as you're repenting. Draw those battle lines. Draw those lines again.
It's not a one and done. You might have to renounce things daily, maybe hourly, right? Like, fight the good fight. And so it's like, I want to.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Renounce ungodliness and the worldly passions. And then it says, grace trains us.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: To live self controlled, to live.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: To live from our beliefs, and that.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Our beliefs would manifest an impact in our behavior, that we would behave like.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Men who are self controlled, upright, and godly.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: And so I made an appeal to this guy, like, hey, I'm for you. I'm not against you. But, man, don't fall in that weak mindset and just let Satan kind of take over with just that one little weak thing of, like, you're going to turn fishing into spirituality. And I get it, man. I get it. I know church culture is tough at times, but when you show up, the church isn't perfect. So when I show up, it's already not perfect. It's like, stop looking for a perfect place. God says not to forsake the gathering of the saints. And so I'm not meaning for this to be like a go to church kind of video, but we should be engaged in community. We've got to be engaged in inspiring one another. We should be engaged as disciples, as men after God. So look at this concept of self control for a few moments here.
Yes, we renounce ungodliness and really passionate.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: But if you study the entire chapter.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Of Titus, too, the word self control.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: Is used, like, four times.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: It tells the old men to be self controlled, tells the women to be self controlled, tells the youth to be self controlled. What is self control? Self control isn't. I don't really like that the word.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Self is in the word self control.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: I kind of like the idea more of the word initiate because I'm not bringing superpower to this relationship of, like, I'm just going to muster up apart from God, there's the type a world and the crush it world and all.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: That kind of stuff.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: That's not all bad, but I'm just saying it's a little different. The self control in Galatians five, love, peace, patience, kindness.
I'm going to read them because I don't want to put the pressure on me to have. To have it all memorized right here.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: But in Galatians five, the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: The greek word for self control is, I believe he's pronounced it in grateia, and it comes from two greek words, n and gratos. And n is just our english word in. And gratos is super.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: It's power.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: It's taking dominion over something. And I liked looking the hebrew word for self control actually has very little to do with self.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: They don't even talk about the self.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: It's tapping into God's power. It's understanding that you've partnered with the divine. Self control is like a wall that you would erect, a wall of security in your heart, in your souls. Like proverbs talks about the guarding of your heart where when you're under attack, no matter whether you're under attack or not, right? Like every day, every moment of our lives, we have the ability, through self partnering self, we're initiating the power of the Holy Spirit in us to help us to continue trusting God no matter.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: What we are facing. Man, just tell me, just look at, that'll kill anxiety. If you marinate yourself in God's trust, that'll kill fear, it'll kill problems in.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Your marriage, it'll kill problems in your.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Own life, your own heart, your own self. And it gets back into our belief in our identity.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: And our identity is much larger than us.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: A true biblical view of identity has to do with community first and then you. It's the plural into the singular.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: What is God doing in the greater.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Context of his people? And how do I as an individual fit into that?
[00:05:56] Speaker A: And I think we miss that part or we blow past it or we think we know it or whatever.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: But I just want to encourage you.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Guys today to.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Value the power of.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: The Holy Spirit in you, to know.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Who you are, whose you are, and.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: To grow in this power of what you're believing about God and about his.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: People and about yourself.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: And listen to proverbs. I mean, it's powerful.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: A better way to put this is like to rule over your spirit, right?
So self control isn't us bringing all.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: This type a energy to the table.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: It's not us bringing the superpower so we can take on our enemies by.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Ourselves, but it is the ability to.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: Trust in something other than our own.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Innate strength to restrain or to prevent an external enemy.
So self control means that God, through.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: The Holy Spirit's given me the ability.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: To trust him, to trust his strength, trust his power, trust his ways, trust his will.
And in that trust, we defeat the enemy. And this is the same type of trust we're to encourage our brother in trust God.
It sounds simple, right? But it isn't easy trusting God all the time. It isn't easy.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: We face hard things in life.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Titus is know. He's know by Paul.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Like, go into the towns that we've.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Stirred everything up and got broke ground and stuff and go put it in order. And he was giving him these clear.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Instructions, saying, put it in order with this letter.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: And this is how the people should act.
Proverbs 25 28. A man without self control is like.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: A city broken into and left without walls, without this ability to trust God. No matter what you're up against.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: That's how you rule over yourself, guys.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: But when we let go of that, you're like a city without wall, without.
[00:08:08] Speaker C: Defense, and the enemy just comes in and just devours.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Proverbs 1632. Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: And he who rules his spirit than.
[00:08:23] Speaker C: The one who takes a city so.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Important to be partnering with God.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: And I think of all the dynamics of how shame and guilt and just regret and, you know, things that kill.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: Our hope and our energy.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: We're up against all kinds of things.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: Right now, and Titus would encourage us.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: To let God's grace train us.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: You're not done yet.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Your life isn't over yet. You got another day. I don't care how old you are.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: How young you are, you can continue.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: To improve and grow. And I want to challenge you today.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: To just grow in the ability of.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Self control, in the concept of how.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: I've laid it out here, like trusting.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: God no matter what, so that you would not be like a city without walls.
[00:09:12] Speaker C: Until next time, live upright.
