How Do You Know What's True?

You have your copy of God's word.

Go and make your way to 1st John chapter 4 verses one through 6.

John 4 · chapter mention

First John 4 verses one through 6.

As we continue our series from first John that we've titled The

Vitals of Our faith. The vitals are the bottom line,

the basics, the foundation, the vital signs, if you will.

These things got to be present for faith to be alive and

active. These are the things that John

wants us to be aware of and to test and see if indeed or

present in our lives. John is writing for our

assurance ultimately. In fact, I've titled today's

message from these 6 verses in first John 4.

How do you know what's true? How do you know what's true?

Has anyone in the room? I'm curious.

Taken a lie detection test before I see some hands.

Raise them high. Yeah.

Don't. Don't be ashamed.

I've never done this. I'd be fascinated to do one.

I've never taken 1. I think I'd be nervous to take

one. I don't know If y'all are

nervous. Why do we have lie detector

test? Because people do what?

Because people lie right? My goodness, we live in a world

laced, ladies and gentlemen, with lies, and it's been that

way ever since the enemy Satan himself stepped into the garden

and uttered his lies to Adam and Eve.

And Adam and Eve believed them and traded the truth of God for

a lie. And those lies ushered in the

curse of sin and all the corruption thereof, even death

itself. Our world is cursed with lies

because of Satan's first lie that mankind believed, and we're

still battling those lies today. A lot of fact.

In fact, This is why most people tend to just be naturally

skeptical. I'm not.

I, I tend to be more on the side, to be honest with you.

I tend to be more on the like. If you say it, I'm on the like,

just plain believe it. I, I was gullible as a kid, to

be honest. My wife, she offsets me.

She's like The Sixth Sense. Look at you cross eyed.

She's going to know if you're lying.

I'll be like, what? And you'll be like, no, you

didn't see that or no, my wife will pick up on it.

We're all one way or the other. But it's true because we live in

a world laced with lies. They're like mom and daddy said,

if it sounds too good to be true, it probably because our

world's laced with lies. So the question is, how are we

going to not be a victim of the lies of the world that we live

in? How are we going to know what's

true? How are we going to discern what

is the truth of God versus what's lies of the enemy?

This is what John answers in first John 4 verses one through

6. All right, so hear the Word of

God and then we're going to break down what he says Here It

is, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the

spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

And by this, you know the Spirit of God, Every spirit that

confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was

coming and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Hallelujah. They are from the world.

Therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to

them. We are from God.

Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not

listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of

truth and the Spirit of error. John says this in this text.

Here it is. If you don't walk away with

anything else, walk away with this.

Test what you hear before trusting it's true.

You got to test what you hear before trusting it's true.

The Bible tells you. Say one more time the Bible

tells you and it tells me to test what you hear before you

trust that it's true. Now remember, John is writing

over and over to answer this question.

How do you know? And the ultimate how do you know

question that he's writing to lead us to is to how do you know

that you've truly been saved? How do you really, truly know

you have assurance of your salvation?

But along the way, he's got these mild markers of how do you

know, like how do you know Christianity is true?

And and he's answered that and he's answered, how do you know

that you're a true Christian? And he's answered that.

And then he's answered once you're a true Christian, how do

you know what's dangerous to you as a Christian?

And then he's gone further and said, how do you know how to

live in the last days? How do you live ready for the

return of Christ? And he's answered that and he's

even answered beyond that. How do we live towards one

another? Remember the one word for the

Christian life pop quiz review starts with an L love.

Come on, right. John's been answering all these

how do you know questions? Now John is is asking and

answering the question, how do you know the truth of God?

What is teaching from God versus teaching that is not?

John says there's a test and we're going to see this test in

this text. In fact, the three things we're

going to walk through, John is going to give us the command to

test, and then #2 he's going to give us the way to test and then

#3 the results of the test. You ready?

So here's #1 the command to test.

Test every teaching to know if it's true.

This is verse one. Test every teaching to know if

it's true. John says, brothers and sisters,

let me go and translate what he says.

Don't believe everything you hear.

You heard that before. That's biblical right there.

Don't believe everything you hear.

Now, the way John says it is a little different.

Notice what he says. He says don't believe every

what? Don't believe every spirit.

Now that sounds weird. We don't really talk like that.

What in the world does that mean don't believe every spirit?

But by spirit, John means the spiritual source behind anybody

you're hearing. There's a spiritual source that

is activating, that is motivating, that is driving,

that is inspiring that person to say and teach what they're

claiming, teaching or saying. Test the spirits, test what's

behind the face, the person you're hearing to see if it is

of God or not. Do you see this?

But this is so clear in First John over and over again.

There's parts of life that are complicated.

This part of life is not there. Only two spiritual forces in the

whole world. Mark it down the the the the

Presence, the power of Almighty Creator God and the spirit of

Satan and the Antichrist. There's only two.

There's only two. There's only two teams, there's

only two spirits. There's only two forces, if you

will. God and the enemy.

John knows when you encounter teaching, it's going to come

through a person either live or on TV or social media or the

radio or in a book you read or a podcast you hear.

And yet John's told us there are.

He's already said there are no unidentified human beings on the

planet. You either belong.

If there's only two spiritual forces in the world, God and

Satan. Every human being belongs to

either the family of one or the family of the other, whether

they realize it or not. Because you see, even if you're

a lost person and don't know you're lost, you're under the

bondage and the authority of who Satan, the enemy.

You might even not even know it. And you're in his bonds and you

are not free and you've not been saved.

You're not a child of God. You belong to God or belong to

the enemy. And John has warned us that the

spirit of Satan and the Antichrist is present and active

in this world, seeking to deceive and devour and destroy

everyone they can. How?

John makes it clear by sending out false teachers.

That is people who claim to speak the truth of God but are

actually spewing Satan's lies. Now we don't use the word

prophet a lot anymore. We don't say false prophet here,

false prophet there, but we know it's true.

All you got to do is get online and watch a little bit or listen

for a little bit and you're going to discover false prophet

spewing all kinds of lies that are unbiblical all across the

Internet, around this country and around the world.

Many have gone out, many are there, many are going to come in

the future. John says This is why you can't

believe everything that you hear.

That's why John says test the spirits.

What's motivating, what's inspiring, what's activating

that person you're hearing to see if what they're saying is

from God or not. The word for test, it's a little

New Testament word that is originally behind the idea of

discerning the purity of metal to know what it's actual content

is. The idea here is to test like

you would meddle, but test the meddle of the teaching that

you're hearing to see if this is truly of God or of not.

Now typically we take this whole idea of testing for granted.

We don't realize how much we live our lives according to

testing, but we do. In fact, let me just try to

prove it to you. When you go to a restaurant

today for lunch and you sit down to enjoy a meal, you are

trusting that someone has tested this establishment for its

cleanliness and the quality of its food.

It's about to put on the table in front of you that you're

going to put in your mouth. In fact, if you want to see

they're grade, just ask for it. It'll be posted on the wall,

right? Somebody tested before you

trusted that it could be true and good for you.

All right, then next time you take a sip of water out of your

refrigerator, out of your faucet.

No, you probably don't put it through a water test after every

swig of water you take. But somebody tested it.

Somebody tested to see is this water actually safe to drink or

not. Now, you may like the test or

not like the test they used, but somebody's tested, all right,

right. If you get on an airplane to fly

from point A to point B, you're sitting in a seat trusting

somebody has tested this machine that is in quality operational

safety standards protocol to get you from point A to point B.

Somebody's tested. We live our lives according to

doing testing. There's a test for everything.

But what John is trying to say into you to me today is and when

it comes to discerning the spiritual things of God and the

teaching of God, the truth, no one else is responsible for

testing. It's true for you other than is

your pastor responsible for testing what's true?

In a way, yes. Right.

And the Bible says I'm going to be held as a teacher of the Word

of God, even to a stricter higher standard.

But you know what the Bible says?

You know what you're supposed to do after you hear something from

me to test it and see if it's true.

You're supposed to look for yourself.

You're not supposed to just take my word for it.

You're supposed to look down and see, is that what the word of

God says or not? No one can take your place in

responsibility for testing what you believe is either true of

God or of not. God says you are commanded to

test what you hear before trusting that it is true.

All right, that's the command. Now we're going to get to #2 the

way to test, and here it is. Ask, what does it say about

Jesus? It's a simple question.

It's a simple test. Ask what does it say about

Jesus? This is verses 2 and three.

Watch how clear and simple John is here.

By this, you know the Spirit of God.

By this it means just one thing that is here.

It is every spirit. Think person.

Of course there's a spirit animating behind every person of

God or not. Every spirit that confesses that

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every

spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

The one criterion that comprises this test is a confession,

meaning a convictional position, a doctrinal stance, a fact that

is confessed and affirmed, and that fact is absolutely critical

because this confession is not a part of the gospel we believe.

This confession is the gospel that we believe and that is the

truth that Jesus who is fully God pre existed as creator of

the world who spoke all things into existence actually fully

God remaining fully God became fully man and entered our world

to live in our place, to live a sinless life and die on the

cross and defeat death for us. That Jesus being fully God

became fully man. Our faith rest on that

confession y'all. There's no gospel, there's no

confession, there's no forgiveness of sin, there's no

hope of eternal life unless that is true.

No hope, no promise of the Old Testament is ultimately true if

Jesus the Son of God has not come in the flesh.

And no promise of the New Testament has any hope to be

true unless Jesus has come is fully God, fully man in the

flesh. You know, this doctrine is a

fancy doctrinal word. We call it the incarnation.

Carney means meat, flesh, all right to come in the flesh.

To Incarnate is God taking on human flesh.

This doctrine ties all of our Bible together and it's the

hinge on which our faith turns. Did Jesus truly did God become

man? Now you might be thinking, Kyle,

that claim sounds great as a test to see if what is true is

true or not. But you might be thinking, you

know, in reality, it doesn't really seem that simple.

Like when I hear ideas out there or I hear claims or I encounter

other quote religions or perspectives or world views,

like they just don't necessarily come out and say, well, here's

what we believe about Jesus. Often do they?

Let me remind you that often that is true.

But if you just press in just a little bit and keep asking, what

do they believe about Jesus? What did they say about the

incarnation? Do they affirm it or do they

deny it? Do they major on it?

Do they minor on it? Do they highlight it or do they

cast a shadow and do they distance themselves from it?

What do they say about God becoming a man, living a sinless

life, dying in your place and defeating death, rising again?

What do they say about Jesus? That's how you can know, John

says. Now I'm just going to press in a

little further and give you some examples because I believe as

your pastor, I'm responsible to do stuff like this.

I want to be clear, I know stuff about like what I'm about to say

is probably going to get me some emails.

I had people in the first service walk out.

I don't like to have to do stuff like this, but I'm responsible

before God to tell you the truth.

So here we go. You ready?

Here's some examples of how other perspectives deny this.

Let's start with Islam. No Muslim considers Jesus to be

divine or the son of God. In fact, if you were to go to

Jerusalem, to the Temple Mount, to the Dome of the Rock, where

there's a mosque built on part of the ancient site, there is an

inscription on the side of the Dome of the Rock that says God

has no son. That is satanic and of the evil

1 millions and millions are deceived.

What does it say about the incarnation?

What does it say about Jesus? Let's get further.

This one. I'm just going to keep going.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus, they believe, is a little G God, but

not the big G God. Jesus was, according to their

teaching, God's first creation. What did they just deny by

saying Jesus was created and not the Creator?

They just denied the truth of John 11.

In the beginning was the and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God. All things came into being.

Through who? Through Jesus, his son, the

founder. Charles Russell of Jehovah's

Witnesses says Jesus was Michael the Archangel before divesting

himself of his angelic nature and appearing in the world as a

man. What does it say about the

incarnation? What does it say about Jesus?

Does it affirm his full divinity prior to time?

And does it say in time he really took on full human flesh?

What does it say about Jesus? It's either of God or it's of

Satan. There's only two spiritual

forces. What about Mormons?

I don't believe Jesus is eternally pre existent as God

with the Father, thereby denying the Trinity, but that he was

again watch this the first born created spirit child of the

Father, the brother of Lucifer. Jesus achieved through his works

little G godhead godhood. Rather he achieved this godness,

but not big G God little G God. And by the way they teach so can

you. In the afterlife you can become

your own little G God. What was the last Satan told in

the garden? What did he tempt them with?

You can be your own. What?

What does it say about Jesus? Is he the one and only one true

who took on human flesh and lived in our space?

Why not? So the we could become God, but

so the we could become sons and daughters of God, redeemed,

joined with Christ, sharing in his glory, but exalting him and

him alone as God. What does it do to the glory of

Jesus? What does it say about his

divinity? What does it say about?

All you got to do is keep asking the same question and you're

going to get to your answer. We could go on, but the point is

this every world religion or cult without exception denies

Jesus Christ is eternally fully God who has come in the flesh is

fully man. You can mark it down every time

we've seen the command to test, we've seen the way to test and

finally the results of the test. We need to realize and these

results. What's different about those who

have the truth. This is verses 4 through 6.

You all the the point of this test that we're called to

constantly conduct when we encounter teaching is so that we

can clearly distinguish truth from error.

But of course, the test does get personal because teaching comes

through teachers. It comes through people, right?

And the results of the test not only reveal what ideas are true

or false, but also what people belong to the truth or not.

So at at this point, we're reminded there are only two

types of people in this world, Those who belong to God, those

who belong to Satan. John has already warned us that

those who belong to Satan will naturally hate those who belong

to God. But then listen to this truth.

This is incredible, little children.

You are from God and have, what's that next word have

overcome. You are from God and I've

overcome them. For he who is in you is greater

than he who is in the world. Aren't you glad that's true?

Aren't you glad that the one who resides in you, the Holy Spirit

of God, is not kind of bigger, kind of stronger, kind of

better. He is greater, infinitely

greater and infinitely more powerful than the one that the

enemy who is in the world seeking to kill, steal and

destroy. And Jesus says you are from God,

you've overcome them. For he was in you is greater

than he was in that. That's a might drop from God if

I've ever heard one. Stake your life on that claim.

God says yes. This test is going to

distinguish those of you who belong to me versus those who

don't. But for those of you who belong

to me, you've overcome them. That word overcome is past

tense. Already overcome, Christian.

Here's the deal. Let's make this very practical.

You're not living your life trying to win a victory.

You're not living for victory. You're not trying to work for a

victory. We're able to live our lives as

Christians based on the past victory of Jesus Christ.

We get to live life in the victory lap lane of Jesus.

You've already overcome. You don't have to worry about

waking up that day and wondering if by God's help you're going to

win in God's will for God's Kingdom that day, right?

Jesus is already won. We conquer by the blood of the

lamb and the word of our testimony every single day.

Now I realize you might woke up this morning, woke up this

morning like I don't feel like I'm winning.

I don't feel the victory. Pastor Calm.

In fact, I feel like I'm in a boxing ring with the world and

the world's Mike Tyson. He's punching me in the mouth

and biting me in the ear at the same time.

And life feels like that sometimes, but Jesus has already

won. Jesus says take heart in this

world you will have you're going to get bit in the ear, you're

going to have trouble. But what Jesus says what same

word. I've overcome the world.

I've already overcome the world. By the way, this truth hits a

whole lot different for our brothers and sisters around the

world giving their blood for Jesus Christ, and I mean with

their lives. One out of nine Christians are

persecuted for their faith. 7000 Christians in Nigeria alone have

died for faith in Jesus this year.

But the Bible says we've already overcome.

We may give our lives, some may experience that, but doesn't

matter what we face, they can't take away our victory in Christ.

The reason why we've won is because he who is in US is

greater than he who is in the world.

So part of the difference y'all we need to realize between he

who is in US and who we are versus those who are not in

Christ and of the world is that the one in US is greater, is

stronger. This is also the reason why the

Bible tells us and James to rebuke the devil and he will.

What that means Jesus is greater than Satan.

You need to live your life that way.

You need to stake your claim that way.

Speaking and claiming and praying and depending on the

name of Jesus, the enemy has to flee.

The second part of the difference about US versus the

world, verses 5 and 6, those who belong to the world, John says,

sound like the world, and they listen to the world.

Why do the people of the world listen to the world?

Because they're saying the things they want to hear.

But John says this, However, those who belong to God sound

like the truth and listen to the truth.

John Gospel, chapter 8, verse 47.

Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

In other words, God's word receives a positive response

from God's people. The difference, the distinction

that regarding who we listen to, John tells us is another

dimension of discerning who we belong to, whether we belong to

God or not. He says by this we know the

spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Those who belong to God are stronger than Satan and they

hear and respond to the word of God.

How do we know what's true? How do we know it's true?

You test, how ask. What do they say about Jesus?

You're responsible for that test.

You know the way to test and the results discern for us to whom

we belong, to God or the enemy. What I want to do next, to share

some things with you. Sometimes I rarely come across

something that I just, man, put word for word in front of you

that's not original to me, but I'm about to do that.

There's an author that I read frequently by the name of Chris

Harper. He's the CEO of Better Man.

We do better man studies on Tuesday mornings with men in

this room discerning how to become a more biblical, godly

man. Chris wrote something that is so

pertinent to what we're studying.

I want to share his words with you.

And if you're a young person in the room, I really want you to

give everything you got to listen to what I'm about to

share with you. This is going to be very

practical. I want you to absorb every word.

All right, you ready? Here we go.

Every day, from the moment we open our eyes, we are being

discipled. Not just by sermons and

podcasts, but by something deeper, more invisible.

We're being discipled by narratives, by stories.

We live in a world that doesn't just sell products, it's trying

to sell you an identity. It doesn't just give content, it

tries to give us meaning. The world wants to tell us who

we are, what the good life is, what we should fear, and what we

should chase. These narratives are not neutral

ideas, they are competing gospels and unless you

consciously resist them, you will unconsciously believe them.

Romans 12/2 plainly tells us do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Paul is saying don't be shaped by the world story, be

transformed by God's story. And this modern world has many

stories. Some are obvious, some are far

more subtle, all of which did you hear that?

All of these rival the Christian gospel.

The false narratives promise life but deliver bondage.

The question is not if you're being shaped, you're being

shaped right now. The question is, what story is

shaping you? I'm about to share with you, if

I could in the next few minutes, some of the false gospels that

the world wants to sell you. Young people, I really want you

to hear these because you can take any idea you come across

and filter it through these and the gospel of Jesus Christ and

know if it's true of God or a false gospel.

So the first one is this. Watch this romanticism.

You be like Kyle. I've never heard that word.

Do I have a clue what that means?

But you know exactly what this is.

It's the lie, the false gospel that you are your feelings, you

are what you desire. If you like it and if you want

it, that's the true you. The idol is your emotions and

your feelings and your desires, desires.

The lie is that your salvation, the good life, really you being

you and experiencing all that life has to offer is when you

express yourself the way and according to your own desires.

The promise is if you feel it deeply, you're truly alive.

Intensity of equals authenticity when the truth is the heart is

deceitful above all things. If you follow your heart and

it's like you'll end up at the wrong destination because you'll

have believed a false gospel that you're your feelings,

you're your desires. Let's go to the next one,

consumerism. You are what you have.

The idol here is money in possessions that salvation.

The promise is salvation through more the promise, the false

promises. Stuff equals status.

Accumulate to prove your value. More things mean more life.

The truth is life does not consist in the abundance of

possessions. He says it like this.

Be rich in Christ, not Costco. You're not going to leave this

world with anything in your pantry or your garage or on your

property or on your person line number three, false gospel is

rationalism. Only what I can reason is true.

This false gospel claims the idol here is our human intellect

thinking we know and we can understand and discern all truth

just with our limited human understanding.

The lie is that salvation comes through the mind.

The promise is trust yourself. Your intelligence is the final

authority. If it doesn't make sense it

can't be true. The truth is lean not on your

own understanding. Truth is not man discovered, but

truth is God revealed. What is the ultimate source of

truth? It is Scripture who is the

ultimate source of truth. It is God who is the greatest

revealer of truth, the Holy Spirit who's the way, the truth

and the life King Jesus. Mark it down.

Rationalism is a false gospel. Here's another false gospel,

pragmatism. If it works, this gospel says it

must be right. This is the old lie that the

ends justify the That's unbiblical.

That's false gospel. The promise or the lie is

salvation through efficiency and outcomes, promises

functionality, justifies morality.

That effectiveness equals truthful.

If it works, it must be true. The truth is there is a way that

seems right to a man that in the way leads to or ends in what?

Death. That's a false gospel.

The next false gospel is individualism or hedonism.

This is the false gospel that you are the center of life, that

you're the center of your universe, that everything

revolves around you. So if that's the case, then you

ought to be yourself and go discover yourself, because until

you find the center, the sun of your universe, you're going to

be lost. Promises.

Be your own God. When did that life start?

Y'all? Satan is not very creative.

Do what makes you happy. Freedom is found in what you

want. This gospel says the truth is

the Bible says deny yourself and take up your cross and follow

me. Jesus doesn't go say to anybody

go find yourself. He says follow me and not just

that he says Paul says I've been crucified with Christ.

Jesus says like this, take up your cross daily and follow me.

Go die to yourself. Go say no to you.

You come say yes to me. That's the true gospel.

I've been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me and the life I live.

Paul says I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave

himself for me. The Christian life, real life,

is Jesus living his life through you.

This is a false gospel. The next one is relativism.

This false gospel says there is no ultimate truth.

This idol is choice. The lie is salvation through

tolerance, the promises. No one can tell you you're

wrong. Truth is subjective.

Follow your own truth. Every path leads somewhere good.

The Bible says Jesus says I am the truth and the and no one

following any other path gets to the Father except through

through me. Jesus says that's a false

gospel. The next one is perfectionism.

You must perform to be accepted. This idol is human achievement.

It's salvation through flawlessness and perfection.

The promise is if you succeed, you'll be loved.

You're only as good as your last performance.

The truth is, while we were yet failures, sinners Christ what

died for us, and all our flop and all our mess up and all our

sin, God did what only God could do for us.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

You are not loved because you are perfect.

You are being perfected because you are loved.

You see the difference? You're not loved by God because

you're perfect, but you're being perfected by God because he

loves you all. This last one is the one of the

most pervasive in our culture. It slips in so slyly it's called

Western religion. You might hear it called this

Moralistic Therapeutic deism. I know none of those words might

make sense to you, but here I hope these do.

Idol is or the lie is this false gospel says God wants you to be

nice, safe, successful, comfortable and happy.

The idol is your comfort and your ease and your pleasure.

The lie is salvation that comes through security and positivity

and politeness. The promise is God exists to

meet your needs and provide for your comfort.

The Christian life should be easy.

The Bible begs to differ and says through many tribulations

we must enter the Kingdom of in this world you will have but

I've overcome the all these stories.

I want to draw this in. Don't miss it young people, stay

with me. You ready?

All these stories have three things in common, and any false

gospel you hear will have this in common.

They center on the self, not the Savior.

They preach ease, they don't preach sacrifice, and they

promise life, but they deliver death.

Each of these narratives preaches a false gospel.

And here's the false gospel they preach.

It's a false creation that you are your desires.

When God says you were made in his image, not in your false

desires, but in God's desires and design He has for you, it's

a false fall. Fall for sin.

The false fall and the false gospel is that your only problem

is a lack of freedom. If you're just freed up to do

what you want, you'll be good, you'll be great, you'll be

grand. The Bible says the fall is not

just a lack of our freedom. The false gospel, it says this.

It's a false savior. More stuff, more success, more

progress, and then a false redemption.

Be just, be happy, be nice, be you.

All those false gospels preach those things, but the Christian

story, the one true story, declares you are not your own,

for you are bought at a price. The good life is not comfort,

but it is conformity to Christ. And CS Lewis made this

statement. He said the most dangerous ideas

in a society are not the ones being argued, but the ones being

assumed. All those false gospels on the

screen, they're not being argued in your culture you live in.

And the places I go and the places and people, they are

being assumed. These things are true.

They're embedded in the water we're drinking.

God's story says you are made in God's image.

Your problem is sin, your hope is the cross, your purpose is

worship. Your future is resurrection.

So we don't need more feelings, we need faith and we don't.

We don't need more stuff, we need more scripture.

We don't need to express ourselves, we need to die to

ourselves. We need Jesus.

He is the true and better story and is the one and only one who

offers a true gospel that gives life not just now, but for

forever. What gospel are you believing?

Can I ask you to bow your head and close your eyes?

If you're here this morning, if you've never stepped into the

story, the true story of the gospel of Jesus Christ and by

faith realized your problem is sin, your only hope is the cross

of Christ. Your future is resurrection

either to eternal life or eternal death.

I'm inviting you to step out by faith into God's story, into the

truth of Jesus, for you to accept him as your Lord and

Savior. It's why I'll wait right here.

It's why we'll have encouragers close if you need to make the

decision by faith to trust Christ, to stake your life on

the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ alone.

I want to invite you to step out if any of these false gospels

have penetrated your life and your mind and your thinking and

your living. And if you need to say, God, I

need to get on my knees. I need to stand before you.

I need to come to these steps like an altar and just say, God,

purify my life and my mind and my heart.

God, I've allowed false gospels to corrupt the way I'm living,

the way I'm thinking, what I'm wanting, what I'm doing.

You need God just to do a little detox of any false gospel in

you. I'm going to invite you to

respond to Jesus in whatever way he's calling that he's the only

way, the truth and the life. If your life's not staked on his

gospel, I pray you're not going to leave today until it is.

Would you maybe just say, God search me and know my heart, see

if there'd be any offensive way in me, Lead me in the way of

your gospel. Give me eyes to discern, ears to

hear anything that's not of you. God, remind me to test what's

true before believing it. Help me talk to my kids so they

can test what's true before believing it.

Help us as a family. Help us and we in our

conversation with our neighbors and our teammates to help them

to understand what's true. The truth will set you free.

Heavenly Father, I pray that the truth would set us free this

morning, that by faith we'd move toward your truth by your spirit

and away from anything that's false.

In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me?

We're going to sing, you respond.

You come as the Lord leads.