Detestable, Disobedient and Despicable

He's being influenced. Joe was being influenced. Paul is worried about the influence in Crete because of their background. Voices that we hear today, voices that Paul was concerned about. Because not every confident voice is a truthful voice, church. Not every spiritual sounding teacher is from God. Some voices sound right. Some voices feel right. Some voices look right. And yet, these people lead others away from the truth. [00:34:07] (36 seconds)  #DiscernTheVoices

The wrong voices truly can shape your family. They can shape your future. The wrong voices can absolutely shape your your faith. They can have an impact on it. You hear the wrong voices a lot of times and and we're gonna look at it and today's, I'm feeling like I gotta bring maybe a prophetic word instead of a comforting word. A word that causes you to say, am I following God or am I following a man or a woman? Who am I following today? [00:34:55] (30 seconds)  #WhoAreYouFollowing

This is what Paul is saying. Knowledge of the truth, we we I highlighted it at the beginning of the text. Knowledge of the truth leads to godliness. This is why I want you to open up the books in the morning. This is why I want you to read. This is why I want you to listen to the word of God. Just put an earphone on and thank God. Let me hear your word this morning because knowledge of the truth leads to godliness. [01:07:27] (21 seconds)  #TruthLeadsToGodliness

But something's off. Something is off with Joe's thinking. There's more conflict in his life than there is peace. There's more pride now than there is humility. There's more division than there is unity. His wife finally confronts him and she says, why does following the sky make it harder to live with you? And why does it make you less like Jesus? And that hits him. Hits him right in the heart, right in the gut. [00:32:49] (34 seconds)  #DoesYourFaithReflectJesus

And little by little, week after week, month after month, Joe starts to change. He starts pushing those ideas that he's heard from the guy at home. Over dinner conversations that turn into arguments. At church, he he starts to push these ideas and he starts to create tension where there was no tension. He starts questioning the leadership. He starts pulling back from the community because he's convinced that now he is right. [00:32:11] (38 seconds)  #SlowDriftIntoDivision

instead you're cursing at the person who's hurting you, just tell them, go get a job. You become cold hearted. You're following the wrong person. So church, be careful about who you're letting influence your life. Be careful about who you allow. If you got people who are just sending you these notifications on TikTok and social media, get rid of them. You don't need their influence. Character communicates belief. Find a leader and take them out to lunch. And then say, I just wanted to know about your character. Right? [01:10:35] (33 seconds)  #ChooseCharacterNotClout

Remind yourself of that in the morning. Going, I am valuable. I am so valuable that Jesus Christ died for me today. Why am I listening to those voices that are telling me I don't measure up? Why do I why do I compare myself to others and see that, wow, they have such a beautiful life. I don't have such a beautiful life. And as a result, I'm nobody. I'm nothing. [01:05:37] (23 seconds)  #KnowYourWorthInChrist

Every morning, just preach yourself the gospel. God loves me so much and there's so many people that need to be reminded of God's love, God's grace, God's forgiveness, God's genuinely appreciation for them, that he sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Those failures, those times that we have fallen and we have we have completely blown it, we have transgressed, we've walked away. God sent Jesus so that we could have an internal relationship with him. [01:05:05] (32 seconds)  #PreachTheGospelToYourself