Walking in Truth

If you’re familiar with the game Tetris, you know that you have to find the right puzzle piece to match the shape, in order to keep the wall of bricks from building up. But if you’re not keeping track of how quickly the shapes are falling, you’ll find yourself in a bind as the bricks stack up to a point of losing. Today, Pastor Johnny wants you to know that there are steps that you can actively take that end up putting a wall between you and God. If you continue in this path, it’ll separate you from what matters.

The ocean has a strong current. You may not even realize it at first, but before you know it, you start looking for your towels on the beach and you realize they’re off in the distance. It’s not the towels that have moved, but you’ve moved along with the water’s natural and forceful current. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny relates that to the influence of the world that’s pulling you away from God, ever so slightly. All of a sudden, you come to a realization that you’re far away from God. Is that what you want?

With a fire, there’s lots of smoke and flames and unless you’re a firefighter, you’d rather just avoid the life-threatening scene altogether. How often do you wish you could escape your situation? You wish that it was a bad dream and that you’d wake up to a better reality. Today, Pastor Johnny touches on how sometimes, God walks you through hard things. It might be so you can appreciate something better on the other side, or because what you learn will help you relate to someone else.

Where do you find your fulfillment and that ultimate sense of peace? Is it in the carols that you’re hearing in every store you enter? Is it in that person that makes you really happy? Maybe it’s a thing, a hobby, an addiction that brings you that sense of satisfaction. Well today, Pastor Johnny wants you to discover that there’s only One who can bring you true peace and it’s not a thing or a person that you’re interested in to date. Without Jesus in your life, all these initial things that bring enjoyment end up hollow.

How often do you see someone of royalty come face-to-face with the common-folk? It’s rare and nearly unheard of for that person to “lower” themselves to that level when they’re supposed to be esteemed as higher and greater. In today’s passage, Pastor Johnny talks about how Jesus did this very thing. He was royalty, and as the greatest King, He could’ve entered the world with much attention and acclaim. But instead, He came in a humble state and His coming was declared to those considered lower-class.

You might think we’re in the darkest days of history with so many people divided and so much moral decline. But as Pastor Johnny relates today, Jesus was born into a time period that was also very dark and void of any spiritual life. Just like the stars aren’t seen until the sky is cloaked in darkness, Jesus came and shone brightly on an earth that was shadowed by much sin and idolatry. So if you’re feeling discouraged about the state of things today, be reminded that you can shine in the darkness!

A firework is beautiful and inspiring when you see it in the sky. But if it gets into the wrong hands, it could be dangerously explosive and cause much damage. This is how it is for you when your strengths or gifts aren’t utilized in a way that God can direct them. Your strong speaking skills could lead to pride. Maybe you’re a gifted leader, but you end up abusing that power. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny reminds you that without God’s guiding, your strengths are like a firework that’s launched carelessly.

One of the first rules of driving a car is knowing that if you don’t have any gas in the tank, you’re not going anywhere. The gas is what fuels the engine to get started. Without this, your car is fairly useless in getting to any kind of destination. Today, Pastor Johnny wants you to know that you might be no different than an empty, beat-up truck. If you’re not being filled with the things that are life-giving, how are you supposed to get up and get going anywhere in life? Let God’s Word fill you up to overflowing!

It’s been said before that if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. One of the best ways you can become a leader is by serving the very people you want to lead. Jesus served in this way….even to the point of washing a man’s feet who would turn Him in that very night. Today, Pastor Johnny expresses the value of having a servant’s heart. Be willing to put your own agenda to the side in order to serve your neighbor or your coworker in a way that will speak volumes to them!

What happens in one hour of your life can dictate the direction of the rest of your life. The hour you graduate from college can be a huge moment of triumph. The hour of enduring a grueling childbirth can then lead to such joy. The hour of being told by your boss that you’re fired can leave you feeling helpless. There are moments in your life that you can’t anticipate, but you know they’ll change your life forever. Today, Pastor Johnny talks about an hour that Jesus lived, which changed everyone’s life.