Influenced by the Gospel

``Church, if you are no different today than you were when you were a non Christian, have you truly internalized the gospel? The gospel, it reshapes your character, your conduct, and your convictions. It has to permeate those things in your life. You cannot continue to live like a non Christian and call yourself a believer. That means that it hasn't permeated your character, your conduct, or your convictions. The gospel. So we're gonna start there. What is the gospel? [00:53:43] (35 seconds)  #gospelTransformedLife

Blameless. What is blameless? That that that that's a big word. What does it mean? It's a legal definition. As I looked it up and understood, it is a legal word. It means that there cannot be any charges formally held against you. The judge will turn them out. He goes, no. Those won't hold. You're supposed to live a life that is not legally charges won't stick. You're not sinless, but people can't make acquisitions against you that will stick. Interesting. Right? Blameless, it's a legal word. Blameless, it's a term that implies that legitimate charges can't be brought against you. [00:59:24] (37 seconds)  #blamelessExplained

So the big idea for the sermon, the big big thing for the sermon I want you to get out of this is when the gospel truly influences your life, it reshapes your character, your conduct, and your convictions. When the gospel influences your life, it reshapes your character. You you can't have the same character you had before the gospel. It reshapes your character, who you are, who you think you are. It re reshapes your conduct, how you live as a result of that conduct. It reshapes your convictions, what you think is right and wrong. [00:53:06] (37 seconds)  #gospelReshapesYou

The church is watching you. The church is saying, does your life does your life reflect the fact that you say that Jesus is Lord? Does your life reflect your encouragement that Jesus gave you? Does the life reflect or does it not? The church is watching you. Who else is watching? Who else is watching the elder, the influencer? The world is watching you. The world. The world is watching you. The world the your reputation, the gospel is at stake with your reputation. [01:00:55] (36 seconds)  #theWorldIsWatching

There's nothing different about him. His lifestyle looks exactly like everybody else because church, what is different between you and your neighbor? You know, the one who takes care of the yard, who pays the bills, who who helps in the neighborhood and and supports the United Way. What's the difference between them and you? You know, is there a difference? And if there's not, why not? Church, lifestyle issues, lifestyle. What are they watching? Your doctrine issues. Hold firmly to the trustworthy message. [01:05:42] (38 seconds)  #liveDifferentLifestyle

How are you doing at that? How are you doing at inviting other people in? People that you care about saying, hey, this is my life. This is how I interact with my wife. This is how I interact with my children. See, how do we get to evaluate? How do we get to see that unless you invite people into your house? It's really easy to look good on Sunday mornings. Right? Mostly you dress well. Right? Right? But but what about Tuesday afternoons? Right? At your house, in front of your family, in front of your dogs, in front of your cats. Right? How are you doing? A blameless person lives their life on display, interact with one another, engage with one another. [01:09:43] (42 seconds)  #invitePeopleIn

A blameless person lives blamelessly in a hedonistic culture. A culture that is always searching for pleasure and and always searching for the next wow moment. And does that not describe us? Does that not describe the city that's 60 miles to the west of us? Hollywood producing all of those distractions. It sure does. A blameless person lives blamelessly in a hedonistic culture. If you are not leading a blameless life, has the gospel truly penetrated your heart? That's what you need to ask yourself. I don't know why you came to church this morning. I don't know why God and the spirit led you here, but that question haunts me. [01:11:00] (47 seconds)  #blamelessInCulture

Three tasks. One, finish the work we left unfinished. Finish the work that we started. There's a work of God there. I want you to go and and and get that work going. Two, I want you to establish leaders. I believe Christians can change with the gospel. I believe that people who are once liars can tell the truth. I believe that people who who had fallen away can live holy, righteous, and blameless lives. And then confront false teachings. Titus, you can do this. You can do this. [00:52:32] (34 seconds)  #finishAndLead