Truth Bomb: Part 3

so my mother-in-law Phyllis riger is

here today how about a round of applause

for her yeah she loves being the center

of

attention so I I thought it would be fun

since she is here to kind of uh tell her

some stories about my relationship with

her daughter to make her question

everything about her life all right so

um on our third date I took my wife to

Outback Steakhouse now I say wife my my

girlfriend friend at the time to Outback

Steakhouse now could I afford to go to

Outback Steakhouse this like 25 years

ago no I could not afford to go but when

you find your one you got to do what you

got to do right so I took her to Outback

Steakhouse and we were good because um

she ordered the Queensland chicken and I

ordered the the the um Alice Springs

Chicken and so I did the math and I had

enough cash to cover the tip and the

food um but then she threw me a little

curveball you know what she did

she ordered the uh appetizer the the

bloom and onion yeah that thing ain't

cheap so I'm like I'm like carry the one

round the two oh it's going to be close

I don't know if I have enough cash so

the you know we ate our meal had a great

time and then the the waiter came and he

gave us the bill and I realized that I

did not have enough money um to to pay

for the the dinner um and this was the

time before I had like a bank card or a

credit card or anything like that so um

I asked her if she brought any money um

and she said

no so then I was like look I think they

might get mad if I'm the one that like

goes out the door uh so what I need you

to do is I need you to go to my car and

in my cup holder there is a whole bunch

of

change so she goes out of the restaurant

she goes and she digs through my cup

holder and she gets a big thing of

change and we just laid the cash and

that mountain of change on the table and

ran out the door so I really I really

hope there was a tip in there somewhere

for that waiter cuz he did a great job

um but the worst part is I went and told

my best friend like my best friend what

had happened and he's like hey man truth

bomb I'm like uh he said you're

single and he was almost right he was

almost right but I'm a persistent guy so

um we we s salvaged the relationship but

it got me thinking about like what is

truth what is that's why I named the

sermon series truth Bomb by the way it's

like a 25-year-old reference but it was

something that was kind of prevalent in

the culture I grew up in and I was like

what is true truth man how do you know

that to be a fact and by the way jokes

on him I've been married 25 years so um

but how do you know that something is

absolutely true so scripture tells us

that truth can only originate from One

Source it has to come from the Creator

truth is absolute and it is the same for

everyone everywhere and since that is

true that it has to come from the

creator of all things and so so as you

read the Bible you're going to come

across these things that I would call

truth bombs because Jesus is the

personification of Truth and he drops

bombs on us in Scripture that radically

shake up the culture that we live in so

the first week we talked about truth

bomb number one which was just because

you believe it doesn't make it true just

because you believe it doesn't make it

true truth bomb number two this was last

week it says putting ourselves first is

one of the most natural things that we

do so my argument was that perhaps it's

not that we don't love ourselves enough

perhaps it's that we love ourselves too

much and today we're going to get into

truth bomb uh number three and you're

not going to like it anymore than you

did the first two just well heads up all

right let's pray God thank you so much

for the opportunity to come and share

your word I pray that your word would be

powerful that it would impact our hearts

it would help us to see that you are

absolute truth Lord that everything you

say is absolute it is unchanging and it

is the best thing for us to hear in

Jesus name I pray amen so at some point

it's likely that you'll be in a

situation where you feel overwhelmed but

good news for you our modern culture has

some feel good messaging for people that

find themselves in those situations so

for the exhausted parents that feel like

they don't have a life anymore there is

a social Media Group out there there

somewhere that will tell you you got

this girl you got this fella uh just

believe in yourself and one day the

season of life will go past and for the

people that can't afford eggs like me uh

you have your your favorite influencers

and they're they're saying well bet on

yourself because you already have what

you need to go out and get yours for the

people that are discouraged or dis uh

depressed or anxious you have therapists

that'll tell you that it's okay not to

be okay because you have the power to

turn this thing around and and for those

with a burden in your spiritual life

don't don't worry don't fret at all

because there are smiling happy pastors

out there that'll tell you that you are

just fine the way that you are and if

you will just send them some seed money

that you will enter into a season of

harvest in your own life there was a mve

last year it grossed a billion dollars a

billion dollars and it was based on one

simple premise and that was that you are

enough now I come from both a preaching

and a marketing background and so I'm

always fascinated by how well the the

media takes a little bit of Truth and

twists it into a lie in order to

multiply engagement in their products

but what I love is the fact that Jesus

loves loves you enough to tell you the

truth he loves you enough to not let

culture have the last word on what's

best for your life so truth bomb for

today Jesus says that you are not enough

you are not enough and so you might say

well okay PK I get it from a a Bible

geek point of view I'm not enough right

but but why can't I encourage myself

with some of these statements that the

culture is making they they seem

encouraging why can't I encourage myself

with those and so I would turn you to

Colossians

Colossians 2:8

2:8 this is

Paul and he says don't let anyone

capture you with empty philosophies and

high sounding nonsense that comes from

Human thinking and from spiritual powers

of this world rather than from Christ

for in Christ lives all the fullness of

God and a human body so you also are

complete through your union with Christ

who is head over every ruler and

Authority this is a warning against

empty philosophies and high sounding

nonsense this is the human reasoning

this human thinking that is influenced

by the enemy to promote self over savior

this High sounding nonsense tells you

that the only way that you are

incomplete is if you don't believe in

yourself and so Paul is dra dropping

some Holy Spirit inspired truth into

this culture of misinformation when he

says that you are complete when and only

when you are unified with Jesus see

there's two problems with the I am

enough worldview the first problem is

that it takes your eyes off of God and

puts the focus on yourself so you got to

be careful when things pop up in your

social media feed that are like half

truths that tell you to believe in

yourself that you've got this that you

can write your own story that you're

perfect just the way you are you got to

be careful with those Hal truths because

if you treat them like absolute truth

then when you go through those seasons

of life where you don't feel like you're

enough you're going to turn on yourself

because you're going to blame yourself

for all the problems that you find

yourself in the second problem is that

it causes you to be overconfident in

your own ability it causes you to do

things like here hold my Dr Pepper I've

got this you know for me it was a

promise ring that I gave to my wife a

long time ago again she was my

girlfriend at the time we uh at this

point I I had enough money to go to a

nice restaurant Italian restaurant in

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and I had

planned to give her a promise ring which

is like the thing you do before you can

afford an engagement ring so it was like

I promis to give you an engagement ring

one day right so I had this whole plan

of taking her to the restaurant but I

didn't really know what I was going to

say so I told my friend my best friend

again that that what I was going to do

and he was like hey maybe you should

think this through and I was like what

you don't like her he's like no not that

maybe you should think through what

you're actually going to say before you

say it because you remember Outback you

remember how you've almost screwed it up

before man you're not going to get a

second chance at this thing and I was

like no brother I got this I am enough I

will just speak from the Overflow of my

heart so we get to the restaurant and uh

we order our food and I thought it was

the appropriate time to to give her this

this promise ring and I said uh what I

like about you and then that song Went

my what I like about you anyway um I

said uh what I like about you is that

you are

beautiful and your

confidence and your

spirituality and all these other things

and they all came together in one big

ball she's like big that's all she heard

all those other nice little words I said

all she heard was the word look that's

the Overflow of my heart I was speaking

the truth I have no idea where I was

going with that I was just free flowing

you know and so when people tell me hey

PK just trust your gut trust your

instincts I'm like

no you have no idea how messed up my

instincts actually are they're not great

I am not enough bless him Jesus like I

need Jesus in my life to complete me and

to help me make

decisions see when we feel like we're

enough we start to lose our motivation

to plan ahead so in a in a Christian

speaking in a in a spiritual point of

view when we feel like we're enough we

lose our motivation to pray we lose our

motivation to to seek God's word to to

seek wise counsel because we think that

we're enough we don't need this we've

got life figured out and what happens is

the focus our focus it shifts off of God

and his Sovereign power and onto our own

abilities you ever wonder why it's so

easy for so many people to just kind of

drift away from the church well the

reason is is because they feel like

they're

enough so people who believe the I am

enough Theory they're going to start to

see themselves as the source of their

own Joy the source of Their Own Strength

the source of their own success and then

when you face adversity and life isn't

as joyous as it used to be and your

strength fails you and you don't

accomplish what you set out to do you're

left in this terrible state where you're

like I'm never enough it's my fault I've

left let down myself and I've let down

my my family and so Jesus comes into

that conversation and he speaks truth in

John 10:10 when he says I have come that

John 10:10

you might have life and have it in

what's the

word abundance see Jesus doesn't want

you walking around questioning yourself

BL blaming yourself for everything

living in this state of anxiety and

depression what he wants you to do is

walk in the power of abundance This Joy

this Supernatural joy that only comes

from a relationship with him here's the

thing when you believe you're enough you

won't seek the one who actually

is let me say that again because Jonah

is the only one that liked that but I

think it's good for

everybody when you think you're enough

you will not seek the one who actually

is

is you got to know you're in trouble

before you call for help RMS

Unfortunately they had to go but um they

they've only been around for about a

month here in Camden County and already

I know that they have responded to four

different people in our congregation who

called for distress right so y'all stop

falling down and stuff please like give

these people a

break but but in all those situations

it's so awesome just to know that

they're they're here for us in one

situation it was right in the middle of

that snowstorm and one of our

congregants had had fallen and so they

had to get him out of his house and all

the way to the ambulance and so they had

to carry him almost 200 feet on a gurnie

through like8 inches of snow in a

driveway to get him to this uh to to the

help that he needed so thank God that

they're here hopefully you don't ever

have to meet them that way um but thank

God that they're here when we need them

every s every single one of their calls

though it it starts with a call for help

see someone has to recognize that they

are in trouble and they need need help

before they actually call for help so

that's what the scripture does for us a

lot of people like to skip over this but

Jesus is like hey you need to know that

you're in trouble otherwise you're never

going to call for help like you got to

know that you are drowning before you'll

call for the life raft and so all

throughout scripture and by the way all

these scripture references are in your

notes if you want to go look them up

later but all throughout the scripture

Jesus tells us what kind of state we're

actually in he says you are dead in your

sin you're without hope and without help

you are foolish deceived and slaves to

sin God's word says we are spiritually

blind says we are wretched and miserable

we are ignorant and separated from the

life of God it says that we are objects

of Wrath destined for destruction

scripture says that all have turned away

no one does good all the time and so you

might say well chill out God because I'm

not as bad as my neighbor you should see

my neighbor he drinks and he cusses and

he chews and he hangs out with women

that act like that too he's he's not a

very good person I'm so much better than

he is and God would say stop comparing

yourself to your neighbor and start

comparing yourself to the standard that

God has set for you which is him which

is perfection see spiritual sin is is

not just a a spiritual legal offense

against a Judicial God it's it's a

personal offense against a God who

actually loves you so the only speeding

ticket I ever got in my life was on the

day that I actually proposed to

Susan I I proposed in West Virginia we

were coming back home and I was going

down one of those steep mountains there

and West I was cruising in my car and I

just went well over the speed limit an

officer was waiting at the bottom of the

hill and he gave me a ticket but but the

thing is his heart was not broken over

the fact that he gave me the ticket it

was just a legal thing right I broke the

law I paid the price he didn't go cry

about it he he didn't he didn't care at

all it's just a legal transaction

between two people and yes that should

have been a warning sign for my wife but

I was so handsome that she overlooked it

um Moving

on but it's different when it's a when

it's a personal offense so I'm going to

change the details a little bit but uh I

was counseling with a woman and she went

to pay a bill and when she went to pay

the bill she got hit with an overdraft

because her bank account was empty and

so she went home and did some

investigation and it turned out that her

husband had been spending all of their

money like all of their money on

motorcycle parts and and she was so so

broken but she told me he didn't do

anything

illegal but he broke my heart he he

broke my trust see that that that hits

at a different level than like a legal

offense so when we sin it's important

for us to know it's not only a a legal

judicial offense against the perfect God

but it also is a relational offense

where we're not just breaking his laws

we're breaking his heart so my point is

to be to fully to fully treasure what

you have in Christ you need to remember

what you were without him to to fully

treasure what you have in Christ you

have to remember who you are without him

look we don't live in the past we don't

Define ourselves by our worst moments

Jesus tells us not to do that he has

forgotten your sin he has thrown it into

he thinks about it no more okay so we

don't live in that identity we have a

new identity in Christ however

throughout

scripture there is one practice that you

see especially in the New Testament

especially in Paul's Epistles where he

tells us as Christians to consider who

we were without Jesus he tells us to

remember our failures to remember our

our Brokenness to remember our

sinfulness remember who you were without

Christ and what that does is it

highlights God's goodness and his

kindness and his forgiveness Paul is

telling us to embrace our not enoughness

I don't know if that's a word or not but

it is now he says embrace our not

enoughness see see not being enough is

nothing to be ashamed of in Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 God's word says that we were

dead in our trespasses and sins in which

he previously walked according to the

ways of the world according to the ruler

and power of the air the spirit now

working in the disobedient we too all

previously lived among them in our

fleshly desires carrying out the

inclinations of our flesh and our

thoughts and we were by Nature children

of Wrath as others were also but God but

God who is rich in Mercy because of his

great love that he had for us made us

alive in Christ even though we were dead

in our trespasses you are saved by

grace here's the deal we weren't dying

we were dead Okay so sometimes you get

this wrong image in your mind that that

Jesus saw you and you were you were

struggling to to breathe you were

drowning in the waters and so he grabs

you out of the water and he puts you on

the and he gives you

CPR that's not the case friends we were

dead we were past the point of no return

we were dead in our sin we were in

Christ what I would call the walking or

without Christ we were The Walking

Dead yeah we can go about our day-to-day

business we can function as good people

in society we can raise kids we can work

a job all the things that the living

people do but spiritually we were

dead there there was no eternal life in

here there was no hope or abundance and

joy in here we're making it work but

we're missing out on the very purpose of

life which is to to love God and enjoy

him forever we we don't have hope in

this life and we don't have hope for the

life to come we were dead but verse four

but Jesus gave his life so that we could

be given life Christians we got to

remember where we came from we were dead

in our sin we were not enough and for no

reason other than God wanted

to God being rich in love and rich in

Mercy sent his son to the Cross so that

we could be

forgiven we need to embrace our not

enoughness no matter what your culture

tells you you need to embrace your not

enoughness and here's why second Corin

Ians chapter

3 such as the confidence anybody want

some confidence this morning such as the

confidence we have through Christ before

God it is not that we are competent in

ourselves that's for true for me for

sure we are not competent in ourselves

to claim anything as coming from

ourselves but our

adequacy is from God get this you don't

have to pretend like you have it

together all the time it's perfectly

fine to not have it all together because

the scripture says you were helpless but

Jesus is your helper scripture says

you're weak Jesus is your strength

you're depressed Jesus is your hope

you're exhausted Jesus is your rest

you're anxious Jesus is your peace

you're struggling financially Jesus is

your provider you're hurting but Jesus

is your comforter you're in bondage to

sin but Jesus sets you free

you were created to need Jesus you were

created like by Design to need Jesus my

uh my son he actually came to me he's 18

years old he came to me recently and

asked for help it was awesome it made my

day it made my week oh who am I kidding

it made my year cuz it has been a long

time since my son asked me for help

parents love it when their children ask

them for help maybe not when they're

younger and they they go to bed and they

get all snuggly in the bed and then

they're like Dad can I have a drink of

water and you got to like get off the

couch and get him a drink like in the

moment it doesn't feel that way but I

promise you this when they stop calling

on you for help when they start to get

up and get the water themselves it does

kind of hurt a little bit because you

want to serve your CH you want to love

your children and get this God as

Heavenly I see a lot of people shaking

your heads so whatever that's my

experience I guess but get this God God

who is a perfect father um God actually

loves serving his children he loves

being there for

you in God's word here's some other

truth he says come to me and I will

answer you he says call on me in the day

of trouble and I will deliver

you he says the Lord is near to all who

call on

him says when I am in distress I call to

you then my favorite Romans chapter 10

Romans 10:13

verse 13 it says everyone who calls on

the name of the Lord will be saved so

here's the truth bomb for today you are

not and never will be

enough but that's okay because in Christ

you are loved you are rescued you are

accepted you are forgiven you are

adopted you are freed you are redeemed

you are restored you are renewed and now

you can do all things through Christ who

completes

you I want to give you a moment to just

kind of think about that truth so if you

would just kind of bow your heads close

your eyes we just do this so you'll tune

out everything else

so for for those of you that have never

placed your faith in Jesus you've never

asked him to forgive

you I want you to understand that your

sin separates you from a holy and

perfect God because Holiness and

sinfulness cannot exist in the same

place what that means for you is that

you are not

enough one day you will stand before

your maker and you will either lean on

Jesus or you will lean on your own Merit

and if you have to lean on your own

Merit you will not be enough you can say

well I did more good things than bad

things it's not enough you can say well

well I went to church a lot he'll say

that's that's not enough he'll say well

I gave money and I even got my name on

the church membership and he would say

that's not

enough you not

enough but thank God

that He gave us a way to be

enough he gave us a a way to have our

sins forgiven very simple process we

teach teach the children here at church

it's just your ABCs you you have to

admit that you are a sinner and you have

to believe that Jesus is God's son who

died on a cross and rose from the dead

and then you have to confess him as Lord

ABC admit believe confess and what

happens in that moment is so incredible

it's so

Supernatural Jesus substitutes his life

for

yours think of it this way you climb off

the cross you don't have to pay the

punishment for your sin and Jesus climbs

onto the

cross as one who has never sinned but

took the weight of all of Humanity's sin

onto his

life and satisfied God's Wrath on that

cross when he was struck

dead says the wages of sin is death but

the gift of God is eternal life we call

this in theological circles the The

Great Exchange when he takes he takes

your sinfulness and he gives you his

righteousness so when God look looks at

you as a Christian he no longer sees you

as incomplete he no longer sees you as

your sinful self he sees you as his son

or his

daughter he sees you

perfected so I want to give you a

moment if you find yourself as one who

has never given your life to Jesus I

want to give you a moment to do that

today we say a little prayer and if you

repeat this prayer you can do it out

loud you can do it in your mind but if

you mean it from your heart and your

head the scripture says you will be

saved that great exchange will take

place in your life you will be made

complete in Christ so just say something

like this

say

God I know I'm a

sinner and I need a

savior and that savior's name is Jesus

I believe he is your

son I believe he died on the

cross and I believe he rose from the

dead and I give my life to

him friends in that moment Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9

says if you confess with your mouth that

Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead you

will be saved and I have no doubt that

the Holy Spirit has just come into your

life and sealed your salvation there's

nothing that will ever separate you from

the love of

God but also know in a room like this

there are a lot of Christians and

perhaps you have fallen into that trap

that the world is set for you where you

believe that you are enough apart from

your relationship with Christ you say

well I I don't need to be a part of the

church I don't need to tithe I don't

need to be on a Ministry team I don't

need to be in a small group Bible study

I don't need to pray I don't need to

read my Bible I don't need to bring my

kids to church because I am enough I

just want you to understand the Trap

that is been laid for you by Satan

himself that apart from Christ you are

incomplete Jesus says I am the vine and

you are the branches apart from me you

can do nothing yeah you can be part of

The Walking Dead and function in life

but you will never experience the

Abundant Life that Jesus died to give

you until you are fully connected to

that vine and growing in your spiritual

life so for you today

perhaps in this moment you just need to

pray a prayer like

this just say

God I believed that I am

enough but now I

know that I am in complete without

you so God I'm going to make some

changes

I'm going to read the

Bible I'm going to

pray I'm going to protect my day of

worship I'm going to join a Ministry

team and I'm going to find a small group

Bible

study and I'm going to

give the Bible says if you will just

make that that commitment to Christ that

it will not be your your power that

holds up that end of the bargain but

it'll be God working through you to

honor that request of your

heart so father I just want

to say

that we're all in the the same boat

together we got our good days and our

bad that's just part of life but today

Lord I truly believe that there were

some commitments that were made I

believe that there are people that gave

their life to you and I believe that

there are Christians who are now going

to connect to you in a whole new way and

their life is going to be radically

blessed it's not going to be perfect

it's not going to be easy but all that

abundant joy that only comes from you is

going to be present in every single

thing that they

do as they press on from here Lord I

know father that there are going to be

challenges but I know you're going to

pave the way for them so thank you for

what you're doing

in our midst

today and what you're going to be doing

from this day

forward we thank you in the name of

Jesus Christ

amen we're going to end with a a song

but before we do if you were one of

those people that gave your life to

Jesus today first of all congratulations

we're going to celebrate with you let's

go ahead and

celebrate but also I want you to know

that next Sunday we're having a baptism

right here in this church and the very

first first thing that Jesus asks you to

do after you give your life to him is to

be baptized to make your public

profession of your faith to let everyone

know about the decision you made so my

challenge to you this week is to get in

touch with me at some point this week

and consider getting baptized next

Sunday amen thank you

you show

me every breath I Brea is from

you every finger part of

you I am yours from start to

you hold

me

and

I you are

never and just a word away

when

iesus

the sh

the and Cals my

soul when I

jesus even a

whisper breaks through my doubting till

all my fear is gone when I say

Jesus when I say

Jesus you're with

meing Grace into my

story I'm surrounded by your

Victory oh

there freedom in your

name when I say

Jesus the very

menion shatters the

darkness and calms my

soul when I say

Jesus even a

whisper breaks through my doubt

till all my fear is

gone and at the name of

Jesus every fear is broken oh nothing

now

can your

love and I cannot Escape it no I cannot

erase it oh I cannot deny it oh you to

when

IUS

theion

sh and Cals

Soul when I say

Jesus even a

whisper breaks through my doubting till

all my fear is gone

when I say

Jesus the very

mention shuts the

darkness and calms my

soul when I say

Jesus even a

whisper break through

myy till all my fear Is

God When I Say Jesus

when I say

Jesus when I say Jesus