God's Truth v. World's Fact

welcome everybody to our online services today from wherever you're joining us from we're so glad you're with us in just a moment we're gonna sing one worship song together and what is worship well worship is simply turning the attention and the affection of our heart to Jesus worship is saying that Jesus is above he's above our fears he's above situations and circumstances he's above whatever is going on in life that is why worship is so important so we invite you to join us for worship you can maybe sing with us or raise your hand up in the air or if if you're not used to that or if you're not willing to do that man we just want to invite you to let these words wash over your home and your heart we're so glad to be together Jesus is with us right now and hope is on the move [Music] [Music] of you know your mercy never fails me you know [Music] I've been held in your from the moment that awake up until I laid my oh I will say of the goodness of God [Music] until my life you have been faithful [Music] if you have been so so good with every breath that I I will sing of the goodness sukkah you have led me through the fire Dark is you are close I've known you as a flower I've known you enjoy god [Music] [Applause] in July you have been face [Music] you have been so so [Music] see see God it's Ronnie [Music] your goodness is running [Music] I give you [Music] sure it's Ronnie is this morning down [Music] this morning [Music] until my life you have been faithful and [Music] sold my life you have been so so good with every breath they die and me I will see the goodness of God your singer girl I'll sing a mercy if it's so so good to me [Music] this favor be upon you and the thousand generations and your family and your children in their children and their children may its presence go before you and behind you and beside you all around you and within you he is with you he is with you in the morning in the evening and you call me then you go and you evening and rejoice and sing he is for you he is for you may his favor be upon you and a thousand generations and your family in your children [Music] and their children presents go before he is really [Music] [Applause] and you come he is he is [Music] [Music] be a part in the thousand generations and your family in your children in the children in their children may favor be a part and a thousand generations and you fell and your children and their children and their children wherever you are and whatever's going on in your life right now god is good to you he wants to bless you and he is for you and he wants this goodness and grace to flow through your life and so here's what I just want to invite you to do with me for a moment would you maybe just open up your hands wherever you are whatever room you're in where wherever place you are would you just open your hands maybe as a sign of surrender as a sign of being willing to receive the blessing of God in your life and let me just pray for you right now Lord Jesus thank you that you are the God who is good to us that you are with us and you are for us and right now in the midst of the storm and the chaos of this world your blessings are flowing into our lives thank you for the love of the father thank you for the grace of Jesus and thank you for the power and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit Lord thank you for your goodness and your grace that fills up our lives our families and our homes in Jesus name and now may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord turn his face upon you and be gracious to you may the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you his peace I speak peace into every home and every family in Jesus name we pray a men well hey everybody welcome again to our special online service here at Valley Creek and I'm so glad that you're here with us wherever you are in the world today see how we are one church that meets in multiple campuses that carries in the hope of Jesus to thousands of locations and obviously right now we are one church meeting online but we still carry the hope of Jesus to thousands of locations because you see wherever you are that's where we are Valley Creek is not a building it's a people it's always been you and me and us United together under the name of Jesus and so just because we can't gather together to get it today it doesn't mean we're not a church we are still a movement of hope for the city and beyond and whether this is your first time with us maybe you haven't been in a while maybe you're here with us every single weekend it really doesn't matter I want to say welcome hope is here everyone is welcome and Jesus changes everything you see hope is here everyone is welcome and Jesus changes everything and I want to say to you I miss you I miss being together and see in your face and gathering together as the church it's amazing how we take things for granted into our lives until all of a sudden they're missing like it's amazing how we take for granted the gathering of the church but then all of a sudden we can't gather for a few weeks and we start to realize what a gift this is in our lives what a gift it is to get together and gather around the presence of God and hear the word of God and minister to each other as the people of God and I can't wait to get together with you as soon as we're able to gather again but one of the amazing things that's happening is we're doing Church online as many of you are inviting Jesus and Valley Creek into your home for the first time see it's so easy for us to compartmentalize our life and have work and family and school and hobby and church and Jesus over here but all of the sudden were reminded that Jesus is not a part of our life that he is life itself and that he is holding all things together and what a wild season this is been so yeah I don't think any of us saw this coming a few weeks ago in fact many of us right now we're under shelter at home or shelter-in-place orders like when was the last time that happened in your life and so we're just kind of taking things week by week and day by day and I just want to say Valley Creek I am so grateful for how you're leaning into this season I'm so grateful for the way that you're using this online service and seeing this as a missional opportunity to invite other people into it I'm so grateful for the way that you're continually being generous and trusting God with your finances I'm so grateful for our next step Center and the teams that are already mobilizing and serving hurting people in our region you guys have been encouraging each other and praying for each other and taking your groups and your teams online and ministering to each other and bringing groceries to people who need them you are hope carriers and all the spaces that you go in all the places that you exist in so I'm so encouraged by how you're responding to this disruptive season and I just want to take a minute on behalf of really all of us all of Alley Creek and all of our region to just go ahead and say I just want to say thank you to our amazing health care workers thank you for being on the front lines and bringing the healing of Jesus into our lives and into our city I want to say thank you to all our amazing educators teachers and administrators thank you for helping raise up the next generation and a really challenging and yet innovative season where you're figuring out how to bring stuff into people's homes and keep bringing an amazing education thank you to our government officials and civil servants thank you for using your lives to serve us to bring or and peace to the city in the region and thank you to businesses thank you for doing all that you can to continue to serve us in the midst of a difficult economy and in midst of a challenging season you see there's a lot of emotions going on right now there's lots of anger and anxiety and apathy and everything in between and while all those emotions are real while they're all valid this is the season to bring Jesus back into the center of our life this is the season to take our eyes off the things of this world and bring the affection and the focus and the attention of our hearts back to Jesus you see God is with you and hope is still on the move and what I want you to remember is that God's truth is superior to the world's facts this is really important and I hope this will really encourage your heart today that God's truth is superior to the world's facts truth is superior to facts and I know some of you you're sitting there and you're like wait a second aren't facts and truth the same thing no no they're not even close to the same you see a fact is something you can see taste smell touch it's something you can prove to yourself it's tangible you can grab a hold of it but then there's truth and truth is superior to facts truth is God's Word truth is God's promises truth is God's declaration truth is God's kingdom and God's truth is superior to the facts of this world let me give you some examples like for example if you're sick right now fact is you're sick if you're sick and your life fact is you're sick you've got a doctor's report it's it's confirmed there's sickness in your body but truth is by His stripes you have already been healed a fact is you might not be able to pay your bills right now but truth is superior to that and truth says God's gonna meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus fact might be that you're lonely in this season truth is he will never leave you nor forsake you fact is your life might be a mess right now but truth is he's working all things together for the good fact is your life might feel like it's flying out of control truth is he is holding all things together fact is this might be a disappointing season truth is there is always hope fact is there is a coronavirus storm going around all of our lives truth is Jesus has given you his peace you see God's truth its superior to the world's facts and in this season it's up to you and me to take the attention of our hearts off of the facts of this world and turn them to God's truth in fact I love the second Corinthians 5 it says for we walk by faith not by sight see facts are all about sight facts are what you can see and smell and taste and touch but as followers of Jesus that's not how we live we live by faith we live by truth we believe by God's promises and God's Word and God's declaration you see all faith is is faith is believing God's truth in the midst of the world's facts it's all faith is faith is choosing to say I have more belief in God's truth than I do in the world's facts and just because you believe truth doesn't mean you have to deny the facts since we're a lot of us get in trouble listen grabbing a hold of truth doesn't mean that you ignore the facts it doesn't mean you act like it's not happening I mean it would be foolish right now to say there's not a coronavirus it would be ignorant to say that there's not economic challenges it would be foolish to act like there's not a storm and crisis out there in the world right now but it would be even more foolish to believe those facts over God's truth you see we're not the only ones that have had to walk through something like this I mean if you remember the story of Daniel and the Lions then Daniel was thrown into a lion's den and the fact was there are a whole bunch of hungry lions right there to eat Daniel he didn't deny that fact but truth was God closed the mouths of those lions and was Daniel's defender and protector or how about David and Goliath fact was Goliath the giant warrior was coming to kill David but truth was that God had already given him victory how about Jesus fact was Jesus was crucified dead buried in the grave for three days that was fact the truth was he is the resurrection and the life that he came to defeat sin death and the grave you see we have to learn how to grab a hold of God's superior truth in the midst of the world's facts and when we do that the impossible becomes possible the supernatural becomes normal and the kingdom of heaven comes to this earth this is why Jesus's main message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand in other words you just say nay change your mind stop looking at all the facts of the world I know they're out there I see them too but turn your attention to my truth this is why I love the second Corinthians 4 says so we fix our eyes not on what is seen not on the facts but on what is unseen the truth for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal here's what this saying is saying that facts are what we can see and they are temporary truth is what we believe and it's eternal in fact we can see them they're temporary disappointments but truth is what we believe and it's eternal hope and so the question I just want to ask you today is are you more focused on the world's facts or God's truth in this season of a storm in crisis and chaos are you focused more on what the world is trying to show you or what God is trying to say to you are you allowing the emotions and the feelings and the perspective of your life right now to be dictated by what the news is saying or by what God is saying see this matters and we have to learn to guard our heart and fix our eyes on truth in fact I love this proverbs 4 it says my child pay attention to what I say listen carefully to my words God saying hey I don't want you to be focused on the facts of this world I want you to be focused listen to my truth don't lose sight of them let them penetrate deep into your heart for they bring life to those who find them and healing to their whole body in other words God's truth brings life and healing to us and so can I just ask you right now is it about the world's facts or God's truth because the world's facts they're gonna bring fear and doubt and hatred into your life God's truth brings faith hope and love maybe it's time for us to stop empowering the facts of this world and start declaring the truth of God's kingdom maybe it's time to fill our mouths our lives and our homes with God's truth in Jesus name and yet I get it for a lot of you you kind of hear that and you're like that all sounds great bro but there's a lot of facts that are having in and they ain't good I know it kind of feels in a lot of ways like right now like the earth is a giant snow globe doesn't it like someone just took it and shook it all up and it feels like everything that we knew everything that was stable everything that we were confident everything's just feels like it's flying all over the place and yet in the midst of that God wasn't surprised nor caught off guard and his truth is still our firm foundation in fact at the end of the Sermon on the Mount maybe the greatest message ever preached Jesus tells us what it's like when we grab ahold of his truth in the midst of a world full of facts and he says the person that grabs ahold of his truth and looks to his truth despite the facts is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock and when the rains came and the wind blew and the floodwaters rose that house stood firm but the foolish man who built his life upon the facts of the world Jesus as the foolish man built his house upon the sand and when the winds came and the rains came and the floodwaters rose that house fell with a great crash and what I think is so interesting what Jesus is telling us is that the storm is gonna come to all of us the storm is gonna come to those of us who hold on to truth and those of us who look to fact but if we build our life on truth we're like wise men and women building our life on a solid steady foundation that will not crumble in fact that's why in John 16 Jesus says in this world you will have trouble fact is storms will come but take heart for I have overcome the world the truth is he has given you his peace and his victory in Jesus name and so what do we do that's really the question isn't it as the snowglobe of chaos is all around us and we're standing on God's truth holding on to it what do we do in the midst of this season well real quick here's what I want to do I I don't want to just build your faith today I actually want to give you some practical handles because I know that's where some of you are right now looking for handles of what do I actually do right now in the midst of the chaos around me while I'm holding on to God's truth for me real quick see if you can grab these with me and the first thing is this just lean in lean in listen this is not a season to lean out here's what happens the moment a storm comes into our life the Mormon there's this crisis the Mormon moment that there's chaos the moment that there's any type of pain or uncomfortability we want to lean out we push away it's uncomfortable we complain we criticize we want to get no this is not a season to lean out this is a season to lean in you stay lean into what lean into what God is trying to do in your life see God can do more in you in the dark valleys than he can in the green pastures this is not about what's happening around you this is about what God wants to do within you in fact James 1 says consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds hang on a second James I don't know that I'm finding a lot of joy in the storm and the trial that's happening right now he says I know but lean into it why because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything in other words God is doing a deep work inside of you right now you see you have to remember that storms don't create what's inside of us they just reveal what's already there I want you to catch that storms don't create what's inside of us they just reveal what's already there like this storm it's not creating the emotions and the feelings and the perspectives inside it's just revealing what's already there like think of a giant hurricane that hits the coast when it's all done and that storm is gone you can go out on the beach and you'll find like old shipwrecks you'll hear these stories of old shipwrecks they've been there for hundreds of years that storm didn't create it that storm just removed the sand that was covering it up and it was exposed in fact last week we talked about Jesus and the disciples in the boat and when the storm comes and they panic Jesus says why are you so afraid and why do you have such little faith the storm didn't create the fear in the doubt in their heart the storm just revealed the fear and the doubt that was already there so the question that I want to ask you is what's being exposed in your life in the season as this storm of this world is blowing into your what's being exposed anxiety panic stress anger are you frustrated are you annoyed maybe some insecurities some misplaced trust I don't know what kind of shipwrecks are being unearthed in your soul maybe some of your faith had been shipwrecked or some of your heart had been shipwrecked in this storm it's just we're moving the things are there and God is removing those exposing them so he can heal you and free you in Jesus name you see this is really important for you to understand God is not the one who is sending the corona sickness into this world need you to understand this God is not the one who is sending sickness into this world he's from the kingdom of light sickness comes from the kingdom of darkness and you can't have Jesus going around healing people that the father was making sick it would be a divided Kingdom a divided house and Jesus says that he came to represent the father that him and the father are one that he only does what he sees the father doing and so if we read about Jesus healing sick people we can know with confidence that it's not the father who sends sickness into this world no he's the one bringing healing from the sickness in Jesus name he's not creating it but he will use it for your good and His glory and so what's being exposed in you in this season and are you willing to lean into it so God can free you and heal you in Jesus name second thing is simply this let go let go there are a whole lot of things that we're holding on to right now some of us are holding on to emotions some of us are holding on to expectations some of us are holding on to this pressure to make it all happen and keep it all together okay it's time to let go some of you there's so many emotions pent up in your body right it's time to let go of the anxiety and the fear in the doubt and the worry to lay it at the feet of Jesus and grab a hold of his peace some of you you've been holding on to expectations man you're holding on to the expectations of what your business should be doing or an expectations of what your school should be doing or what your sports should be doing or what the economy should be doing or the vacation your family should be on or the financial position you should and you're holding on to these expectations and the more you hold on to them and the more the storm rages the more disappointed and stressed out you're become it's time to lay those down and know that Jesus is still making away and then some of us are holding on to this pressure like to make it all happen like to hold our family together and to pay the bills or to keep the business going or to make the school thing happen or figure out how to educate to perform to strive to earn to be significant and successful in this case time to take all those things and lay them at the feet of Jesus I love what Psalms tells us that says I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart can I ask you a question have you ever given all your stuff over to Jesus have you ever taken your business said Jesus I give it to you have you ever taken your family and say Jesus I entrust them to you and have you ever taken your education your finances your future and your life and given it to Jesus you see the things we love the most are the safest in his hands not ours and what this season is doing is it's reminding us that we're not in control anyways so we may as well lay these things at his feet and entrust them to him and maybe you have somewhere in the past but maybe over this last season you've taken it back because you're trying to control it all come on it's time to let it go and lay it at his feet in Jesus name I mean I love this Jeremiah 17 says but blessed happy joyful content peaceful is the man or woman who trusts in the Lord who lets go and gives it over to God whose confidence is in him he will be like a tree planted by the water that sends its roots by the stream it does not fear when heat comes its leaves are always green it has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit he says the people that trust in the Lord that that let go and give things over to him are like a tree planted by living water that is not afraid that has no worries and is always fruitful in Jesus name this is not a season to try harder this is a season to trust this is not about striving this is about surrendering this is not about you making it happen this is about you resting in Jesus so what do you need to let go of and lay at the feet of Jesus and then the last thing is simply this leverage this moment come on I love this word leverage you know what that means it means use this for your advantage it means take what you've got and use it to advance what you love get a maximum impact see this as an opportunity not an obstacle you see whether you realize this or not this season is a gift in your life it's a gift and I know as I've said that some of you instantly you like leaned back away from me like I like you're like you have no idea bro you have no idea you're right I don't I know there's a lot of pain and hurt and fear and broken I know all that and yet in the midst of this season it's a gift from God say why because he's pruned back a lot of things in our life to draw our attention to him you see all the activities and all the busyness and all the distractions that were normally so consumed with all the sudden all those things have been removed like it's really interesting if you think about just our area and you walk up to somebody and you say hey how you doing 90% of the time they're gonna give you one or two answers they're either gonna say I'm good or I'm so busy so we say all the time so his arm sold oh I'm so distracted well guess what I ain't heard anybody say they're busy in the last few weeks all the sudden all those things have been removed and that's a gift from God for this season you see Psalms tells us that this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it today your situations and your circumstance is a day the Lord has made and he says rejoice and be glad in it in other words leverage this moment you say to do what to connect with God and to connect with people the human heart was created to of God and love people not be lost in activities and distractions and always overwhelmed and always stressed out so in this pruning this is a moment for you to connect with God this is a moment for you to grab on to our reading plan and read a chapter a day out of the Bible this is a moment to learn to start praying this is a moment to fill your house with Murshid music this is a moment to get in an online group or just ask God what's the next step to build a relationship with him and not only is it a moment to connect with God it's a moment to connect with the people in your life see don't fill this season with Netflix and news take some time to go for a walk to play a game to throw a ball to ask questions to lean in listen and love this is not about going back to normal it's about going to a new dimension of abundant life in Jesus name and he's given us this moment where we're desperate enough to reach out to him so we can connect and go further on our relationship with him and further with our relationships with others in Jesus name so don't lose this moment leverage it take advantage of it so you can move forward in Jesus name see John 14 Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life Jesus is the way out of this storm Jesus is the truth in the midst of a world full of facts and Jesus is the life he is not a part of life he is life itself and the truth of Jesus is superior to any and every fact of this world you see let me close with this the Apostle Paul is a guy you may be familiar with he's the guy that wrote most of the New Testament but what you may not know is that many of the letters that Paul wrote he wrote from prison in other words the guy that writes most of the New Testament wrote many of the letters that he wrote from prison like Paul was under a shelter in place a shelter at home order from the Roman government he was imprisoned within his own home and if you look at the facts of Paul's life they weren't great at that time man the fact was he was in prison the fact was he was stuck the fact was his circumstances weren't great the fact was there was a storm going on all around him but the truth was that God was good to him God was for him and God was with him the truth was hope was on the move and so in that season Paul let go of the facts and he grabbed a hold of God's truth new knowing that it was superior and what he did was he leaned in to the season he let go of his emotions his expectations and his control and he leveraged the moment to connect with God and others and God used that season for Paul to go deeper with God and to be a hope carrier in the world around him God worked in Paul and he worked through Paul and I think the same is true for you see your facts might not be great right now the facts of your life as you stack them up facts about your finances or your health or your situation or your circumstances or the storm they might be like a snow globe all shook up their facts you don't have to deny them they're there they're real but the truth that I want you to change your mind and focus on the truth is in the midst of all those facts is that God is with you God is for you and God is good to you and that hope is on the move in a moment I'm gonna pray for you and then as we finish this service there's gonna be some response questions for you to just take some time at home wherever you are let me encourage you I think this is one of the best things about online church is the opportunity to engage in these questions as soon as we're done for those of you that haven't connected with us I want to invite you to text VCC to three-one three-one three-one so we can keep in touch with you about all the things that are happening follow us on instagram Ram Facebook and YouTube we want to stay current with you I would love for you to take a picture of you and your family wherever you're watching this from posted online and share the link with some other people that might need this hope invite them into this so they can fix their eyes on the truth of Jesus we've got an amazing kids experience for you on our kids YouTube channel last week we rolled that out it was so amazing and it had such a significant impact that if you've got kids or you know somebody with kids jump over to YouTube right now about a 25 minute worship service for them you're gonna love it if you're looking for some relationships in this season let us help you get in an online group you can check that out on our website and then for those of you that want to give you can give right here on line as followers of Jesus we should be the most generous people regardless of the circumstance or the situation around us let's keep trusting God so that we can keep being a movement of hope for the city and beyond so we close your eyes with me let me just pray for you Jesus thank you thank you that you are the God of truth in the midst of a world full of facts thank you that no matter how crazy the storm gets around us you are the rock on which we can build our life upon Lord thank you that you're doing something inside of us in this season's to give us the courage to lean in show us what we need to let go and help us leverage this moment to connect with you and the people in our lives and new and profound ways and if you're here today and you've never put your faith in Jesus today is the day to grab a hold of hope all you need to do is cry out to him say something like this from your heart Jesus I invite you into my life I believe that you came and died were buried and rose again from the grave and Lord I want to follow you I want a life filled with hope in Jesus name and if that's you would you reach out to us and let us know that that's the next step that you want to take and let us help you get started on this journey with Jesus hey I am so glad that you are here with us today as you go this week let's let go of the facts looked at God's truth and remember that God is with us 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Channel: Valley Creek Church

Views: 8,221

Rating: 4.9069767 out of 5

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Id: ozC2YTRRf4o

Length: 41min 33sec (2493 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 29 2020