Can You Handle The Truth?

Can You Handle The Truth?

 

Good Morning Friends,

 

Some people want it and others avoid it.
I have found from experience that confronting people with it without love, will get a response that is not pleasant. The basic problem is that we deceive ourselves to the truth. Can You Handle The Truth?

 

Scripture: Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

 

John 8:31-32 (NRSV)

 

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

 

John 14:6 (NRSV)

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

 

John 1:1-18 (NRSV)

 

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

 

James 5:7-11 (NRSV)

 

Message: The truth is sometimes hard to swallow.
But here is the truth in three parts…First there is the ongoing grace of the Father to send the Son of God to permit us to be sanctified. There no short cut to sanctification. It takes time and amazing grace. So we are to resist the lies of the world and embrace the way, the truth and the light of Jesus. Thankfully the Gospel message is one of freedom….good news of the release of the slaves from sin…the truth about life…the truth about God….the truth about grace received because of our faith. Why so many stay locked up or even go back to the prison of sin is a mystery. Too many have trouble with truth. For too many submitting to grace is difficult. But grace is the very thing that allows us into the presence of God. Recognizing that Jesus is the truth is the key to grace. The relationship between freedom and the truth is the message Jesus brings. Friends, second the joy of life is revealed in the truth of the Word made flesh. You see, a person is only as good as his word. Thankfully we follow a man….a God… whose word never lies. Thankfully by God’s grace, in the presence of the Holy Spirit…in this gift from Christ we discover that all we do that is of any good is done though the Word manifested with the Holy Spirit working in and though us….only then is the truth in us…only then can we truly be telling the truth….the truth about Jesus and his love…about Christ and His gift. And thirdly, in the truth of Christ we are more than conquerors experienced in the love of the Holy Spirit. In Christ’s Spirit we can learn to love and to live right now. In Christ’s Spirit we can experience the power of the Word made flesh in us. In the Holy Spirit we can experience a love that can never be taken from us. Friends, the truth and the light is based on the presence of Jesus, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Father. It all sounds so easy to choose the path of love and obedience but the path is only made perfect when in the relationship(s) of the Trinity. That is the truth.

 

 

Pray we realize that the Christian religion is designed for us to reach out to the homeless and loveless, the widows and orphans in their plight and in so doing discover the truth of our faith under pressure. Pray we are bearers of the truth more than enforcers of the faith. Pray we keep our eyes on the truth. Pray the truth affirms us and prompts us to affirm the truth we see in others. Pray we believe that God is real in spite of the world’s subversion of the truth. Pray that we pass on the truth with great patience and proper instruction. Pray that we continually be filled with the Holy Spirit… replenished with the truth.
Pray that we reject the myths that make us miserable. Pray that we commit to seek the truth. Pray that we commit to live the truth. Pray that we commit to believe the truth. Pray that we allow the Holy Spirit to apply the truths of Scripture in our daily walk with Jesus. Pray we embrace the truth as love. Pray that we know the truth. Pray that we accept the truth. Pray that we believe the truth. Pray that God implement each of His truths into our lives. Pray we fight for the truth to be in us. Pray the truth of love overflow in our lives and surrounds, protects and preserves us with the hope of new life. Pray that the truth transforms us. Pray we rejoice in the truth.
Pray we realize that Jesus is the truth.
Pray we know just how special it is that we remove any obstacles in our life that hinders others from knowing the truth.
Pray we realize the truth of grace but also the consequences of trying to live above God’s law of love.

 

Blessings,

 

John Lawson