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SCRIPTURE John 8:31-32 DECEMBER. 2014 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. SUBJECT - THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!! PLAY/DOWNLOAD [MP3] In our everyday lives, we encounter all sorts of people and things that, depending on how we respond to them will spell a learning moment that will either bring about something that, in our opinion, is good for us, or bad. These challenges, if we can call them that, can be looked at as opportunities for our growth in becoming mature in every thing we do. It can go without saying then, our growth in to maturity, can either be pleasant, a disaster, or anything in between. What determines where we end up on that spectrum, is what we do, with each challenge. Life has been called a game. I prefer to call it a 'job!' We could even call it a 'play.' In either case, there are certain parameters, or rules that must be followed, if one is to be a winner, get paid, or be a success. You can't win in a game if you don't follow the rules. You can't keep a job, if you don't follow the rules. You can't have a successful play, if you don't follow the script. Well in life, there are certain things that, whether you like it or not, are 'set in stone' so to speak, which, if followed, will bring you the best that life has to offer, or if rejected, will bring you misery. And here is the part that most people don't like. It is all up to you!!! Now, while most of the world wants to believe that rules that may have applied years ago, don't apply today because of our so-called enlightenment. Nothing can be further from the truth. Truth, what is that?? It is nothing more than a fact that is unchangeable!! The evidence of that is this. If you deny that fact, you will end up suffering some type of misery or loss. Just because we are constantly discovering 'new things' does not mean that the facts have, or need to be changed, because in the overall scheme of things, they were already there, but we just didn't see them. Gravity has always been here. Electricity has always been here. The science of flight, has always been here, and on and on it goes. And just like these things that man discovered, have always been here, so too, God has always been here. It makes no difference whether you have discovered Him, or not, the truth is, He still exists. Not only that but, He created us, and every thing around us. Therefore, you can either accept that as a fact, or reject it knowing that the fact is, if you reject it, you will pay the price for it, and it won't be good. Throughout all of man's existence on this earth, there has been an ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of mankind. This battle was, and is waged between God, and Satan. On the one side, we have God and the Truth of His Word, while on the other side, we have Satan, with his lies and deceit. Of Satan, the bible says, John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. Quite simply put, any lie, has at its root, Satan. Now, in order for something to be a lie, it has to be a divergence from the truth. And since God, and His Word are Truth, then that sets the basis of what a lie is. Therefore, with that being the case, lets look at a few things that man, over the centuries, has considered to be truth, and, what is actually the Truth. You must first of all realize that if God has put things in a certain order, and you go against them, that action is called 'sin.' The result of 'sin', is suffering and death. 1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;................... We are told that whosoever commits sin, is its servant John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Consequently, since Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, every man, woman, boy and girl born after that, except Jesus Christ, has a sin nature, or is the servant of sin. As the servants of sin, by default, we are in allegiance to Satan. And as such, he is our master. What he tells us to do, we do. What he says, we believe. We are so much under his control, that even when evidence is presented to us, showing what the truth is, we reject it. The only way for us to get out from under it, is to have something, or someone come along and break the bonds of Satan's lies and deceit, so that we can become free. That someone is Jesus Christ, the Truth incarnate[the Word made Flesh]. In the Garden of Eden, the first lie that was told, was by the serpent, when he questioned Eve as to what God said about eating the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, known as the [knowledge of good and evil]. The serpent got Eve to misquote God's commandment by adding something to it, that wasn't there. He told them not to eat it. She said they were not to eat or touch it[Gen 3:3]. Notice I said earlier, anything that digresses from the word of God, by taking something away from or adding something to it, can be considered a lie. Then we have Satan, contradicting God by saying that God was trying to keep them from being like Himself. He then presents a case for why they should disobey God, by saying that they will not die if they eat it. And Eve ate it, and then got Adam to do the same thing, and the curse began. A critical lesson here is, God says what He means, and means what He says. He will not add to, or take away from what He has said. This means it is set in stone, for eternity. It does not change, and neither does He. Since we are talking about Christian beliefs, we need to hold fast to several Truths that are the foundation of the Church, and compare them with what the enemy, wants us to believe. First, the Devil wants us to believe that Christianity, is just like any other 'religion', and that Jesus Christ, was just a mere mortal man, not one born of deity. The foundation of Christianity firmly establishes the point that, before the world was created, God had plans to send His Son to earth, should the need arise, to free mankind from the bondage of sin. He did as He had planned by sending Him through a virgin, so that there would be no 'sin' nature in Him. The next thing was concerning His death, burial and resurrection. Over the past 2000+ years, mankind has been trying to deny that He did exist, and if He did, He didn't die, and rise again. Now, the point behind this group of lies, is very simple. The only way a person can be set free from the bondage of sin, is to accept Jesus' deity, and the fact that He died and rose again, period. But you see, Satan wants us to remain in bondage to Him, so that we can share a place in hell with him, when the time comes. Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Just about every thing that man is setting his mind to do, is to find ways around the Truth of God's Word. Yet, time and again, it ends in disaster, and man, instead of changing his ways, runs headlong in to another solution that is, in many instances worse than the first, bringing about more problems. One of our major problems is, we don't address 'sin', as being 'sin!' There is always some psychological, scientific mumbo jumbo that the educated elite will come up with, to excuse our sinful ways. Instead of steering the person to God, through repentance, they give him/her the freedom to continue doing what they are doing without any feelings of guilt. If and when someone comes along and points to their sinful ways, they accuse them of judging them, when in Truth, they are merely trying to assist the person to get free from their sin. The major problems we have in our lives, reveals another Truth, and that is, as mentioned earlier, sin leads to suffering, death and destruction. Look around you. Every problem we see has been labeled as something that man either has caused, or can solve. One of the biggest, is this so-called man made global warming. Scientists and environmental groups are saying that man, and his industrialization, automobiles, and coal burning all over this nation, and as well around the world, are the cause of the problem. Eliminate them, and things will change. They have presented all sorts of research to back up what they are saying. However, irregardless of what they say, what they don't mention is what God has to say about the situation. As we should know, God is in control of every thing. Therefore, with that being the case, if God is allowing things to get as bad as they are, then that means we are doing something that He disagrees with, and we are not interested in what He has to say. People are losing their jobs, because these groups are promoting a lie, and politicians are buying in to it, and enacting legislation that they say will solve the problem. So, all of us have to suffer because of a lie. That is bondage. Then we have, the fight for gay marriage. Gays want the right to be able to marry, like heterosexual couples do, so that they can have the same benefits married couples do. Well, God, not man set the family foundation as a man and a woman. But, we have a better idea. Laws describing marriage as a man and woman, are unfair and unconstitutional. So some courts have decided to make it 'gay marriage', legal. The result??? Thousands of gays, are getting married, by civilian, and church officials, in the realm of fairness. Never mind that since the homosexual lifestyle, is an abomination to God, these same individuals are doomed to a miserable life, in this life, and hell, when they die. Bondage. Abortion, the grand daddy of them all. If ever there were one sin that by itself, would doom a nation, this one is it. Why?? Because it is the equivalent of slapping God in the face, given the priority He puts on the child in the womb. Here, man has determined that what is in the womb of a woman, is not human, but a fetus. By taking away the human identity, the baby becomes nothing more than a tumor in need of removal. To date, over 63 million of these babies, God's treasure, have been killed legally. The result??? The kids we have living with us today, are getting killed by violence in the streets, accidents, drug overdoses, diseases that are usually attributed to the elderly like heart attack and strokes. It is called, 'an eye for an eye!!' Bondage. The only way to turn things around is if we get acquainted with the Truth of God's Word, Jesus Christ. The Truth of the Word of God tells us what is happening to us, this world, and why. But, we have to pick it up and read it. It doesn't do us any good to have it around, and never pick it up to read it. That is the last thing Satan wants us to do. He wants us to listen to his disciples tell us what the bible says. They add things to it, take things from it, twist it, and otherwise make it appealing to our flesh. Unfortunately, not all of God's Word is pleasant to swallow. We have to take the bad with the Good, and the bitter with the sweet. America can stand a good dose of Truth. Not truth, according to man, but, Truth from God's Word. Right now, we are in bondage to a bunch of lies, and these are only the tip of a very huge iceberg. We have been mocking God, and reaping the results Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Only the Truth, Jesus Christ, can set us free!! |