Walking In Truth

You might feel undeserving of an award that you’re given at work. Sure, you’ve put in plenty of hours, but you still don’t deem yourself worthy of the recognition they’re giving you. This is kind of how it is when it comes to how Jesus views you. You might feel unworthy of His love, but He grants it anyway. You may think you’ve done too many wrongs to make things right, but Jesus still calls you to Himself. This is the type of love and commitment you should want, and Pastor Johnny tells you how..today.

Imagine being coated with a protective layer that covers your physical body. It keeps the toxins from the world out, but you can still walk and breathe, without being harmed by your surroundings. Pastor Johnny talks today, about this being the sort of protection that Jesus prays for when He prayed for His disciples, and for you! He wants you to have an effect on the world, but doesn’t want the evils of what’s around you to penetrate into your skin and into your heart. This is possible!

In most cases, eavesdropping is considered a bad thing. But in the case of today’s passage, you’ll find yourself tuning in to a prayer that Jesus spoke. You’ll want to be in-the-know of what He says because it has a lot to do with you! Pastor Johnny teaches today on why Jesus prayed for His disciples, and you get a closer glimpse into what Jesus’ heart was for the people who’d lived life with Him! So even though it’s not good to make a habit of eavesdropping, don’t feel bad about listening in to this!

It’s good to have a plan of action if there would happen to be a fire in your home. What things would you make sure to grab, as you’re rushing out the door, doing your best to stay out of harm’s way? Well in today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny wants you to know the thing that’s most important to have in your heart, and be confident in…before you die, or before this world falls apart. If you wouldn’t leave your house without those mementos, you don’t want to be unprepared in your heart, do you?

Any kind of relationship takes some effort….some work to help it grow and become the best it can be. A teacher invests heavily in her students because she knows that by doing that, each child will be able to learn and meet their potential. As you listen today, hear what Pastor Johnny has to say about your relationship with God, and think about your own investment in how you spend time with Him in prayer, in reading the Bible, and hearing from Him in these ways. He wants that relationship with you!

In an effort to put others first, you may find yourself empty and lacking some needed care for your own heart, body, and mind. This happens often in the face of tragedy, where you’re caring for the person you love, who’s recovering from something, but then you’re wilting from within. Well, today, Pastor Johnny wants you to hear how Jesus handled a situation where it would be easy to want to think of others always before Himself, but in this case, He actually addresses Himself first, and then the others.

Can you imagine how you would feel if you knew the world was ending, and you didn’t have the answer for how to escape it or get away? Today, Pastor Johnny helps you realize that if you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, things seem hopeless. But if you know Him, and have a relationship with Him, you’ve already overcome anything this world tries to throw at you. So if you’re tempted to give in to depression, or to wallow in self-pity or sorrow, step out of that today, and be reminded to have joy!

You’ve waited all this time to go on that really exciting ride! But as you experience the highs and lows of that momentary thrill, your stomach starts to turn, and you’d do anything to get off the ride, so you can feel better. Maybe you’d prefer that calm cruise down the river…the one that gives you an assurance that you won’t get sick and need to bail from the ride. Well today, Pastor Johnny helps you understand the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness may be something you’re drawn to, but joy is better.

When you’re down and out, you might think no one knows what you’re going through…no one can relate to the things you’ve had to endure. But in today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny expresses that God knows and relates to your pain and your sorrow. He knows the unique circumstances you’re going through….they’re like one-of-a-kind snowflakes that have your personal imprint on them. God knows, and He cares about the sorrows you’ve been through, and He wants to make it right!

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that doesn’t have a villain? It’s pretty uncommon. The truth is…the concept of good and evil has been woven into the very fibers of who we are…because all of history points back to the truth that there’s good and evil in the world. Pastor Johnny wants you to be very aware today of the evil enemy that’s hunting you down…trying to destroy you. But you don’t have to give in to that enemy. You can choose God and His love, over evil and the devil.

There are times when you appreciate something even more, because you know you didn’t deserve it. Maybe you didn’t finish all the work you had to do, but your boss gives you the day off anyway. Or there was that chore that’s been on your to-do list, and someone else did it for you, so you wouldn’t have to. Today, Pastor Johnny helps you see that you have a free invitation into heaven, not because of how great you are, but because you are being given something you don’t deserve…and you can take it!

The wind is an interesting thing. It can be a calm breeze that soothes and relaxes you. It can also be a forceful gust that stirs up the landscape, and can uproot trees and houses in a “perfect storm.” Well today, Pastor Johnny is speaking of something that’s kind of like the wind. You can’t see it physically, but you know it’s there. It can be a quiet whisper, a gentle nudge, or sometimes, a convicting word, that you just can’t get out of your head. This mysterious thing is the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Who do you align with politically? Check. What gender do you identify with? Check. Do you believe in a Creator or that the world just came about mysteriously? Check. What’s your take on abortion? Check. All the hot topics of the day are things that you need to care about. But it’s not your personal opinion or emotions that should be the deciding factor. Pastor Johnny lets you know today that what you should be aligning with is what God’s Word says about all of these things. Check the truth!

The best way to stay up on a skill is to continue doing it regularly. If you’re on a swim team, you’re going to get better and better, the more you’re in the water! Well, think of the Bible as being the water that you need to dive into….every day! Today, Pastor Johnny helps you see that the more you’re involved in what God has to say, the less likely you’ll be to give in to what the world wants you to believe. Allowing yourself to enter into the world’s philosophies could cause you to drown.

The wind is an interesting thing. It can be a calm breeze that soothes and relaxes you. It can also be a forceful gust that stirs up the landscape, and can uproot trees and houses in a “perfect storm.” Well today, Pastor Johnny is speaking of something that’s kind of like the wind. You can’t see it physically, but you know it’s there. It can be a quiet whisper, a gentle nudge, or sometimes, a convicting word, that you just can’t get out of your head. This mysterious thing is the Holy Spirit inside of you.

Plenty of people don’t care for solicitors who come to your door, trying to sell something that probably isn’t life-altering. Well, Jesus is no door-to-door salesman. He’s bringing and offering something that is earth-shattering for your life, and you may not even realize that you need it. Pastor Johnny teaches today, on what it means to truly follow Jesus, to follow His call, and to live out a life that’s committed to staying with God. You’re not willing to bail at a moment’s notice when things get hard.

Picture yourself in the worst possible place that you could imagine. Maybe that would be stuck in another country, or being put in prison for something you didn’t do. Do you think it could be possible for you to have joy if you were in that kind of place? Well today, Pastor Johnny helps you understand how a man who was in these very circumstances chose to have joy, and where that source of strength came from. Listen to what it means to have true joy, and do your best to live that out today!

Whether you’re a child or an adult, you know what it’s like to be asked to obey someone or something. Maybe it’s the traffic light that you’re expected to obey. Or if you’re a parent, you call your kids to obey simple tasks, like cleaning up their rooms. Obedience is something that honors the one who has asked. In today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny talks about obedience to God being most important. By doing this, you’re showing Him that you love Him and that you’re willing to do things His way.

Picture having a beautiful garden that you worked on growing all summer. But then there was that really bad hail storm that beat down on your garden and left much of the produce unusable, because of the battering. This might be how you feel when you’re trying to live for God. Are you beaten down and ineffective? Today, Pastor Johnny expresses that this is a normal feeling sometimes. But don’t forget to stay connected to the God who brings life, and even restores you when you’re down.

When you look at a tree that’s planted by a river, you notice that it’s doing the very thing it was meant to do. It’s growing and producing many leaves, and there’s a lot of fruit hanging from the tree. The tree simply stays where it’s planted and produces fruit. Well in today’s teaching, Pastor Johnny talks about what this looks like for you in a spiritual sense…staying where God meant for you to be and having a willingness to follow God, in a way that brings about “fruit” in your life. So be like a planted tree!