Trading Truth | Pastor Steven Furtick

in Romans chapter 1 verse 25 there's a scripture I've been thinking about for quite a while now and I've been looking forward to the opportunity to preach it and this weekend I believe is the appropriate time and God has really been using it this week and you're not the first group that I've seen this weekend and yet I believe that God has saved the best for last and that he desires to minister to you in a specific way today and I'll read this verse and this will give you the premise for our message and it's found in Romans chapter 1 verse 25 it says that they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised amen they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and people say that the Bible is not relevant to today's culture but let me read this again it sounds like it was written on Twitter last night they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator have you ever got your priorities mixed up and started serving something that God gave to you and forgotten about the God who gave it and that's what happened they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and began to serve created things rather than the creator who is forever praised amen the subject heading I want to use today is trading truth and I want to talk to you on this topic trading truth Lord I thank you that your word is truth illuminate it now and help us to receive it with courage to obey it in Jesus name Amen you may be seated God bless you I lie to my kids sometimes you have to do it sometimes you know what were y'all doing in there taking a nap sometimes it's just for their own good why was the door lock safety dangerous criminals you have to do it sometimes don't look at me judgmentally if you've never lied to your kids you haven't had them yet but sometimes it's really a matter of survival and even a few days ago we were at the beach for the kids Spring Break and they had talked me out into the ocean they talked me out of the hot tub into the ocean I'm too old for this crap it was 51 degrees outside and but hey hey I'm dad of the year don't worry about it I already got the title I'm dad of the year I went out in that cold ocean with all three kids and Abbey was hanging on to my arm the whole time just every time it was a really rough ocean but it made it kind of fun until it wasn't fun anymore you know how it is when you're kind of playing out you're kind of stepping further and further out and you don't even know how far out you've gotten and then you kind of get carried away and you don't really realize how far you've been carried away until you're looking and kind of look at the original point where you were which would be a whole sermon in itself but that's not what I want to preach about what I wanted to tell you is we were kind of getting carried away and then the undercurrent got really strong and started just pulling all of us all four of us the only one who had good enough sense to be in the house was Holly she's not as committed to parenting and making memories as I am she was on her phone and I'm out there realizing in this moment wait nobody else is in the ocean it's just us everybody who knows anything about safety in the water is inside right now this is dangerous and then it really got scary I couldn't touch the bottom and Abbey is on my arm and her being on my arm isn't a problem I can curl her all day long she's very well below my curling maximum weight ability trust me but when she's on my arm and I can't touch and then Graham jumps on my back and we're all simultaneously being pulled and I realized like whoa we're way further out than I intended us to be and Abbey's on my arm and Graham's on my back and I'm like Graham I love you dude but you got to swim right now it's every Furtick for himself right now I need to take at least two of us back in the house for your mom we uh we start swimming back in Abbey's on my arm and Graham is swimming and Elijah is the bravest one he's out way past all of us and he's screaming at me to come get him or something and I can't come get him his sisters on my arm and she's my favorite and so just kidding I'm kidding but this calmness came over me or at least I pretended that it did I said Elijah it's fine son and secretly I'm looking at him thinking this is our last time talking together you know but I knew I knew I had to keep him swimming it was just a leadership instinct that came over me I'm like it's fine just swim you'll be fine it's not that bad here where we are if you can just get here meanwhile died you know and so we made it we made it back to the shore aren't you glad thank you for praying me through and then Elijah said something really funny to me I thought this was really really profound he's like you didn't even seem scared were you not worried about me were you we're just gonna let me stay out there you know well of course I was your sister it's only at eight years to live you've had 13 and but but I I think he was I think he was amazed he was like you you just didn't even seem worried about it and to which I told him well son I was lying I was lying for your own good I knew if you knew how bad it was you'd stop swimming and so the best thing I could do for your survival was to lie to you it's like a rehab lie it's a lie for the purposes of God don't judge me don't judge me but sometimes I lie to myself it's a survival instinct it's just that sometimes my feet can't find the bottom and life gets a little bit turbulent and I find myself drifting and in the new reality that I'm trying to embrace according to what God says I am sometimes what I used to be feels more solid more stable and more comfortable and sometimes it's easier for me to lie to myself and tell myself a story I good at it even as a little boy wasn't that my childhood was bad or anything like that but all of us experienced things in life that that teach us to lie to ourselves when we read a scripture like Romans chapter 1 verse 25 that says they exchanged the truth about God for a lie a part of us says who would do that who would trade a perfectly good truth for a lie and yet the fact is there are some lies that we have learned so well that they feel true even more than the truth does can I preach like I've been out of the pulpit for three weeks and I've got something to say I want to show you today an illustration from the life of Jesus and I want to show you how sometimes the enemy doesn't sabotage your life with a lie he tells you a truth and he twists it just enough and I believe that the Lord desires to set us free today but only by the truth can we be set free you know Jesus knew the truth because he was the truth he knew the Word of God because he was the Word of God and when the enemy came to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 in the wilderness to tempt him he made the crucial mistake with the son of God of debating the Word of God and it's a bad idea to debate the Word of God with the Word of God John chapter 1 says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God in the Word was God he's not arguing with someone who knows about the Word of God he is arguing with the embodiment of the Word of God and it gives us a pure picture of the principle that is illustrated in Romans 1:25 but only in reverse in Matthew chapter 4 verse 1 our perspective is immediately challenged because it says that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and that is a strange construct that Jesus was led by God to be tempted by the devil if you've been told that God won't lead you into difficult situations you've been lied to if you've ever been told or it's ever been implied or inferred that the will of God will always lead to the path of least resistance you've been lied to if you've ever been told that the proof of the favor of God on your life is it situations become less difficult and and more agreeable you've been lied to because Jesus before his ministry was fully announced was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and yet I want us to see that this this passage is as much about trust as it is about temptation now let me say this real quickly it's not the truth that you can quote it's not the truth that you know mentally but it is the truth that you do that guides your life to its ultimate outcome I will never forget watching y'all when I was a kid with the Jane Fonda workout DVDs eating a bowl of ice cream watching the Jane Fonda workout DVDs and when I asked why aren't you doing the DVDs I'm only like eight years old and my mom and dad are eating Breyers watching Jane Fonda they said well we've got to know what to do before we can do it but sometimes if you would do what you knew am i kidding after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry I nominate this for most obvious verse in the Bible the tempter came to him at his weakest moment the tempter came to him in the area of his appetite the tempter came to him in a place of great vulnerability and said if you are the son of God tell these stones to become bread and how many times in my life have I been tempted in this exact way it's a good thing Jesus knew the truth it's a good thing Jesus had just been baptized by John in the Jordan River it's just it's a good thing that Jesus had just heard his father say this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased it's a good thing he had just been told the truth because when you just encountered truth when when you know who you are when when you have a full understanding of who you are in God's eyes you don't have to prove it in anybody else's how many times have I been susceptible to the temptation to prove who I am by what I do but when you know that who you are is not dependent on what you do your value is not assessed by others then you don't have to post stuff to prove stuff you're gonna set somebody free today you don't have to post stuff to prove stuff when you know the truth about it jesus answered it is written man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God one of the hardest years of my life was 2013 my dad was dying our church was under heavy criticism in the media and I was going through so many things at once I felt like Rocky when he said I don't know which one to hit I see three of them out there and they said hit the one in the middle and there were so many things going on around me I didn't know what to do but it was really comforting to me that the things I had preached to you I was able to live off of for me the proof that something is true in your life is not that you can understand it or say Amen to it but that you can live on it that you can live on it sometimes we're too impressed with cliches and sometimes we think something is true just because it rhymes you know I found out in preaching sometimes you can make something rhyme and it can be they can be totally totally opposite you know you can make something start with the same letter curiosity killed the cat hmm that's good meow amen actually the original saying wasn't curiosity killed the cat it was care killed the cat and it was used to mean that they fed the cat too much and he died because he was too fat they cared too much and then they changed it from care meaning they overfed him to care he was too worried so now it means that worried killed the cat but then one day it just became curiosity killed the cat now there are no statistical evidences of bed felines based on inquisitive nature's but it just sounds good and some stuff sounds good but it ain't true just because it sounds good doesn't mean it is just because it rhymes just just because it is aligned with your life experience up to this point doesn't make it true just because it's the way it's always been for you and your mom and it doesn't make it true and so then we get really bad advice and and we say really bad things that that that sounds good on the surface but beneath them they're really bad belief systems I thought about calling this message what's your BS for belief system what's your belief system and I wanted to call it that because that's what's driving your life they they say they say live your truth I I heard that before live your truth that's the important thing just live your truth and it sounds good but what if my truth is a trap what if your truth isn't the truth do you have to stay stuck in a story and call it the truth let me go back to Matthew 4 jesus said it is written man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God so then the devil he does something that I was I was very interested to study this out and if I preached on this passage 10 times before I apologize to the other Tim that I never pointed this out because I never saw it we always assume that the enemy comes to us with lies and then we quote the Word of God which is the truth and then the lies go away ok fine whatever but many of us love God too much to just believe a lie if we see it as a lie and so then what the enemy does is he presents you not with a lie but with the truth the next thing the enemy does to Jesus remember he's hungry he's in a weak in physical state he's he's on the verge of three years of ministry that will shake the world and overturn the Roman Empire he's in he's in a period of preparation he knows who he is he'd not only knows truth but he is truth and so the enemy knows that the only way that he can fight truth is with truth and I promise you I'm not trying to be confusing a lot of times what the enemy will attack you with is a truth a truth and in this particular instance the devil took him to the holy city verse 5 and had him stand on the highest point of the temple if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is written the enemy doesn't attack Jesus with a lie he attacks him with a Bible verse he quotes to Jesus Psalm 91 verse 11 and 12 he quotes the Word of God to the Word of God for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone that's true that's actually true this is not made-up this is not imaginary it is it is it is the Word of God it is the truth so here's what I'm realizing in my life a lot of times I'm not deciding between a lie and the truth a lot of times I'm stuck between two truths one is the truth of my situation and one is the truth of my revelation I told you Holly this was gonna be the best one what is the truth of what I'm going through and the other is the truth of who's standing with me in the fire as I go through it so I've got two truths I've got two truths and what Jesus said was was so powerful when when the enemy tried to get him to turn the stones into bread he said it is written because he knew the temptation to turn something into something that it's not a lot of times we try to do this with relationships we try to turn them into something that they're not we turn people into our God and and we need their approval more than we need God's approval and then when they disappoint us we lose our hope because we tried to turn stones into bread you know some of us try to turn money into security but your trust was never supposed to be in resources your trust was supposed to be in the one your help comes from the source you were supposed to lift your eyes to him your trust was never supposed to be in the stuff the trust was supposed to be in the source but when you don't know the truth of who you are you will try to turn stones into bread and you will try to live off of people's compliments and then so you die by their criticism because you tried to turn it into what it was not and you trade the truth for a lie and you trade the truth of God's God's assessment of you for someone else's opinion of you serving created things rather than the Creator who is forever blessed amen Romans 1:25 I love what Jesus said never soft before did you ever see this before I preached it 9:30 I never saw it his first time he said it is written but this time he said something different he said verse 7 it is also written what you just said is true but I know something true it's true I made some mistakes in my life but it's also true that my greatest mistake has the potential to become my greatest miracle it's true but it's also true somebody shot it's also true come on shout it from River Walk to Roanoke it's also true Paul said I'm impressed it's true but I'm not crushed see I know how to stand between two truths one is what I'm thinking one is what I'm feeling one is what the doctor said one is what I'm experiencing but it is also true I'm not crushed I'm persecuted it's true but I'm not abandoned it's also true I'm struck down for a minute but it's also true I'm not destroying them I'm lonely but I'm not alone I'm weak what he's strong but he's rich it is also written I've got a better word on the situation I did it but I'm not it I got a new truth I got a new truth I've got a new truth that means I know the difference between my truth and my story so when Jesus was confronted by the Jews he had a conversation with them about truth and and it says that many of the Jews had believed in him because of what he did but they didn't fully understand who he was and they were putting their faith in him but but they were still attached to the old story the old the old story you know the old story the one you tell yourself about why people reject you and and you did it as a means of survival because it's sometimes easier for you to reject yourself in advance than to put yourself out there and risk rejection again so when you can't touch the bottom you you tell yourself a story for for survival it's called projection it's when instead of dealing with the reality of rejection and healing from it you begin to tell yourself a story about how worthless you are and now you stay alone because to really be loved requires vulnerability for the sake of connection so you would rather stay stuck in an old story than embrace a new truth and Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him watch this in John 8:32 he said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free now see the second part of that does not work without the first you will know the truth this is not a propositional statement this doesn't mean you will be able to quote the truth to know the truth is not to quote the truth it's to trust in it it's - it's to trust in the truth and what you trust in is what is true to you what you trust in is what is true to you that's why you wouldn't turn the stone to bread it wouldn't have been a sin for him to do it it would have been a substitute I don't live by that I don't trust in that that's not my truth when you know the truth and a lot of times we think we know the truth better than we do we think we know what other people are like because we've never traded truth with them we think we know we think we know what we would do if we were them sit down with a single mom you know what you would do if you were them you would have a pill addiction you would make it out of bed in the morning if you wouldn't you wouldn't be strong enough to do it well if I were them well I'll tell you what right now if I was running that elevation church I'd do a few things differently I'm sure we'll say that right now so Jesus trading truth oh it is written it is also written okay I'm accepting it but it's not it's not my truth it's just my story sometimes you can live in a story so long that you become a slave to it have you become a slave to your own story to the extent that you now think it's the truth the Jews had Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and the next thing they said the the response that they had to that shows us just how embedded their identity had become in their story because you gotta remember these are people who had spent 430 years in Egypt as slaves making bricks without straw under Pharaoh they had been taken captive by the Babylonians the Assyrians multiple times before Jesus came onto the scene and when he said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free it offended them so they looked back at him in verse 33 and said we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone the same people who had spent centuries as slaves had told themselves a story that had become so true to them they no longer knew the difference a lot of times in my life I've lied to myself so much that my lies became truer than my truth it is pretty good I don't willingly exchange the truth for a lie it's just that certain lives I tell myself I've learned to love I like self-pity it's comfortable it's my it's my it's my Snuggie for my soul to feel sorry for myself no one's checking on me no one cares about me oh yeah you know why cuz I don't want to check on anybody so rather than face the fact of the truth then I'm not checking on anybody I would rather tell myself the story that nobody's checking on me I've never seen every collective head nod in the church like it just happened at Ballentine when you become a slave to your story you diabetic wean two truths I'm preaching to somebody today who's standing between two truths one is the old story the way you always saw yourself you know if David had stayed stuck in his old story he never would have thrown that stone at Goliath forehead because the way his brothers saw him was you're just down here to make trouble and you didn't even get anybody to keep the Sheep there comes a time when you have to challenge your old story so that the truth can set you free they used to train us in evangelism that we would ask people how do you know if you're going to heaven when you die and when they said their answer you were to ask them to follow up question if you were wrong would you want to know what a powerful question if the story you've been telling yourself about where you are and why you are and what you can and what you can't remember the the Israelites stayed stuck in the wilderness not for 40 days like Jesus was tempted 40 days they were there 40 years all because of the story they told themselves they're bigger than us they're stronger than us they're greater than us none of it was true but when it becomes true to you it will keep you stuck and you are not stuck in your reality you're stuck in your story but if the son sets you free if you get this true you will be free indeed so I want you to stand up on your feet right now because the Spirit of the Lord is in this place and where the Spirit is there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and the Spirit of the Lord is leading you today into the wilderness to set you free from the story you've been telling yourself perhaps your whole life long and I realize sometimes it's easier to tell yourself a story of why you fail and tell yourself a story that you're a disappointment because then you don't have to actually step out and try because you've already told yourself a story that I'm a disappointment but that's why Jesus went into the wilderness not only to be tempted by the devil but to rewrite a story what Moses couldn't do in 40 years Jesus did in 40 days he wasn't just fasting he was directing a new story the gospel is a new story the cross is a new ending and you don't have to turn stones into bread and you don't have to trade truth for lies and you don't have to own the story that you were handed if it does not match the reality of what God has spoken not another day and we say things that locate us and let us know that we've embraced our story and turned it into truth and something bad happens and we say us the story of my life is the story of my life it's the story of my life you need a new editor you've been letting the enemy edit the story of your life but it is also written it is also written this this tension between two truths well I feel and while I know what I was and what I'm becoming this tension between two truths is exactly how faith grows I've been waiting to preach this message for a year and a half and today was the day that God wanted me to preach it perhaps so that you could hear and be set free from your old story are you trapped in an old truth when God has given you a new one a higher one a greater one you know the law was true all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but in Jesus was given grace and truth both are true I don't deserve the blessings of God nothing I could do could earn it but it is also written that I am the righteousness of God in Christ through faith in Him God brought you here today to give you a new truth and to receive your new truth you're gonna have to let go of your old story you let go of that old story you will know the truth and the truth will set you free with your head bowed in your eyes closed at every location no one moving and disturbing this moment what is the story that God needs to set you free from today the key is your belief that it is also written and that the blood of Jesus has spoken a better word there's a new covenant a new baptism a new reality father I thank you for each person who you brought here today whether they're physically in a church building or watching on their phone whether tears are streaming down their faiths face because they're facing a situation right now that's too great for them or whether they're in a place in their life where they've actually accepted the lie no longer even feels like a lie anymore I pray that you would disturb those places of disbelief and dysfunction in our lives so that we can know the truth and be set free we choose the unpredictability of freedom over the comfort and the certainty of slavery today we want to be set free thank you for telling us the truth thank you for speaking over our lives a true identity I asked now Lord that in this moment that you would speak your word in that personal way whether it's an area of bitterness or resentment or maybe it's something much more subtle than that that we've been telling ourselves to keep ourselves in a cycle of failure we believe that you have called us overcomers and we will only overcome as we embrace that truth thank you for watching the Elevation Church YouTube channel don't stop here join the EFM our online extended family and join us live every Sunday subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video or live stream and share this with a friend you can also support the ministry by clicking the give Now button to help us continue to reach people around the world for Jesus Christ thank you again for watching god bless you

Channel: Elevation Church

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Keywords: elevation church, pastor steven furtick, stephen furtick, furtick steven, elevation church steven furtick, elevation church trading truth, steven furtick trading truth, trading truth, steven furtick 2019 sermons, elevation church 2019 sermons, 2019 sermons, steven furtick youtube, elevation church youtube

Id: UYlJMONqXmo

Length: 35min 59sec (2159 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 01 2019