Ephesians 4:14-16 (NLT) 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
-EXPELLED-
FRAUD
ALSO A FRAUD
Why should truth matter to us? Because it matters to God
John 1:1-5 (NLT) 1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Why should truth matter to us? Because it matters to God Because it leads us to God
John 14:3-6 (NLT) 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going. 5 No, we don t know, Lord, Thomas said. We have no idea where You are going, so how can we know the way? 6 Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.
Why should truth matter to us? Because it matters to God Because it leads us to God Because it gives us a standard outside ourselves
Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) 9 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Romans 3:10 (NLT) 10 As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous not even one. Romans 3:23 (NLT) 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard.
Why should truth matter to us? Because it matters to God Because it leads us to God Because it gives us a standard outside ourselves But truth is not enough!
I Corinthians 12:31-13:3 (NLT) 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all. 1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Matthew 23:13 (NLT) 13 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people s faces. You won t go in yourselves, and you don t let others enter either. Jonah 4:1-3 (NLT) 1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: Didn t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, LORD! I d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.
Luke 15:25-30 (NLT) 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return. 28 The older brother was angry and wouldn t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, All these years I ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!
LOVE WITHOUT TRUTH TRUTH WITHOUT LOVE
Ephesians 4:14-16 (NLT) 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Micah 6:8 (NLT) 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Why should truth matter to us? Because it matters to God Because it leads us to God Because it gives us a standard But truth is not enough! Do justly = TRUTH Love mercy = LOVE Walk humbly with God = HUMILITY We are called to walk in truth and love.