July 24 Sermon - The Truth About Your Pain

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THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR PAIN

Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable - Part 3 of 6

07-24-11 Sermon

We’re in the series on “Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable.”  I want to talk about the truth about pain.  You know, America is a pain conscious nation.  Everywhere you look we’ve got advertisements for pain relievers, pain killers, pain reducers.  Science continues to come up with new formulas.  We’ve gone from aspirin to Tylenol, to ibuprofen, to nuproxin; they’re coming up with new and new pain killers.  When pharmacies are robbed, it is pain killers that are taken, not cash.  It seems like the whole world’s got a headache if you look at it from the advertising view point.  So, the fact is pain is part of life.  If you’re a human being, you’ll have physical pain, you’ll have emotional pain, and you’ll have spiritual pain. 

Now, the world has taught you many myths about pain that just aren’t true.  Some of them are harmless but one very destructive myth is this:  MYTH, “If I ignore my pain, it will go away.”  In other words, if I block it out of my memory, if I pretend it never happened, if I gloss over it, then I won’t be in pain.  Beneath that is another myth that says, It’s easier to avoid problems than it is to face them.  That’s just not true.  Psychologist Scott Peck has said this, “Fearing pain, almost all of us to a greater or lesser degree, attempt to avoid problems.  We procrastinate hoping they will go away.  We ignore and pretend they don’t exist.  We attempt to get out of them rather than suffer through them.”  This tendency to avoid problems and the emotional pain inherent is, listen to this, “The primary basis of human mental illness.”  The desire and attempt to avoid pain and our problems is “the primary basis for human illness.”  Now, the fact is, God doesn’t want you to ignore your pain, He wants you to discover the cause so you can find real relief. 

Pain is like a warning light and it’s saying something’s wrong in my life.  Is it wise to ignore a warning light?  No, it’s not.  And it’s not wise to ignore your pain; it’s saying something’s wrong.  The TRUTH is:  Pain is a tool God uses for good in my life.  Now, the problem is we often don’t understand it; we don’t realize what the good is.  In fact, Jesus said in John 13:7 (NIV), “Jesus replied, ‘You don’t realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’”  And, nowhere is that truth more appropriate than pain because often pain comes into our life and we don’t understand why it’s there or what it’s there for.  We don’t see any purpose in it and if pain doesn’t have a purpose, it’s very difficult to handle. 

This morning, I’d like to take you through some things God says about pain in His Word.  First, five ways God uses pain for good in your life. 

I. HOW CAN GOD USE MY PAIN FOR GOOD?

1.         God Uses Pain To Goad Me.  That means to motivate me; goad means to spur into action.  Pain spurs us into action like nothing else.  I mean, I don’t want to go to a dentist until the pain gets so bad that the pain is greater than my fear, and then I’ll move into action.  “We don’t change when we see the light, we change when we feel the heat.”  Pr. 20:30 (GN) says, “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.”  Do you agree with that verse?  Yeah.  You see, pain prompts us to do things we’d rather put off; it prods us and it pushes us and it compels us to change.  Pain forces us to change when we don’t want to change.  By the way, do you know how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb?  One, but the light bulb must really want to be changed.  [Laughter]  Now, pain really makes you want to be changed.  Usually when we hit bottom, then we’re ready to change.  That’s the Prodigal Son’s example here in Lk 15:14‑18 (GN), (Prodigal Son)  “ . . . spent everything he had . . . and way hungry . . . .  At last he came to his senses and said . . . ‘I’ll get up and go to my father . . . .”  The hunger pains finally motivated him to move.  Do you ever have hunger pains?  Some of us have them perpetually.  Let’s get back to the point here:  God uses pain to motivate me, to goad me, and we’d rarely change if we didn’t have any pain in our life. 

Sometimes chest pain will get a person to change his/her eating habits.  Sometimes breathing problems will get a person to stop smoking.  Sometimes a DUI arrest will get a person to stop drinking.  Pain can goad us, or motivate us to change.

Number two:

2.         God Uses Pain To Guide Me.  In other words, like a bit in a horse’s mouth, God takes pain and He turns us in different directions because of the pain.  Ps. 11971‑72 (LB), “ . . . it was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws.”  Now, David is saying, Pain is a teaching tool.  Has God ever had to get your attention through pain?  Oh yeah, and you’re very well aware of that.  You see, God whispers to us in our pleasure, but He SHOUTS to us in our pain.  He says, “I want your attention” and boy does He get it when you’re in pain.  It’s like a direct signal.  Now, sometimes it doesn’t take a lot of pain ‑‑ you know just like a little rudder can turn a big ship ‑‑ sometimes just a little pain in your life will lead you in a new direction and God not only goads us into action, but He guides us through pain.  And so, like when a baby cries, that means I need to be changed, and so pain means something needs to be changed.  Look at the next verse.  Heb 12:7 (LB), “Let God train you, for he is doing what any loving father does for his children.  Whoever heard of a child who was never corrected?”  Look at the word “train,” because sometimes the only way to train is through pain.  How many of you who are parents would rather not have to discipline your children?  Sure.  How many of you parents, even though you’d rather not have to discipline, sometimes have to do it anyway for their own good?  Sure.  And, why do you do it?  Out of love. 

God is the same way.  God doesn’t like to bring pain in your life, but sometimes he has to do it anyway, to discipline you, to train you, to move you in the right direction.  It’s not because He’s angry, it’s not because He’s retaliating, it’s not because He doesn’t like you and wants to get revenge, it’s because He loves you.  You see, Aristotle once said, “Some things we only learn through pain.”  In fact, some things you learned by being burned.  In fact, I would say this, The person who has never suffered, really knows nothing.  I don’t like to be around people who have never had any pain in their life, I really don’t.  They’re phony, they’re fake, they’re superficial.  They think everything is so easy.  It’s not.  In fact, I would say that the greatest insights in life are found at the center of pain.  That’s where they’re found.  Some things you are only going to learn through pain because you’re a human being.  And so, God goads us but He also guides us with the pain that we have in our lives.  But, we never need to doubt God’s love.  His motive behind all of the pain is to guide us; it’s for our good. 

3.         God Uses Pain Not Only To Goad Me, To Guide Me, But He Uses It To Gauge Me.  In other words, it’s a measuring tool.  God uses pain to help you see what you’re like on the inside.  For instance, when I experience pain, the way I react to it measures my faith.  My commitments can be gauged by how I react to pain.  My maturity can be gauged by how I react to pain.  My patience can be gauged by how I react to pain.  It’s one way of seeing what’s on the inside of you.  People are like tea bags ‑‑ you don’t know what’s in them until you drop them in hot water.  And, you really don’t know what’s inside you until you’ve faced the test of pain. 

The Bible often compares pain to a refining fire.  Like a fire you heat up to refine gold or silver and, as it heats the gold or silver, the impurities are burned off; the dross is burned off.  And so, God wants to use pain in your life to burn off some impurities, to burn off some things that shouldn’t be there.  Now, the question is the hurt that you’re feeling right now, the pain that you’re experiencing this week, what are you allowing it to burn off in your life?  If you let it, pain will burn off selfishness ‑‑ it just makes you a lot more unselfish.  If you let it, it will burn off materialism ‑‑ the grip of having to have things really don’t matter when you’re in pain.  It’s a great refiner of ego and pride ‑‑ pain pops that ego balloon real quick.  It will burn off impatience…, so many things.  God says, “I want to refine you through this process.”  Isa. 48:10 (NIV), “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”  It says, I’ve tested you; pain is a test, it exposes the real you, it shows what you’re like on the inside.  You know why?  Because it’s impossible to maintain an “image” when you’re in pain.  You know, when you’re feeling good ‑‑ I mean, you’ve got your hair done, you’ve got your makeup on, you’ve got your nails done, you’ve got your best clothes on, you’ve got your bling on, you’re feeling pretty good, you’ve got your image, you even walk a certain way, but just give you three days at home with the flu and your hair is all disheveled, you look ugly, ugly, ugly, and you couldn’t care less about image.  Why?  Because you’re miserable and when you’re miserable, you don’t care about image.  And, God says that’s good because you ought to care more about character than you do about image. 

Pain tests character.  I mean, you may say, “I am a person of integrity,” but when the pain is on, will you stand for the truth or will you buckle under and compromise.  You may say, “I’m totally committed to Christ,” but when pain occurs, because of your commitment to Christ, do you want to throw in the towel and forget it?  You see, you can say one thing, but pain reveals what you’re really are.  Look at this verse.  James 1:2‑3 (Mes), “. . . tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  (And)  You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.”  He’s saying here, pressure  shows what you’re like on the inside.  Now, what does pressure reveal about your faith?  When you’re in the squeeze at the office or at home, or at school, what are the true colors that show up there?  Are you a fair weather believer, or are you a consistent believer?  You see, this is the reason why the children of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness.  You know, it would have only taken them about two weeks to march from Egypt to Israel, but it took them 40 years.  Why?  Because out in that desert, God let them wander around and around and around and He put them through seven tests so they would know what they were like on the inside.  He was goading them, He was guiding them, and He was gauging them.  Notice this verse here.  Deut. 8:2 (LB), “God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to find out how you would respond, and whether or not you would really obey him.” 

It is interesting that the root word for wilderness in Hebrew means a place of hearing.  God sent the people of Israel into the wilderness so they would listen to him and learn from him.  For 40 years he was asking them, Can you hear me now?  He provided for all their needs there.  But they needed to learn to trust him.

Some of you may be going through a wilderness, a desert experience, a place of hearing, right now.  And, in the desert, things dry up.  Maybe you’re in an emotional wilderness right now, maybe you’ve had a relationship dry up, maybe you’ve had your finances dry up, maybe you’ve had an opportunity dry up and you’re going through the desert, maybe you’ve had your health dry up.  God says, “It’s a test.”  And He says, “I’m gauging you so you’ll know what’s inside of you.”  And, when you go through those tough times and you say, “I don’t have any feelings at all, I just don’t feel anything,” you’re going through a desert.  “I feel so apathetic,” you’re in the wilderness.  And God maybe be gauging you, He may be guiding you, He may be goading you or, number four, he may be guarding you. 

4.         God Uses Pain To Guard Us.  Sometimes God uses pain to protect us from something worse, something far worse.  Sometimes He uses pain to protect us and prevent us from getting involved in something that we shouldn’t be involved in.  Like, He doesn’t want you in a certain place so you’re not there, because of pain.  So, God uses it to guard us.  Pain can be a blessing in disguise.  I mean, for instance, if you have a fever, that is a way that your body tells you that you probably have an infection in your body that needs to be dealt with and, if you never had any fever, that infection could take over your body—you might even die from it.  In fact, a minor pain can often trigger an awareness of a life-threatening disease and, if you didn’t have that pain, you’d never know it and you’d be gone.  Sometimes God uses pain to guard us.  I’m simply saying this, Emotions, painful emotions, say something’s out of kilter here.  And, when I feel depression, or when I feel resentment, or anger, or worry, or when I feel apathy, or when I feel fear, or when I feel hostility, it is saying to me something is out of whack in my life, something’s out of balance, and God’s saying, “I want you to get this corrected” ‑‑ the emotions are the symptom of it.  God uses pain to guard us, to protect us. 

You know that Middle Eastern shepherds, sometimes have a sheep or a lamb that’s prone to wander ‑‑ like it won’t stay with the flock but it tends to run off by itself ‑‑ and they want to protect it, they don’t want it to fall off some cliff.  They know that if it gets out there by itself some wolf will eat it or it will get caught in the briars or something like that, they want to keep it close, do you know what they’ll do?  A lamb that is prone to wander, they will break one of its legs.  Now, that sounds pretty cruel, but they’re doing it out of love.  They will break its leg and put a splint on it so that little sheep can only hobble along until the leg heals and the sheep is going, “I’ve got this splint, now I can’t get away,” and the shepherd’s going, “That’s exactly right,” and he’s a good shepherd.  Sometimes God allows pain in your life and puts a splint on your life that keeps you from wandering too far from the flock.  And you may resent it, and you may resist it, but it’s because God loves you; He’s guarding you. 

Do you remember the story of Joseph in the Bible?  I mean, the guy’s story, the first chapter of his life is like a horror story; everything went wrong for this guy.  And, for forty years he’s neglected, and he’s rejected, and he’s sold into slavery by his brothers and falsely accused of rape, and he’s thrown into prison, and then he’s forgotten in prison, falsely accused.  I mean his whole life is a just a massive heartache.  But, if you read the end of the story, you realize that God was preparing him and, through those circumstances, he ends up being second in command in Egypt and saved not only Egypt, but Israel. 

At the end of his life Joseph says to his brothers who sold him into slavery, Gen 50:20 (NIV), “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good . . . ”  There may be people in your life who mean to harm you.  They may have harmed you as a child, they may be harming you right now, emotionally, physically, or in some other way they’re out to harm you and, that may hurt, but, God says, “I have a plan and purpose bigger than that and they mean it for bad, but I mean it for good.”  You see, all along in Joseph’s life, God was guarding, and guiding, and goading, and gauging Joseph for greatness because, listen, there is no greatness without pain.  And so he says, “You meant it for bad, but God meant it for good; He was guarding me.”  You know, what I like about Joseph is later on in life he had two sons and he named them Manasseh and Ephraim.  Do you know what they mean?  Manasseh means in Hebrew:  He made me to forget.  And Ephraim means:  Fruitful or successful.  And, later on in life, after 40 years of pain, he could say “God has blessed me so much and I can see the picture clearer now, that it’s made me forget all of that pain from my childhood and He’s made me successful now.”  And God wants to do that in your life. 

5.         God Uses Pain To Grow Me, to make me mature.  Margaret Clarksen has written a book called “Grace Grows Best In Winter” and I love that title.  You see, it is possible to grow spiritually and emotionally during bright, healthy, cheerful, sunny days of summer when everything’s going great and life’s fantastic.  Sure you can grow in that but, you grow far faster and far deeper in the dark phase of the soul.  You grow far deeper and far greater in the valleys rather than in the mountain tops ‑‑ it’s just the way you’re made.  Many people will testify-- I’ve had the toughest time of my life but I’d have to say that I’ve grown more through this separation than any other time in my life.”  “I’ve grown more through this unemployment than any other time in my life.”  “I’ve grown more through this loss of a loved one than in any other time in my life.”  “I’ve grown more through this illness than in any other time in my life.”  “I’ve grown more through this crisis than in any other time in my life.”  “I’ve grown more through this loneliness than in any other time my life.”  Because grace grows best in winter and God uses pain to grow me.  James 1:4 (LB), “For when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems . . . then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.” 

Somewhere on your outline would write this sentence in:  Pain is the high cost of growth.  I mean, its trite, but its true; there is no gain without pain.  It just doesn’t come any other way.  There are no five easy steps to life becoming wonderful.  There is no gain without pain.  The fact is, we want the product without the process.  What’s the product?  Oh, we want the maturity, we want the emotional stability, we want the health and wholeness, we want the confidence and the meaning and significance and purpose of life, but we don’t want the process which is pain and suffering, and tough times.  We want all of the stability and wholeness of emotions, but we don’t want to go through the process.  But, you can’t short circuit it.  In fact, if I were to summarize everything I want to say to you this morning, it would be this:  The very thing that discourages you the most God uses to develop you and it is not an accident.  Look at what the message says, James 1:4.  “. . . So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature and well developed.” 

You know, when I read the Bible and I read the Psalms and I see these moving, powerful, intense Psalms, I begin to think how was David able to write so eloquently, these moving Psalms.  Well, all you have to do is think about his childhood because if you want a dysfunctional family, David had it.  I mean, he was rejected, he was put out to pasture to take care of the sheep at the farthest end while everybody else was at home partying  He spent time alone, he was not loved by his father ‑‑ that’s very obvious ‑‑ he was considered the least in his family, he went through loneliness, rejection, neglect, all of those things.  And then Saul chased him all over the countryside for 17 years trying to kill him.  It was during those painful times he wrote some of the most beautiful Psalms. 

Paul says it like this, talking about the pain he has experienced, 1 Cor. 1:9 (Ph), “(This happened) . . . so we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God . . . .”  You see, you don’t know, you really don’t know that Jesus Christ is all you need until Jesus Christ is all you’ve got.  Then you’ll know it. 

Your pain matters to God, it does.  And He hurts with you, and He cares about you.  Now, pain never leaves you where it finds you; it always moves you.  You need to  allow your pain to move you into the loving arms of Jesus Christ.  Look at this verse on your outline.  Gal. 3:4 (Ph), “Has all your painful experience brought you nowhere?”  What I’m saying here is don’t waste your hurt, don’t waste your pain.  Pain turns some people into saints but it turns other people into devils.  It makes some people bitter, it makes some people better, and that’s your choice.  Robert Johnson says, “Pain is inevitable, it’s a part of life, but misery is optional”.  And, if you let your hurts-- emotional, physical, or whatever, lead you into a relationship with Christ and to know Him, then you will be able to say like Paul said in 2 Cor 7:9 (LB), “Now I am glad . . . not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God . . . .”  My plea to you today is that you will give your hurt and your heart to Jesus Christ, the great physician. 

1 Peter 4:19 (LB) says, “If you are suffering according to God’s will, keep on doing what is right and trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you.”  You can’t say that about anybody else.  JESUS WILL NEVER FAIL YOU. 

I want to encourage you to close today with a little self-evaluation.  Think of the hurt that you’re going through and the pain you’re going through and ask yourself this, Father, are you using this to goad me, to motivate me into action, to do something I know I ought to be doing anyway?  Are you using this pain to guide me, to point me in a new direction?  Are you using this pain to gauge me, to help me measure myself and see what I’m really like on the inside and see what needs to be changed.  Is it a warning light that something’s out of kilter?  Are you using this pain to guard me, to protect me from something worse, to keep me from wandering too far, to keep me dependent upon you?  Are you using this pain to grow me, to make me more like your Son, Jesus Christ?  Paul said, “(This happened) . . . so that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God.” 

One other Truth about pain—It won’t last forever. 

Did you know that when Jesus died on the cross, he didn’t just die there for your sins?  He died for your sicknesses and your pains as well.  Look at this verse from Isaiah 53 describing Jesus’ ministry:

Surely he took up our infirmities (diseases) and carried our sorrows (pains), yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  Is. 53:4-5

In case you are not sure that this is how that verse is supposed to be understood, look at the next one from Matthew 8 that refers to those verses from Isaiah 53.

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:  “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”  Mt. 8: 16-17

Jesus was concerned about those suffering physical pain and he healed them.  Look at the next verse from Matthew 4:

News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, the epileptics and the paralytics, and he healed them.  Mt. 4:24

We are going to pray for anyone in pain this morning, but I want you to know that if you have given your life to Christ, this world is not your home, heaven is your home and when you get to heaven there will be no more pain of any kind. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  Rev. 21:4  There is no such promise for the one who has not given their life to Christ, but for those who have done that, you will eventually go to a better place where there is no pain anymore, forever. 

[prayer for those in pain]

Let’s bow our heads:

Father, I know that there are many people here today that are in pain.  Some of them have been carrying a load for weeks, for months, some having been carrying loads for years, and it hurts.  Thank you that you care about our pain and our hurt. 

Now, why don’t you talk to God.  Why don’t you say this,

Dear God, would you help me with my hurt.  Thank you that it matters to you. Thank you that I matter to you.  Thank you that you love me.  Thank you that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, for my sake.  Not to explain my pain away but to walk through it with me.  And, so today, dear Jesus, I ask you to take every part of my life, especially the part that hurts, and use it for good in my life and help me walk through this.  I want to trust you and I want to know you.  In your name I pray.  Amen

August 2011 Newsletter

August 2011 Newsletter

July 17, 2011 Sermon - THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD

To listen to this Sunday's sermon, click here.

THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD

Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable - Part 2 of 6

07-17-11 Sermon

I started a series last week that I’m calling “Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable.”  There are things that happen in your life, and the way you interpret them determines whether it makes you a bitter person or a better person, and that your beliefs do make a difference.  We are exposing some myths that the world has taught you ‑‑ myths about yourself, myths about life, myths about the future, and, today we’re going to look at myths about God, because the way you see God actually affects the way you see yourself.  You’re made in God’s image, and if you have a warped image of God, you’re going to have a distorted image of yourself. 

Now, what is God really like?  Well, when Jesus came along, He exploded all of the myths, all the misconceptions, all the stereotypes about God.  Because, up to that point, God had been seen primarily as someone who’s distant, someone who is aloof, who is powerful but isn’t close and personal.  And, Jesus taught that the number one way we can think of God is to think of God like a father.  In fact, He used the term “father” over a 150 times in the Bible.  He says, “God is our Heavenly Father; He’s our Father in heaven.” 

Now, the problem with that is that for some people, father brings up all kinds of painful memories.  It’s not a positive term for many people.  They think of someone who was aloof, or distant, or uncaring, or unconcerned.  They think of a father who wasn’t there when they needed him.  And so, the question really becomes:  What kind of father is God?  What is He really like?  You see, if you have a misconception about what God is really like, you will find yourself worrying about things that you don’t need to worry about if you don’t know what God’s really like.  You’ll find yourself feeling guilty in situations you shouldn’t feel guilty in.  You’ll find yourself carrying burdens and fears that you don’t need to carry ‑‑ all because you misunderstand what God is like. 

Some people say, “Well, I don’t believe in God.”  Whenever you hear that, ask them, “Please describe the kind of God you don’t believe in,” because I have often found out they don’t believe in some myths about God.  Specifically, there are four myths that are very common today.  If you buy into any of these myths, it will rob you of so much happiness in life.  So, this morning I want us to look at these and apply the truth; compare it to what Jesus says about God. 

Now, let’s look at the first one:

1.             Myth #1:  “God Is Unreasonable.”  Now this myth goes kind of like this, “God places so many demands on my life.  There is no way I could possibly do them all.  He’s too strict.  He’s unreasonable.  He’s unrealistic.  All He wants me to be is a good and boring person.  He doesn’t want me to have fun.  He’s a kill-joy.  He’s a sourpuss.”  And that God is kind of like some Puritan grandfather who sits up in heaven with this scowl on his face looking down on us, waiting for somebody to have a moment of fun so He can say, “Stop that,” or waiting to say “No” to us all of the time.  This is not a new myth.  In fact, it’s the first recorded words of the devil in the Bible.  Back in Genesis when God created the Garden of Eden, the perfect environment. 

Now, notice what God says in Gen. 2:17 (CW):  (God) “You may eat of every tree in the Garden, but there is ONE tree I don’t want you to eat of . . . .”  Now, Satan comes along a little while later in Chapter 3 and he says to Eve, (Satan) “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from ANY tree in the garden?”  Do you catch the shift here?  Do you see what he’s done?  He’s switching the truth for a lie; he’s reversed it.  God had said, “There’s just one you can’t eat,” and Satan says, “No, God is saying there’s none you can eat.”  He’s turned it around.  He’s trying to make God appear unreasonable. 

God is not unreasonable.  The Bible says, The Truth is God Is A Compassionate Father.  That means He is motivated by love.  Everything that God does, even when He says “No” to certain things, He does it because He loves you.  Ps. 145:9 says, God is good to everyone, and his compassion is intertwined with everything he does.”  He’s loving, He’s kind, He’s generous, and everything God does for you, He does out of compassion because He loves you.  Everything you have in life is a gift from God.  In fact, if it weren’t for God, you wouldn’t have anything; you wouldn’t even be alive.  So, everything you have in life is a good gift and God says, “I want you to enjoy these gifts, but I don’t want you to abuse them.  I don’t want you to misuse them because you’ll get hurt.” 

Don’t you think it would have been a whole lot better if people had followed God’s prescription?  Lam 3:22 (LB), “God’s compassion never ends.  It is only his mercies that have kept us from complete destruction.”  You see, God knows what He’s doing. 

Would you write this down:  Any time God says no to me, it is because He loves me.  It’s because He wants what’s best for me.  Not because He’s a miser, an ogre, or a sourpuss, or a kill-joy, but because He really does care about you.  You see, Satan’s goal is to convince you that obeying God and having fun are mutually exclusive; that they’re opposites.  And then he adds, “God doesn’t love you.  He wants you to be miserable.  He wants you to have no fun.  He wants to take away all of your joy.”  Now, if you think that God doesn’t want you to be happy, you have been duped by the devil.  Look at these verses, Ps 37:4 (NIV), “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Does that sound like He’s being unreasonable?  No.  Does it sound like He’s a kill-joy?  No.  Look at the next one:  1 Tim 6:17 (NIV), “. . . God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”  Does that sound like a kill-joy?  No.  He created the world for you to enjoy.  Rom 8:32 (LB), “Since he did not spare even his own Son for us . . . won’t God also surely give us everything else?”  Does that sound like somebody who wants to make your life miserable?  No.  Ps 84:11, “No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”  In other words, God will not hold anything back from the child who wants to obey and do what’s right.  God is a compassionate father.  He loves to give gifts to you.  He loves to give gifts to His children.  Over 20 times in the Bible He says, “Ask.  I want you to ask . . . ask and it shall be given . . . seek and you’ll find . . . knock and the door will be open.”  He says, “Ask that your joy will be full.”  One time Jesus said this, “If you’re being an imperfect parent, know how to give good gifts to your kids.  Don’t you think your perfect heavenly Father wants to give good gifts to you if you’ll just ask.”  So, God is not unreasonable, but He is compassionate.  And, for every “No” that He says, there are a thousand “Yes’.”  He’s not a God of prohibition, He’s a God of permission and He wants you to be happy.

The second myth is:

2.         Myth #2:  “God Is Unreliable.”  Now, this one says that God cannot be trusted, that He’ll lie to you, that He’s inconsistent, that He’s fickle, that He changes His mind, He acts one way one day and one way the next day and so you really can’t figure out whether God likes you or not because He won’t tell you the truth.  And, again, this is as old as the Garden of Eden.  Notice this verse, Gen 3:3‑5 (LB), (Eve) “God says we must not eat it (that tree) . . . or we’ll die.”  (Satan)  “That’s a lie!  You’ll not die!  God knows very well the instant you eat it you’ll become like him . . . .”  Now, you can understand from this that there are two phases in temptation ‑‑ any time you’re tempted it’s going to happen in two phases.  Phase One is doubt; Phase Two is deception.  The way the devil tempts you in any area of life is this:  First, he tries to get you to doubt what God has said.  He’ll do this, “Did God really say this is wrong?”  Or, he’ll say, “Did He really mean it when He said it,” or “Maybe He meant it then but maybe doesn’t mean it now.”  And so, he tries to get you to doubt the truth of God’s word.  And then he will offer his own lie, which says, “It can’t hurt anybody . . . nobody will ever know . . . everybody does it . . . just this once,” etc., etc., etc.  And, he offers his lie ‑‑ doubt, then deception ‑‑ and the result is destruction; you reap what you sow.  The truth is that God is reliable; in fact, God is a consistent father.  He’s not only compassionate, but He’s consistent.  He can be counted on to always act the same way towards you.  Rom 11:29 (NCV) says this, “God never changes his mind about the people he calls and the things he gives them.”  He never changes His mind about you. 

Now, listen, maybe some of you grew up with unpredictable fathers.  A guy said one time, “I never know if my dad’s going to hug me or slug me.  I don’t know if he’s going to be silent or violent.  I don’t know if he’s going to be tender or tough.  If he’s going to accept me or reject me.”  And, maybe some of you grew up with parents that were very inconsistent in their attitude towards you and inconsistent fathers produce insecure kids.  The problem is that you may have taken that image of your earthly dad and you’ve put it over on to your eternal, heavenly Father, and you think that’s the way God treats you.  You think one day God’s happy with you; the next day, He’s sad.  One day He likes you and the next day He’s going to kick you.  Well, how much time do you want to spend with somebody who’s inconsistent?  You don’t want to spend any time with them and that’s why you tend not to want to pray because you don’t know if God’s going to like you or not.  Listen, God does not get moody; He is consistent.  God doesn’t have bad hair days.  He’s not temperamental.  He doesn’t wake up grumpy some mornings.  He’s always consistent.  In fact, turn your notes over.  Rom 11:29 (LB), second half of the verse, “ . . . God will never go back on his promises.”  It says He’s absolutely reliable. 

A study once that said the number one reason kids rebel against their parents is because of resentment, and the number one cause of resentment is broken promises.  “Dad, you promised you’d do this.”  “Mom, you promised you’d do that,” and a broken promise leads to resentment and resentment leads to rebellion.  God isn’t that kind of a father who says he’ll do something and then doesn’t do it.  You can count on it.  In fact, one thing you can always count on is, God’s love for you is never going to change.  Notice this verse here, Ps. 59:10 (LB), “My God is changeless in his love for me.”  You can always count on it.  When everything else is changing, you can count on this:  God will never stop loving me.  God will never, never, never stop loving me.  It doesn’t matter what I do, where I am, what happens to me, or through me, or in me, God will never stop loving me.  Why?  Because He’s compassionate, but more than that, He is consistently compassionate.  He doesn’t waiver.  He doesn’t love you one day and then hate you the next day.  He’s consistent and no matter what happens, He’s compassionate and consistent. 

Now the third myth is this:

3.         Myth #3:  “God Is Unconcerned With Me.”  And this is a big one that will cause you a lot of unhappiness if you buy into it.  This one says, “God is unconcerned with me because I’m insignificant.  I don’t want to bother God with my problems because He’s got to deal with much, much bigger problems.  He’s got world situations, war, and famine, and earthquakes, and crises around the world, and starving children.  My problems are so petty and so insignificant, God couldn’t be interested in me.  He’s too busy, I don’t want to bother him.”  And then of course, the devil comes along and whispers in your ear, “Who do you think you are?  You’re coming to God and praying, bringing your problems to God.  You’re worthless.  Why would God care about you?”  That’s what he says.  He says, “You’re a zero, you don’t matter, you’re insignificant, you don’t count.”  Now, that is one of the most destructive myths out there and Satan loves to perpetrate it on you.  And, if you buy into it, it will make you miserable ‑‑ that God is unconcerned.  What is the truth?  The truth is, that God is a caring father.  He’s caring and close.  Matt 10:29 (NCV) says this, “Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.” 

Now look, if God cares about little dinky birds and not one of them falls out of its nest onto the ground without God taking note of it, don’t you think He is intimately aware of every detail in your life?  Don’t you think you can count on the fact that He’s interested in every part of your life?  You see, He doesn’t go on overload; God has the ability to care deeply about everything because He’s God.  If you think He’s unconcerned about you, you’ve got a misconception ‑‑ a myth- about God.  He is concerned about every single detail of your life and that’s why He wants you to talk to Him about it.  He wants you to talk with Him.  You see, nothing is too small or insignificant for God to care about ‑‑ He cares even about sparrows ‑‑ if you’re continually under His watchful eye.  Look at the next verse, Matt 10:30‑31 (NCV), “God even knows how many hairs are on your head.  So don’t worry.  You’re worth much more than many sparrows.” 

Do you realize how much God says you’re worth?  If you don’t realize how much God says you’re worth, you will experience a lot of depression in life.  You know, psychologists tell us that the number one root of unhappiness is confused identity.  That when you don’t really know who you are, it causes a lot of problems.  In fact, most people have very little idea about who they are and they don’t even like the little they do know about themselves.  The issue of identity is this:  Who am I?  Do I matter?  Does my life count?  Does my life have value?  Am I worth anything?  Who am I? 

Psychologists also tell us that your identity comes largely from what you think your parents thought of you, particularly your father.  So, for instance, if you had a father who said you would never amount to much, then you would tend to build your life on that.  If you had a dad that said to you, “You’re so incompetent, you’re so clumsy,” then you would tend to act that way the rest of your life; that we set ourselves up by what we think our dads think of us.  That’s what psychology says.  But, God says it really doesn’t matter so much what your parents think about you because they’re imperfect; they make mistakes.  What really counts is what your Heavenly Father says about you because that’s the truth.  And the truth is, God says you’re worth a lot.  You see, you don’t need everybody’s approval in life to be happy.  What you do need to be happy is the truth.  And, the truth is, God says, “You’re valuable; I care about you.” 

God is not watching you from a distance; He’s watching you up close and personal.  He’s with you everywhere you go.  He’s not out there distant ‑‑ you may not want Him to go with you everywhere you go ‑‑ but He’s with you everywhere you go. 

Notice what Jesus said in John 14:23 (NCV), (Jesus) “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  God says, “I want to live with you.”  In fact, He doesn’t just want to live with you; He wants to live inside you.  He says, “I’ll put my Spirit in you.”  You don’t get any closer than that.  God is not just a caring, compassionate, consistent father; He’s a close father; He’s never away from you.  Now, the result of that is if God’s with me all of the time, I really don’t need to worry.  Look at this verse, Matt. 6:33 (NCV), “Don’t worry ‘What will we eat . . . or drink . . . or wear?’  People who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them.  The thing you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants.  Then all these other things you need will be given to you.”  He says you don’t need to worry.  God’s with you.  He’s with you all of the time.  He’s compassionate, consistent, caring and close so you don’t need to worry.  When you worry, you’re acting like an atheist; you’re pretending like God doesn’t exist.  Quickly, the fourth myth about God is:

4.         Myth #4:  “God Is Unpleasable.”  Some of you may have had unpleasable parents and you’ve put that idea over onto your Heavenly Father.  You had parents that felt you were never quite good enough.  If you got C’s on your report card, they wanted B’s.  And, if you got B’s, they wanted A’s.  If you got A’s, they wanted straight A’s.  And, you got the impression that you never were quite good enough to please your dad or your mom.  And, if you straightened up your room, they came in and straightened it up a little bit more.  And, if you hung up your clothes, they came in and hung them up a little bit better.  It was just never good enough.  And, some of you think that’s the way God is ‑‑ that God is always disappointed in you.  That He’s always discouraged, that you’re always letting Him down. 

Now, if that’s really what you think about God, is it any wonder why you don’t want to talk to Him?  Do you like hanging out with people that you feel are always disappointed in you?  No.  And, if that’s really the way you think God is toward you, you’re going to reject Him; you’re not going to spend time with Him.  Some of you have figured it this way, “God is perfect and on a scale of 1 to 100, He’s up at 100 and I’m not; therefore, I’m always letting God down.”  God says, “You’re not letting me down because you’re not holding me up.”  So, what is God like?  Is He really unpleasable?  No.  The Bible says that He’s a gracious Father.  A gracious Father means He acts in grace.  That means that He gives you what you need, not what you deserve.  If we all got what we deserve, none of us would be sitting here right now.  But, He gives you what you need; He’s gracious. 

You say, “What must I do, God, for you to accept me?”  The answer is:  Nothing.  There is nothing you can do to be acceptable, you simply accept what God has already done for you ‑‑ that’s called grace.  1 Cor 6:11 (LB) says, “. . . God has accepted you because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit have done for you.”  You know, we all want to be accepted in life and so we wear certain clothes, and act a certain way, and try to get certain awards on our shelves, and try to accomplish something with our lives so that we will be accepted.  What do you have to do to be accepted by God?  Nothing, just accept His gift of acceptance through Christ because acceptance is not based on your performance, it’s based on God’s character, that He’s a gracious God.  Did you know that the Bible teaches that even before you were born, God already knew every sin you were going to commit?  When God made you, He gave you freedom of choice.  He knew you were going to make some stupid choices in life, some dumb choices.  That’s called Sin ‑‑ when you choose to do the wrong thing rather than the right thing.  God already knew you would sin even before you were born. 

And, the Bible says Heaven is a perfect place and only perfect people get to go there, because if imperfect people were allowed into Heaven, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore.  That means you don’t stand a chance of working your way into Heaven, and neither do I.  So, God came up with a plan.  Notice Eph 1:4 (LB), “Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault ‑‑ we who stand before him covered with his love.” 

Let me just say something that will shock you:  God is never disappointed in you.  You say, “How could that be?  I disappoint myself.”  That’s because you don’t know yourself.  Disappointment means something has to happen that you didn’t expect.  God already knows all of the dumb things you’re going to do in life; He already knows the sins you’re going to commit, so it’s not like He’s not expecting it to happen.  Because He’s given you a free choice, He already knows the stupid choices you’ll make.  So, when it happens, He’s not disappointed because He already knew.  But, He is a gracious, forgiving God. 

Nobody’s perfect.  Do you agree with that?  So, the Bible says we all fall short.  Some fall shorter than others, but we all fall short.  So, God’s plan was He sent Jesus to make up the difference, however much that is in your life.  Does that make sense?  He sent Jesus to make up the difference so you get into Heaven on His ticket.  That’s what God wants to do.  How can I be pleasing to God?  God is not unpleasable, He’s a gracious God.  How do I please Him?  Notice Rom 3:22 (LB), “God says he will accept and acquit us ‑‑ declare us ‘not guilty’ ‑‑ if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins . . . no matter who we are or what we have been like.”  And you say, “Oh, Frank, but you don’t know what I’ve done.”  It says, no matter who we are or what we have been like if we accept His Son.  Now, God wants you to have a relationship with Him so He’s done all He could to make it possible.  He sent His Son to die for you.  He wants you to have a father-child relationship to Him.  This is so important because if you don’t understand it, your foundation is off for everything else in your life. 

Maybe you grew up with a parent who was unreasonable, or you had a parent who was unconcerned or unreliable, or unpleasable.  Or, maybe you grew up with a parent who hurt you.  I want to say to you, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that you hurt, but you have a Heavenly Father who will never hurt you, never ever hurt you.  He wants to be that father that maybe you never had; He is a compassionate Father.  Everything He does towards you, He does because He loves you.  Even when He says no, it’s because He loves you; He’s motivated with compassion.  He wants to be a consistent Father.  He is a consistent Father.  He’ll never lie to you; He’ll never abuse you or use you.  He always keeps His promises, He always does what’s best for you.  He is a Father that is close and is caring and when you fall off the jungle gym of life, and you can’t put on the shoes of life, He’s there to help you out and it’s no big deal to Him; it’s no bother.  But, He does it because He loves you and He’s a gracious Father.  And, no matter who you are or what you’ve done, He will forgive you and accept you and love you like you’ve never been loved by anyone.

Now, is God everybody’s Father?  Is everybody a child of God?  Well, yes and no.  When you talk about, “Did God create everybody?”  Yes, He created everybody.  But, does He have a relationship with everybody?  No, He does not.  Would you agree that there is more to being a father than just creating a kid?  Oh yes, there’s a lot more to being a father than just fathering a child.  And, while God is the Creator of everybody in this room, He’s not everybody’s Father right now, only unless you’ve said, “God, I want to be a part of your family” ‑‑ that’s a choice.  Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  You need to say “I want Jesus Christ to come into my life and I want to develop a relationship with God, the Father.” 

Let’s close in prayer.  Why don’t you say this:

Dear God, I want you to be my Father and I want to be a part of your family and I want to learn to depend on you the way a child depends on a father.  Thank you that you are compassionate; that everything you do towards me is out of love.  That even when you suggest and demand limitations, it’s for my own protection.  Thank you that you’re a consistent Father; that you always do what’s best for me, that you always keep your promises, that you never change your mind about me, that you’re not fickle, that you’re consistent in your love.  Thank you that you’re caring and that you’re close and you’re here to help, you’re not distant and aloof, but you’re intimately interested in every detail of my life.  And, thank you that you’re gracious.  That you forgive and accept me when I blow it.  Thank you for sending Jesus to make up the difference between me and perfection and I do trust in your Son.  In your name I pray.  Amen

July 10, 2011 Sermon

You can listen to today's sermon by clicking here. Unfortunately, the first sentence and part of the second are missing from the recording.

THE FOUNDATION FOR HAPPINESS

Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable - Part 1 of 6

07-10-11 Sermon

As you grew up, you were probably taught many myths, and as you became a teenager, you learned other ones, and as you became an adult, you’ve learned even other myths from the world.  Most of them are purely harmless, but there have been some myths, some things that you’ve learned from the world, that just aren’t true, that really are very harmful to you, they have robbed you of happiness, they’ve lead you into guilt and shame.  Some of the myths you’ve learned from the world may cause worry, and stress, and fear in your life.  Some of them may create nagging depression.  So, this morning we are going to begin a new series I’m calling “Exploding The Myths That Make Us Miserable.”  And, we’re going to look in the next several weeks at myths that the world has taught us that just aren’t true; myths about yourself, myths about God, myths about life, myths about the future, myths about your past, myths about money.  We’re going to look at myths about relationships and marriage, myths about heaven and hell and things in the afterlife.  Because, if you don’t have the truth in your life, you get way off base. 

Now, in America, one of the most common myths, is the myth that goes like this, tell me if you’ve ever heard it:  “You now, it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere.”  Have you ever heard that myth?  (Myth #1:  “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere.”  Now, that sounds so good, it sounds so broadminded, so tolerant, so unbiased, so politically correct.  You know, “different strokes for different folks,” “you believe that, I’ll believe this,” “fine, that’s cool, we’re both cool.”  The only problem with it is it’s absurd to hold that belief, it’s irrational.  There are some beliefs that are exact opposites of each other and it’s not only absurd and naive, but it is also self-destructive to your life, as we’ll see in the weeks ahead. 

One of our cars is a gold Grand Marquis and we were on vacation going somewhere and Nic and Rachael were following behind us.  They pulled into a gas station behind the gold Grand Marquis that had pulled in there and when the driver got out to fill up the tank, it wasn’t me!  They had started following the wrong gold Grand Marquis.  They sincerely believed they were going the right way, following the right car, but they were wrong.

You can be sincere, but you can be sincerely wrong.  The fact is that it takes more than sincerity to make it in life.  It takes truth.  There was a movie where these terrorists messed up the landing system of an airplane and as the pilots were coming down, they thought they were higher than they were and they believed they were okay but they crashed and burned because it was a false belief.  There are some beliefs in your life that if you don’t correct, you’re going to crash and burn. 

This morning, quickly, I want to give you six facts not myths, about what you believe because what you believe is extremely important.  So, let’s just go right into it.  Number one,:

1.         My Beliefs Are My Choice.  Nobody forces you to believe anything.  I mean, if I don’t want to believe something, I don’t have to.  If I want to believe in something, I can; nobody stops me, nobody forces me.  If I want to believe Elvis is alive, I can believe it.  If I want to believe in the Loch Ness monster, I can believe it.  If I want to believe the moon is made of cheese, or the world is flat, I can believe it.  Here’s the point:  You can’t blame anybody else for your beliefs.  You can’t blame your parents or your teachers because they’re not holding on to you, you’re holding on and you can drop those beliefs any time you wish.  And, hopefully in this series, we’ll do a little replacement ministry to replace some of the lies that you’ve been taught about yourself and about life and begin to accept other beliefs.  But, it is a choice.  God even gives you a choice as to what to believe.  Notice this example: Romans 1:25 says:  “Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies . . . .”  My beliefs are a choice and some of them need to be replaced. 

2.         My Beliefs Determine My Behavior.  In other words, they determine how I act.  Proverbs 4:23: “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”  Your life is shaped by your thoughts.  Now, there is a belief behind every single action you take in life.  Everything you do has an unconscious or conscious belief behind it.  For instance, when you came in today and you sat down in that pew, you unconsciously believed it would hold you up.  If you happen to go to lunch after the service, you pick up a menu, you’re going to choose something because you believe it’s going to taste good.  It may not, but you make a choice.  Everything you do has a belief behind it.  Does that make sense? 

  Now, the problem is this:  My beliefs determine the action even when they’re wrong, even were they’re false.  For instance, if you believe you’re clumsy, how are you going to act?  Clumsy.  If you believe you’re unlovable, you will act unlovable.  If you believe you’re a risk taker, you’ll find yourself taking risks all of the time.  If you believe other people cannot be trusted, you’ll tend to treat them with suspicion, put up a barrier and wear a mask, and you’ll receive that kind of response.  If you believe that God is unconcerned about you, you’ll never pray.  If you believe that God is out to get you, like many people do, you’ll try to avoid God.  The point is, even if your beliefs are wrong, they affect your behavior, so you need to examine them. 

3.         The World Has Taught Me Many False Beliefs.  And, they’re all over.  I love to read National Inquirer and similar headlines as I’m going through the grocery store.  Now you know, in those magazines they’ve got a cure for cancer every week:  “Eat mangos this week and you’ll never have cancer,” and we laugh at that and it’s funny, but there are a lot of things that just aren’t funny:  There are Myths that really do mess up our lives.  You know, it used to be people would say:  “You know, I’ll believe it when I see it.”  You can’t even believe what you see anymore.  Did you know that?  Because with computer generation and photo shop and things like that they are able to blend fact and fiction.  So, even if you see it, it doesn’t mean it’s true.  Television has blended fact and fiction in docudramas and reality-based programming, where everything on the reality-based programming is staged.  So, just because you see something, you can’t believe it’s true.  The world teaches us all kinds of myths. 

Now, the Bible gives us some very blunt advice about this.  1 John 4:1:  “Don’t always believe everything you hear . . .  for there are many false teachers around.” 

4.         Untrue Beliefs Are The Cause Of My Emotional Problems And Unhappiness.  A belief does not have to be true in order for it to affect you emotionally or cause emotional turmoil.  For instance, let’s say this next weekend you’re going to go camping up in the mountains.  And so you go up to the mountains, you set up your tent, you get in your tent at night, you close it all up, you can’t see outside, you’re lying on your sleeping bag, and you hear what you believe to be a bear pawing around outside your tent.  Now, if you believe that’s a bear, you can’t see it but you believe it, your heart will start racing, your pulse will go up, adrenaline will shoot into your system, your muscles will tense up, and you will get emotional turmoil over something that isn’t true. 

Now, that happens all of the time but you don’t realize it.  You worry about things that aren’t true.  You’re afraid of things that aren’t true.  You often feel shame about things maybe you shouldn’t feel shame about.  So, even when a belief is not true, it still causes emotional turmoil in your life.  And, if you want to overcome stress, anger, or guilt, or depression, or worry, or perfectionism, or any emotional problem, you must listen.  You must clarify and correct the false beliefs behind those feelings.  And, that’s what we’re going to do in the next few weeks as we look at God’s Word and the truth of it. 

Jesus said in John 8:32, there in your outline, “When you know the truth, the truth will set you free.”  Now, that’s the goal of this series.  My goal is that as we expose the lies that you have been taught by our culture and apply the truth to those lies, you’ll have a change of mind and, when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.  And, you’ll experience new freedom, maybe from some hang-ups, some habits, some hurts that have messed up your life for 20 or 30 years, or more.  It is the truth that sets us free. 

Now, that brings us to the next point:

5.         The Only Source Of Absolute Truth Is God.  Romans 3:4, “God will continue to be true even when every person is false.”  That is a fundamental question you need to ask yourself.  Every person eventually has to ask this question in life, either consciously or unconsciously and that is this:  What is going to be the authority for my life?  What’s going to be the basis for my beliefs and my behavior?  What’s going to be the guidebook that I rely on?  What’s my north star?  What’s my compass?  What’s going to be the standard  by which I evaluate my life?  What am I going to base my life on?  What is my authority; the final authority in my life? 

Now, when it comes down to it, you only have two options:  You either have the world or the Word, the Word of God.  You either have what man says, and there are a million contradictory things that man says, or what God says.  You will either build your life on what culture says, or on what Christ says.  The world or the Word.  What man says or what God says.  Now, let’s examine these two.  Which of them do you think is more reliable?  The problem with what culture says, what society says, is that it just keeps changing.  It’s shifting every day and what’s popular one day, isn’t popular the next day.  And, the therapy that works today, isn’t the therapy that was so popular five years ago, and what’s working now, five years from today, we’ll say that we’ve got something else.  And, five years from then, we’ve got something else.  And it keeps changing.  Why?  Because man’s knowledge is increasing and they find things that work.  God’s knowledge is ultimate and it’s always true. 

Seventy-three million of us in America are baby boomers.  That’s one out of every three people in America.  That means you were born between 1948 and 1964.  That entire generation was brought up on the best selling book of all time, next to the Bible, Dr. Spock’s Baby Book.  And in Dr. Spock’s Baby Book, Dr. Spock expressed his opinions about what he thought was the proper way to raise children.  And, an entire generation of Americans was brought up on that book.  The only problem is, a few years ago, Dr. Spock, in his 70s, publicly held a press conference and said:  “Oops.  I was wrong.  That’s not the way to do it.  I’m sorry.  Never mind.”  The point is, an entire generation was raised on one way of parenting that studies later confirmed didn’t work.  It didn’t work. 

Do you know the average lifespan of a science textbook?  Eighteen months, and it’s out of date because knowledge is increasing so rapidly.  So, in a situation where something is changing every day, you don’t want to put your faith in something you can’t depend on tomorrow because you might go down the wrong path, and then they go:  “Well, I climbed the ladder of success, got to the top and found it’s leaning against the wrong wall.”  Look at this verse:  Luke 21:33:  “The law of heaven and earth shall pass away yet my word shall remain forever.”  God’s Word has stood the test of time.  You can trust it as your guidebook, as your authority, as your basis.  Why?  Because it is based on God’s character.  That’s why you can trust it.  And look at the next verse.  What’s God’s character?  “It is impossible for God to lie.”  God cannot lie.  In fact, God cannot even tell a half-truth because a half-truth is a whole lie.  And, so, if you want something to build your life on that is solid, you better build it on God’s truth. 

And that brings us to the sixth point:

6.         Building My Life On The Foundation Of God’s Truth Is The Key To Emotional Health And Stability.  Now, in this series, we’re going to look at the actual words of Jesus and what He has to say.  Here are two interesting facts.  Number one:  80 times in the Bible, Jesus says this:  “I tell you the truth.”  80 times.  “I tell you the truth.”  20 times in scripture, Jesus says this:  “Now you have heard it said, but I say to you.”  What’s He doing?  He’s exploding the myths that make us miserable.  You’ve heard it said, this is conventional wisdom, this is what everybody thinks, this is what’s on the talk show, “You have heard it said, but I say to you,” and “ . . . the truth sets you free.”  In the passage from Matthew 7, Jesus says building your life is like building a house; you have to have the right foundation.  And He says you can have one of two foundations:  You can build your house on the solid rock, which is God’s unchanging truth, or you can build your house on shifting sand, which is the constantly changing opinions of the world.  And He says if you build your life on shifting sand, you’re a fool.  He’s very blunt about it.  He says it’s foolish; it’s stupid to build your life on things that are changing every day.  But He says build your house on the rock of God’s Word, unchanging truth. 

Now, in Matthew 7, notice there, verse 24,:  “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”  Now, I want you to circle the two keys to stability.  You want to be emotionally stable, you want to get it together, you need to hear and you need to practice the truth. 

ii. THE FIRST STEP TO FREEDOM:  A COMMITMENT

Now, hearing the truth is not enough, you need to practice it.  Now, what does it mean to practice?  What does it take to practice?  Have you ever practiced the piano?  If you’re going to practice typing, if you’re going to practice working out, if you’re going to practice learning shorthand ‑‑ it takes one thing; it takes commitment.  And so, the first step to freedom, the first step to being released from hurts, habits, and hang-ups in your life that are messing you up, is you must make a personal commitment to truth, to become a person of truth.  Romans 12, read it with me:  “Do not conform to the standards or beliefs of this world but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.”  Now, notice here, He says:  “You can be transformed.”  Let me ask you a question:  Would you like to experience the kind of life God has always meant for you to live?  Would you like to be freed from emotional hang-ups that keep you from being happy?  It is possible; God can transform your mind.  What does that mean?  Replace the old myth with the new system of belief based on the truth.  But, there’s one key to having that transformation happen in your life.  The first key to freedom is one three-letter word and in that sentence it’s l-e-t.  It says:  “LET God transform . . . your mind.”  That involves a choice, that involves a commitment. 

So, as we start this new series, I want to challenge you, I urge you, I encourage you to make three commitments regarding truth in your life.  And, if you do, you’re well on your way to emotional healing and health.  Here they are:

1.         I Commit Myself To Seeking The Truth.  2 Timothy 4:3-4 (LB) says this:  “There is going to come a time when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who tell them just what they want to hear.”  It sounds like astrologers to me, or at least psychic hotlines; they just tell you what you want to hear.  “They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas.”  Why?  Because it’s easier.  You see, if you make a commitment to seek the truth for the rest of your life, it’s not always easy to seek the truth.  It’s not always popular to seek the truth because often the truth contradicts popular opinion.  It contradicts conventional wisdom while the world is saying:  “Well, it’s okay because everybody’s doing it.”  The truth is, it’s not okay.  So, it’s not always popular to be honest and to seek the truth.  And, I need to warn you that sometimes the truth is painful.  Would you agree with that?  Sometimes the truth is painful.  Sometimes the truth is scary.  Would you agree with that?  Sometimes the truth is disturbing, it makes us all upset.   Sometimes the truth is dangerous.  Sometimes the truth is unpleasant because sometimes we don’t want to face the truth about our past.  Or, we don’t want to face the truth about ourselves.  Or, we don’t want to face the truth about our failures.  Or, we don’t want to face the truth about our fears.  And it’s painful, and it’s unpleasant, and it’s scary, but it is the only way to emotional health and stability ‑‑ to face it, to seek it, and know the truth; to admit it. 

Look at this next verse:  “Don’t follow foolish stories that disagree with God’s truth . . . .”  What that’s saying is, if you’ve got an experience that contradicts the Bible, it’s a false experience.  For instance, let’s say that I’ve had an experience over here and . . . .  You know, a lot of the best-selling books right now are about angels or the after-life, or channeling, and they’re filled with myths and lies and they’re based on my experience as if that’s ultimate truth.  If I have an experience and it contradicts what God says in His Word, do you know what I’m going to choose?  No doubt about it, I’m going to choose God’s Word.  Why?  Because experiences can be false; they can be phony.  Listen, if technology can create a virtual reality experience that’s false, don’t you think the devil can?  Just because you’ve had an experience, doesn’t mean it’s right, or true, or correct.  And so, just because you’ve had an experience, it doesn’t mean it’s true.  It says:  “Don’t follow stories that disagree with God’s truth . . . .”  And so we use the Bible as a standard. 

I’ve seen a bumper sticker that says:  “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”  Have you ever seen that?  There’s only one problem with that.  It ought to say:  “God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not.”  It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not, it’s still true.  People say:  “Well, my idea of God is . . . .”  Well, who set you up as the authority?  You’re just making that up.  Why don’t you look at what Jesus said God is like.  He probably knows a little better than you do.  So, you don’t follow foolish stories.  So, where is the best place to seek the truth?  Look at what this verse says:  “. . . the church of the living God contains and holds high the truth of God.”  You’re in the right place.  You’re with God’s people looking at God’s Word.  That’s the best place to seek the truth. 

So, I commit myself to seeking the truth.  Number two:

2.         I Commit Myself To Living The Truth.  And this is a little bit harder.  Ephesians 4 (LB), says this:  “We will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because somebody has told us something different or cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.  Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times ‑‑ speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly ‑‑ and so become more and more in every way like Christ . . . .”  Truth is not just something you know, it’s what you do, it’s something you practice, it’s something you apply, it’s something you obey, it’s something you follow.  It’s not just some intellectual trip:  “Well, I know the truth, I’ve got these doctrines down.”  It’s something you put in your life; you ought to be a living Bible.  Now that’s harder.  2 Cor 4:2 (GN) says:  “In the full light of truth we live . . . .”  I’m going to talk a whole lot about that in the weeks ahead:  How to live out the truth as we expose these myths. 

3.         I Commit Myself To Believing In The Truth.  Now, the wonderful thing about God is that He wants us to know the truth because it does set us free.  And so, He has given us, the Bible, His Word.  But, not only has He given us a Book to have the truth, He personally came to earth 2,000 years ago, took the form of a man, called himself Jesus Christ so we would have a living model of the truth as our example.  He modeled the truth; He incarnated the truth; He embodied the truth.  He said:  “You don’t have to just read this, you can look at me; here’s how it means to live a truly true life.”  Living truly, acting truly, talking truly, thinking truly, responding truly; look at Jesus.  And so, we have not only a book, but truth in a person; God became a man.  Notice in John 14:  “Jesus said ‘ . . . I AM THE TRUTH . . . .” 

Now, listen to this, I mean it’s pretty all-inclusive.  First, He says:  “I,” not religion, is truth; not a denomination is the truth, but “I.”  Truth is a person and his name is Jesus.  He says:  “I am the truth,” not “I might be,” not “I hope to be the truth,” not “I could be.”  He doesn’t say, “I point to the truth.”  He doesn’t say, “I teach the truth.”  He says, “I am the truth.”  You want to know the truth, look at me, He says: “I am the truth.”  Then He says, “I am the truth.”  He didn’t say, “I’m part of it.”  He didn’t say, “I’m some of it.”  He didn’t say, “I’m the religious section of it.”  He says:  “I am the truth.”  I don’t know a more all- inclusive statement than that. 

I just don’t understand it when somebody says, “Well, I don’t believe Jesus was God, but I do believe He was a good person.”  He couldn’t be a good person.  He’s either who He says He was, or He’s the biggest con-man who ever lived.  There is no gray area; it’s either black or white.  I mean, for instance, if I came up here and I said, “I’m a good man,” a lot of you would say, “Yeah, Frank, you’re a pretty guy, you’re a good man.”  But, if I stood up here and said, “I am the truth.  No one cometh to the Father but by me,” that’s a whole different issue.  Wouldn’t you agree?  That kind of forces a decision.  It either means I’m telling the truth or I’m flat out conning you.  So, Jesus was not just a good man.  He was either who He claimed to be ‑‑ God came to earth to show us the truth ‑‑ or, He’s a phony, He’s a fake.  And, you bet your life on what you believe about it.  You bet your life.  He says:  “I am the truth.” 

Now, remember God has given you the freedom to choose what you believe.  He doesn’t force any belief on you.  God gives you the freedom to choose whatever you believe, but once you make that choice, you do not have the freedom to choose the consequences of that belief.  And, if you say:  “I don’t intend to accept Jesus for who He says He was.  Oh, I think He’s a good guy.  I don’t believe He was really God, though.  I don’t intend to accept Christ as the truth and so I want to be separate from Him in my life.”  God will let you do that; He’ll let you walk away, but if you choose to be separate from God now, you will choose to be separated from God for eternity and that is called “Hell.” 

You say, “Frank, is there a real hell?  Is hell a real place?”  Well, of course there is.  Jesus talked actually talked about hell more than heaven.  Some people say:  “ I don’t believe in hell.”  Well, that doesn’t make it not real.  I mean, I say I don’t believe in Kansas but it’s still there.  (Laughter)  Just because you say, “Well, I don’t want to believe it.”  That’s not called belief; that’s called denial.  Just because it’s unpleasant doesn’t mean it’s not true.  Hell was made for the devil and his angels, not for people.  But, when you choose to reject God, He says:  “Okay, be separated from me.”  Look at this verse:  “. . . they are on their way to hell because they have said no to the Truth; they have refused to believe it and love it and let it save them, so God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts.”

Now, if you don’t get anything else, get this:  How do you go to hell?  There is only one way to go to hell.  Are you listening?  Do I have everybody’s attention?  There is only one way to go to hell.  There is only one way to go to hell.  To refuse to accept and follow and love the truth.  That’s the only way you can go to hell ‑‑ by rejecting the truth, by refusing the truth.  Jesus said, “I am the truth.”  How do you go to heaven?  There’s only one way.  There’s only one way to heaven; there’s only one way to hell.  How do you get to heaven?  It’s not by being good, not by getting baptized, not by taking communion, not by giving to the United Way.  There’s only one way to heaven.  It is:  Accept and love and follow the truth.  Jesus said, “I am the truth.”  Now you know.  You can’t get before God one day at the judgment and He says, “What are you going to do?”  And you say, “Well, I don’t know.”  He’ll say, “What about July 10, 2011, when Frank said, ‘here’s how you get to heaven, and here’s how you get to hell.’  So, what’s your decision? 

Now, you know how to get to heaven; you know how to go to hell.  Accept or reject the fact that Jesus said, “I’m the truth, follow me.”  So today say, “I want to step across that line; I want to build my life on the truth; I want to live it, believe it, love it, follow it, learn it, speak it, teach it, listen to it, defend it; I want to be a person of truth. 

Let’s pray together.  Would you bow your heads with me.  Why don’t you pray a prayer like this.  Say:

Dear Jesus, I’m tired of pretending that everything is okay in my life, putting on a show, acting like I’ve got it all together, when I know I don’t, and you know it too.  I want to live a life of truth and so I commit myself today to these things.  First, I want to become a seeker of the truth, even when it’s unpopular or not easy; I don’t want to live a lie.  Number two, I commit to living and following the truth and when you teach me something to do, I want to do it because I know it’s right and it will work out best for me.  And, I commit myself to believing in you, Jesus, as the truth.  I accept you as the truth of my life and I want to follow you from here on out.  In your name, we pray.  Amen.