What is Truth?
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Think about what just happened in our game. You ran around listening to a bunch of people tell you their version of the truth. You were trying your best to gather all the information you needed and put together the full story. In some cases, the evidence fit together nicely. But in other cases, the story you got from one person seemed to be in opposition to the story you got from somebody else.
This is exactly what is happening to us on a daily basis. When you’re at school you might hear one thing, when you’re at church you might hear something different. Your friends might say something, but your parents might say something different. And if you’re anything like me, trying to piece it all together can be really challenging! How are you supposed to know what is true and what isn’t?
Over the coming weeks in NXT Junior High, we’re going to be looking at really tough questions:
Does science contradict the bible? Can you trust what science might tell you and still follow what the bible says?
In our world where we see evil, suffering, bad things happening - is God really good? How can a good God allow these things to happen?
If you have doubts about whether or not God is really real does that make you a bad Christian? Is your doubt dangerous?
All of these questions are probably ones that have crossed your mind before, you just might have been too scared to ask them out loud. We’re gonna talk about them.
But here’s where I want to go tonight, when we start getting bombarded with messages and information and evidence and stories how do we decide what to accept as true and what to reject as false. In order to answer those tough questions, we have to start here.
Let’s look at three ways we can filter through the information presented to us:
Let’s look at three ways we can filter through the information presented to us:
God’s Word
God’s Word
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The Bible becomes our standard for all things true.
The bible is the Word of God. It is God speaking to us. It’s how we know what God is like, it’s how we know what God has promised to us, it’s how we know what his plan is for us and for the world.
It was written over a period of 2000 years on three different continents and it all tells one unified story cover to cover of God sending his son Jesus into the world in order to save us from sin and death.
So if you don’t have a good handle on what this book says, how are you ever going to know what is really true?
Read John 8:31-32
Jesus says in that if we abide in his word, if we make our home here, if we pitch our tent here, then we will know the truth. And not only know the truth, but we will experience the freedom that comes from knowing the truth.
So God’s Word becomes our starting place and our foundation for knowing the truth. How else might God help us decipher what is true from what is not?
God’s Guidance
God’s Guidance
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
As followers of Jesus, we have been given the Holy Spirit as a guide. The Bible calls him our helper, our advocate, and our comforter.
Way to often we forget about the Holy Spirit. We think about God the Father a lot, we talk about Jesus a lot, but the Holy Spirit is equal to God the Father and God the Son.
The Holy Spirit
convicts us of sin
renews us spiritually
points to Christ in our lives
gives us the boldness to share the Gospel
comforts us when we’re hurting
intercedes through us when we don’t know what to pray
His role in our lives is to teach us and to remind us of all that God has already said to us through his Word. And I think that’s the hardest part! The remembering part. It’s one thing to learn something that’s true, it’s another thing to remember that truth when things starting getting really hard!
His role in our lives is to teach us and to remind us of all that God has already said to us through his Word.
And through the Holy Spirit we have access to God. When you pray, you can ask God for specific guidance into what you’re going through right now. If you’re trying to figure out what is true and what is not, ask God. Ask him to show you, ask him for guidance.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
God himself can and will guide you into truth.
God can and will lead you into
And there’s a third way for us to filter what’s coming at us to determine if it’s true:
Godly Friends
Godly Friends
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Your circle will always be the most influential voices in your life.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
They’re your friends, they’re people you trust, and their voices carry weight.
There’s two big mistakes you can make here when it comes to handling truth from your friends:
There’s two big mistakes you can make here when it comes to handling truth from your friends:
The first mistake is surrounding yourself with the wrong voices.
The first mistake is surrounding yourself with the wrong voices.
You need to check your circle. You need to evaluate if the people closet to you are helping you love Jesus more or love the world more. Your closest friends have to be pushing you toward Jesus. They can help you see what you’re missing, they can help point you back to truth.
So evaluate who you have around you. Are they helping you know the truth?
The second mistake is elevating your circle over the scriptures.
The second mistake is elevating your circle over the scriptures.
Even the best, most Christ-like friends are still sinful human being just like you. You have to be careful that you don’t give their voices more weight that the Word of God.
The bible is our final authority - not our friends.
So Godly friends can really help you discern truth, but prioritize the Word and the Spirit over the voices from your friends.
Closing
Closing
In our game you only had the stories that people told you and your own ability to piece together information. Those were your only tools in trying to figure out what was true.
But if you’re a follower of Jesus, you’re not left alone to figure this whole thing out.
God has given us his Word as a source of truth.
God has given you direct access to Himself through the Holy Spirit.
God has given you friends who can point you back to truth.
So when tough questions and tough situations come up, let’s not be people who run. Let’s be people who meet those questions and meet those situations with the truth.
