“How to Change Your Life from Being A Liar!”

Pastor Ernest L. Williams Sr. • June 15, 2020

Story Illustrations:


[Story about the new pastor riding the bus.]


[The low offering from a wealthy church member.]


I see dishonesty as a growing pandemic. It is too easy to lie. Why do we lie? Is it to appear to be something that we are not? Are we covering up what we really are? Maybe we do not want people to know the real us, so we lie trying to get others to believe something that is pleasing to hear. I see dishonesty in the home among children. There is even a commercial now where the first thing the daughter says to her father is, “I didn’t do it!”


I see dishonesty among college students in terms of online testing. You would not imagine what I as a college instructor must go through each week from students who want to be deceptive. This deception is the sin of Jacob who deceived his father in stealing his brother’s birthright. The Bible says, “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” And “what profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul.” That is somewhat of the statement I give my online students: ‘I had rather you fail a test honesty and succeed in life rather than you cheat on an exam and loose in life.’ And brothers and sisters you will lose in life by being dishonest even in the least of things. Even our Lord tells us to be faithful in the small matters. My brother and I, when we were growing up just could not tell our mother a lie. Even when we thought we had our words together, when she asked us what happened, we quickly told the truth. Why? We were just scared of the consequences. A story is told of one day Truth and Lie went skinny dipping. Well, Lie ran off with Truth’s clothes. But everybody in town knew that was a Lie. Truth didn’t have any clothes and had to walk home naked. And you guessed it, the town’s people said: “That ain’t nothing but the naked Truth!” 


Let me now speak about this growing tension in our nation with respect to police brutality in the African American community. What I will say will alarm many. But I want to speak the naked truth. I will be the first to say that some of what we are seeing in terms of some arrests of African Americans does seem a bit excessive. But let us not give the police any reasons to use deadly force. Some of the situations (you don’t want to hear it) that we see and actions on the part of the person who is being arrested may involve 1) resisting arrest, 2) undertone criminal activity, 3) and some just out right disrespect of authority. Side-note: Momma told me, “I will get you out of jail if you are right, but boy, if you did it, sit there until you get straight in your head.”


If we are not careful, we may be teaching our children these patterns of disrespect. If a child sees his mother disrespectful to their father, the people of the church disrespectful to elders, citizens disrespectful to governing bodies, then why should our children obey police officers? This is not a popular statement, but it is the naked truth. The Bible teaches us to be in subjection to all authority (Romans 13:1-7). This is what my wife and I teach our boys. I rather go get them from the police precinct then from the funeral home. [Funny: Pastor Brye McMillon would say, “you can’t go to the police precinct, they burnt it down too!” What kind of strange world are we living in. Folks, that kind of behavior (burning down a police precinct) is wrong too. {Uncle Mac’s chicken doodoo story}


In Proverbs 6, the writer lists seven things God hates and lying or dishonesty is three out of the seven. Psalms 101:7, God says that “A liar will not tarry in his sight.” God hates lying. If you are a liar stop lying.


[Story Illustration – The CEO that named his successor based on a plant.]


How to change from being a liar?


1.     Find out what God loves? Try the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). Also, here are 10 things God loves, in no particular order:


a.      A cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7.

b.     The world. John 3:16. (

c.      Justice. Psalm 11:7, Psalm 37:28.

d.     The righteous. Psalm 146:8

e.      Christians. I John 4:15-16; John 16:27.

f.       Non-Christians. I John 4:10-11, Romans 5:8.

g.      Those who love Him. Deuteronomy 7:9.

h.     Those who obey His commands. Deuteronomy 7:9

i.       Those who pursue godliness. Proverbs 15:9.

j.       Those who fear Him. Psalm 103:11.


2.     Seek to please God

3.     Surrender to Him because you don’t have the power to do it yourself. Gal 2:20


“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”



Conclusion


The cross of Christ can forgive and cleansed the biggest liar.

There is a fountain filled with blood,

 Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

 And sinners plunged beneath that flood

 Lose all their guilty stains:

 Lose all their guilty stains,

 Lose all their guilty stains;

 And sinners plunged beneath that flood

 Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see

 That fountain in His day;

 And there have I, though vile as he,

 Washed all my sins away:

 Washed all my sins away,

 Washed all my sins away;

 And there have I, though vile as he,

 Washed all my sins away.





Our Sermons

How do I project Jesus through me in my community?

By Pastor Ernest L. Williams, Sr. • January 20, 2023
How do I project Jesus through me in my community? How to take Jesus to the street? Tuesday, September 6, 2022 A. Be Intentional (Ephesians 4) 1. Start by telling the truth (stop lying), vs. 15. 2. Put off the old man and put on the new man, vv. 22, 24, 25. 3. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, v. 23. 4. Learn how to get angry without sinning, v. 26. 5. Stop being lazy, stealing and get a job, v. 28. 6. If you don’t have anything encouraging to say, shut up! V. 29. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” B. Be Available (Mark 5:18, 19) 1. How to take Jesus to the street? First, we must get him in the home. 2. Booker T. Washington said, “Cast down your bucket where you are!” No need to do anything extra, in the areas where you reside and work or go to school or serve, live for Christ. In Mark 5, the Lord healed a lunatic man who lived among the tombs. This man wanted to be with Jesus. “Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee” (Mk 5:19). 3. The woman at the well was available. 4. When the Lord got ready to enter into Jerusalem, Jesus told two of his disciples that they would find a colt and its ass tied. Jesus told his disciples to loose him and let him go. The colt was available. A Roman centurion, who had great faith was available. Even the rooster that crowed when Peter denied the Lord, was available. Jesus calmed the waves and the wind one day: even the winds and the sea were availability. 5. Jesus told Peter and John to go into Jerusalem and they would see a man bearing a pitcher of water. The man was available. C. Be Relevant 1. Jesus, the apostles, and the NT writers addressed issues that people were facing and could relate to. Many in our Christian circles are not reaching people because our methods, not message, are out of date. It took a pandemic to force many of our churches to use technology. 2. Why is it that many of our churches are one man shows with just one pastor that is hired by the church. We need to have an elder board with various “paid” pastors on staff to meet the growing needs of our community. Our business model in the church does not work. Here is one reason why it doesn’t work: It's not biblical! 3. Jesus came to die for sinners because that was and still is the current pandemic: sin. However, the church focuses more on the cross and little emphasis is placed on the fact that Jesus will return to receive his church. Our message, if it is to be relevant, must be balanced. Conclusion  Let us learn to pray this prayer before we leave the home: Lord provide the platform for me to let you shine through me. Lord I give my mind, my abilities, my words, and my deeds as service to you in this day. Lord, help me to be available for my spouse, family, pastor, church family, to people in my community, those on my job, school, or to a stranger that I may meet today. Father, I know that no encounter is an accident. So, Lord, help me to be intentional with my words, thoughts, and actions, that I may minister grace to the hearers and so someone will come to know the love of your Son Jesus Christ through me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Three Signs of a Joyful Spirit: Live, Give, and Forgive

By Pastor Ernest L. Williams, Sr. • January 20, 2023
The Three Signs of a Joyful Spirit: Live, Give, and Forgive Luke 6:20 – 38 September 4, 2022 Ernest L. Williams, Sr. In some translations, the word in Greek for “blessed” is translated as “happy.” Could Jesus be saying to the crowd in his sermon on the plains to be happy? (See v. 17 compared to Matthew’s sermon on the Mount, Matt 5). True joy contains living, giving, and forgiving. Illustration Proverbs on laughter. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones (Prov 17:22). A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken (Prov 15:13). All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast (Prov 15:15).  Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad (Prov 12:25). Dea. Jacque’s funnies!  Three surprises in heaven! 1. LIVE a. In verses 21 to 26, Jesus speaks to true blessings, but he also balances a happy life with warnings. 2. GIVE a. In verses 28 – 35, Jesus speaks to the nature of giving. b. A true sign of a person’s joy is seen in their giving. c. Paul speaks of allowing yourself to be defrauded in order to win souls for Christ: Luke 6:28, 29; compare with 1 Cor 6:7. i. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? d. The Golden Rule, v. 31. e. Give, looking for nothing in return, vv. 32 – 35. 3. FORGIVE a. Verses 36 – 36. b. One attribute of forgiveness is giving. Conclusion Vv. 22 – 23. We rejoice because our reward is in heaven. Job said, “my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high” (Job 16:19). Jesus told the disciples after they had returned from preaching and healing, that they should rejoice not because of what they could do, but rejoice because their names have been written in heaven. I sing because I am happy, I sing because I am free. His eyes are on the sparrow, and I know he watches over me!
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