Hello, Life: Filtering the Noise | Part 6

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Haven't you noticed just how loud everything is?

We're constantly bombarded, this relentless onslaught of notifications, of text, of DMs, of um emails if you're into that thing.

Like all of around us, I mean, the phone is constantly dinging.

There's more to scroll and to search on Instagram.

I mean, and then we haven't even gotten to podcast and the backlog and the new one that you need to hear.

Life is incredibly noisy.

In fact, um, economists call it, and you can turn me down a little bit in the house here, uh, because I will get louder and I don't want to hurt anybody's ears.

Uh, talking about noisy.

Um, but um, economists call this we are in the what's called the attention economy.

One of the most valuable resources today, or commodities, is your attention, and companies are spending millions and billions to capture your attention.

Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, constantly.

Because if they got your attention, and the more they have of it, the more profit they make.

No wonder we're scrolling mindlessly, drawn to it, caught into this frenzy, the noise that we often fall asleep to and wake up to, and just is constant throughout the day.

Now, here's the interesting part.

We know this, we get this.

The noise isn't just harmless, it's actually powerful.

It shapes what we think, the values we have, who we become.

And so the question really today is who are you listening to?

Like, who are you really listening to?

What voices are loudest in your life?

How do you filter the noise to discern what's good and true?

When everything's shouting at you, how do you know what voice to listen to?

And here's what we all know to be true.

We've experienced this, we've seen this, we know this in other people's lives, that the voice that you listen to shapes the person you become.

The voices that we listen to shapes fundamentally the person that you become.

Uh, the voice that you listen to most will shape you most.

And so today the sermon title is simply filtering the noise.

Would you go ahead and say that to your neighbor?

Very good.

How do we navigate this noisy world in a way that allows us to hear God's voice in the midst of all the noise?

That's where John is taking us.

If you have your Bibles, would you open up to 1 John 4, verses 1 through 6 as we learn and discover how to discern and filter tune into what truly matters?

1 John 4:1–6

The first thing that the Apostle John is going to tell us is simply this.

Not every voice deserves your trust.

Not every voice deserves your trust.

We live in a world overwhelmed with information and advice, yet starve for wisdom, don't we?

And today, what happens in our young people and us, we're we're so much told what to think, we're not actually taught how to think.

Listen to what John says.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they're from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Many people have said, this is good, this is right, but it's not right or true.

Okay, so as we dive in, you're gonna see this word spirit a lot, so let's talk about that before we move on.

What is John talking about, this whole idea of spirits?

Well, the Bible clearly defines the spiritual realm as an unseen reality that is just as real as the physical realm.

You are an embodied spirit.

You are both body and soul.

God is spirit, and scriptures clear is we have a very real enemy whose agenda is to bring chaos, destruction, and death to God's good creation.

C.S.

Lewis writes in the screw tape letters.

There are two equal and opposite airs into which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence, that's the Silicon Valley way.

The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

That's the Santa Cruz way.

I grew up there.

They, speaking of the devils, of the demonic themselves, are equally pleased by both heirs and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

And here's what John is saying.

He says, Dear friends, do not believe every spirit.

Words always originate from the immaterial.

Are they from the spirit of God, truth, life, goodness?

Do they carry the spirit of falsehood, criticism, confusion, division, the spirit of the enemy?

In fact, as we talk about the spirit, you can just write in the voice right there.

And here's what he says: not every voice deserves your trust.

This is so good.

I love this.

I love that God's word says this.

Don't believe every spirit.

Listen, blind faith is not biblical.

Naivity, uncritical acceptance is not the way of Jesus.

God gave you a mind, so use it.

Blind faith in Jesus Himself is not biblical.

That you would love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

I love that he says, don't believe everything you hear.

Don't trust any in every voice.

This happens in church world when we talk around the area of prophecy or words of knowledge, and God told me to tell you.

Well, wonderful.

That's maybe he did.

And I can tell you stories where someone's given me a word and it's been incredibly on point.

And other times, I think they smoke something.

I don't know.

But we are to exercise discernment.

We are to go to God's word.

We are to sit and discern is this actually true?

And so to exercise discernment, we have to identify the voices we're listening to.

What are the voices that are loudest in our lives?

And often we simply accept the voices and don't challenge them that we hear most consistently.

Let me give you just three voices that I think we hear most consistently.

The first voice is in our own head.

And there's a repeating narrative, and it operates in the backdrop of your life, often of shame or guilt, insecurity, or hopelessness.

That repeating, you know, back in the day we'd call it the tapes on repeat, and nobody knows what a tape is anymore.

The tracks on repeat.

You're not enough.

You'll never measure up.

You're worthless.

You are what you did.

There's no return.

Your worth and your approval, your lovability is based on what you do.

And it's these voices that are on repeat in our head that shape us so powerfully.

Another voice is the voices in our life.

Whether past or present, maybe it's a parent, a coach, a teacher, a pastor, boss, your friends.

These are the voices in our lives.

You know, I talk to our kids all the time.

They repeat it.

Show me your friends, and I can show you your future.

Because their voices in their lives, we simply begin to lockstep with them.

But it's also the voice of a coach that spoke death instead of life, or of a parent, or of a pastor, or of a boss that spoke into, that shaped profoundly who we are.

And on the positive side, when we allow those into our lives, it shapes us for good.

And then in our world, culture, news, social media, political party, I mean, how much noise can we get from the political?

Anyway, so never mind.

Jeez, I'm ready for that to be done.

Everything we consume has an agenda that tells us what to think, how to live, and who we should become.

And so what does John tell us?

Don't believe every spirit but test.

This word test means to examine carefully, to look at closely, to determine the genuineness of.

A little while back, my wife got a new wedding ring.

Now, when we first got married, we I had zero money, and I used my uh grandma's diamond.

I couldn't use her whole ring because the metal on it was wasn't even worth scrap.

Um, it was Depression era.

The diamond's so small you could barely tell there was a diamond on her finger.

Wore it for 20 years, and she was happened to be at the thrift box, and there was this great, you know, diamond ring, and you know, assume it's costume jewelry, but she's like, oh, that's really cool looking.

It wasn't the right size.

And so Jenny and I go to the jeweler to bring in this, you know, diamond ring, and there's something in me.

I'm like, maybe you found it, you know.

There's those stories of like, oh yeah, is that the garage sale?

Paid five dollars, and then it's you know$500,000.

I love the antiques rocho, by the way.

Um, and you know what the jeweler did?

She got out her little magnifier, examines the ring, and I can't tell you, do you know what she told us?

It's costume jewelry.

That's what she told us.

But it was really well done.

When you look at her ring, it looks like she's got a big old diamond and it's shiny and it looks real.

It looks genuine, but it's not, it's not a real diamond, it's fake.

And so much of life is that way.

So much of the voices, so many of the ideologies, the narratives coming out at us, they sound good.

They seem good, they look like they're really good things, but ultimately, though they look on the outside, if you're gonna take a closer examination of it, if you really look at it, you go, no, that's actually fake.

It's not trustworthy, it's not good, it's not helpful.

In fact, Ted Turno writes this: he says that most people are not driven by a well-understood, articulated, philosophical worldview.

More typically, people express their life philosophy in what we call a street philosophy, which is held intuitively, unexamined, but powerfully captures the gist of one's perspective on reality.

Here's some of the street philosophies of today.

Live your truth.

If it feels good, do it.

Follow your heart.

I like this one.

Don't change me.

Just love me.

They sound good.

They sound really nice.

Yeah, I want that.

But if we were to stop and examine them, to put them under the magnifying glass, and I we don't have time to do that here, but if I could just kind of apply this to one area of our life.

Well, what about um our diet and food?

Live your truth.

Like, like who cares what nutritionists say and what the best science of our day talks about nutrition?

Just live your truth, do it your way.

Whatever you want is can be true for you.

If it feels good, do it.

That's how I ate a lot of my 20s, by the way.

Follow your heart, amen.

I have a sweet tooth and I love to follow my heart.

Don't change me, just love me, doctor.

Why?

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

If we wouldn't apply this to our diets, why in the world would we allow things like this to direct our lives and shape our relationships?

First thing John is going to tell us, not every voice deserves your trust.

We have to be discerning.

You have to be discerning here.

I love this.

Don't just trust me.

I love that the Bible teaches this.

Go and sit with it, get into God's word.

Questioning is allowed in the church.

Okay.

I could teach that one all day long.

So, how in the world do we exercise discernment of what's good and from God and what's false and from the enemy?

John gives us just one test.

One test, and it's simply does it align with the gospel of Jesus?

Does it align with the gospel of Jesus?

This is how you can recognize the spirit of God.

Every spirit of voice that acknowledges this that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit of voice that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you've heard is coming and even is now in the world today.

How do I discern among all the voices today?

John says the answer is the gospel of Jesus.

We have to be a people that get back to the gospel of Jesus.

Well, what is the gospel?

I just want to give it to you just in three words.

The gospel is the person of Jesus, the practice of Jesus, and the provision of Jesus.

That is the gospel.

The gospel first is the person of Jesus.

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is fully God and fully man.

He lived a life that we could not live and died the death we deserve to die, defeating death and rose to victory, sits right now at the right hand of the Father.

He will return and restore and make all things right.

And as a result, he is Savior of the world.

He is Lord, King Most High.

He is God, eternal one, Redeemer and Leader.

He is the God man.

This is Jesus.

And anything that moves Jesus out of that place is not from God.

But then the practice of Jesus, what did Jesus teach and how did he live?

Jesus, John starts his gospel, is the fullness of grace and truth.

That Jesus, those who were far from him, he went close to them.

Those who were who were hypocritical and misrepresented God, he called them out.

Jesus was not limpy in any way, by the way.

Jesus turned over tables and he touched lepers.

He spoke the truth in love.

It's both love and holiness.

He called us to a new way of life, a new kingdom that was ushered in by his very presence because he is the king.

For us to then live out a new upside-down reality where the first will be last and the last will be first.

Where we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

Where we hold a sexual ethic because of the dignity of all humanity.

And we care for the poor and the press because of the dignity of all humanity who are made in the image of God, the person of Jesus, the practice of Jesus, then the provision of Jesus.

What did Jesus provide?

In his death, he atoned for our sins.

He made payments and covered all that we have ever done.

He bought you back from death and brought you to life.

He brought us out of darkness into the kingdom of God and the Son He loves.

He's adopted us into the family of God.

We are heirs of his grace.

You are in Christ justified, which means just as if I'd never sinned.

The imputed, placed upon righteousness of God, you are forgiven and free.

The person of Jesus, the practice of Jesus, the provision of Jesus.

And anything that speaks against those things is not of Jesus and not of the Spirit of God.

You know, he used this term antichrist, and in this context, it doesn't refer to a future political leader, but to any teaching or worldview that offers a spiritual substitute for Jesus.

Let me give you some counterfeit gospels.

We could do this all day, by the way.

I'll only give you three spiritual substitutes.

The first one, very common in our day, is the therapeutic gospel.

Cultural anthropologists say that we are in the therapeutic age.

The therapeutic culture is of self-help, self-esteem, and happiness as the ultimate goal.

And so Jesus exists not as Lord, God, and Savior, but as a self-help guru to make you feel better and feel good about yourselves.

Now, even in defining and saying the word therapeutic gospel, what I want to be clear on is I think therapists are incredibly helpful and powerful, and Jenny and I have one, okay?

So we're not anti-any of that.

And at the same time, unfortunately, what the one of the things we've done is we shifted that the therapist will save us instead of Jesus.

Only Jesus can save.

Instead of the self-help guru, we need a savior.

Another counterfeit gospel was the humanistic gospel, or you could write in there the technological gospel.

In humanism, it's humans are the center, there is no God, and the fundamental belief that we're inherently good, and if we have enough education, enough technology, we can create our own utopia, heaven on earth.

And if you want to include Jesus in the humanistic gospel, he's simply a guide.

Because he's a really good moral teacher.

He's got good things to say, but some of them they're not that good.

So you pick and choose from what you like out of Jesus' teachings to the things that actually speak to you, and you leave out the rest.

And if Jesus is not God, it is not the gospel.

If he is not the creator, then you do not have purpose and meaning.

If there is no God, there is no purpose and beauty in life.

The therapeutic gospel, the humanistic gospel, the spiritual gospel, especially took rise over COVID.

That's where personal experience and feelings are what determines truth.

My experience, my feelings, it's what matters most.

And so Jesus, if you include him, is a technique for enlightenment.

I'll add a little bit of Jesus, I'll add a little bit of new age, maybe incorporate some crystals, Ricky, or manifestations, whatever I want to do.

Jesus is not a technique.

He said, I am the way, I am the truth, and the life.

And no man, no woman comes to the Father except through me.

And if Jesus rose from the grave.

Then all that he said is true and trustworthy.

And here's one of the things back to the blind faith and testing.

Like if you're here and you're struggling, I'm not sure if I believe in that, Jesus Ryan.

I would encourage you to research, examine the evidence.

It's worth your while because if what he said is true, it's of infinite importance.

And if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then it's of no value and no importance.

And this is a waste of time.

And watch whatever football game or go to the beach, do something else with your time, then here, if this is just here to help you feel better about your life, it's not good enough.

And don't you dare throw your brain out as you examine the evidence.

Jesus will show himself faithful and trustworthy.

The first thing, not everything deserves your trust.

Secondly, then what we must do is the test is what does it say about Jesus?

Does it align with the gospel of Jesus?

Now our world's so noisy, the voices so loud, we're constantly pulled.

There's just just culture just pulls us, doesn't it?

It's overwhelming.

I feel like, gosh, I can't barely keep my head above water.

And I love where John takes us next.

Victory is already yours.

Is it even possible, Ryan, to sift through the noise?

With all the things that are coming at me and the busyness and the hurry of modern day life?

He's gonna say, victory is already yours.

And if you want to memorize a verse, start here.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who's in the world.

You, dear children, you're from God.

You're originating.

You know God.

And you have already overcome.

You're not fighting for victory, you're fighting from victory.

The world wants you to believe you're powerless against the noise, fear, and distraction.

John reminds us that the spirit in you is greater than the noise around you.

I'm a Warriors fan.

This week starts, I think they start on Wednesday, the first opening game.

Steph Curry fan, really.

You guys have heard me talk about it.

I know it's annoying.

Um I'm a Cowboys fan, and we're sad, okay?

So but I'm such a fan of the Warriors, I can't stand to watch them play badly.

I don't know if anybody else is like this.

And so when I watch the Warriors, I wait until the game is already over and I've seen the score, I know the outcome, and then I sit with incredible delight.

Even when we're down 20 with, you know, four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, I sit there and go, it's not the end.

I know how it ends, it's amazing.

And if you haven't tried it, try it.

It's fantastic.

I love it.

Friends, we know how the story ends.

I don't know what you're walking through, I don't know what you're going through, I don't know the noise around you, but I know how the story ends, and I know that he has already overcome and he already has given victory.

And I just was challenged this week as I was stepping into some high-pressure meetings that were important for the future of our church, that Jesus already had the victory.

So I'm not trying to walk in there to somehow give victory.

I know how the story ends, and so I'm just excited.

It doesn't matter if it's the third or fourth quarter and we're down by 20.

Jesus, I'm excited to see what you're gonna do.

Imagine if he started to step into your day with that type of confidence.

I'm not trying to eek out and get by.

I'm just not trying to struggle through this.

How are you doing?

Struggling, brother.

No, you're victorious, you're an overcomer.

The one, the spirit of God in you is greater than the one in the world.

That Jesus said when he rose from the dead, he will give us his very spirit.

Scripture is clear, it's the very spirit that raised Christ from the dead, lives and dwells inside every single follower of Jesus.

You have everything you need to be everything God has called you to be, and you are fully equipped for any moment that he has placed you in, and you begin to realize, okay, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.

Walk in confidence.

Victory is already yours.

So stop living like you're defeated.

So how do we do this?

He brings it home.

We have to intentionally turn down the noise and tune in to God's voice.

In fact, just this is gonna look so weird, but would you just do this physically, like you're turning the dial of an object?

Yeah, no, with your hands, I know, I can see you.

So I can see when you're not doing it, okay?

Thank you.

Turn, like, come on, come on, come on.

Like, like, like, turn down the noise.

Notice what he says.

I think so.

I probably won't do that next service.

They are from the world, and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.

There's a whole group that just hears everything, and yeah, that's that's what we know.

We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Like the noise of the world is not gonna stop, and it's gonna be loud.

What's loudest doesn't mean it's right.

What's most consistent doesn't mean it's right.

The person who's most confident doesn't mean they're right.

And so what we have to do is we have to turn down the noise of the world.

How do we do that?

I have right here my beats.

Noise canceling headphones.

How many of you guys use noise canceling headphones?

Yeah.

Here's what I love about noise canceling headphones is the minute you put them on, like, I can't hear you.

What happens is noise canceling headphones do not silence the noise out there, does it?

The noise is still happening.

It's going and taking place all around you.

What it does is it just cancels out the noise right here so you can tune in to what matters and the voices you need to hear from.

One of the cool parts about noise canceling headphones is there's a little microphone in here, uh, and I want to get the term right, but it sends out an anti-phase.

So when noise comes in, it sends out a opposite sound wave to cancel out that noise.

It's simply called a destructive interference.

It's what the Holy Spirit does in our eyes.

When you turn down the noise, when you put on noise-canceling headphones, when you get God's truth into your life, then the Holy Spirit, as you're going throughout the day, is able to send out these anti-waves with the oncoming noise, and it cancels out and drowns out that noise.

He does destructive interference in your life.

And so many of us, we have it all with us, but we never tune in.

We're just walking around like this, wondering why.

Why?

Gosh, I got I just feel so overwhelmed.

I feel there's so much going on, it's so hard.

So much is coming at me.

I know.

But you tune into God's voice, but it means you actually got to turn down the noise around you.

The problem isn't that God isn't speaking, the problem is we're too distracted to listen.

Do you need the voice of the Lord today?

Do you need to hear from Him?

Are we so fixated on what we're doing that if God actually spoke, it wouldn't be welcomed?

Let me give you some application, and you know what we're gonna do?

I just want to give you the heads up.

We're gonna close our service in silence.

Or at least this sermon.

We're gonna come back and worship in a second.

But I don't want to teach just teach about it.

I want us to do it.

Here's the application.

Would you track what you consume?

Would you pay attention to the voices that are shaping your life?

They do it for us.

You can look on your phone and see how much time social media, you can see how much time Netflix, YouTube, all of it.

If I listen to those voices, who will I become?

Who is the person it's shaping?

We have to be aware of the voices before we can even begin to address it.

Then, secondly, tune in to God's voice.

If you're not already doing this, start with five minutes a day.

Five minutes a day, I'm just putting these on.

Five minutes a day where you're silent and in God's word.

You put your phone in another room, you take your watch off so you can't get notifications.

You get to a place where you can be present.

We need to become friends with silence.

And actually, this is going to be hard.

We actually need to embrace boredom too.

That's a sermon for another day.

But if you don't make space for God's voice, the noise of the world will fill that space every time.

We need it daily.

And then speak truth of your life.

Speak truth of your life.

Greater is the one in me.

Greater is the spirit in me.

Greater is he that's in me.

As I'm walking into this moment, I walk in victory.

Every day we're being shaped.

Either by the voices of the world or the voice of God, the voices you listen shape the person you become.

The voice you listen to most, the loudest voice in your life shapes you most.

And so I want you, if you wouldn't mind, I don't have a chair, so I can't do this, but I'll just get both feet on the ground.

Take a deep breath.

If you're comfortable, you don't close your eyes.

If you're not comfortable doing that, that's fine.

And simply say, Heavenly Father, would you speak to me in this moment?

And be still.

And know that He is God.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.