sound doctrine

August 12, 2024

Family Responsibilities

Titus 2.1-10

Paul exhorts Titus to speak the things that are fitting to sound doctrine. To teach the things that align with the Word of God. While times may change and cultures shift, the Truth never does. That’s why it’s absolutely imperative for the health of a church to be rooted in the truths of Scripture.

Teaching the Truth is important. But living It out…equally important. Hearing and doing. Faith and practice. One without the other will not do and leads to the dishonoring of the Word of God. But when we live out the Truth, when we put Faith into practice, then we adorn the teaching of God our Savior in every respect.

Reminds me of what Jesus’ said in Matthew 7.24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

So, let’s strive to be a people who not only speaks the Truth, but also a people who lives It out. And let’s do it together.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Titus series. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

August 5, 2024

Taking Care of Business

Titus 1.1-16

Paul writes to Titus, instructing him to set things in order and appoint elders…men who are well qualified to lead the flock as stewards of God.

The importance of sound doctrine…of the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word…must not be underestimated. A church stands…or falls…based on its fidelity to the Scriptures. That’s why it’s so important that we have elders who are committed to promoting and defending the Truth and the truths of the Bible. They bear a huge responsibility. Please pray for them.

And watch out for those who don’t have a high view of Scripture. Their conduct, character and conversation always give them away. Out of the heart…

If you have not yet trusted in Jesus, please make today the day. It is as simple as recognizing that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. Believing that Jesus is the Savior that God promised. He lived a perfect life. He died a sacrificial death on your behalf and was raised the third day conquering both sin and death, so that by faith in Jesus you can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from our Titus series. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or Threads: @ccclancaster. You can also download our Central Christian app in the iTunes App Store.

July 26, 2021

Preach the Word

2 Timothy 3.10-4.5

Paul admonishes Timothy to “preach the Word”…if we are going to make disciples, we have to stay true to the Word.

But why is that so important? Adam and Eve in the garden. Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What knowledge did Adam and Eve gain when they ate of the fruit…the serpent promises that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. But didn’t they already know what was good? Wasn’t that God’s assessment of creation? Didn’t they know that God was good and the Definer of the good? So what did they gain? The ability to define the good for themselves. Now they could determine what was good and evil, what was right and wrong apart from what God had revealed. In becoming their own gods, they also became their own barometers of Truth. And so Truth would seemingly become relative. But the Truth has never been relative. When heaven and earth split apart in the fall, it was those who looked to the things above, to the heavenly realities who followed God and were willing/able to see the Truth as Truth. Those focused on earthy realities continued to define truth according to their own image, according to their own sliding scale.

When we first trust in Jesus, the Bible says that we are new creatures; but our perspective isn’t automatically realigned. Vestiges of the flesh and a culture hell-bent on dragging us away from God tend to keep us very earthy and self-centered. And we continue to look like the world around us. We see Truth as relative. And that’s why fidelity to the Scriptures and preaching the Word has to be foundational.

Discipleship is the process of learning to think and act differently. To reorient our perspective so that we begin to see the world through God’s eyes and to respond to others the way He would. It’s not an automatic process, but a change in lifestyle. And that only happens as we become immersed in the Story, as we remind ourselves who we are and what God is calling us to. It’s learning to see my resources – my time, my money, my relationships – through God’s eyes.

One of the scariest things in this passage is the fact that the challenges to the Truth come from within the church. If we do not have a strong commitment as a church to the Truth of the Scriptures and sound doctrine, then we as a church will be in danger of falling into error. We all have to be committed. Because false doctrine may seem to start innocently enough with an applicational thought, “This is what this means to me…” which becomes a deadly disease that spreads throughout the body. And the church disintegrates from the inside. It generally happens when we let our circumstances define Truth. We should apply the Truth of God’s Word to our circumstances, but we should never let our circumstances define Truth. Right and wrong isn’t my opinion, but what the Bible says.

pro rege

This post is based on a sermon from Sunday morning. Download the podcast at: Central Christian Church Main Service, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter: @ccclancaster