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I Tell You The Truth John 3 5JESUS answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of GOD unless he is born of water and the Spirit." Can you hear JESUS say this. Did HE say it in a monotone voice? (Bland) I tell you the truth…. I believe HE said it with authority, passion and conviction "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of GOD unless he is born of water and the Spirit." JESUS says these 5 words, "I tell you the truth" 86 times in the New Testament and no one else does. These 5 words, I tell you the truth, have become my favorite 5 words in the Bible. They are the very essence of what the Bible is – the truth. The comfort and peace I get from these five words is all consuming. You see no matter how much I love my brothers and sisters in Christ – when they say something I must question it – particularly if it is a new thought I haven’t heard before. But not when JESUS speaks. Total peace. Total acceptance. No worry sets in – "is this the truth?" We have no idea how much the lies of the world influence and worry us … create stress in our lives… Lies are everywhere … even in the church of Christ. In the world a 5 year old can turn on a TV and see a man meet a woman - flirt with her and the next scene they are in a bed somewhere together …. a lie … telling this 5 year old child that this is how it’s done and this method is acceptable.. This 5 year old’s parents may not even know he has seen this lie. They don’t know they have to combat it’s teaching. These types of lies are everywhere. Our politicians spread them. They media spread’s them. Advertisers, actors, producers, and activist spread them. Even members of the body of Christ tell lies. Many times they don’t know it, but a lie is a lie, even when you say it unknowingly. They tell us on TV that this deodorant is the best; This detergent is the best; this razor; this product and that product; they even tells us how great their cholesterol lowering medicine is and how necessary it is. All the while the AMA and New England Journal of Medicine have said that there is no proof that forcibly lowering cholesterol helps. PLUS they say that this forcibly lowering of cholesterol contributes to Alzheimer’s and in fact it may be the single cause. Now these advertisers are supposed to be telling us things that are good for us. I mean they are talking about our health. Why would they lie to us? Why would the public even need to question it? Well the truth is it’s a simple answer – money! JESUS is saying 3 things when HE says I tell you the truth. 3 things. The first is obvious – what HE says is the truth. The second thing he says is "others don’t tell us the truth – particularly about HIM and GOD!" Others lie. Why would they lie about our eternal life? Why? It’s irrational? It doesn’t make sense. Well JESUS tells us why they lie and it’s important for us to know why. John 8: 42 – 47 (now I want you to imagine JESUS actually saying this – again he would say it with authority, passion and conviction and I am going to try and read it the way I believe JESUS would have said it) 42 JESUS said to them, "If GOD were your FATHER, you would love me, for I came from GOD and now am here. I have not come on my own; but HE sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe ME! 46Can any of you prove ME guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe ME? 47He who belongs to GOD hears what GOD says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to GOD."This is why they lie to us. We are not to judge them but we are to know why they lie, I mean shouldn’t we know when the devil is speaking to us? When other religions, are even people who walk through the doors of the church of Christ – tell us lies – we must consider the possibility that their father is not GOD. You know it’s been an age long question that many Christians have asked, " The people who attend services at those other buildings – I know them – they are good people - why are they teaching what they teach? Why can’t they see baptism is essential? Why can’t they see that GOD gives no instruction for musical instruments to be used in the New Testament? Why do we say that they are wrong and their souls are in jeopardy? Why? Why? Why? Well JESUS gives us the answer and we must recognize it – but I don’t think we should ever say it to someone like HE did – we are not perfect and cannot see as clearly as HE can … but HE does tell us. JESUS says "They belong to their father, the devil, and they want to carry out their father's desire. The reason they do not hear is that they do not belong to GOD." So, the third thing JESUS is saying when HE says " I Tell you the truth" is IF we are GOD’s child we will believe HIM. We have gathered here this morning, around the LORD’s table, to commune with the LORD. In a minute twice – two times – I’m going to say "and the church says" – if you agree with what I said – lets everyone one of us say amen. Let us communicate with the LORD and lets be unified when we do. Let the words I say be words that we all deliver to GOD, for what I say is to HIS glory and not to mine, yours, or ours. On the first day of the week every first day of the week -the church of Christ is to partake of the Lord’s supper … and the church says …. AMEN … thank you. When we gather around the Lord’s table – every time we gather around the LORD’s table – we are making our reply to JESUS 5 words. We are stating to the world, to ourselves, to JESUS and to GOD our reply to JESUS saying " I tell you the Truth and what we say is "We Believe"! and the church says …. AMEN … thank you. We believe … isn’t it great that by some miracle – while the rest of the world doesn’t believe …. we do? Our most gracious Heavenly FATHER; We do believe. We believe every word you have uttered. Whether it was through the prophets of old, the apostles, or JESUS HIM self, we believe. FATHER we so want to be YOUR children and to please YOU. We always want to say to YOU what is important – to carry on a valuable conversation with YOU - to speak to YOU as though we are truly in YOUR presence - before YOUR throne with YOUR EYES on us - with that concept in mind the words that always comes to our lips first and foremost is - THANK YOU. Thank You Father. Thank You, Thank you, Thank you. We cannot say it enough. The last thank you does not diminish the need to say it again. We thank you for leading us to the truth. We thank you for letting the scales of blindness fall from our eyes for we know we would be eternally lost if we could not see and hear YOUR truth. We thank you for those 5 words … "I tell you the truth"… It does clarify things for us. It does give us peace and comfort FATHER. It does separate the wheat from the chaff. AND we know that only YOU can separate truth from lies. Thank YOU for being our FATHER. Thank YOU for allowing us to repent and thank YOU for forgiving us – over and over and over and over again. LORD, this bread we are about to partake represents JESUS body, the body that we are now a member of, We partake of this bread to remind ourselves who JESUS is, what he did and also remind ourselves that we do believe. Help us to be focused and to pay the proper respect to JESUS body. In JESUS Holy Name we pray, AMEN. FATHER, This fruit of the vine represents the blood that was shed on the cross. The blood that washed away our sins. The blood that we come in contact with through baptism and as a result the blood that perpetually keeps the repentant soul clean in your eyes. Thank you for JESUS’ blood. Thank you for this fruit of the vine. May we now partake of it in a manner that is pleasing to you. In JESUS Holy Name we pray, AMEN.
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