Stop The Cap 4

Intro

We are wrapping up our stop the cap series today

I have asked every week

Who can tell me what Stop the Cap means

Stop the Cap means stop lying

And my hope with this series has been for us to know the truth of God

Not just that but know how combat so many of lies that we hear around us

How many of you have been lied to before?

How many of you have told a lie before?

We Spent the past two weeks talking about

Lies in the World around us

Lies that we tell ourselves

last week we talked about truth

Everybody say truth

That being said before we get started can someone give me a definition of truth?

that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.

Last week i gave you 4 truths about truth

but this week we are going to talk about how we can walk in that truth

And today

Lets just get it kicked off “How do we walk in truth?

1. Choose obedience over convenience

Luke 11:28 “Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.””

How many have a guess what this sign means?

Right pretty simple

One of the key reasons that these sings exist is because there is limited visibility

And so after they do studies on traffic patterns

Alot of pedestrians

All sorts of things

There is a reason why these signs are put where they are

Well there was one time I was driving and I will never forget

at exit for Detroit off of 75

I pulled out in front of someone on a No turn on red

They slammed on their brakes, flipping me off, honking

And in that moment i realized why that sign was there

But even more I saw why It was better to OBEY the LAW vs my CONVENIENCE

This is exactly what our scripture is talking about too.

Jesus is talking and someone shouts out in the crowd about being blessed

And Jesus without missing a beat says

We are even more blessed when we put the word of God into practice

in other words

We are even more blessed when we obey God.

Not following the things that are convient to us, but instead following God

Why is this so important

If we don’t walk in obedience we will always fall into convenience

The truth is we don’t pursue after the Lord we will so easily fall right back into the things that we want

We don’t have to teach ourselves to want comfort right

How many have a bed that you want to be comfortable

How many of you when buy shoes you try them on to make sure they are comfortable

We want the things in life that give us comfort

But God has a different view on these things

They won’t last

2. Let the truth confront us not just comfort us

Philippians 4:10–13 “How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

I did some research around Philippians 4:13, and found it is the 3rd most looked Bible verse of all time

right behind Jeremiah 29:11 and John 3:16

And we have seen it. athletes wear it

Celebreties through it in their instagram bios

Why say all of this

Its not bad that they use it

But i think its very fair to say that many of them don’t know what it is fully talking about

You see the main part of this that it is always used

Is that I do all things through God who gives me stregnth

And its used as this COMFORT IDEA

“Nothing bad will happen to me because God gives me strength”

“I can be the best at this sport”

“If i just hit a few more Bench press reps”

And there is some truth to some of that

But its not like God is this sort of Shield to where we will never have any sort of hardship

In fact if we look at this verse in its proper context

Paul isn’t just talking about perservering to wear everything is great

But he’s actually talking about being content no matter what happens

Why do I say all of this and use this example.

I say this because

Real truth is meant to change us

If we are going to truly live for Jesus

If we are going to take his word in its true context

We can’t just take the “Happy, Oshy gooshy stuff that we like

And then throw away the rest

Because here is the thing

God doesn’t want to leave us as we are

“He says I have something even greater that I have called you to”

No more cutting corners when you are reading scripture to just feel good

I have something deeper I want to show you

3. Keep choosing repentance

Joel 2:13 “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.”

This is my Dog Maverick

How many of you guys have pets at home?

Maverick is Golden Doodle

So he doesn’t shed

And so one thing that we have to do for him

is get him groomed

And the whole point of him getting groomed

Hes more comfortable

He doesn’t get mats in his fur

Its all around healthier for him

Here is the thing

Its something that we always have to do for him right

He doesn’t do anything to need a haircut right

His hair just grows on its own

Why do I share all of this

Because just how my dog has to keep getting haircuts we are called to continually repent

Here is the thing

Even after give our lives to Lord. there are still times when we will give into sin

How many of you have sinned in here before?

Here is what I want you to hear

We have to continually turn from sin

I gave the example of my dog

Because just how getting groomed is a normal thing that we always do

it should be the same for our repentance

When you pray in the morning

“Lord forgive me for the ways I have reflected you poorly”

“Lord forgive me for the ways I hurt them”

HERE IS THE THING

you aren’t praying this because you are living in fear

This is not about being scared that God is going to smite you

Because he is out to get you

But when we turn our hearts towards our God

And show that we are honest with the sin that is in our lives

it shows him that we want to live for his truth

Just like our scripture tells us:

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish

4. Let the Holy Spirit shape our actions

Galatians 5:24–25 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

How many of you guys have been to Pigeon Forge TN before?

How many of you guys have ever heard of The Pirates Voyage dinner show?

Delany and I went last summer with my parents

What I found so interesting about it is how everything so imersive around the whole Pirate get up

Shiver me timbers

eargh!!

yee Matey

Like they tried to do literally everything possible to base this thing around pirates

They had their theme

and man they are committed

why say all of this

Us as Christians are supposed to live based off of the Holy Spirit

everything we do

everything we say

Every way that we respond to others

We follow how the Holy Spirit directs us

And if i can leave you with literally anything today

Its to lean not on your own understanding

But lean on the power and teaching of the Holy Spirit

In everything that we do

Maybe you are hearing that today and you are thinking

“okay great how do i do that?”

you have to spend time with him

You won’t follow the Spirit if you don’t recognize his voice

End by talking about Henry hearing and knowing my voice

Pray