What is the Truth | Pr Gloria Paul

You're listening to a message to go from acts church. We hope this message

will light up your day. The meaning of truth here that we can draw

from the Hebrew language is that truth encompasses all, meaning truth is everything.

Right, truth is everything. There's an image here if you can look at

the Yeah, this is the alphabets of the Hebrew language. Okay, and

what I was fascinated by it is actually okay, it's all right, we

don't understand it. But if you look at the ones highlighted, those three

alphabets is what makes up the word truth. And when you put it together,

it means that truth is everything it covers. And that's how the Jews

actually see it, meaning it is the beginning, the middle, and the

end, and that is who Jesus is, right and meaning when Jesus spoke

it, he was literally just saying this without me. It's not complete,

right, And we know that the Hebrew language is very biblical. I mean

it was a biblical language that was used Jesus himself you know, used the

language as well, right, and so, meaning there was a deeper meaning

in how he spoke the context, right, and truth is everything, the

first, the middle, and the and and meaning Jesus encompasses everything in our

lives from the time we were a child. Okay, parents, you can

sometimes choose the day when the child is going to be delivered, right,

but at the same time, God knew that day is going to happen till

the day that He takes us home. In the middle, when we're growing

up, every decision and sometimes it's hard to see that way because of just

how life is. There's just a lot of decisions to make. There's a

lot of things to to, you know, to manage, right. But

you know, if you just take one step back and be reminded of the

truth that Jesus is actually everything, It's actually planned everything for us. And

if you know that, if God is the planner, nothing goes wrong.

Right though in humans eyes it may look like that, but above it all,

God has a purpose. He has a plan, right, He has

a purpose and he has a plan. And I believe God wants someone to

know this today. If you're feeling that my life is just a mess,

I don't know what's going on with my life decisions, can I just remind

you that God has already planned it out for you, and of course it

gives us the free will. It doesn't force us to do things right.

But at the same time, if you can just listen, the Holy Spirit

is always there. Right, if you just say, Holy Spirit, can

you guide me? And he does. I've seen it many times. Right.

Does he gives you that word, just that one word that you need

to hear, right? Or like what Richard shades, Now you knew that

is there's three people that he needs to reach out to. The Holy Spirit

speaks to us. It's just whether we want to hear it, right,

So don't hold on to a lie that is telling that your life is in

the mess or it's not being figured out. The truth is it is been

figured out by who, by God himself, a man by God himself.

And again, if you look at this alphabets, right, if we remove

one of the letter is called alif, meaning the first alphabet, right,

you will notice that we are left with the word date. Meet again in

their language, the Hebrew language is meat, which is the opposite of life.

Okay, it's the opposite of life. So many we remove the first

one, you are left with the fourteen and the one which means date.

So what does it tell us? Well, if you really remove God spiritual

death. Right, we don't experience life to the fullest, you know,

we can still live, well, we can go on, but not to

the fullest. And how many of us on experience life to the fullest fullness?

Right, life of abundance in men? And as you desire that,

He brings it to pass. Right. If we attempt to ignore a suppressed

God in our understanding of truth, we end up with death. And Jesus

tells us I am the Way, the truth and the life. No one

comes to Father apart from me, and anyone who denies this is in a

state of spiritual death. And I think spiritual death is a very difficult place

to be at because to me it looks like we are zombies. You know,

where we are functioning. We can walk, we can do this and

that, but inside we are just so empty, right, We're so empty

because is there a sense of purpose? You know? Like like you know

for some of us here, we've been journeying for some time. Life can

hit you hard, but somehow you pick yourself up again. Well, that's

because you have Jesus in you, right, and that is the spirit of

God living in us. But if we don't have that when life hits us

hard, we're gonna fall really hard and it's gonna be hard to pick ourselves

up. Right, So let's never remove God from the picture. Never remove

even though it looks like it's okay. And most of the time it will

look okay. Why because there are people to applaud, you know, we

have our own abilities and talents. So the life can just go on,

but it's not worth it because we know that the only way to living is

true God, Yemen, true God. So I believe when we when we

speak about spiritual death here, we've got to also think about the kind of

decisions we need to make in life. Sometimes it's very easy for us to

compromise, right, and sometimes our work can be that, you know,

like for example, like I guess I was sharing a difficult time at my

workplace over the recent time. My boss is been wanting me to work on

Sundays too, and so yeah, there's just been a change in her so

but I had to be very persistent about it and I said, no,

it's always been that way where I don't work on Sundays. Right, if

it's between Sunday and Saturday, I'll choose a Saturday. But not on a

Sunday. So those are the kind of steps. Was it easy? No?

Okay, of course they will say things like, oh, you know,

do you want that promotion and all this, But I had to put

a stand. That's my own conviction. But all of you would have your

own right, your own decisions that you've got to make. It looks okay,

but it is not. Because God has to come number one. He

always has to come number one. That's the number one rule. If we

want to grow in our faith. It's not always the easiest to take in

right. Especially you say, oh, pastor, is easy for you to

say my job is difficult? Yes, then ask God for that wisdom.

God can change hearts. Do you know that God can change the heart of

your difficult boss? You can say, okay, please go right, pray,

Prayer works. We're not saying that you go against them and just be

rebellious. No. We are called to also honor who God has placed in

our lives. But remember the master that we are serving is not our boss,

but our God. He's a number one master. Because of him,

he has provided us what we have. So let's always develop that sense of

what is my priority? And like always say This is important for us to

develop at a very young age, because then as you you step on as

a young adult, you know that these are the things that I need to

do. It's a practice, it's a way of life where I'm not trying

so hard. But this is how it is when it comes to my faith

and my walk with God. Amen. Right, So never disregard God in

our lives. In fact, as we read the book of John, and

we can see that God himself is called the spirit of truth. Right,

God is the spirit of truth. In John fifteen twenty six, okay,

it says, but when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you

from the Father. The Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father, he will

testify of me, and you also will bear witness because you have been with

me from the beginning. And in John sixteen twelve it says, I still

have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

However, when he the Spirit of Truth, has come, he will guide

you into all truths. For he will not speak on his own authority,

but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will tell you things

to come. And this is what we mean by the Holy Spirit, as

a helper. So if you're caught in a situation you don't know how to

respond, it's an impossible situation. What the Word of God tells us here,

he will tell you that things to come. Whatever he will speak,

he will not speak on his own authority, right, the authority of our

Father Jesus. Right. And we all have that helper. Again, we

all have that helper. So again, it's not the easiest to live with

that kind of a faith and that kind of a truth, but it's possible

as we hold on to God. And that's the important truth that we need

to learn about as alife as a Christian. Right, we are not called

all the way to be courageous and brave and strong by our own ability because

we can't. Right. So that that's why the Word of God says,

when we are weak, he is strong. Right. So when we are

incapable, he makes it possible. Right. So never think that I am

never ready for this or I'm not prepared unless we only see the end product

of a person. For example, when we look at leaders and we say,

wow, this leader is just so good in what he's doing, you

know, so great, Like Okay, Richard Love, for example, say

Wow, I want to be like Richard. Look at him how he speaks,

you know, how he leads right. But do you know that all

of us have a journey right to get there. So let's not just be

caught up to compare ourselves to be that person. But let's just enjoy this

journey that God is building us to be right. We all have. I

can show you wherey with you my stories how I started when I was campus

student. Like I always say, I'm not the type of speaks in the

front right. But God knows how to build you, to mold you,

to make you the person he wants you to be right. So don't be

just caught up at what you see. Allow God to lead you man right.

So when we look at the word a maid that is now right the

meaning of truth in Hebrew, it actually comes from a root word or a

verb in their language, which is called a man that means to support or

make firm and expresses the image of strong arms of a parent supporting the helpless

infant. Do you know that's another meaning of truth? Right? And so

I mean we spoke about fathers is now edward prayed and I can't just tell

to think about that's how our God is. Right. When he says I

am the truth, what he means here is that I am here to support

you, to make firm. Expresses the image of a strong arm. So

when you can't carry yourself, God can. So this is what it means

by the word truth when he says I am the truth, meaning I can

carry you, right, I can be there with you. I can be

there to support you. Okay. So truth stands in active relation to the

one who is supposed to know it and carries the burden. And you know

who knows your burdens. God, right, he knows your burdens. He

carries it man. So that is another meaning of truth, right, it

is all. It is all that we need because that is who he is.

Now. The third truth, the third meaning of truth here from the

Hebrew language is that truth is personal. Yeah, truth is personal. So

not just telling you this is the truth, but I want you to experience

it as well. And he says said I am the truth, meaning he's

inviting us to experience it with him. I'm not just telling you to show

but I want you to experience it for yourself. Right, personal, and

it comes by knowing him. And if we look at the meaning of no

in Hebrew means intimate. You know him means I have an intimate relationship.

I just don't know your name. It's not about just knowing your name,

but I know you as a person. I know what you like, what

you don't like, your challenges, your struggles. Well, I also know

your future. That is who God is. Right, so it's personal.

As we know, Jesus is the alpha, and Omega in Hebrew is alief

and tough. Okay, it says I'm the first and the last. So

now we know the alpha and omega actually comes from the alphabets, from the

first alphabet and the last alphabet. And that is truth. It's not something

just objective, not something sthectic where it's just there. But the truth is

up close personal and truth is a way of living right, a mode of

existence. Relational. It's meant to be relational. Okay. So when I

say okay, I know the truth, meaning I know the truth about who

God is. And how do I know it, It's not because I heard

it from someone else, but because I am experiencing it. I've not just

read that God gives us peace, but I've experienced that He is peace.

When you know him, you know his peace. I'm not just reading or

hearing from someone else that he provides, but He has provided. That is

the truth, and I've only can experience it through a relationship, right through

a relationship, and that is who God is. It's not just aesthetic.

But in some religion, some fate might see God as that I am here,

you come and bow down to me, right? But the we have

with Jesus is that I come to you. I came to you, I

died on the cross for you, and now can you welcome me into your

life? Isn't that a beautiful thing about our faith? Right? Which God

will actually come to us right, come to us where we sometimes can go

astray and get lost and forget God, but God still comes. Hey,

are you there? Can I come in right? And are we opening the

door for him? So how many of us can confidently say that I have

an intimate relationship with God? Right? An intimate relationship meaning you say,

I can feel him, I can hear him, I can see him working

in my life right, because that is what God wants of us. Truth

is what you know in your heart to be right and good, and so

the best sauce. For truth is God, who is all good, all

knowing, and all loving, right and deep down, when you are being

honest with yourself, your truth, your essence, lies within your heart.

And so the heart of who you are is the truth, and the truth

is that is who God is. Right, that is who God is.

So I pray that this be out the desire of our hearts this morning,

to have that independent, intimate relationship with God. And remember, it's a

constant thing. We always talk about it, right, it cannot be just

a one of I'm done my devotion today and it's set for the whole week,

right, But it's a constant thing. The more you speak to him.

It's a very simple thing. I remember someone asking me this question,

how how do you listen to God? How do you know him? Well,

it's about speaking to him every day. It's simple as that, right,

simple to speaking to him, like how you will converse to someone you

know, you enjoy being in his presence. So it's not just a chore.

But I go to him because it's just part of my life. He

is a big part of my life. Because if he is a big part

of your life, you'll always go to him for everything, like how we

go to parents or people that we love, we look for answers. Okay,

we go to this person. Okay, I'm confused, I speak to

this person. So can God be that channel in our lives? He is

that sauce, right, he is that source. And so that's the meaning

of truth, right. And I think just knowing the meaning of truthy a

little bit more, it breaks down or gives us some clarity of why Jesus

actually says I am the truth. It's so much more than I'm not the

lie and I'm the truth, right, But it's just who he is.

He wants a personal relationship with him, and truth is it's just everything.

It's just everything, the beginning end. And Amen, you're getting something out

of this church. Yeah, all right, Now, could you just turn

your bibles to the Book of Romans chapter eight. Okay, we're going to

be looking at scriptures here and understand what are the kind of truths we are

called to hold on too. Okay, now that we have a bit more

clarity of what truth is, I pray that as we go through this passage

we will also just learn to hold on to this right. So next time

someone tells you alive, which may sound like a truth. You can always

go back to this, okay. So in this whole passage, Romans aid,

as you read on, it's quite a long passage. It has about

thirty nine versus. If you have the time, you can read it and

meditate on it. But this passage talks to us about how we are actually

set free. Okay, we are called to be set free. Right.

So and as I just even mentioned a couple of points here, okay,

you can look at the scripture, remember it and even declare it okay,

because that is how alive God's word is. Right. It is meant to

be declared, it's meant to be received. Right. So let me just

read from the passage here, and then we'll look at a couple of points.

So from verse one Romans Chapter eight was one and bringing from the NKJV

version, it says, there is therefore now no condamnation to those who are

in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according

to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus

has made me free from the law of sin and death, for what the

law could not do, in that it was weak to the flesh. God

did by sending his own se in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of

sin. He condemns sin in the flesh was for that the righteous requirement of

the law might be fulfiledness. Who do not walk according to the flesh,

but according to the spirit. For those who leave according to the flesh set

their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who leave according to

the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death,

but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. How many of you

want to be spiritually minded? No, respond yes a case, spiritually minded,

you get life and peace. Verse seven. Because the carnal mind is

enemity against God, for it is not subject the law of God, nor

indeed can be so. Then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If

indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does

not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his Verse ten. And

if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but

the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of Him who

raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ from the

dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in

you. Ammen, will stop you for a while. Yeah, there are

a lot of things that you can take from here, and the main message

is about the spirit of truth, right, Like we say, there's either

the spirit of truth or the spirit of life, and which one are we

choosing? What can we pick out from here? Now? The first thing

that we can first truth that we need to hold on too, that it

says in words one is that there is no condamination to those who are in

Christ Jesus. The keyword here is no condamination. Do you know that?

But you know what life can throw us condamnation. Life can tell you that

you're not good enough, or it can tell you to compare yourself with others

right, or you're incapable. All these things can come and sometimes the enemy

can be our own minds. Right. We can mess up with thoughts like

this, But when you catch yourselves in that place, when there's fear,

when there's all this concerns that you're dealing with, go back to what the

truth is, which is there's no condamination. Turn to the person next to

you and tell them there's no condemnation in Christ, no condemnation. And I

hope that we can also learn to always speak life to our friends. Right.

If you catch a person, okay, especially the person next to you,

if you notice that they're saying things that you I cannot lah or die.

Lah, I can't do this, tell them he don't say that.

The Word of God tells there's no condamination. Right, there's no condamination.

Amen. And then it goes on. The second truth that we can learn

from this is the spirit of life. In Christ. Jesus had me free

from the law of sin and death. Amen. Right, free, you

are set free? Can you all know that? Can you imagine yourself free

from the cage? Okay, flying freely? And so it's a matter of

how we see our lives. If you feel that you're caught up in a

cage, you're not gonna move, You're gonna restrict yourself, You're gonna feel

like there's no way out of this, no future. But if you can

hold on to the word of God and say, I am free, like

a bird flying free or not just any word the word of God says,

like an eagle eagle is the the flies and saus high, right, and

that is who you are. He has set you free. And if you're

seated here this morning thinking that you are still tied up on something, let

me remind you that that is not what God wants of you. He wants

you to leave a free life. And can you imagine how a free life,

free person leaves? How do you notice that when a person is free?

Or do you notice in them happiness? What else? What? Abundance?

Okay, you see abundance. Can you see a lot of free people

among us? Right? Responding, worshiping God freely, coming to the forward,

coming to friend and dancing and phrasing God because you're free. Right.

If you're not free, we're just gonna be sitting right at the back.

I'm not talking to anyone. They want to leave my hands, right,

But if you're free, nothing will hold us back. We want to give

us all, right, You want to give you all? And I pray

that all of us will catch that. Don't ever feel that you are tied

to something. We're not unswerable to anyone but God, God and God alone.

Okay, and let's always hold on to that truth. Amen, all

right? Turn to the person next to you and tell them you are free,

so you can soar high. Right. Okay. Now, the third

one that we can see from here is that the third truth we are sons

of God, which is also daughters of God rights the spirit of life.

Okay. The next point, yes, not fear, but the spirit of

adoption. Now above Father, Okay, let me show you where this scripture

is taken from. Okay, Romans chapter eight. Let's look at verse twelve.

Let's read again. It says here, therefore, brethren, we are

adaptists, not to the flesh, to leave according to the flesh. But

if you leave according to the flesh, you will die. But if by

the spirit you put to that the deeds of the body, you will leave.

For as many are led by the spirit of God, these are sons

of God. Okay, You're all sons and daughters of God. For you

did not receive the spirit of bondage to fear, but you received the spirit

of adoption, by whom we cry out our bave Father. The spirit himself

bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children,

then here heroes of God and join heirs with Christ. If indeed we

suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Amen. And

so the main truth here is that we have been adopted son by God himself,

and therefore we all call sons and daughters of the Most High. And

as we, you know, celebrated fathers celebrating Father's Day, Edward was saying

earlier as well that sometimes we not have our earthly fathers around, but you

know what we have for above father, right, our above father. And

if our you know, earthly dads could do so much, what more our

father in heaven right, he can do even more for us, Yes,

for real, Yeah, he can do so much more for us, right.

And I've experienced it myself. You know, I don't have my dad

for some years now, and he's my above father. He's my source of

strength encouragement because he's the main one that I go to if any counseling,

I go to him first, and he gives you the encouragement you need.

Right. And so always remember the truth. You're not the word. God

tells us that you're not left offense. But I will come when you say

come, meaning we're waiting for his coming, right, and until then he's

there with us, right. So we are His sons and daughters. And

then in the scene portion of passage we see that it says not fear but

the spirit of adoption. Right, So it is not fear. Okay,

don't let fear ruin our lives, guys, because fear can do a lot

of things, right. Fear can crumple us down. Fear will not allow

us to take the step forward and pursue what he wants us to do.

Fear can just get us into a place of just, yeah, losing out

on all that He has for us. Right, Yeah, fear is very

real, okay, But at the same time, you know what's even real,

the truth? Right, And the truth surpasses the fear, okay.

And the Word of God reminds us that I've not given you a spirit of

fear, but of love and sound mind. And it all goes back to

our mind. And if our minds can be sound sound with the Word of

God, then we won't be moved by fear, but we be moved by

the truth. And what's the truth again? We are His children, sons

and daughters. Amen. And then the next truth, So I hope you're

catching all this truth. The first was no condamnation we're all set free,

right, we are sons of God, no fear and right, not fear,

but the spirit of adoption. And like it says in this scripture,

right, okay, it says in verse seventeen, just now, right,

and if children then heroes and heroes of God and join heros of Christ.

If we need, we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified

together. And then in verse eighteen it says, for I consider that suffering

of this present time are not worthy compared with the glory WEI share. It

would be revealedness. Okay. And so the first part is the suffering,

right ever we think or it's gonna be hard, because we're walking with God

and it's going to be difficult, right, And and yes, that is

how it is when we say yes to God, when we say yes to

accept Him as our savior. It's always not a bit of rocess. And

I think most of your journey and you know what it is like. But

the truth is not to just focus on the suffering. But like it says

here that you are not alone in that suffering, right, and like it

says, is nothing compared to the glory of God when it comes, it's

going to be worth it, right, It's going to be worth it.

And I would say that this is a truth that we've always got to remind

ourselves because sometimes the troubles of the world can seem to be bigger. It's

not just seems, but it can be bigger. That is just how tough

it is at times. Right. But if you can go back to the

truth of God that says we are his sons, his daughters, and that

we are with him in this because when we suffer, remember you're not suffering

alone. But he's holding your hand. Okay, he's holding your hand,

and he's actually showing you what to do. He's guiding you. Right,

even when it feels like sometimes I can't feel it, let me just remind

you today that he is there. He is there. All you gotta do

is just sometimes open up your hearts and say God, I need you more,

and he comes. He feels you. Right. So let's just remember

that the suffering of this present time are not worthy compared with the glory which

shall be revealed in us. Right. And I think with that we've got

to remember the calling that we have in our lives, which is what what

is our main calling? Anyone knows your calling, evangelize to bring that that

word, the Spirit of God, the truth to others. We don't want

to keep it to us selves. Right. And as we do that,

right, it helps us to stay focused. You know that we know we

have a purpose. Someone without a purpose, you just don't know what you're

doing. You know you have a purpose, and you go with it.

Right. Life is just more fulfilling in that way. Right. And then

the next truth there we have just the last two. Okay, we're coming

to a close in a bit. Okay. It says the Holy Spirit helps

us in our weakness. Okay. We can see this in the scripture from

verse eighteen. Okay, when we read about the Holy Spirit. Okay,

let me just look for it. It says, yeah, in verse twenty

six. Okay, Chapter eight, verse twenty six, it says, likewise,

the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know

what we should pray for as we ought, But the Spirit himself makes intercession

for us with groundings which cannot be uttered. Now he searches the heart knows

what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints

according to the will of God. Amen. So if you find yourself in

a place I just don't know what to pray for. Has the Holy Spirit

pray in tongues if you could pray in them in the spirit. If you

can't, then ask for that gift God gives. Yeah. And so the

Holy Spirit has gone one step ahead of us. He already knows what's in

our hearts. You already know the troubles, and He is interceeding for us

if we don't have the strength to do that, okay. And so if

you find yourself in that place, always remind yourself of this truth that I

have the Holy Spirit praying with me. Amen. And it goes on with

that scripture that I believe most of us know. We like to quote the

scripture in the words to an eight we say, and we know that all

things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are

the called according to His purpose. Right. So before we can experience this

goodness, it's all to hold on to the truth. Vers it's a journey

right to hold on to the truth. And we know that everything works for

the good who knows who love him. Men. And I like to end

with this one last point, okay, which is a very one of My

favorite portion of Scriptures in Romans aid, was thirty one on wards. You

know, you can see where it says number one truth that we have to

always remember is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing

can separate us from the love of God. And when we say nothing,

the scripture tells us tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril,

sort none of this can separate us from the love of God, life

or death. Okay, it can never separate us. His love is always

there because you know what, that's the truth. We learn that right,

Truth is who he is. Truth is the beginning and the end, Truth

is everything, and the truth is His love always remains. Amen. So

I'd like us to declare the scripture together. We're gonna read, okay,

if XTIV can just help us to put it up against Romans Chapter eight.

Let's read from Worse thirty five Okay, Worse thirty five until Worse thirty nine.

Okay, are we ready. Let's just speak it out loud as we

speak the word. Remember, we are declaring it over our lives. Okay,

and that's very powerful. Okay, So let's begin. Let's look at

this same version together and we can read it right, So let's do this

verse thirty five. Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall tribulation

or distress, persecution of famine, or nakedness, or peril or sought,

as it is written, for your sake, we are killed all day long.

We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things

we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded

that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth,

nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the Love

of God which is in Christ. Jesus, our Lord, a man has

lived a shot of praise unto Jesus a man, and invite extreme forward.

Okay, And we just want to even close this time in prayer and to

just take in the word of God, allow it to workin us. Amen.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our

church, please visit church do org. We are also active on Facebook and

Instagram. We're believing that this week is going to be a good week,

a hit for you. God bless