The Lies We Tell Ourselves

2015 Messages

Listen in as Blake Holmes discusses the lies we believe. Be encouraged as he shows us how to spot a lie as well as combat them with the truth of God.

Blake HolmesSep 20, 2015John 10:10; Colossians 2:8; James 4:14; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Proverbs 14:12; Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:38-39

In This Series (24)
At Home Worship
Todd WagnerDec 27, 2015
Christmas Eve 2015
Todd WagnerDec 24, 2015
The Greatest Invitation
Kyle KaiglerOct 18, 2015
Making Room, Making Disciples
John Cox, Beau Fournet, Charlie ShelbyOct 18, 2015
The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Blake HolmesSep 20, 2015
Your Trial In Heaven
John ElmoreSep 6, 2015
Foundational Parenting
Kyle KaiglerAug 16, 2015
Fort Worth, Here Is What We Think of You
Todd WagnerAug 16, 2015
What the Church Who Believes Is and Does
Todd WagnerAug 9, 2015
The USA: United States of Anxiety
Adam TarnowJul 26, 2015
From Intimacy to Idols
Kyle KaiglerJul 26, 2015
The Standard: Old Testament, Jesus and Believers
Rob BarryJul 19, 2015
The Path to the Good Life
Rob BarryMay 24, 2015
Nothing Short of Miraculous
Gary StroopeMay 24, 2015
Confessions From a Bathroom Stall: Lessons Learned in a Battle With Gluttony
Scott KedershaMay 24, 2015
How We Come To God
Jonathan PokludaMay 17, 2015
Dealing with Disappointment
Tyler BriggsMay 17, 2015
The Story That Never Gets Old the God Who Is Always Behind It and the Way We Are Told to Remember It
Todd WagnerMay 10, 2015
The "One Thing"
Kyle KaiglerMay 10, 2015
Baptism Celebration 2015
Todd WagnerMay 3, 2015
Believing That Leads to Life
Todd WagnerApr 26, 2015
Easter
Todd Wagner, Blake HolmesApr 5, 2015
Good Friday
Blake HolmesApr 3, 2015
What Should I Do With My Money?
Todd WagnerFeb 15, 2015

In This Series (24)

Well, good morning. We are blessed as a body to hear each week from a guy like Todd. I want you to know, though, I've known Todd for over 20 years. As much as I've learned from him on a Sunday, the things I think I walk away with that are the most impactful for me are the times I have in just casual conversation, spending time with him throughout the week, grabbing a meal together, or whatever it might be.

I remember one of the things he told me a while back that I thought, "I'm going to store that one away. That's good. I need to do that." It's a little game he used to play with his kids when they were real little. When they were watching TV together and they were gathering together as a family, Todd used to play this game called "Spot the Lie."

As commercials would come on, instead of just muting the commercials or kind of going, "Man, I can't believe they're showing those," he would embrace the opportunity as a teachable moment. He would look at his kids, and he would go, "Okay. We're going to watch this and see if you can spot the lie. What is the hook? What it is they're trying to tell you?"

What I want to do is play a little game with you. I want to play the game "Spot the Lie." You're going to go home today, and you're going to watch, probably, some football. You're going to see this commercial with a little slogan, "Find your beach."

If I was sitting there with my kids and this came on, and I said, "Hey, spot the lie." What would be the lie we're being told? The lie would be that what we are looking for…that meaning, that fulfillment, that peace…we find that through escaping reality. We find that by getting away, by fleeing, by running from our problems. We go. We escape. We find our beach. That's how we find what we're looking for.

How about this one? This is a popular one Chevy used for a long time. "Like a rock." What's the implication here? Real men drive Chevy trucks! You want to know what a man looks like? He drives a Chevy. The rugged, strong independent Texan. He drives a Chevy. If you show up in a small car, you're less of a man. You need a Chevy.

How about this one? Allstate. "You're in good hands" with Allstate. Right? Hey, listen. I have insurance. I'm grateful for insurance. Insurance is a good thing. Wisdom would say you need insurance, but what's the lie there? Are you in good hands because you have insurance? Is that really what we trust in, our insurance, to provide security and peace for our future?

Is that going to be our place of refuge? Insurance is a great provision, but that's not where we put our hope. That's not where we find security. That's not why we go to bed at night feeling comforted and secure, because of Allstate, but in the God we trust and we serve. Are you catching on?

Imagine the Wagner household when this little ad comes up. That's right. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." What's the lie? What's the lie there? That somehow what you do in this city, you can get away with it. It stays there. It's not going to haunt you. It's not going to come back to bite you. It's all good. You deserve that break. Go to Vegas. It's the same lie we believe, that what we do on Friday nights… It's okay. But you know from experience and living life, man those scars remain. What's in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. There are consequences to our action.

This morning I want to talk to you about the lies we're led to believe. It's one thing, though, to pick on the beer ads, the car commercials, insurance, or something you see on TV. I want to be a little more personal than that. I want to talk about the lies we tell ourselves. When you're alone, maybe it's late at night, and you're staying up and can't sleep. Things are running through your head. What are the lies you tell yourselves? You go throughout your day, you meet various people. If you're not reminding yourself of what's true, where do you find yourself going by default? What are you thinking about?

When Todd asked me to share this morning, several weeks ago… My hope is each time when he asks me to speak on a Sunday… I don't want to just give a talk. I want you to realize that. I want you to know that. That's not Todd's hope or goal. It's not JPs. It's not mine whenever I'm up here. We don't want to just give a talk. We don't want to just find cute illustrations and hope everybody likes what we said.

I go before God. I have my friends pray with me. I do everything I can. I go, "Lord, listen. You love my friends. I believe your Word, that there is truth in your Word. Would you just help me know what is the message? Not the talk to give, but the message you want me to share." People sometimes ask me, "Hey, are you nervous to speak in front of those folks? That's a lot of people."

Candidly, when people ask me that, I don't really think about it very much. Then I'm kinda like, "Well, you know, it kind of is a lot of people. That is a little nerve-racking. That's a lot of people!" If I give a talk, I'm nervous. I always am. If I feel like the Lord has laid on my heart to give a message, something he has taught me that he is going, "Hey, Blake, share this," I'm never nervous.

This just happens to be one of those Sundays because, if I'm real candid, I feel burdened. I feel burdened because of the lies, as a dad of four kids, I see my kids believe. If you're a parent, you can relate to that. I feel burdened as a pastor in vocational ministry for over 20-plus years. I feel burdened because of where I see people I love and care for, many of us, the lies we keep tripping over. I feel burdened because, as I've been preparing for this message, I recognize I fall prey to a lot of lies.

I come to you this morning really with a heavy message. I'm just going to tell you up front, it's a heavy message. If I could, I would reduce the numbers, the amount of the people who are in here, and I would love to sit down with you over coffee. I would love just to share my heart, share with you what the Lord is teaching me, and talk to you so you wouldn't feel like I'm preaching at you, but just as one Christ-follower to another, going, "Hey, gang, many of us, we're losing the battle for our minds."

We're losing the battle for our minds because we're believing the lies of the Enemy. You have to realize we're in the middle of a war. This war began, it originated, in the garden in Genesis, chapter 3. It's a passage that is familiar to so many of us. We've read it to the point, we've heard it to the point, we're just kinda like, "Yada, yada, yada." Which is a problem. What you have to understand is it's not just Adam and Eve's story; it's our story.

Adam and Eve fell prey to the three biggest lies we're all tempted to believe: God is not good or great, he's not strong, and his Word is not trustworthy. Really, if you were going to say, "What are the lies we're tempted to believe most often?" it would be those three when we look at Genesis, chapter 3. What you have to realize is the battle continues today. Jesus warns us and tells us we have an Enemy who is active today, who wants to steal, kill, and destroy everything that's good in your life. Do you realize that?

That's what John 10:10 says, that our Enemy, Satan, wants to steal, kill, and destroy every resemblance of godliness, what's good, and what would remind you of God. He wants to rob you of that, but Jesus says, "I came that you might have life." In John 8, he calls Satan the Father of Lies. When we fail to recognize the lies we're being fed and we believe them, it leads to pain, shame, regret, remorse, and fractured relationships.

This morning I just want to gather like we're sitting over a cup of coffee. I want to share with you and remind you of God's Word and the truth. Do you know how many times in Scripture God implores us to guard our minds? I mean, over and over and over again. It's not just written once but over again. I'm going to mention several to you. Just make note of these. You don't have to turn there; just write it down.

Colossians 2:8: "See to it…" You can just hear the urgency. See to it, make sure of this. Make it a priority. "…that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception..." You'd better guard your mind because they're trying to take you captive through philosophy and empty deception, "…according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." It's a battle for your mind.

Romans 12:2: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Matthew 22:37: "And [Jesus] said to him, 'You shall love the lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" See a theme?

Philippians 4:8. What does Paul say we are to think about? "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, [let your mind] dwell on these things." That takes discipline. We can't just run on autopilot. We have to think about what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute. We have to let our mind dwell on those things.

Second Corinthians 10:5. Note this. "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Underline that. We're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Colossians 3:2: "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." I could go on. Time and time and time again, God is saying to us, "There is a battle for your minds."

What you think influences the condition of your heart and how you live. You have to win the battle for the mind. I'm burdened because as a dad as I'm raising my kids, I'm watching them. When they're real little, they come running in your room. They're scared at night, and they believe the lie that there's a monster under their bed. There's a monster in the closet. So what do you do? You go in there. You turn on the light. "See? There's no monster. It's okay."

Then they get a little older, and the lie is, "Hey, your value, your worth, is determined by how fast you can run. It's determined by how far you can throw a football, how many points you score. It's determined by how you look on the outside, how you dress, what you wear. It's determined by your GPA, what school you go to, the car you drive." And it goes on and on and on again.

Then they get to college. They have some professor up there with initials behind his name, who sounds really smart, who has the power of the microphone, and will tell them they're a product of time plus chance plus matter. They're not made in the image of God; only a fool would believe that. There's a battle for our minds.

I think it's as if the Lord just wants to sit there like we want to do with our kids and go, "Walk with me. Listen to me. That right there, that's a lie. Spot the lie. Do you spot the lie? Do you hear that? That's not true." I asked our staff and some of my closest friends, "Hey, listen, I'm going to share some of the more common lies we tend to believe. If you would just send me in an email, what are the lies you're most tempted to believe?"

I compiled that list with the lies I came up with and starting writing. Really, I could do weeks on the number of lies. The challenge was not, "Do I have enough material?" but "I've got too much." I wanted to share with you as humbly as I can, as somebody who cares for you, as a dad, as a follower of Christ, lies that I am prone to believe and that I've watched many of you stumble over.

I'm going to share with you the lie. I'm going to share with you the impact it has. I'm going to share with you that ideas have consequences. I'm going to share with you the tactic of the Enemy. What's he trying to do? Then, finally I want you to understand the truth, that you could guard your mind and claim the promises of God. You ready? Here we go. The first lie is this… I fell susceptible to it this week. It's simply this…

1._ It can wait._ Man, how many times I buy this lie. See, I'm busy! I have four kids, three different schools, sports teams, friends, a wife, work, a full schedule, a to-do list a mile long. It can wait. What does that lead to? It leads to prayerlessness, because it can wait. My time in God's Word? It can wait. My time to engage with my friend who doesn't know the Lord, to be intentional with my time, to make time for him, and to share the truth with him? That can wait.

What do I hear from friends? "Well, when I get out of high school, I'll get serious about God." "When I get out of college… I'm going to go to college, I'm going to have fun, and my time with the Lord? That can wait. Then when I graduate from college, after I get my job, then, I'm telling you, I'm doubling down. I'm going to know the Word." Okay. "When I get married, I'm going to be serious. Now is the time." Okay. "When I have kids, that is when I'm going to be serious."

We buy this lie. It can wait. It. What is it? Everything that is important, that is eternal. What do we do? We replace it with the urgent, those things that are screaming at us, the to-do list. Over time, we give up so much ground. We don't cultivate the intimacy we need to with the Lord. We don't know his Word. We're not invested as we should be in the relationships with those we care about. We miss dinner after dinner with our family. We just believe, "Hey, it can wait."

It's real subtle. It's real passive. We don't practice the spiritual disciplines. What's the Enemy trying to do? What's his ploy? What's his tactic? He's trying to distract you. Right? You can't sit alone with the Lord without your phone buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. He's trying to distract you. The truth is, as James 4:14 says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." Do you realize that? You're not promised tomorrow.

It can't wait. You don't want to look up and go, "Uhhh. Regret. Woulda, shoulda, coulda." That's not where you want to be. We have ministries, gang, that will help you if you've never learned what it's like to practice the spiritual disciplines. We hand out that Watermark News. I'm encouraging you, sign up for Equipped Disciple. Sign up for Summit. Sign up for our women's Bible studies. Go and gather with other folks who are going to remind you, "It is worth it, and it can't wait." Don't buy that lie. Second lie. I see so many of us believe…

2._ I can't change._ How many times I've heard people I care about who are entrapped by addiction of one form or another, who are so defeated, so beat down. It's been so long they just look at me and go, "Blake, I just can't change. I've tried everything." They just give up. "Yeah, I know that other people… Maybe they've changed, but not me."

I think about the number of young men, right now, who are getting killed in the issue of pornography, who look at me and go, "Man, it's been years." They feed an addiction with this defeatist mentality of "I can't change." That's not true. It's not true. What I do is see my friends returning to the same sinful patterns. They continue to hurt the ones they love, and they never experience victory over temptation because they bought this lie.

Do you want to know what the tactic of the Enemy is? It's good just to note it. His aim is to defeat you, and you are living in that defeat. What is the promise? The promise is 1 Corinthians 10:13. It's one many of us have memorized. You need to memorize it. "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape."

Break that down and look at that. "No temptation." It's not, "No temptation except my alcohol addiction. No temptation except my struggle with pornography." It says, "No temptation…" and, "…as is common to man." Can I just tell you something? You're not the only one who struggles. I don't care what your addiction is. I don't care what your habitual sin is. Newsflash: you're not the only one. You're buying a lie that you can't change.

Do you know there is freedom in sobriety? There is, and it is possible. Not on your own efforts, not on your own, "I promise this time," but a yielding, a constantly abiding with Christ day-by-day. That's how you find it. If that's your story, and that's where you are, I beg of you, on Monday night join the thousands who show up here at re:generation every Monday night.

Watch them. Listen to them, because you'll hear story after story. Somebody is going to stand up, and they're going to say, "Listen, my name is Blake Holmes, and I struggle with fear and control. But my life has changed because I've learned how to submit those fears to Jesus Christ." Gang, don't buy that lie. There's freedom. First lie, it can wait. Second lie, I can't change.

3._ I know what is best._ This is the favorite lie of the guy who lives in isolation, who wants nothing to do with community, who has been coming to Watermark for years, is not a member of our church. Why? Because he knows what is best. He comes in when he wants to. He listens to the worship as much as he wants to. He maybe gets a few things out of the message. He takes off, and Sunday has little application with the rest of his week. He knows what's best. He doesn't need your counsel. He doesn't need mine. He knows what's best.

I've done it. Even in community, I'm not looking at my friends and going, "Can I just run something by you?" Instead, what do I do? I want to just do what I want to do because I think I know what's best. God is going, "Let me just tell you something. The truth is Proverbs 14:12. 'There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.'" Do you know when you go your own way, that when you just choose to do what you think is best… Do you know that it seems right?

Do you know how many people I've counseled, do you know how many people I've sat with, who are like, "It just seemed right." I'm like, "But that is contrary to what God's Word says." It's killing you to continue to operate on your own in isolation. The Enemy is just seeking to deceive you. He's seeking to isolate you. As Todd has said so many times, "Isolation is the garden in which our idiosyncrasies grow." That's true. You just get more and more weird. It's fact, but because no one is around you, no one is there to tell you, "That's weird." Do you know those people? Are you one of those people?

All right. This one is hard. This is the one, candidly, I don't even like to bring up because it's so painful. The next one we tend to believe, and one I've believed is…

4._ My past disqualifies me._ Have you ever heard that? Ever felt that way? This is the one where, as I'm talking to my friends, they're like, "Oh, yeah, yeah. Write that one down. Yeah, Blake, make sure you say that one. Unpack that." Why? Because so many of us, gang, believe what we've done in the past… That somehow, because of what we've done, where we've been, and how many times we've done it, we are the exception to God's grace. We believe that.

We believe when Todd stands up here, or JP, and they talk about God's grace, it applies to everybody else, but not us. We believe our past disqualifies us from being used by God to further his kingdom today. We buy that lie. We think that somehow we are now on this track of plan B, and that we forfeited plan A, God's best for us, so long ago. Because of that and because of our tragic mistakes, somehow we're not deserving of God's best anymore. We're not deserving of the blessings he wants us to enjoy in the future. Why? Because we're in plan B. We're stuck.

When we think about the grace and forgiveness of God that's extended to us, we're like, "Yeah, yeah. That's true for everybody, but you don't know where I've been. You don't know what I've done." I'm just telling you, you're not the exception to God's grace. I'm just telling you that. None of you are. No matter how impure some of your relationships have been, no matter how many times you've done it, no matter where you've been or what you've done, you're not the exception to God's grace. I should just say it 10 more times.

I want to speak as gently and as carefully as I can to one group. As I was preparing this message (it makes me tear up thinking about it), I'm talking to one sweet girl who made the decision a long time ago to end the life of her unborn child. She said, "That's my lie. I believe that sometimes." I just want to say to every woman here who has made that choice, you need to understand something. You have not committed the unforgivable sin. Do you realize that? You are not the exception to God's grace. You're not.

The Enemy wants you to believe that. He wants you to continue to operate in that hurt and that pain. What I'm telling you, gang, is it's a battle for your mind, to know God's Word and to realize you're not the exception to his grace. The Enemy just wants to discredit you. Second Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Paul goes on to say, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

If that's your story, there's a ministry that meets regularly. It's called Someone Cares. You need to go. Maybe it's the first time you'll have ever told anybody you made that choice. You need to go and find that there are other women who have experienced freedom in healing. They are no longer buying the lie. They are exposing the lie. I want you to live in that freedom.

If you're a dad who has made that choice, who has funded that choice, who has helped that choice, there is a ministry. It's called Forgotten Fathers. Each of these ministries, who are they started by? People who have made that choice, who want you to know God is not mad at you. Next lie…

5._ No one understands me._ I hear this a lot. No one understands me. This comes up often in our re|engage ministry. "My marriage is hard, Blake. It's not where I want it to be." You talk to the husband, you talk to the wife, and it's, "You just don't understand what it's like to be married to…" Fill in the blank. Oftentimes when we buy this lie what we end up doing, because "no one understands me," is we don't look at the issues of our own heart. We just cast blame. We don't accept the counsel of other people because we feel like we're the victim.

"No one understands me. No one understands my marriage. No one understands what it's like to be married to him. You don't know what it's like to be married to her." Time and time again we've gone through this. "No one understands me. What you're offering me? You don't get it. That may be true for other people; it's not true of me."

I'm just telling you, that lie… The Enemy's aim, his ploy, is to isolate you. The more alone you feel in your marriage, the better off it is; that's his ploy. Hebrews 4:15 tell us, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." Did you get that?

You see, guys, we serve the God of the cross. Regardless of what pain, what hurt or injustice you've ever felt, there has never been greater pain, hurt, loneliness, isolation, and injustice than when God became man and took our penalty, our shame, and bore it on the cross in our place. We don't serve a God who is immune to our pain, but one who has entered into our pain. You can never let the gospel, the priority of the gospel, the implication of the gospel, escape your mind.

Stop and think about it. We can never say, "No one understands me." We serve a God who absolutely understands our pain. Gang, every Wednesday night, there are couples gathered here at re|engage who have the courage to at least admit, "Hey, I'm tempted to believe a lie, and I need help." I applaud them because they're getting well, and their marriages are being restored. They are refusing to live in isolation. You should come. The next lie we believe, and the last one we have time for today is…

6._ God's love for me is conditional._ I see the pendulum shift of this all the time. You see, those who believe God's love is conditional, they are on one side over here where they are running as hard and as fast as they can, trying to climb the ladder of legalism to win God's love, to perform for God, and to be more acceptable in God's eyes. Guess what? There is this thing called sin, and you can't be good enough. I've tried that. I've gotten on that treadmill before, of performance, and it's exhausting and grueling.

Then when you don't measure up, you find yourself over here. Then you live in defeat, despair, frustration, and anger. God doesn't intend for you to live on either side. He wants you to know there is nothing you could do to make him love you more, and there is nothing you could do to make him love you less. If you understand that, then you understand the gospel. Let me repeat that. There is nothing you could do to make God love you more. Do you believe that? There's nothing you could do to make God love you less. His love is not conditional.

The Enemy seeks to entrap you, to entrap you with this burden of guilt and legalism. It's a horrible life when God's love is conditional, because you know what happens? Just to make note of this. When you're over here and things are going well, do you know what you start to believe? That God owes you something. That's not a good place to be, because we start living and operating like, "I deserve this. God owes this to me."

When life doesn't work out the way we want it to work out, we feel like we got the raw deal. We don't live with hearts of gratitude. Why? Because we earned it. Because we see God's love as being conditional. Satan is just trying to entrap you. The truth is this, gang. Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

That's a pretty all-encompassing list. You see, God's love is not conditional, and you can't win it by what you choose to do or you don't do. It's something you receive because of what Jesus has done for you. That's our hope. That's what separates us from every other belief system and philosophy in the world.

We believe God became man in the person of Jesus and was crucified on the cross. He took our place. He bore our penalty. He was buried. Then three days later, he rose again which validated all he claimed, said, and did. Now, because of his resurrection and life, he offers us his Spirit who lives in our heart when we receive that gift so we don't have to believe the lie. We can walk with him and experience new life. That's the hope we have.

You're going to leave today… When you walk out, you're going to receive this page. It's just simply entitled, "Truth and Lies." In one column over here is a list of many lies you see repeated behind me. You'll see many of the lies we're most tempted to believe, and then you'll see the promises of God which refute these lies. What's so great about this is…

Where I got this is after I dropped my kids off one Sunday, I was coming back through. They had these sitting out for our kids. I picked this up, and I'm looking at "Truth and Lies." I'm reading it, and I'm seeing the corresponding verses. I'm like, "This isn't for the kids. This is for me. I need this. I need to be reminded; otherwise, I buy the lie." So when you walk out, you're going to get one of these.

I saw this, and as we were all gathering to meet and before we left with my kids, I look at it. I just go, "Hey, let me tell you something about how we're going to spend our summer. Anybody who memorizes this, a hundred bucks. Boom! A hundred bucks." Now I have four kids, people. I tell them all the time, "It pays to know your Bible." I mean that in more than one way. Do whatever you can, right? It pays to know your Bible. I watch my kids read this over and over and over again because I want them to renew their minds with what's true.

You're going to get this, but that's not the hard part. The hard part is on the back. This is my challenge to you. I've given you six lies. There are many lies on the front of this. I don't know how many; maybe a dozen. I want you to prayerfully consider…What are the lies you're most tempted to believe? If you can't think of one, then I'll tell you your lie. Your lie is: "You have it all together." Because no, you don't. "You have nothing to work on." Not true.

I want you to identify what is the lie you're most tempted to believe. Then I want you to prayerfully consider…How is that impacting my life? What impact, what consequence, is that having on my life? How is it hurting me? How is it hurting other people? What is it keeping me from?

The last thing I want you to do is find out what the Bible has to say about that, and write down that promise. Write down that verse. But it's not over yet. Once you've done those things, I'm challenging you to go to those in your Community Group and say, "This is what I'm tempted to believe, and I need you to pray for me." Ask them, "Hey, man, what is it you're most tempted to believe? How can I pray for you?"

Can you imagine what would happen if more of us decided, "Hey, we're going to renew our minds with what is true. We're going to stop playing fantasy football for a few weeks. We're going to believe the truth that 'I need to get busy. I need to invest in what's eternal. I'm not the exception to God's grace. I can be used by him. God's love for me is unconditional.'" Can you imagine what happens when people are freed up from their past and they begin to walk in newness of life and freedom? That would change this city. It would change this city.

This is not a complicated exercise, but it's hard. That's my challenge to you. Take this page. Go over it with your kids. Go over it with your spouse. Go over it with your Community Group. Share it with others. Ask them to pray for you. Gang, some of you even believe the lie, "You know what? I'm not like Todd. I don't know how to disciple my kids." This is just a side note: just use the great tools our student and kids ministries are already giving you. It's a layup.

I had a meaningful summer because I just took this, and we talked about this with our kids. I didn't have to come up with anything, and my kids think I'm genius. You can have an impact on your kids, because you don't want them to continue to live in isolation and with the scars and pain you've experienced. You memorize them, too. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, I want to thank you that you're a God who loves us and because you love us, you want to expose the lies that are running through our heads and implanted in our hearts. You've come because you want to set us free. You've come because you offer healing, redemption, and restoration, but we confess, Lord, that our hearts are prone to wander. We think we know what's best.

In isolation, Lord, we believe the lies of the Enemy who wants us to live in shame and guilt and fear, to be entrapped. That's not your intention for us. I pray, Father, that you would equip us to know your Word, not so we can check a box or impress people because we've become smarter sinners. I pray, Lord, we would discipline ourselves to know your Word so we can know you, and that, Father, in doing so, we could experience the joy and the freedom only you could offer.

Father, I pray for my friends today who are here who, some of these lies they really identify with, and it's painful to even mention them. Lord, would you just help them to have the courage to ask for help and to begin the steps of healing and freedom? Father, for my friends who are here who don't know you, and who have bought the lie that there is no God and your Son is not who he claims to be. I pray, Father, you would expose that lie in their hearts, and they could come to know the Author of truth and the Giver of life.

Lord it is sweet to trust in Jesus. It is good to trust in you. I thank you that you are trustworthy and your Word is true. So, Lord, I pray this song would just be a declaration of our hearts now. In Christ's name, amen.