If the video above is not available, here are two other ways to view:
Short Clip
If You Believe Right
You will Behave Right
Believers who are grounded upon the right beliefs about God and His truths to live by will not be swept away by false teachers, false teachings, the changing circumstances of life, or even the alluring tug of sin. If we believe right, we will behave right. Wrong behavior is always tied to some lack of faith-prompted obedience to God’s Word.
So Paul prescribed “sound doctrine” as the tool to shape a generation of former pagans now gathering in house churches around the island of Crete. What exactly is “sound doctrine”?
Sound, healthy, or godly doctrine usually has four clear identifying marks:
it comes from the Bible,
it centers upon Jesus Christ,
it produces the right behavior, and
it promotes spiritual growth, touching the heart and changing life, not just the intellect.
Today’s men have the same challenges that those of Crete faced two thousand years ago. The sins, temptations, and pressures of all ages in the past have not changed—they are just compounded by the speed at which they travel toward us.
Sin is sin, the world is the world, and the devil and his demons are not omnipresent—but, the exposure of modern men to media that carries sin-filled ideas, pointed temptations, and Satan’s worldly desires are nearly omnipresent.
And all that media comes to men that are generally more stressed out than any other generation, partly because of information overload. We have too many choices in life, too many sources of information, and too many facts to digest, coming in ever-increasing waves so that we have neither the time nor resources to respond.
That produces the modern societal phenomenon called “stress”.