It’s really important to do some introspection and allow the Lord to show us if we’re strong in the Truth or Trending with the crowd.

National Family Retreat 2017: Truth Will Triumph

<p>It’s really important to do some introspection and allow the Lord to show us if we’re strong in the Truth or Trending with the crowd.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Restoration International

Alane Waters

Tom Waters

Truth or Trending

So, you've seen the theme, Truth Will Triumph.

We have no question that this God and this truth represented as the embodiment in Jesus Christ will triumph.

But when we have to think about the question of will we triumph with the truth, that leads us to our topic tonight.

And you immediately know what that means because we live in a world that is constantly trending away from God And God plays by fair and just and honorable rules.

The devil does everything, anything he can to sidetrack us.

So the question that we're opening with is whether we, again all of us, not you, are we really going deeper and more riveted upon the truth as it is in Jesus?

Or may it be possible that we are trending?

You know, the worst kind of deception is the kind that you don't know is happening.

We're going to have the next few days to really let God have access to all of us in a special way to determine whether we are trending.

Do you think it's natural for us to trend?

It is normal for us to get drawn in and go with the flow and we don't want to go with just trending.

We want to be in the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.

You know, before we were married, 1 of the things that Tom and I talked about is, when we have children, where would we live?

Because we had been studying together, and we recognized that when we read a statement like it is 10 times more difficult, 10 times harder to raise children in a city environment, that was pretty impactive on us.

So we made a decision before we were married that when children came along, We would look for a country setting, a more rural setting to raise our children in.

That was a gem that we picked out of from truth.

And like many of you, when we found these gems of truth, we take it to heart.

And then life gets busy and our first child comes along and we were actually starting to trend.

Well, it's more convenient to live in suburbia.

It's more convenient to be a mile away from the hospital.

And so without even really recognizing what had happened, in the time from before we were married, making that decision, until after our first child came, we had started to go with the flow of the convenience of how life was to roll out.

That was more than 36, it was more than 37 years ago we had that conversation.

And several years into our trending, that thought came back to us again, stimulated by our oldest child, who we saw very much enamored with the beauty of the countryside because she'd never experienced it before until we took her out there and it came to our hearts as parents that day when we were passing through the countryside, I think we were in Tennessee at that time on a vacation, that we had made a decision and then we had forgotten that decision and we had got comfortable in life and now here we are 3 years into our marriage and we are right where we didn't want to be raising a family.

So we use that kind of as an opening example and it didn't stop there.

I mean all through this process This theme this year is because when we go on walks and talks, we keep asking ourselves, are we really focusing on the truth?

Are we really studying to know what is truth?

And do we have a vital relationship with the truth, Christ Jesus, or are we starting to follow the trends?

And so we hope that as we go through the next few days together, that as we open up tonight with whether or not we are in the truth advancing steadily because 1 of the things that our adversary would like us to believe is that we can just kind of get comfortable.

Maybe just, you know, life is going good, we're just moving along, kind of even keel.

If we are not continuing to press on the upward way, if this is not intentional in, as my wife said, as we walk and talk together, which is a time that we cherish daily, If we are not pressing forward in truth, and when I say truth, I mean it in the context that he, Jesus, is the way, the truth, and the life.

If we are not moving forward in the truth, we are not status quo.

We are slipping into the trends because it's just much easier to go down the stream when we relax.

How many of you have ever been in a, you know, a raft or a canoe on a stream that's moving pretty good.

Is there a constant intentional effort if that stream is moving to be going up that stream and if you stop, what happens?

Over the next few days, we have the opportunity, all of us have the opportunity to spend more time reflecting with the Lord about whether we might be slipping in to some trends that may be taking us away.

You know, the scriptures, the Bible is full of examples of people just like us.

They lived in a different time, in a different setting, they maybe spoke a different language, had a little bit different lifestyle, but they're just like we are.

And there's many of us here tonight who really are putting our effort to really live the truth as we understand it.

But even Sometimes with that, do you think it's possible that we can still be following some kind of maybe religious trends, cultural religious trends, and not recognize it?

1 of the stories in the Bible that really struck me was the story of King Josiah.

I mean he was a godly child, a godly king, and very dedicated to live the truth as he understood it, as he was taught it, and as he was accustomed to it.

But as he grew older in the kingdom and they began to redo some of the things around the temple area, they found a hidden scroll.

Remember that, when they found the scroll?

And they brought it out and they read it and then they brought it to the king and they read it to Josiah out loud and they read the word of God, the truth as it had been written and were told in scripture that Josiah was so moved by those, by that scroll, by those scriptures, by the truth, that he actually wept, rent his clothes, and he began to pray for forgiveness because he recognized as he was hearing the Word of God that he thought he was following and understanding that they were far from what the Word was saying.

And so through that experience with that with King Josiah a new restoration of truth became part of Israel and a much more determined effort was put forth to really help the truth be seen and help the idols and all the false worships be rid from the kingdom.

And Christ as he lived his 3 and a half years of ministry, as he lived on the earth and particularly focusing on his ministry he began to so exemplify the simplicity and the power of the practical truth and it was so contrary to everything that his chosen people were supposed to be standing for that it actually created a major, well it created a huge uproar.

The people that came under conviction started coming to him.

But the people who were supposed to be leading in the truth began to despise him.

Because he presented the truth in such simplicity and such power that it was incontrovertible.

Is it possible that that can be happening in our generation today?

Now unfortunately, we don't live our experience as well as Jesus lived his experience.

But we certainly know that in our beloved church today, not just in the Christian world today, but within our church, we understand that there has been a slipping from the waypoints, the waymarks, the very basic and foundational truths.

We need to be asking ourselves, where am I in this process?

And if we're willing to do that, God will show us where we are in that process.

You know, honey, as you were sharing that, I remember the morning we were having family worship together at the table with my mother and the 2 of us.

And this thought of truth, are we living by the truth, in the power of the truth, or are we trending?

This thought of the experience that Christ had, and this was the reference found in Desire of Ages, pages 70, 71.

It said, pride and envy closed the door against the light.

It's easy for us to see that, oh yeah, that's what they did.

They had pride and envy and it closed their hearts door against the truth that was right before them that was being not only spoken but lived so different than the culture of religion of the day.

And the thought that we discussed is that it's possible for us to have that same potential, isn't it?

That pride and envy could close our hearts door to the light, to the truth.

So again as we go through this week, this weekend together, as the Holy Spirit brings something to our hearts, let's not be like they were, we were so quick to judge, oh, we wouldn't do that.

Let's be sensitive that we have that same default potential, don't we?

And we want not to let pride and envy or stubbornness, pride and stubbornness, grew into a subtle hatred of the Savior.

When we read statements like that at home, we put ourselves in there.

This is us if we do not keep a vital connection, have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We put ourselves into this recognizing because of our weakness and our failures that if we do not continue this process of connecting day by day and sometimes moment by moment.

I used to think like this, As you mentioned a moment ago, how could they actually hate Jesus with all the good that he did?

But I don't, yeah, I still, I still have those thoughts, but now Taking it a step further to transfer that to I know how that happens I know how my heart has been hardened.

I know what can cause me to turn away from the light It's not just those people out there.

It's how it can happen to me and that's why as we walk and talk we often have very, sometimes they're very deep, very often very deep, but they're also sometimes uncomfortable.

That's what I was thinking, sometimes they're very uncomfortable.

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Truth or Trending

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