“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

One of the greatest dangers facing the modern day church is Christians believing their “opinions” and “feelings” matter more than scripture. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Our society wants to talk about what’s true for you is true for you, but don’t force your truth on me.

There is no such thing as “your truth.” You can have your opinions. You can have your feelings. But truth has nothing to do with your opinions or feelings.

Whether you agree with it or not, one plus one is always two. It can’t be anything other than that. Truth has nothing to do with whether you understand it, agree with it, or how you feel about it. Truth is truth because it is true.

The church is weak in its influence and impact because Christians have bought into the lie that what matters most is their opinions and feelings more than what God reveals to us as true.

Friends, you are not those Christians. Get to know the Truth. His name is Jesus. And he shall set you free.

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

One of the things I say to our staff and our session is, “Truth is our friend. You cannot build a desirable future based on wishful thinking. You can only build a desirable future based on truth.”

Some of us are terribly out of shape. We can’t even jog fifty yards without getting out of breath. If that’s the case, it’s good to know that. And based on that truth we can put together a plan to building a better future where we are in better physical condition.

Some of us our spending is out of control. We keep buying things we don’t need. We have no ability to distinguish between those things we need and those things we would like to have. And, if that’s the case, it’s really good that we know that.

Some of us haven’t grown or matured in our faith since we came to know Jesus. We’ve been going to church and doing churchy things, but we are no closer to Jesus than we were when we first came to know Jesus. If that’s the case, it’s good that we come to terms with that so that we can make a plan to mature and grow up in the faith.

You see, the degree to which a person can grow is directly tied to the amount of truth we can accept about ourselves.

Truth is our friend. You cannot build a desirable future based on wishful thinking. You can only build it based on facts.

“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 1:7).

Call yourself a Christian and our world ignores you. Christians don’t make much difference anyway.

BUT…

• Keep the Lord’s day the Lord’s way gathering with old and young every week
• Worship the One who was despised, rejected, and betrayed
• Pray to an invisible God
• Give yourself to serve people you don’t even know
• Give your money for the sake of people you’ve never met
• Serve and honor all people
• Treasure God’s word by reading, meditating, and memorizing

Do these things and the world thinks you’re a crazy radical fool.

The word radical comes from the Latin rabix, literally meaning “root.” That’s where we get the word radish. It has to do with getting to the root of things.

When the world calls Christ-followers radical, they are actually correct. We are radical. All those things that were listed are the normal practices that get to the root of what it means to be Christian. Christians are radically different than anything this world has ever seen. It’s always been and will continue to be that way.