Catching Counterfeits: Embracing God's Absolute Truth

1. "When we get to a point in life where we can't readily tell the difference between what's real and what's fake, we're living in a world where the reality of everything we see is fake. Through some medium, now has to be questioned. Everything. What's real and what's fake. It's hard to be sure anymore. But you know, spiritually, this is nothing new. The devil has been playing with what's real from the beginning of mankind's existence. He loves to blur the lines between reality and fantasy." [03:45] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "What you need to know is that our adversary, our enemy, loves to make counterfeits. He loves to make copies of the things that God himself has created and put in place. And let me caution you with something. He's good at it. At times, his counterfeits can seem all but indistinguishable from the real thing that God has crafted. His goal is to confuse what's real with what's fantasy. What is lies, what's copies, and what's deception. But if you look closely enough, you'll be able to tell that something's a little bit off." [05:21] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "God in his infinite glory has decided that he's going to create man after he bursts, all the rest of creation into existence just by the word of his mouth. He forms man out of the dust of the ground, and he breathes the breath of life into his nostrils, and he places him in the garden to take care of it. Now, he's provided everything that man needs in this paradise on earth. I mean, it is beyond what we can even fathom or imagine the beauty of this garden and the resources that were made available to man at the beginning of creation." [08:00] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "What I want you to see is that the very first thing that the devil takes from God and counterfeits is truth. God, from the beginning, has given to us through his creation, and really even more so through his word, is the absolute truth. The absolute truth is a statement that is true at all times and in all places, no matter the circumstance. We see absolutes all around us. We find absolutes in nature. The best example I can give you is gravity. Gravity is an absolute. No matter how bad you may want to, you're not going to go floating away." [11:12] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "God's word is true at all times, no matter what. And this absolute truth contains some specific elements that help us identify the as such. I want to highlight what those things are for you. So absolute truth, as it pertains to God's word, is always consistent and eternal. There is no varying with God's word. What he speaks is exactly what he purposed. So when it comes to God Almighty, the creator and sustainer of all things, there's never any, oh, I misspoke with him. There's never, I didn't mean to say that. There's never, I changed my mind." [12:50] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "There is nothing but the blood nothing will atone for your sin other than Christ's sacrifice there is no other method there is no other means there's no other God that you go through there's no amount of good work I don't care how many times you come into this building I don't care how many Bible verses you memorize I don't care how many mission trips you go on if you don't have the blood of Jesus Christ covering your life by believing upon him and submitting yourself to his lordship it doesn't matter salvation only comes by us professing Christ as our Lord and allowing him to wash over our filth with his righteous blood." [15:47] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "God's Word stands as a protection over our lives. Not to keep us from experiencing things, but to keep us in a place where our life is always enhancing and getting better. And so, when He commands no sex outside of marriage, when He commands for us not to be lovers of alcohol, when He commands not to become obsessed with money and materials and things, that's not to restrict your life, but to protect it from what He knows will only produce death within us. Him telling Adam and Eve, you can't go eat from that tree, wasn't to restrict their life, it was to protect them from death." [25:55] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Relativism sees the truth of a statement as always being relative to a particular standpoint or to a particular thing. Or perspective. We'll repeat it again for you note takers. Relativism sees the truth of a statement as always being relative to a particular standpoint or perspective. So let's simplify this a little bit. In essence, something that is true for you may not be true for me or somebody else. That's the position that relative truth holds. And like with absolute truth, this truth contains some specific elements." [27:09] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "The moment we begin to modify, we'll begin to malfunction. Because when we take God's word and we begin to add or we begin to subtract from what it was originally stated, our lives in that moment begin to operate outside of the purpose that God prepared and created us for. And it's a dangerous, dangerous thing. This counterfeit, very dangerous. But you can see the appeal. The appeal only begins to get greater and greater and greater. All these things that are absolute with God, the devil is saying isn't. All these things that are non-negotiable with God, the devil is saying isn't." [33:13] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Satan is deceiving Adam and Eve into thinking that God is holding out on them. You're not surely going to die. God just knows that when you eat of that fruit, you become like him. You'll know good from evil. Your life will explode. Explode into something far greater than what you're experiencing right now in this moment. So let me ask you, Eve, let me ask you, Adam, why would you deny yourself what you truly desire? That's not living. What kind of life is it where we have to deny ourselves the things that we want?" [35:46] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)