Truth and Love

Intro:

Let’s give another round of applause for Optimum K-9 Training what a great presentation.

It’s always impressive to see a what can be accomplished with love, commitment, and the proper instruction.

You know the Bible also has a lot to say about love, commitment, and proper instruction as well. But for many people today the loving message of God’s grace is not understood or received.

We live in an age of constant information and misinformation, and it is difficult for people to know what the truth is.

Some people feel like the truth is subjective meaning each person finds their own truth. Think for a moment just how reckless it would be in most career fields if there was no measurable standard of what the right way or the wrong way to do something would be.

If a doctor needed to perform heart surgery but there was no measurable standard of where the heart was he could operate on your leg and it wouldn’t be wrong.

If an engineer designed a bridge based on what she felt like was needed instead of using correct calculations the bridge would fail.

While I could list more examples you get my point. If the developed world operated in the realm of whatever a person feels at a particular time as the standard we would all be in serious trouble.

Yet when many people ask themselves the most important questions such as where did we come from, how should I live my life or what happens when we die there seems to be a lot of opinions or feelings about what might be the truth.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this. Like you have invested your faith, your time, your energy and your finances into the things of this world only to find that it was not all you had in mind? Have you spent countless hours pursuing goals only to find yourself empty on the inside? Have you searched for a deeper meaning only to be let down by people or not find the answers you were searching for. Do you find yourself looking at the world around you and thinking what a mess or that you don’t seem to fit in anywhere.

The question many ponder is how can we live in the age of information yet still be searching for the truth of what life really means?

Jesus is Truth

Well if that sounds familiar to you as it does most people I have some good news for you today which is that truth has a name and His name is Jesus Christ.

The Bible teaches us in

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This is a bold statement no doubt but is completely accurate. There is no one or nothing in this world that can make such a claim and back it up with real observable facts.

But that is exactly what Jesus did time and time again.

There are 66 books in the Bible and all of them point to Jesus as the one who is sent to reconcile mankind with God. In fact most scholars agree there are over 200 prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament with some scholars citing as many more. These were all written before His birth and were fulfilled by His life, death and Resurrection.

During His earthly ministry Jesus performed many miracles, signs and wonders to prove to all the skeptics that He was in fact the Son of God. From His miraculous virgin birth to healing the blind and the lame, feeding five thousand people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to raising Lazarus from the dead. The entire life of Jesus clearly demonstrated His supernatural power in the natural world.

And as if that was not enough after His Resurrection Jesus appeared to over 500 early followers, to the twelve disciples (minus Judas of course) and to all the apostles.

Most people don’t realize that the Bible is about 29% prophesy. This fact is significant because there is no other historical or religious source that tells not only what has happened, but also what is happening currently and in addition what will happen in the future all with complete accuracy and transparency .

1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV

33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

This means that God has not hidden Himself or left His character or His instructions hard to find. But rather He has completely shared Himself and His promise for humanity through His word, His Son and His Spirit that all who desire to know Him will have the opportunity to do so.

When speaking about truth the object of discussion must contain logical evidence. The two types of logical evidence are anecdotal evidence which cannot be proved similar to word of mouth or common accepted thought. And the other type is empirical evidence which is scientific in that the results are provable and observable. The Bible is the only religious book ever made that provides both anecdotal and empirical evidence to verify it’s accurate.

People have been trying to disprove the Bible and Jesus for years and it simply cannot be done because as Jesus told us Himself, He is in fact the way the truth and the life.

So in this age of misinformation, confusion and control being directed at us from many angles we can in fact know and trust that the Bible is the true living word of God and that Jesus Christ is the Word become flesh.

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

You see friends God is not hiding Himself. He is not distant. He does not reveal Himself to only a select few. But Jesus Christ shared the good news of the Gospel with all types of people from all types of backgrounds. And as the Bible tells us in

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

This means just as the Lord was available for people of long ago, He is still available for anyone who desires to know Him today.

Jesus is Love

There is so much more I could say today about God and His character because He is perfect and His ways are far beyond our ways. But for the sake of time now that we know Jesus is truth. It is essential to know that Jesus is also love.

And God’s love is not like our human love but is so much higher and so much more pure. While we can love deeply and love can change the entire course of someone’s life, the love we understand will still pale in comparison to God’s perfect love

God’s love is sacrificial meaning that He will gave it all so that you and I would have the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins and have a relationship with Him.

John 3:16–17 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

You see God is not angry and judgmental but is compassionate and loving and does not wish for any to be judged for their rebellion against Him.

This is usually the place where people will say I haven’t rebelled against God, I am a good person so why would Jesus need to die for me. Well the answer is found in

Romans 3:23–26 NLT

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Friends it doesn’t matter how good you think you are no human is Holy in the eyes of God unless they put their faith in Jesus Christ. But I have great news for you today which is that God’s free gift of grace is available to anyone who desires it.

I am not saying if you put your faith in Jesus that you will have a trouble free life and that all your problems will go away. But what I can promise you is that when you make Jesus the Lord of your life you are guaranteed to spend eternity with Him and all other believers in paradise.

Revelation 21:1–7 NLT

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

Listen to me friends our next moment in time is not guaranteed and the Lord sent me hear today to tell you that Jesus is the truth and that He loves you. And that if you trust Him and believe on Him today heaven will be your home. While in this life we will still have good days and difficult days the Lord will give you His peace and His love which is a peace and a love beyond our understanding. It is a peace that transcends your circumstances so no matter what you are dealing with you can have His peace that reminds you that everything will be OK. You will have His love which gives us comfort, makes our hearts compassionate to others and provides the guarantee of eternal paradise in Heaven with Jesus.

So if you are here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then please gather around so I can pray for you. It will literally be the most important decision of your life.

If you are here and you are a Christian but perhaps you are not where you would like to be in your walk. Please come forward so I can pray for you. All around this place come gather around.

If you are here today and you are going through a tough time and need prayer then gather around today do not be shy. Receive your blessing today. Jesus is calling! Hallelujah! Jesus is Calling!

If you are here today and you know Jesus as your Lord and He has been doing amazing things in your life and you want to declare it outwardly to everyone that your are a child of God and you want to live for Jesus then please come down and be baptized to make an outward expression of what the Lord is doing on the inside.

Hallelujah! Come let us pray and worship the Lord all around this place!