Titus 3:4-7: Doctrine and Devotion Series week 17

Sometimes when you look at something at a closer level, maybe you stop and stare for a while, you begin to see things that weren’t there before. You begin to observe more and are able to marvel at what you maybe saw before, but haven't really gazed upon. I don’t know if you like rocks, but one time for Christmas our kids got a geode kit. There were these whole geode rocks that came in the kit and they came as a whole, and what you were supposed to do was to take the rocks outside and use a hammer or chisel and break them, and when you break them you could see all the crystals inside. And this was really neat for our kids to see. They had seen geodes before, in the store or in pictures, but now to break them into pieces and handle them and just look at all the facets of each crystal was really quite amazing. They could see so much more than if they looked in a picture or in a store, and they could just stop and stare and look and observe all the beauty of what God had made. And the more they would stop and stare and look, the more they were able to appreciate what they saw—all the sides and facets of each crystal, the ridges and how they were formed, the color schemes and hues of each rock. It was all pretty incredible. But you won’t see all of those things if you just set it on a shelf and never take time to observe. You might miss a lot if you just see it from afar but don’t take the time to truly study and appreciate the beauty of what is there. In our text today, Paul helps us to stop and take a closer, focused look at our salvation. Paul gives us a detailed description of how salvation happened and he helps us to take some time to better understand what God has done for us. Too many times, believers take for granted the fact that they are a believer. Maybe it’s been a number of years since you first placed your faith in Jesus, perhaps you were even a small child. And as time goes by it can be easy to just simply go through life as someone who is saved without really relishing and cherishing the work that God has done to make it possible. And in our text today, Paul helps us to do this by reminding of the remarkable ways that God has worked to provide our salvation, and from our text we see four remarkable facets of God’s work in salvation for which we can express our praise. Our big idea this morning helps us to think about God’s provision in salvation and our response: ‌‌ Big Idea: Great provision demands sincere praise!‌