Women's Bible Study - September 13th, 2023

September 13, 2023 · Deborah

Scripture referenced 6 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

John 18:35 Pilate asks Jesus what he has done, unable to understand why his own people handed him over

35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”

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John 18:37

Jesus says the reason he was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth

37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

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John 1:17

we received the law from Moses but God gave us truth and love through Jesus

17 For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

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John 8

Jesus tells those in the temple they are truly his disciples if they remain faithful to his teachings, and the truth will set them free

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

4 they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

6 They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

8 Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

9 They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

10 Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13 The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

15 You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

17 It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

18 I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20 Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

22 The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”

23 He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

24 I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

25 They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

27 They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

28 Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

37 I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38 I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

42 Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45 But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

48 Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”

49 Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

50 But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

53 Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is…

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2 Timothy 3

Paul warns Timothy of difficult times in the last days, describing people who love themselves and money, scoff at God, and love pleasure more than God

1 But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come.

2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;

5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.

6 For some of these are people who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

7 always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8 Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.

9 But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.

10 But you did follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,

11 persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.

12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

15 From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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Romans 12

Paul tells believers to stop copying the customs of this world and let God transform them by changing the way they think

1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.

10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;

11 not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;

13 contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men.

18 If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.

19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”

20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Deborah opened by connecting the theme of the worship time, rooting in Christ, to a larger question: what does it actually look like to stay anchored in truth when the world around us is pulling in every direction? She traced a three-part pattern that Christians have followed for centuries, and worked through each step with scripture, personal story, and plain talk about what is happening in American culture right now.

What was said

Deborah started with a detail that caught her attention in a meditation app she recommends: someone once asked Dallas Willard to describe Jesus in one word, and Willard said "relaxed." That image set the tone for the whole morning. Jesus, with only three years of ministry and everything riding on it, still had time to stop for a woman no one else would acknowledge. That kind of peace, Deborah said, comes from trusting God's control, not from having circumstances figured out.

She then picked up where last week's message left off, reviewing three things the early Christians learned from the resurrection: nothing is impossible with God, He is working even when it makes no sense, and everything is going to be okay. She tied those convictions to her own story of walking away from faith in college, spending a decade chasing the American dream, and ending up empty. It was a neighbor named Brenda who kept inviting her back to Bible study, and a frightening night at another neighbor's house that made her finally call her father at four in the morning. Her father told her plainly: the father of lies wants you, and the father of truth wants you, and you have to decide.

The first step the early Christians took toward rooting in, Deborah said, was a spiritual awakening to truth. She read from John 18, where Jesus tells Pilate the reason He came into the world was to testify to the truth, and Pilate brushes it off with "what is truth?" She argued that same dismissal is now built into education from kindergarten through college, where children are taught that truth is relative. She pushed back on that directly, using a conversation with a scientist friend who said her own research depended on the existence of fixed, observable truth. When we drift far enough from reality, Deborah said, we lose common sense entirely.

The second step is purgation, purging out what God says is not His best for us. Deborah was direct: every sin begins with believing a lie, and wrong beliefs lead to wrong actions, which lead to bondage. She read from 2 Timothy 3 and said Paul was not describing the outside world there but warning about the church itself: people who love themselves and their money, who scoff at God, who forgive nothing and cancel everyone. She connected this to what she called the deliberate reshaping of children through schools and libraries, and cited the historical cost of ideologies that replace truth with state-controlled narrative. Truth, she said, has outlasted every regime that tried to suppress it.

She also addressed specific cultural redefinitions, including marriage and biological sex, and said she will not use language she believes to be false, even as an act of accommodation. She framed this not as harshness but as refusing to speak lies over people she loves.

The third and final step is love, and Deborah said it is harder than it sounds because we first have to receive God's love before we can pass it on. The lies people carry, that they are unworthy, that no one wants them, that they will never amount to anything, have to be replaced with what God actually says: that He knit each person together, chose them, died for them, and has plans for them. This is why the early church spread, she said. Those Christians treated sick people, elderly people, and people who could not contribute as though they had infinite worth, because they believed God when He said they did. She closed with Paul's words in Romans about letting God transform us by changing the way we think, and she said that kind of transformation is what makes a person genuinely salt and light in whatever corner of the world they occupy.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Deborah described Dallas Willard's one-word description of Jesus as 'relaxed,' and connected that to the idea that we can relax in God's divine control. What do you tend to reach for as your own defense instead of trusting God, and what would it look like practically to let Him be that defense?
Deborah shared that a decade of chasing the American dream left her miserable and empty, and that returning to the Lord started with a phone call and a neighbor named Brenda. Who or what has God used in your life to call you back to truth, and how did you respond at the time?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 3I

Speaker 2Don't try to hide from him this morning. He's here. He's longing to meet with you. He already knows every deepest part of you today. Don't hide from him today.

That line this morning is just really hitting me. I've sung this song so many times, but my one defense and the Lord's just showing me all the things that I bring into a battle that aren't him. My own strength or whatever it is, but I was just thinking of myself and just picturing myself when I was singing that of just being so vulnerable walking into a battle with just Jesus. He's my one defense. What he provided for me and the power that's available in him.

So as we sing this again, just ask him to reveal to you what what do you go to as your defense. That's not him. He wants to be that defense for you. Your righteousness has nothing to do with us, God, except that we choose you, we surrender to you.

Speaker 3Would have your way in me.

Speaker 2Let's speak this in faith that this is my desire.

Speaker 3This is my desire is found in you

Speaker 2Can you sing that together? We're gonna sing this verse, and we're just gonna declare this.

Speaker 3Oh, I am. Oh, I am. A branch you grafted in through. Sacrifice you went to. Cross for all my sins.

Your grace all my life is found in you I am rooted in your love Jesus

Speaker 2sing that one more time

Speaker 3I I rooted your love. I am rooted in your love. Jesus, you're making. You are making all things new. All my life is found in you, I am rooted in your love, Jesus.

Speaker 2Lord, we praise you for that truth, that we can be rooted in you, that storms can come above the ground on the surface, but deep below are your promises, are our roots of seeing you move in our past, remembering, digging into your word, and hiding those things deep in our heart, and we're gonna do that today As we dig into your word, Lord, send your spirit of revelation into this place, Lord. That it wouldn't just be words on a page or words out of Deborah's mouth, but they would be transforming supernatural encounters with you through your truth today. We wanna leave this building different than we came in because we met with you. In Jesus' name and everybody said Amen. Amen.

What great worshipers.

Speaker 3Hi.

DeborahThank you. Uh-oh. Am I on? Hello? Can you hear me?

No? Hello? No? Natalie, can you turn it all the way up? Yes.

Okay. Alright. Can you hear? Janet, can you hear me? There we are.

Okay. Wow. Uh-oh. Thanks. Good morning.

Good morning. Wow. So good to see. So many faces. I'm just gonna ask the Lord to bless his teaching.

Father, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this morning. Thank you for Lisa and Renee and Casey for leading us into worship.

Charlene. And Charlene, of course, on the piano. You say that you inhabit the praises of your people. So we just welcome you here today and ask that you anoint your word and speak to our individual hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay. Well, last week can you all hear me in the back? Does does someone hear a phone ringing? Yeah. That was ringing last week, like, the whole time, and I'm just like, ignore that.

Last week, we talked about how today in America, we're having some big issues. In our world, we're having issues, And one in three American women are struggling with some serious anxiety. And it's even greater for our younger women. And I was listening to, a meditation. I highly recommend this.

It's a free app. It's called Lectio, l e t c I o, three sixty five. Great meditations on the word. And I was listening to this meditation, and the guy said that Dallas Willard, died recently, loved Dallas Willard. He wrote the divine conspiracy and renovation of the heart, two life changing books about how to root into Christ.

But someone asked Dallas Willard, if you were to describe Jesus in one word, what would that word be? How would you describe Jesus? I mean, I thought of love, sacrifice, faithful. You know what Dallas said? He said, relaxed.

And I was like, what? That is so good. Relaxed. Because think about Jesus in his humanness. He was on this earth for three short years to do his well, he's on this earth for thirty three years, but three short years of ministry.

He had a lot to accomplish in three years, didn't he? He, I mean, he was here to teach us why he was here, why we're here, what our purpose is, where we're going, and where he was going back to. And yet, he had time to fish with his buddies. He had time when he's going to do a very important teaching and he feels the tug behind him, and he stops and he looks into this lady's eyes that no one else would talk to. And he listened to her, and he valued her, and he healed her.

He had time because he was relaxed. And I just thought that is that is so powerful that we can too relax in his divine control. We won't be relaxed without him. Last week, we talked about the impact that the resurrection had in those early Christians. Do you remember the the three things that how it impacted them forever?

They knew that number one, nothing was impossible with God. You can take your impossible relationship, your impossible financial situation, your impossible dead dream, and when you give it to God, things start to happen. Nothing is impossible with him. Number two, he is working even when it doesn't make sense. And I would tell you, it usually doesn't make sense because we want him to work according to our ways, and he almost never does.

And number three is my favorite, everything is going to be okay. We can come to the point with Jesus Christ, matter what circumstances we're in, where we can say, I'm okay. I am okay. Well, I have shared in the past how I was raised in this very strict academic Christian home. I had to listen to hours of teaching each week, and then my dad would quiz me at dinner on Bible doctrine and biblical principles and Bible verses that I had to memorize.

And although I was I had a great foundation of truth, What was lacking was the love and mercy and grace side of things. So when I went to college and my professors gave me a different narrative, I thought, okay. I I kind of like that. I like the idea of doing whatever I want. And I'm like, I'm gonna try this.

And that led me on a journey for the next decade of my life until my early thirties where I wasn't following the Lord. And I just knew if I could achieve that American dream, I was gonna be fulfilled and happy. And I was so miserable and empty. And I bought this book on comparative religions. And because I'm a researcher, I'm like, I'm gonna find the truth, and I started studying other religions.

And they just didn't have the answers of where I came from or why I'm here, where I'm going. At that time, I had two neighbors, and, one neighbor was this beautiful Christian, Brenda. And Brenda kept saying, Deborah, you need to return to the Lord. Return. Join me in Bible study.

And I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for that. And my other friend, Dorothy, was really into the new age movement. And Dorothy is like, don't listen to Brenda. Come to my house. I'm having a dance tonight.

And I was like, well, I'm a little scared of that. And for some reason though, one night she called me and she said, it's really on my heart to read your cards. And I I have something I think I need to share with you. Ladies, I knew better. I knew better.

I was trained up better, but I was very curious. So I went to Dorothy's house, and she read my cards. And here's the thing. There are two spiritual forces at work in this world. And although the devil does not know the future, he definitely knows our past.

And he predicts things based on our past from watching us. And she told me things that were absolutely true. But that night, I was in such emotional and spiritual turmoil. I really thought I was having a nervous breakdown. And I got up like at I'm in California.

So I got up like at four in the morning and called my dad because it was like seven in the morning Ohio time. I said, dad, I I think I'm losing it. And he's like, well, what's been going on? I'm like, well, you're not gonna like this but this is what I did. And he was really silent and he said, Deborah, the father of lies wants you.

The father of truth also wants you. You're gonna have to decide. What do you who are you gonna follow? I called Brenda. And I said, Brenda, can I still get in that Bible study?

And can I tell you from that day forward, that first day I went, oh my gosh? This is the truth. I am never turning back. I never want that again. I never want those ten years of being in the lonely empty desert ever again.

John 18, Jesus is before pi Pilate. And Pilate tells him in verse 35, your own people and chief priest handed you over to me. What is it that you have done? Pilate couldn't understand. Why did they want to execute this man?

So he and Jesus have a conversation about it. And then on in verse 37, Jesus says, and this just jumped out of the Bible. I've read this so many times, but somehow preparing for you today, it just hit me so different and powerfully. Jesus said, the reason I was born and came into this world is to testify the truth. He said, the reason I'm here is to teach you, to tell you, to lead an example for you, to share with you the truth because it matters.

It matters how you live this life. Everything in this life matters based on truth. It matters. And Pilate said, oh, what is truth? Pilate just brushed him off.

He's like, who can know the truth? Well, last week we talked about those early Christians, millions of them who saw the truth. And because of that, they would rather die than deny him. They were like, no way are we denying him. We know the truth now.

And I wanna just unpack with you this morning what those early Christians, actually Christians for centuries, knew steps they knew they had to take in order to really root into Jesus, in order to root into the truth and have the transforming life that God promises. Because I think we've kind of gotten away from it. The first thing they knew had to happen was number one, there had to be a spiritual awakening, a spiritual awakening to the truth. Okay. We're not getting truth out in the world.

So they had a spiritual awakening to the fact that number one, there's more to life than this material world. This material world someday is gonna be gone. It is temporary, but there's something eternal that they were connecting with. God tells us other than himself, there are two things that are eternal. Do you know what they are?

Your soul, you, you are eternal and his truth. He says, this is eternal. It was the same yesterday, it's the same today, it will be the same tomorrow and forever. So they had a spiritual awakening to the fact that there was truth, and they weren't gonna find it out there. John one seventeen, we're told we received the law from Moses, but God gave us truth and love through Jesus.

You cannot separate truth and love. Now I talked to a lot of Christians and leaders in the church who say, we should just love. We should just love. We should stay away from, you know, those controversial issues. And I'm like, that is a lie from the devil.

Those issues affect our life, and they're affecting our children. We have to speak truth and love. And there is this super intense conversation that Jesus himself had in the church in John chapter eight. I'm just gonna pull out some key verses, so bear with me because I wanna share this with you. It's really powerful.

Jesus goes to the temple and there's all these people around him and he looks at them and he says to them, you you say you believe in me, but you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to what? The truth, my teachings. And then he said, and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And the religious leaders said to him, we're descendants of Abraham. We've never been slaves to anyone.

What do you mean by free? Okay. Well, just pause here for a second. Were they just slightly delusional? They have been slaves for four hundred years in Egypt.

The Babylonians marched them off as slaves. And when Jesus said this, they were under the thumb of the Roman government. They were not free in so many ways. Jesus, being patient with them, says, okay. I realize you're descendants of Abraham, and yet some of you are trying to kill me because there's no room in your heart for my message.

I am telling you what I saw when I was with my father, but you are following your father. And then they got really snarky with Jesus, and they said this to him. Do know what they said? They said, well, we aren't illegitimate children. In other words, like you, Jesus.

And Jesus said, if God were your father, you would love me because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own. He sent me. And he looks at them and he says, why don't you have ears to hear what I'm saying? Why can't you believe me?

This is pretty intense what he says. Next, he goes, I'll tell you why. Because you are the children of your father, the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. And then Jesus unpacks who the devil really is just in case any of us doubt that he does exist. Jesus says he's a murderer from the beginning.

His whole goal is to hurt you and to destroy you. He has always hated the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he is consistent with his character for he is a liar and the father of lies. So Jesus said, so when I tell you the truth, naturally, you just don't believe me. Wow.

Okay. Do you see how he has infiltrated our thinking? Because our children today, from kindergarten through college, are taught there is no truth. It's all relative. Your truth is your truth, and my truth is my truth.

There's no real truth. Well, that's a big fat lie. So this weekend, I was with an a nonbelieving friend that trying to plant some seeds of truth with, and I keep inviting her to Bible study. And this lady is a super brainiac. Like, she was something that's way over my pay grade.

I don't even know what it what it is. Like, some kind of biological molecular engineer thing. So I I said to her, I said, okay. So I'm always trying to plant seeds. I go, guess what we're talking about at Bible study.

She's like, I can't wait to hear. And and I said, okay. So we're talking about truth. Do you believe in truth? Do you believe there are absolute truths?

She goes, Deborah, of course. As whatever she was, she said, we did research. Based on that research, we got results. Based on those results, we came up with formulas of truth because we saw the evidence. She said, when when we look around our world, you cannot deny truth.

If I drop something from the roof of the church, it isn't gonna go up. The law of gravity says it's gonna fall down. And I said, oh my gosh. You and I really are on the same page because my definition of truth is truth is based on reality. And lies are rooted in deceptions, and lies are rooted in deviations from what is real.

And I said, I this is what I think is happening in our country. When we move away from reality, when we move away from what we know is real, we just lose all common sense. Have we lost our mind in America? Yes. And you know, and this lady is not a Christian.

She's not even that conservative. You know what she said to me? She goes, I totally agree. You have to go online, go to YouTube, and watch Pierce Morgan where he says he's a black lesbian. And I was I looked at her and she goes, yeah.

His whole point is we have no more common sense. You look at Pierce Morgan, you know he's a white man. He is not a black lesbian. And his whole point was when we get so far from truth, you can say anything, and it it's it's utter nonsense. Jesus tells us we have an enemy.

He's invisible, but he's very intelligent. He calls them the prince of this world. Do you know what he means by that? He means that he's the one that drives ideology in our worldly governments. He's the one that drives ideology and thoughts and philosophies in our schools and universities and in our thinking.

That's what prince of this world means. And Jesus is like there is truth. There is a different ideology. So the early Christians knew their first step to rooting in was having an awakening to truth, having an awakening to what is real. And the second step is purgation.

Purgation, p u r g a t I o n. When we awaken to Jesus Christ as our savior and root into him, then we start believing what he says. We believe what he says when he says this is good for you. Do this. And we believe when he says stay away from this, it is not my best for you, and we call that sin.

So they would start purging out what God said wasn't their best for them. They would start purging out sin, but they would also start thinking differently. This is a very powerful statement. Every sin in our lives starts with believing a lie. It's absolutely true.

When I look back at the sins I've committed, I was believing a lie. I was believing I had to have that. I was believing that was gonna make me happy. I was believing a lie. Every sin starts with believing a lie because wrong beliefs lead to wrong actions, and wrong beliefs lead us into sin, which leads us into bondage.

Do you think America today is tangled up in spiritual bondage? Do you think we are? Oh, my gosh. You know it's a lie if we have to redefine words. Okay?

We have redefined what God calls marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and somehow we think we're better than God and we can redefine it. No. We cannot redefine words. My gosh.

We can't even define what a woman is. Are you kidding me? In the beginning, God said, let us create them in our image, male and female. It's pretty clear. A woman is a female human.

Done. And it's not even what God says, but science backs it up. Science says that when a baby girl is born, she has two x chromosomes. And when a baby boy is born, he has an x and a y chromosome. Now you can deface the outside.

You can say I'm a he when I'm a she, but there is nothing you can ever do to change those chromosomes. Because truth is truth, and truth doesn't move along the lines of different ideologies. Okay? So I will tell you one thing that I am going to do. If my friend Joan says, call me John, and now I'm a he, I will call Joan John, but I will not call her a he.

I will not speak lies over her. I just I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna go along with the lies. I'm not gonna go along to get along. I'm not gonna do that.

Thank you. Because we as a nation, where are we going? We can't even agree that it is horrific child abuse to castrate our little boys and sterilize our little girls. We have lost our minds. We need to return to the truth, and we need to purge out the lies.

Paul wrote to Timothy in second Timothy three. I want you to listen to this and see if you think this rings true today. Paul said there's gonna be danger in the last days. He said, Timothy, you should know this, that in the last days, there will be difficult times. And this is the scary part about this.

He's not talking about out there in the world. We know who the prince of the world is. He is talking about the church, us Christians. He says, they will love themselves and they will love their money. Can I tell you this summer, Greg and I brought over a group of orphans from a school we're helping in Uganda?

We had some moments, Greg and I, where we were just seriously depressed because we were going to churches. What the what this choir of orphans does is they go to churches, they perform, you pass the plate. It's not a big ask. They even set up and clean up. They do all the work.

They just want to go into the church and share who they are and what they do. And do you know how many churches said no? Oh, I'm sorry. These are orphans. If we cannot do the very basic, what is wrong with us?

Oh my gosh. They will love themselves and their money. They scoff at God. They consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving and slander others.

Do you think we live in an unforgiving culture even within the church? I hear Christians say, oh, I'm not gonna forgive that. No. I'm offended. They're canceled.

What? Okay. That is not okay. Don't say you're a Christian then because Jesus says, start praying for them. The early Christians, when they were persecuted, do you know what their prayers were?

They weren't for consequences over those who hurt them. They prayed for the strength and courage to love them more because we are supposed to be different than the world. They will be unloving, unforgiving. They will hate what is good. Do you know a man this weekend said to me, he said, can you explain why my church is splitting?

And I said, yeah. It's pretty easy. One part of your denomination is sticking with the truth. The other part isn't. What side are you on?

He's like, I think I'm on the wrong side. And we we had, like, this intense conversation about it. They will hate what is good. They will betray their friends. They will love pleasure more than they love God.

I just read from John Mark Comer. He said, we live in a culture where our driving force, and this is in the church too, our driving force is to minimize pain at all costs and to maximize pleasure. And when you talk to people, that's all they talk about is their next pleasure, their next whatever, gotta haves and nothings and gotta goes. It's crazy. Where these early Christians understood that true life, true meaning to life, true purpose requires a little sacrifice of our time, our effort, and our money because guess what?

It's not our money. It's God's money, and he gave it to you to steward. John Mark Comer says, lies come in the form of deceptive ideals that play to our disordered desires. We think, okay. I kinda like that.

And you'll get backed up by the culture. The culture will not only say that it's normal, they'll say it's good because they call evil good. And it's the devil's method of enslaving us right on our way to ruin. Right on our way to ruin. As I was typing this in my inbox, I got an email about the American Library Association, which is just a real mess right now.

But what caught my eye was the president of the American Library Association, Emily Drabinski, who describes herself as a Marxist lesbian, asked attendees at the recent Chicago Socialist Conference to turn our schools, our school libraries, and our public libraries into centers of radical agitation, and that public education needs to be the site of socialist organizing. Okay. Marxist ideology, where where did that come from? Where did she get that? Well, here's what Karl Marx said.

Karl Marx said the education of all children from the moment they can get along without their mother's care, you know, the moment that you quit nursing and they're potty trained, shall be in the state institutions. It is our job, Karl Marx said, to teach your children, to educate your children, to teach your children the ideology that they believe. Dubinsky went on to say, parents who disagree with this are angry white Christo fascist. Okay. Well, hello.

Yeah. I'm angry. Alright. And I am white, and I am a Christian. I am not a fascist.

Not at all, but I would stand against that. Absolutely. And why? Because we have history to look back on and see how that works out. Sure.

In theory, some things Karl Marx says don't sound all that bad. But when you put them into practice, where does it lead us? Did you know that according to the Black Book of Communism published by Harvard University, people in areas that believed this ideology I'm not talking people in combat. Ordinary citizens like you and me who disagreed with it paid a very heavy price. In Vietnam, a million souls were lost.

In Eastern Europe, a million souls were were lost. In North Korea and Cambodia, 4,000,000 souls. In Russia, the number is much higher, close to 50,000,000, and China is 65,000,000. There is a price to pay for allowing lies to penetrate our schools, our children, our government. There is a price to pay.

But can I tell you, truth does not bend to the ideologies of anyone? What was the first thing Stalin, Lenin, Hitler did? They burned the Bibles and tried to destroy him. Well, guess what? They're all dead today, and this remains the number one selling book of the year every year.

You cannot suppress truth, and we are called to share that truth. Truth stands the test of time because God tells us that his word is eternal. Do you know when the devil came to Eve in the garden? Just like communism, he didn't come with a sword. That's where it always ends.

But he didn't come with a sword. He came with a narrative. Eve, did God really say that? Eve, just there's a little wiggle room here. You can be your own God.

And do you know, Eve thought, that that sounds kinda good. I I have peace about that. I I think I would like to be my own God, and she believed the lie. And then she acted on the lie. And what was the consequence of that?

Sin entered the world, and now we have to deal with it. Do you ever feel like your thoughts, your body, your emotions are just in this war zone? You're And like, what is wrong with me? Well, can I tell you? It's because you are in a war zone.

There is a spiritual war. There are two forces that are always fighting for you. And God says, you're a free agent. You get to decide. That's why there's so much evil in this world because he allows us to be free agents.

He doesn't force us to do what is good and right according to the truth. He allows people to make wrong choices, but that leads to bondage and death. We don't sin out of duty. We sin because we confuse truth with lies because we don't know the truth. We sin because we confuse temporary pleasure with eternal happiness and long term happiness.

But our Abba father is a loving protective father who wants the best for us. He says, come stay in my lane. Stay in the dust of your rabbi, and you will be so blessed for that. It might not be easy, but you will be blessed. And that leads to point three.

The ultimate goal in our journey after this spiritual awakening, after the purgation is love. Love. But love is so much harder than it sounds for us humans. First of all, in order to love God or love others, we have to accept his love over us. And what is the truth that he tells us?

He tells us regardless of what lie was put on you as a child or an adult, lies like you're unworthy, you don't measure up, you're never gonna amount to anything, no one loves you, he says quite the opposite. He says, I loved you enough to die for you. I loved you enough to give you a blueprint of life. I loved you enough to promise I'll never leave you alone. I'll be with you through thick and thin.

Whatever storm comes your way, slip your hand into mine and we'll get through it. You are chosen, he says. I knit you together. I have plans for you. I wanna spend eternity with you.

That's some pretty intense love. And he says, believe the truth about me. Stop believing the lies. And then we can love him back. And then from there, we learn to love others.

This is why Christianity spread like wildfire because those Christians were different. They loved people. The culture said didn't matter. They loved the elderly and the sick. Those who couldn't contribute, that's a big fat lie.

If you can't contribute, then you have no worth. God says, you're made in my image. You have invaluable worth to me. So the Christians treated people like they they had worth and value. And they started to get the attention of the culture.

They gave generously of their time, effort, and money. How many Christians do you know like that today? Are we like that? I think for far too long, we have just believed that we can have this emotional experience with Jesus and not really root in and think we're good. He is calling us to root in.

Lisette, do you wanna come on up? And you know what? That's more than just reading a verse here and there. It's not enough for the battles that are coming our way. We have to know this and then actually live it.

Paul was so clear in Romans how we do that. Paul said, stop copying the behavior and customs of this world. You are not of this world. We are of a different world now. When we accept Jesus Christ, we enter into the kingdom of heaven.

It begins now. So Paul said, stop being so caught up in the world and their way of thinking. Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know what God's will is, his good, perfect, and pleasing will. Do you know how many times people come to me and say, just have no idea what God's will is for me?

And I'm like, well, let's go to Romans 12. What does Paul tell us? Start acting like a Christian. Start being who you really are. Rooting into Jesus is not just about tweaking our behavior.

It's about getting in the line of truth, believing that truth, saying he's my God. I'm his. I trust him. I'm gonna do what he says. I'm gonna play a different narrative.

Instead of saying I'm not gonna do this, this, and this, I'm gonna say, Jesus, I want for myself what you want for me. Will you show me what that is? Will you show me every day in all my little choices what that looks like? Ladies, the the darkness is descending upon America. I know that you feel that and see that.

These are exciting times in a way for us because God is saying, now like no other time you can be an influencer. Do you know how much darkness is dispelled when the light is shined on it? And what did Jesus say say our purpose is? To be salt and light, to shine light on darkness, to speak the truth over lies. He's calling you to be an influencer, and you don't need a platform for that.

Your neighbor comes to you and says, my daughter thinks she's a boy. Then you wrap your arms around her and say, let's pray for baby girl. Let's get her counseling. Let's love her. Let's ask Jesus how to deal with this.

Let's stop the insanity. Return to the truth. Return to Jesus. Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you that we have truth.

Thank you that we are not left just waffling and tossed back and forth by the craziness of our world. Thank you for teaching us that to anchor into you will bring us hope, will bring us peace, will bring us attitude that was like yours. We can relax. You've got this. You're in control.

You're you still sit on the throne. So we're gonna slip our hand into yours, and we're gonna walk this walk, Lord, asking you to show us every step of the way. Thank you, Jesus. In your name, amen.

Speaker 2Amen. Just keep your eyes closed for just another minute. Holy Spirit, would you just come and do a work, convict us right now? Where we've strayed from your truth? Where we believed a lie?

Maybe we've called ourselves something for years and years and years. That is not how God sees us or made us. Maybe God has put a call on your life to be a leader, and there's been opportunities to lead in his name and lead people, but you've said, oh, I I can't do that. I'm shy. And you believed a lie

Speaker 3that you can't be who God made you to be,

Speaker 2and it's holding you back. Or maybe someone made you feel unworthy or like a burden at some point in your life. And start to not be a burden to someone else. Just with your eyes closed, just picture when you're believing a lie, there's just it's darkness. It's confusion.

It's like you're bumbling around in the dark. But when you just crack crack the door to the light, The tiniest amount of light dispels that darkness. It takes a lot to make a room completely dark. Just crack that door. Just say, Holy Spirit, come.

And as he brings something up, just repent, Sam, or forgive me for believing that lie. And replace it with the truth of who I am in you. In us because we wanna be truth bearers, bearers of your land. We wanna live in your truth. Nobody wants to be living deceived.

Nobody in this room wants to live Being tricked, if we knew that we were, we would immediately turn to you, but Lord, dispel that lie, whatever it is. Bring your freedom in your life. We'll tell you we love you. We thank you for what you're doing in hearts today and through this study. We give you all the praise and all the glory.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Absolute Truth Anxiety Lies We Believe Rooting In Christ Spiritual Warfare

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