Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Pastor Jeff Shipley (Date: 11/14/2021)

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Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military guys.
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It wasn't the type of people they were talking about. Dude, you're a stud, boy.
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Dude! Man, you have got... Neil Peart ain't got nothing on you, boy. Woo! You don't even know who that is, do you?
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God, I am old. Dude, I got a new saw, guys!
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I mean, right away it's going to be a really... I feel like one of them kids because I want to preach, but to be honest with you,
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I want to go home and get it out of the box and play with it, you know? You know what I'm talking about, Mike, when you get a really cool new tool?
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Oh, by the way, I made a mic and I made an apologetics on all of our
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HVAC guys. It's in the back. You can look that up. On the back of your papers today,
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I gave you some ancillary information and some things for you to think about and for you to study.
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Remember, I am not the arbiter of all truth. I am one sinner showing another sinner where to find grace.
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That's all I am. The Word of God is the absolute. It is God Himself is the absolute truth and you can't just simply listen to a preacher.
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Please don't do that. Don't believe in a denomination or a religion. Put your faith totally in God and in Christ and I promise you, your life is going to be a lot different.
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Quid es Veritas. That is Latin for what is truth.
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Sound nerds, music nerds, can you all do that a little bit more? What is truth?
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It's an existential question that you hear philosophers and other peoples talk about but here in our text in John 18, it is the final question
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Pilate asked Jesus Christ when He was on trial. And we're going to look at that passage, but we're going to also try to answer, at least in part, what is truth?
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Read with me, if you will, John 18, verse 37.
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It says this, Pilate asked Jesus, You are a king then?
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You say that I am a king, Jesus replied. I was born for this and I have come into the world for this to testify to the truth.
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Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
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Verse 38, What is truth? said Pilate. Father, I pray today that not a man's words or religion's words be heard, but I pray today supernaturally that You let scales fall from eyes, that You let pride crumble in our hearts, that our lustful eyes and our lying tongues and our prideful minds will bend today in submission to You as our
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King of kings. Lord, we love You and we thank You. In the name of Christ we pray,
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Amen. Jesus stood in a span of six and a half hours.
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He went to trial six times. From the time He was arrested at Mount Olive, in the
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Garden of Gethsemane, I apologize. From the time He was arrested till the time He was finally sentenced to crucifixion,
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He went to three secular judges and three religious judges.
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All six of them condemned Him without one charge ever being filed or one piece of evidence ever being brought.
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Six different times. Guys, what is truth? Well, first we're going to answer the question, what truth is not?
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Because in that contrast, I think we're going to be able to tell a little bit better what truth is.
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First of all, truth is not justice. Let me say that again.
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Truth is not justice. Those two things are totally separate. You can't have justice without truth, but you can have truth without justice.
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Truth is something that stands alone. Ladies and gentlemen, you need to quit looking for justice and start looking for truth.
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Now I know in today's times, that sounds insane. But we're in a culture today who wants justice and fairness.
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Christian, do not join that mantra. Do not join that mantra. Should we as a nation and a culture seek justice for our fellow man?
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Absolutely. But be careful that that is the end. That is not the destination.
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Justice is not the final destination. For if we hold up for fairness, every one of us will be in hell.
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If our fairness and justice is the highest form of which we achieve and not truth in Christ, then every single one of us has one destiny and that's damnation.
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Justice is not truth. Here you see in chapter 18 verse 40,
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Pilate not being able to find any fault with Jesus, he is playing to the crowd.
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Now I know this is weird, but back then, the Roman governor of that area wanted to keep the
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Jews pacified because if they revolted, which they constantly did, they stopped paying taxes.
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And Caesar and Rome walks up to Pilate and go, yo Vinny, where's my money?
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Because that's what all Rome cared about was they didn't have to spend money on the provinces and the tax money kept rolling in.
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So Pilate, I know this is weird, but that politician wasn't worried about truth.
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He wasn't worried about justice. What he was worried about is keeping the peace and keeping his job.
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So he couldn't find anything wrong with Jesus, so he went out to the crowd and he tried to play it both ways.
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He said, all of you guys that want this man killed, I can't find anything wrong with him.
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So how about this? How about this? I release Barabbas to you, who is one of your little heroes, who was arrested a couple of months ago trying to overthrow the
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Roman government. How about instead of killing him, I release Jesus to you because Jesus hadn't done anything wrong and Barabbas has killed people.
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What did the people say? We want Barabbas. Give us the murderer and the criminal.
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Take this innocent man, verse 40, and not this man but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.
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They said killing God's justice is not something that we should be aspiring to as the final height of absolute truth.
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Number two. This is hilarious. It is not the majority.
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I know you guys, we have been raised in a country that's a republic.
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This is not a democracy. It's a republic. But I don't have time to go into all that. But basically, do you understand what a democracy is for?
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The bottom line is this. The bottom line is that everyone, no matter how small or little, has a voice in a democracy.
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That's why I love congregational government. That's why I love the way we run our church.
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It don't matter whether you've been a member here a month or 35 years. You have as much voice and say what goes on as anybody else.
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That's what it means to belong to a family. Right? But never think that the majority speaks truth.
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I give you the ovens of Dachau. I give you the penal colony of Auschwitz.
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I give you time and time again in man's recorded history that the few were taken.
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I give you the slave trade of North America where the majority said this is moral and ethical, yet in the face of Scripture, it was an abomination to the truth and righteousness of God.
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I have in my office a sermon preached in 1863 by a
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Southern Baptist pastor that his three points were this.
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Slavery is ethical, slavery is moral, and slavery is biblically correct.
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They were the majority. Does the majority really define truth? Guys, Nazi Germany is the majority and it was not true.
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You cannot follow the majority of people. Guys, in our culture today, we are eschewing truth for the sake of our cultural majority.
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Guys, we can't do it. Christian, you should never be filled with hate towards a lost person ever.
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But at the same time, you cannot walk together with the lost and the two of you stand in agreement.
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Amos says that. Can two be together unless they're in agreement? The answer rhetorically is no.
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I can love the lost and dying world. I can never have true fellowship.
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I can't. I can sit here and look at Mason Burnett. I can sit here and look at Julie Franklin.
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And both of them today are absolutely disgusting to me. If you both look, they have
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Georgia Bulldogs sweatshirts on. Godless heathens.
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Tennessee was winning until the refs stepped in yesterday. But anyways, at least that's the illusion I'm going to live under.
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Guys, the majority does not define truth. Third thing, there is no reason to validate truth.
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Truth does not have to be propped up. It just is.
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And sometimes people say, well, let's reason together. And I think that's a good thing.
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I think you need to ask questions. I think you need to think. I think you need to question.
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But don't ever think, and right now our culture is saying if you question, you've arrived.
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That is not, that doesn't even make sense. Questioning is a tool, not the destination.
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Questioning is the vehicle, it is not the end result. If you just simply question everything, then you're going to spend your life being a double -minded individual.
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And the Word of God says that a double -minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Guys, reason is not the end result.
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Look here, if you will, in chapter 19, verse 6. It says this, When the chief priests and temple police saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify.
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Well, what's the reason? This is the pastors and the police department.
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They were saying, kill this man, kill this man. And that lead governor said, but we ain't done nothing.
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They were like, kill him anyways. There's no reason to it. Now, I lost a very good family out of this church a couple of months ago.
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And it's not funny. And this is not braggadocious. But I made a statement a couple of months ago that said this,
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Girls are girls and boys are boys.
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Now, if I had said that same statement 25 years ago, y 'all would all go, what is he talking about?
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Well, of course. People, do you actually understand that you are living in a time and a place where truth is under attack?
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Where that which is absolute is under attack?
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Guys, I hate to tell you this, but in Genesis 1, it says, and God created man both male and female.
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Now, I'm not saying that to be, you know, what's the word
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I'm looking for? Antagonistic. I'm just telling you the truth. Guys, we live in a time today, listen to me, where you are readily paying tax dollars to your schools and your universities that are teaching your children they came from apes.
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There's no murmur in the crowd. You know why? Because some of you out there actually buy into that stupidity.
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You see, you say a lie long enough and loud enough, some people will actually start to believe it.
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Evolution is unexplainable. It's unexplainable. Oh, well, no,
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Pastor Jeff, I'm Dr. Blah, at Memphis State. He's wrong. Okay?
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Having more initials at the end of your name does not make you right. I sat there and I debated an anthropologist one time, and on the little bill thing at the student union,
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I made sure it said Dr. So -and -so, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I wanted, this is what
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I made him put, Pastor Jeff Shipley, GED. And here's why.
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Here's why. Because I am not the source of truth. I don't have to validate truth.
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I don't have to sit there and make up these big, huge arguments for truth.
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Truth is self -evident. Richard Dawkins' worst nightmare is an inquisitive five -year -old.
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Seriously. Think about it. This is what Richard Dawkins said. When pushed, he said, well, everything came from the
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Big Bang. Well, where did that come from? Where did that energy and matter come from? Since the first law of thermodynamic states, energy cannot be created or destroyed.
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He said this. He finally came to a point. Y 'all listen to me. This is the leading eminent scholar in the world.
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Well, it came from panspermia. Person was like, what?
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Panspermia? What's panspermia? This is what the scientific community is teaching now.
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That an alien race seeded the universe. Seeded the universe with spore.
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And then that spore grew into human life. So what's the five -year -old say?
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Where'd the aliens come from, man? It's not that hard.
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Guys, just think. I want to take the church of God this morning and I want to shake them awake.
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It was like trying to wake my kids up in the morning. Josiah, it's time to get up, baby.
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Sometimes I just grab their beds and just flip them up. That's what
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I want to do to the church. Guys, listen to me. We live in a day and an age where most of the medical, scientific community...
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Wait a minute. Where's Maish? I need another pregnant person.
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Come here. Yeah, you're getting up. It's okay.
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Don't be embarrassed. Look at little Prego. How much pregnant are you?
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Twelve weeks. The medical and scientific community today, that is not a baby.
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It's not a baby. No, it's not a baby. Woman, speak not.
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That's not a baby. The majority of people, doctors, scientists, politicians, all say this is not a baby.
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And they'll say this, that five seconds before that baby runs out the birth canal, it's still not a baby.
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I want all of you little millennial peoples in this room to put a reminder in your phone.
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I want you to look up today a video called
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The Silent Scream. Now, I tell you this, there are some folks that are going to say to me today,
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Pastor, don't show people that. Don't tell people about that. That's horrible.
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You lullaby your church to sleep in lies, I'm going to shake mine up.
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Go look it up. Especially some of you little girls that weren't raised in the absolute truth of a good home.
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And I know that to be true, because you're the ones that are going to believe something like this.
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I love you so much. No one's ever understood me like you.
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I just feel like we have this connection. Know what
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I mean? Yeah, some of y 'all sitting next to the idiot that told you that 20 years ago. Please, listen to me.
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Wake up. And I know I'm taking a long time. Please, stop coming to church.
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Stop believing in God in here. That's a coward's way.
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That ain't salvation way. See, if you believe in something, it won't just change your mind or your heart.
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Your body will follow. I remember I had an instructor once that said this to me.
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Control the head and the neck and the body will follow. And I said, well, not necessarily.
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And this is what he said. Well, then it doesn't matter. Some of you will get that later.
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The idea is this. If you say you believe in truth, yet you continue to walk in darkness, the
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Word of God calls you a liar. Forget church, religion, forget old sermons and all the other bull crap.
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Listen to me today. If you claim to be a Christian, yet nothing in your life gives evidence that you actually believe, not me, the
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Word of God, that ultimate source of truth in 1 John calls you a liar.
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What truth is not? Last point. If all of that is not truth, and I know
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I'm leaving one out, then that last point on that point is not the government. Do I really need to go into that?
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Hey, Brandon. Let's go, Brandon. All right, guys. Brandon Workman's on the back row.
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Guys, so what is truth? What is truth? According to the
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Internet, and that is the arbiter of all truth, right? According to the Internet, truth is that which is true.
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I always love this definition. Truth is that which is true. Thank you,
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Skippy. That is true according to fact or reality. This is a definition.
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This is my definition. It could be wrong. But truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, revelation, and being of God.
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I know that sounds religious. It's actually science, man.
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It's history. It's philosophy. It's everything. Well, Brother Jeff, come on, man.
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I mean, seriously, pastor? I mean, you're just saying that because you're a pastor. Prove me wrong. Now, when you come to the table to prove me wrong, people will always say something like this.
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Well, I don't believe the Bible, so you can't use that. Well, I can, dude. But I'll choose not to.
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I got 6 ,000 years of recorded human history on my side. You bring whatever you want to the table.
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Okay? Government is not truth. Last point.
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What is truth? Well, truth is that which is perfect as a representation of what
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God is. But, I'm going to give you a couple more things, and then we're done. John 14, 6.
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Jesus is sitting there, and He says this statement. I am, and don't miss ego of me in the
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Greek there, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No one comes to the Father but by me. There was a preacher who preaches today that there are seven ways to get to God.
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Well, then I guess Jesus is an idiot. Because Jesus made an exclusive statement right there.
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It said, I am the only way. Guys, you want to know what truth is?
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I can tell you this, right here and right now. I went to rehab. I was under psychiatric care.
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Ha! You jumped! I was under psychiatric care. And there's nothing wrong with psychiatrists.
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And man, I'm not saying that. Listen. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you all that bad. I tried to get off certain addictions on August 27, 1988.
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My life changed forever on that day. And I am standing here before you today as a testimony of the truth that changed my life.
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Now, you can argue whatever you want to. But at the end of the day,
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I figured out that it wasn't me, but it was something else that I had to surrender to, i .e.
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Jesus, that actually finished changing my life. Second thing is this. Just a few chapters over,
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Jesus is crucified. He rises again. And one of His disciples, an eyewitness to all of this, made this statement.
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I don't care what you people say unless I put my finger in the spear wound in Jesus' side,
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I am not going to believe that He resurrected from the dead. Because it makes no reason.
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It makes no sense. It's not something I've ever seen before. And that man,
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Thomas, was sitting in a room one day. And all of a sudden, he looks up and Jesus is standing there.
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Now, could that be a little Bible story? Sure. Absolutely. But it is recounted like this.
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Jesus said, What's up, Thomas? Come on over and put your finger in my side.
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And it's recorded by three different people who were there.
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Who were there. Thomas said this, My Lord and my
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God. Now you say, Pastor, how is that any proof?
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Those 12 peoples, there were many more in that room, but those 12 peoples that we know their history, all ran away when
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Jesus was arrested because they were scared. And yet, all 12 of those people died.
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11 of them. Horrific deaths. Because something changed in their life.
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They went from believing to believing. In India today, today, in southern
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India, there is a whole region who are called the disciples of Thomas. Because Thomas left
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Jerusalem, traveled all the way across Asia and spent his life preaching and ministering to the people in southern
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India. And 2 ,000 years later, those descendants are still there. Guys, truth does not have to be propped up.
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Truth ain't scared of scrutiny. But you need to wake up and stop listening to the voices of the world.
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And you need to start listening to truth. Guys, I'm sorry. That is a baby inside of her.
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Sorry. I'm sorry. There are only two genders born. And then some idiot will, what about her mafia?
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They're still either XXXY. Okay? By the way, those are chromosomes for you
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Internet warriors. You're either male or female. There is no XXXYX.
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It's XXXY. Period. I'm sorry.
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There is a Jesus Christ. And your opinion on Him and what you believe is irrelevant to what
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He has said. Well, Brother Jeff, that makes me feel bad. Once again, in case you haven't missed it, truth does not care about your feelings, your reality, or your culture.
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It is just truth. Now, I'm going to ask the music peoples to come up. If you want to write this down for other studies, listen, go look at 2
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Timothy 3 and 2 Timothy 4. It was the last book Paul ever wrote.
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And he said, in the end times, this is what culture is going to be like. Just go read the first five verses of both those chapters and see if the
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Word of God actually knows something. But here's truth. In this room today, listen, we're almost done.
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I know, I know, I know, I know. We're almost done. Listen to me. In this room today, there are people who have absolutely rejected the truth of Jesus Christ.
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I don't care whether you're Catholic, Buddhist, Muslim, Baptist. All that's man -made bull crap.
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Okay? I'm asking you today, more importantly, truth is asking you today.
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Is Jesus Christ the only way for your salvation? If you say, eh, good luck.
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Good luck. But here's the thing. A hundred years from now, the words that you are hearing right now and that feeling that you're feeling, it's not from me, it's from the
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Holy Spirit, that is going to stand as evident against your rejection of the truth of Jesus Christ.
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Some of you in this room were brought up in church. You were brought up in church and you think because of that you're a
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Christian. That is not truth. Church membership is irrelevant to salvation.
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Let me say that to you again. Till Jesus come into my heart and save me. I know people that every time a preacher on TV says, repeat this prayer after me, they're doing it again.
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Let me ask you a question. How many times do you have to do that until it actually becomes belief? And if you have to keep doing it over and over again, how much do you really believe?
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Reason. Just a question. I know that may be offended some of you that put more stock in your church stupid membership in a piece of paper than you do in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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If you are not a Christian today, I'm begging you to quit playing stupid religious games and humble yourself before Almighty God because it is
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Christ and Christ alone that can save you. I can't.
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I'm just one idiot telling another idiot the truth. That's all I am. I mean, look at me. I mean, besides my felt perfect male specimen of a figure,
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I was talking to Amanda Brantley last night. I was praying for her. And she goes, Brother Jeff, how are you doing?
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I said, well, I'm an old fat man. And this is what she said. You're not old. I am.
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Look, I don't want to talk to you anymore. Yeah, and she was eating snack cakes.
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What's up with that? But late to your 50 in doing it. Guys, here's something.
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And this will illustrate my point. People say, Brother Jeff, you're breaking the mood. I ain't trying to kiss you.
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This ain't a date. I don't got Chicago 17 on and a bottle of wine with a fireplace. If I can talk you into salvation, it ain't salvation.
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I am not here to make an emotional moment for you to make an emotional decision and still end up burning in hell.
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Okay? That ain't what God called me to do. If you want to choose to follow
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Jesus, you make that decision. You walk down an aisle. That aisle ain't going to save you.
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Coming up and touching the pastor's hand ain't going to save you. It's going to be you surrendering your will and submitting to the power of Jesus Christ.