Walking in Truth

Remember in elementary school when you got to bring something in for show and tell? You were so excited to share something that mattered to you with your classmates. Likely, they hadn’t seen it before or hadn’t been to where you found your treasure. You felt like you were bringing something new to their lives. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny makes it clear that telling people about Jesus is the single most important thing you can do in this life. Help them know what you’ve found!

Imagine if you encountered a famous celebrity, but you didn’t realize it was them. You might have a very normal conversation, but at some point, a fan recognizes the person and you suddenly realize you were talking to one of the most well-known people on the planet. After this, you might interact with them a little differently. Well, this is what happened to some men in our passage today. Pastor Johnny will express what Jesus’ heart was toward His followers and how He proved what He’d promised.

Why is it that in so many movies, the hero dies and then comes back to life, but when it comes to believing that in reality, people are resistant? They think your faith is too childish and that you’ll believe anything. They’ll tell you that it’s impossible and that it’s just an empty promise for those who buy into its foolishness. But when you do believe what Jesus has done for you, there’s a freedom that comes with that. Today, Pastor Johnny brings to light the hope that comes with Jesus’ resurrection.

If you’ve been to another country, you’re likely unfamiliar with the roads and how to get from one place to the next. As you’re driving, you get to a crossroads and there are several signs pointing different directions. Once you interpret what the signs are saying, you can figure out which way you need to go to reach your destination. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny highlights that Jesus’ death on the cross was the crossroad. What you believe about that will determine which direction your life will head.

Think of one person who stands out as the single most damaging individual who has caused trauma in your life. You might to this day have a seething hatred for them. Have you ever considered forgiving them for the horrible things they’ve done? It’s not an easy road to get to a place of forgiving someone who’s done unmentionable things. But today, Pastor Johnny challenges you to look at what Jesus went through and His response to His accusers. He forgave and because of that, so can you!

If you have a child and you see them get hurt, you indirectly feel their pain. Your heart hurts when your daughter’s been emotionally wounded. You feel for your son when he skins his knee, even though you weren’t the one injured. In fact, you’d rather take your child’s pain than see them have to endure it. Well in today’s passage, Jesus takes and interesting approach and turns the tables on bearing your burden. Pastor Johnny gives some insight into Jesus carrying the cross. He did it for you!

Any type of construction project requires someone to oversee and determine if a structure is built in a way that’s safe and secure. By law, it has to pass multiple inspections. Well when you choose to compromise in your choices, it makes your life insecure and unable to pass the test of pressure and weight, when character-building situations are at-hand. Pastor Johnny wants you to think about this today and consider what’s at stake when you allow yourself to compromise. It says a lot about you!

You’ve tried your whole life to be part of the popular group. You’ve cast other friendships aside and compromised your character in order to have a higher status in this social circle. But then you see this “elite” group do something horrible to a person who was undeserving. Do you do the right thing and tell on the group, risking your position within it? That moment is when you must come face-to-face with the issue of integrity. Today, Pastor Johnny shares about a man who had the same dilemma.

Doing something illegal only gets you so far. Usually, one infraction leads to another and then you’ve blurted out a whole bunch of lies to cover up the other indiscretions. What’s interesting is that the deeper pit you dig, the more you try to justify that you haven’t done anything wrong. This was the case with Jesus’ adversaries as well. They went to great lengths to incriminate Jesus, when He had done nothing wrong. Today, Pastor Johnny gets into how any one of us can do the same.

A fire starts with a tiny spark or ember. It’s so small and seems insignificant, but it gradually grows into a large fire that can get out of control before it can be stopped. Then it ends up burning everything in its path, leaving a scar that can’t be erased. Well today, Pastor Johnny talks about patterns in your life that take you away from God. It’s a slow, gradual process, but before you know it, there’s a wildfire of reasons why you don’t care to be around God or His people. But what’s the lasting damage?