Walking in Truth

When there’s a battle that’s to be fought, at times, there are terms of agreement, or rules to follow in waging war. By following these terms, you can honestly say that you won or lost the battle without cheating. But in today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny is talking about a different war….a battle for your heart. The terms are clearly laid out by God and He wants you to genuinely be able to come away from the battle-winning. With Him there with you, you can’t go wrong. He’s on the winning side!

When you see a dancer who’s passionate about dancing, it’s clear how she moves and the expression on her face. When you observe a scientist describing some complex experiment, you can’t help but notice their enthusiasm. Today, Pastor Johnny wants to know if your faith and your belief in God have that same kind of passion and exuberance that can so easily be seen in other things. Do you talk about faith? Are you willing to have those kinds of conversations that bring up what matters?

If you’ve ever had a pet, you know there are certain things that your animal just has no clue about. They don’t have the mental capacity or intelligence to comprehend higher-level thinking that humans are capable of. Well today, Pastor Johnny makes a great point that what you believe about God and where He comes from will affect your interpretation of where you think you came from and where you will or won’t go when you die. Do you believe this all just happened by chance or is there more behind it?

When you’re given a really special gift, your natural reaction is to want to show your gratitude and to even do or give something back to the person who gave you such a generous gift. This is how it should be with God too! Pastor Johnny expresses this kind of heart today in what Jesus has done for you. Shouldn’t it be a natural response to be so indebted - that you want to do anything and everything for Jesus, because He went above and beyond for you? Hear from the book of John how this works.

When concrete is initially poured, it’s soft and pliable, willing to be moved and manipulated to the shape it needs to be. But as time goes on, that concrete starts to set and becomes so hardened that you’d have to break it with a sledgehammer for it to come apart. Do you want to be like that hardened concrete, unable to move - in the way you might need to? Today, Pastor Johnny wants you to be willing to hear and believe all the various ways that Jesus proves Himself as being God!

If you ever go to a fancy art gallery, one of the expectations with that type of art is that you sit, and even study that art for a while. You take your time analyzing it and discovering the detail that wouldn’t be obvious at first. As Pastor Johnny begins a series in the book of John today, he describes this book like a masterpiece of art. You look at the whole picture of who Jesus is, rather than just glimpses that pass you by. So as you listen today and in the coming days, feel free to sit and take it in!

It brings peace of mind when you’ve misplaced something and then find it. You go to the lost-and-found and are relieved to be reunited with that item that you had missed. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny talks about heaven and the things within heaven. He talks about a new earth that will be like discovering something that had been lost and now is found. But in this case, the thing that’s found will be new and so much better than the original that had gone away. What an exciting experience this will be!

You know what it’s like to get a brand new pair of jeans. You might be familiar with the smell of a new car! There’s just something about enjoying the freshness of unused shoes. Now think about the earth being brand new! That has a nice ring to it, right? But there are some things that have to happen before that. Today, Pastor Johnny touches on what God must bring about, in order for you to experience that “brand new” feeling again. Thinking of the world hitting a “reset button” sounds good!

If you put a stalk of celery into colored water, over time, the leaves of the celery will become the color of the water. Try it sometime! It can be an at-home science experiment! How this relates to today’s teaching is that you can be like that colored water that’s having an influence on the world around you. The impact you have can slowly, over time, change the people and settings that you’re a part of. Pastor Johnny wants you to be willing to enter into that rather than running away from it.

Some of the best movies or books are ones that have an unexpected twist at the end that you couldn’t have anticipated. It’s so gratifying when the good guy reveals the villain and his trickery that had deceived so many. Why does this resonate with your soul so deeply? It’s because God ingrained this concept into humanity…that there’s good and evil, and that goodwill overcomes the extremely evil forces that are at work. Today, Pastor Johnny speaks the truth of what things will happen.