Sermon Transcript — October 5, 2004
Today, I want to talk to our young people, today, about a value, a value that you have to fight to uphold on so many battle fronts, similar to why this nation and this world is experiencing as we battle terrorism. There is not one front that all the warriors go to and fight, is it? It's all over the world. It pops up here, it pops up there. It pops up everywhere. This battle front is on many sides of our young people today.
This value is a value that our society says it treasures. It treasures and it pursues with all its might, but in too many ways it supports and encourages just the opposite. This value will form the backbone of every fabric of society in the millennium and we are so thankful for that as it impacts and will impact every facet of every conversation that takes place as the millennium progresses.
What's the value and what's the topic for today? A very simple one, a very basic one. It's one that most all of us were taught to value from a very young age. Our parents drill it into us. What is it? Honesty. Honesty, truthfulness. And by extension living the truth, not only speaking the truth and being honest with one another, but we have a way of life, a truth that we understand and do we live that truth that we know and understand?
The title is simply: "The Truth: Speak It and Live It."
How do we measure up on all fronts, young people? How do you measure up on all the fronts that you fight in keeping the truth, in speaking the truth in being honest. Would you consider yourself an honest person at home with your parents? At church? When you're at school? Are you honest through and through? Everything that comes out of your mouth, is it the truth? Is it honest on every front? How do we measure up? You know, you know how you measure up.
I know how I measure up. I know those short comings that I've had. Our society is constantly trying to figure out what is the truth. Scott Peterson trial. Any of you follow that, I've seen a little bit of that on Fox news just day after day. What's going on? Did he murder his wife? Was it some kind of an elaborate set up? The world is fascinated by it. We want to know, did he do it? Did he commit that crime?
What about with the Swift vote, Veterans for Truth? You know, did Presidential candidate Kerry, was he actually he hero? Did he come out of nowhere and pull that person up out of the water and save that person in the middle of enemy fire? Or were there boats all around and the firing had stopped and well he just happened to be the guy in the boat closest there and he just picked the person up and then later, self inflicted a wound? You know, we want to know, people want to know. They want to know what is the truth?
What when on behind the scenes with that fraudulent letter attacking Bush's service in the military. You know, how did that happen? What happened? Who caused that? Who let that go through all the way up to where that got on the news? What about his National Guard Service? Did he really get his service hours in or not? You know, how come he missed that physical? All these kinds of things. What is the truth? Where is the truth? And as the truth is being sought, the stint is in.
There's a TV show called Spin City . I believe it's the mayor's office. How can we spin this to make this work for us? The democrats, as we go through all these things, and many of you have followed what's going on in the Presidential elections, the Democrats have their spin, Republicans have their spin as they push their agendas. And we all expect that, don't we?
Then what about the commercial advertisements that we see on TV, it's almost laughable. The, what's the one? The <inaudible> 7,000. I lost forty pounds in four weeks and I look and feel like a new man. I didn't even change my diet! I should've said that in a Canadianite, Mark Shivers is here, I love 40 pounds in four weeks. You look at the whole situation. We know that it didn't happen. And most of these times when you really look at the pictures, you see that they hunch their shoulders over and they stick their guts out as far as they can and then they suck it. I guess it does look like they lost 30 pounds. I can do that. I don't know if any of you have practiced that as well, but it is something we can do. We can make it, I look great, look at me. It's the kind of thing we see on TV day in and day out.
What about that new drug out? I'll pick one that is not even a drug. It's like Praxis 674. Look at what it can do. It can make you the greatest person you've ever been and you'll have new vigor, youth, vitality. You'll do this and what do they say at the end? In rare cases, it's been known to cause dizziness, headache, vomiting, nausea, internal bleeding and possibly death. You know, it's the way it is, it's what we expect to see.
I had a situation back when I lived in East Texas , it was back in early-mid-90s. A fellow came up to me and said, Andy I'd like to tell you about a wonderful new business opportunity. It's something that many families have taken on and really have done well. It will help connect you with other people and yet bring in extra added income into your home and do a tremendous service to others, and he said I'd like to sit down and meet with you for a little while, we'll discuss this. We sat, he came to my home, and we sat down, we discussed it, I don't for forty-five minutes until we got to what he was talking about. Amway. Those of you that are, know what Amway is, but they don't say it's Amway until forty five minutes into it. Well, tell it's Amway upfront; I don't want Amway.
Not too long after that these three conversations that I had about Amway happened within the space of about three months, another fellow, same kind of thing. Andy, I've got a wonderful opportunity I'd like to discuss with you. Oh, it's Amway, no thanks. And it was. The other one was I was at the optometrist and those of you that have been to the optometrist know the kind of experience that it is, especially when they're examining your eyes and they're back and then they start to move in close and I get this incredible to just bust out laughing. I've done that several times. He's moving in and he starts talking to me about, have you considered an opportunity for your family. Right there in my face. It's every where. We know that the deceit and the trickery to try to get us to try to be bought into something as things go along.
One last one that I'd like recently, maybe you've seen this one. The Saturn commercial. Saturn is known for being up front, straight forward with their approach. You remember the one where he's there with a sales agent, the potential buyer and they pretty much discuss everything as they're right at the point of actually getting down to the paperwork, so the sales agent has told him everything about the car and what the cost was and everything, he says, okay, you know, are you in the position, let's go back and write this up and the fellow says, yes, what's the catch? What do you mean, the salesperson, there is no, there is no catch, this is what the cost is. Yes, yes, yes, but what's the catch and he continues. He says it several times and you know he's just not hearing him because he knows his guard has to be up; there has to be a catch. There has to be a catch to what is being said.
So we in society constantly have to have our guards up or we're going to be taken advantage of. Lies permeate society. Some would say little lies, we know those basic lies that start very soon with Christmas, you know, anybody as they get a little bit older they begin to realize that that guy that's dressed up in the mall there is no way he's going to get to everybody and also get down that chimney and then get back up again. We finally realized that, but the lies are told initially. The easter bunny, the tooth fairy.
Planning a surprise party. Is there anything wrong with planning a surprise party? No, but what if we use deceit with our mate that we're planning that surprise party for, just a little bit of, you know, it's for a good cause, so I can actually lie about it in order to create the surprise that we want to have. Is that acceptable? How do you like my outfit? It looks great. Great. Yes, I love it. Those kinds of things, making up excuses for not getting together with someone when actually we really just don't want to get together with that person. Being truthful, being honest in every aspect of our lives.
Saying no it didn't bother me, when it really did bother us. Those are what some would consider little white lies, little lies so we don't hurt another person's feelings. Will that take place in the millennium. Should that take place with God's people now? Skimming on time cards, skimming on our taxes, skimming on tithes. Those of us that are involved in business and sales know how easy it is to shave the truth and how the pressure is constant to shave the truth. Let's turn to Isaiah 59 to begin today. The truth, living it and speaking it. Mr. Rhodes quoted from a portion of this passage. Isaiah 59, we'll start in verse 1.
Isaiah 59:1 . "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity..."
Notice this...
Verse 3-7 . "...Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. 4 No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths."
Then notice verse 8.
Verse 8. "The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways."
When justice isn't performed, the truth isn't upheld. And we see so many situations even in our nation here, which is known for having justice, we see so much injustice going on day in and out across the spectrum.
Verse 8 . "They way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths..."
That's what a lie does, doesn't it? Instead of going down the straight and narrow as we lie, as we shave the truth, the path becomes crooked and it becomes difficult to navigate through that. And I ask our young people are you setting up for yourselves some crooked paths right now? Are you having some difficulty navigating through that because of those crooked paths of not telling the truth. Notice this and this is a promise, a promise to you and me...
Verse 8 . "Whoever takes that way shall not know peace."
When we do shave the truth, do we know peace? We don't know peace, do we? We feel the conflict within us.
Verse 8. "Whoever takes that way shall not know peace."
Verse 12 . " For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them..."
As Mr. Rhodes said.
Verse 13 . "In transgressing and lying against the LORD, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
What happens?
Verse 14 . "Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off..."
What is right? the righteous way?
Verse 14. "... For truth is fallen in the street."
Well, what happens to what gets thrown in the street? It gets trampled on. Truth is fallen in the street.
Verse 15. " So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey."
He who departs from evil in our society makes himself a prey. Do you see that? Do you see that in school, young people, as you stand up for something that is right and true, you become afraid, don't you? You become afraid for others to pick at you, oh, look at goody-two-shoes, you know, this and that, but that kind of thing is pushed on because it's not cool to stand for what is right and what is true in every aspect.
I don't know if any of you have ever seen one of the best shows on television, "Survivor." It's a horrible example of what our society has become. What, for those of you that have seen it, what does Survivor teach? It teaches that in order to survive you've got to lie, you've got to be deceitful, you've got to use trickery and pretend that you're with this person, when you actually want to vote against that person and if you can navigate your way, that crooked path, you can win a million dollars? What kind of a statement is that show making to our society? The crooked way is the way to go? No, they don't know peace. They don't know peace.
I want to briefly, as we turn, if we could to Isaiah 29, I want to briefly touch on another aspect of lying, one that's been mentioned here. I'd like to go into just a little bit more detail about it. It's hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is simply living a lie. Young people and old, all of us can fall into hypocrisy. We basically know how we need to come and act in church with the brethren, with the church. We know how to behave. We know how to handle ourselves in such a way that we're looked upon in a positive light, but God is the one who is watching, isn't he?
How do we live when no one is watching? You know one of my oldest daughter's friends, my oldest daughter was sick and wasn't going to be able to go to church and she's fairly close with several of her friends, they're very academically minded, really try to do their best academically and they have a very difficult level of work that they're giving these sophomores, but here she had gotten sick and just wasn't in the position to go to church, coughing and hacking and she would infect a multitude, so we said, stay home, Stacey, but what ended up happening as she talked with one of her friends on Friday and she said, you know, you've got to get this bug collection done or you've got to get this done and she told Stacey, you're going to have to work all weekend and Stacey was behind on it and would really have to do a lot to get done, and she told Stacey, well, just work on it tomorrow. And Stacey said, well, tomorrow is the Sabbath, I can't work on the Sabbath and she said, your parents are gone, they're not going to know, you know, what's the big deal? You know, what is the big deal? She knew what the big deal was because hypocrisy would've been to give us one impression and then God, the one who truly judges. God would know what was going on.
Isaiah 29:13. "Therefore the LORD said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips..."
And again we've got to ask ourselves, do we do this?
Verse 13. "...But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men..."
Not by the commandment of God.
Verse 14-15. "Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden." 15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?"
Surely you have things turned around. God knows. God knows and we know what we're doing. Do we serve God wholly? Do we hide things in the dark, thinking that nobody is going to really know. We make a crooked path. If you go down this path, justice is turned back, righteousness stands afar off. Truth falls in the street. Is truth falling in the street in your life? You know, we can become good at deception. Not just, you know, it's just slight deception. Maybe not telling the whole truth like the child that says, well Johnny came up and hit me right on the head, well, it didn't necessarily tell the story that he thumped four times in the back right before.
We know how those kinds of things go. Not telling the whole truth, omissions. Not really telling everything. Not speaking up about something that we know to be true because they might make us uncomfortable when it's the right thing to do. Sometimes being silent is being disobedient. And silent is being also dishonest. Let's turn now to four scriptures. Let's first go to Jeremiah. I'd like to briefly take a look at four scriptures, millennial scriptures that show a different time is coming. And notice these words, these certain terms that are connected with one another.
Jeremiah 33 we'll just read this one verse, it talks about what about what's going to happen to Jerusalem and ultimately to people as times goes forward.
Jeremiah 33:6 . "Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth."
Where truth is peace can occur because it's a straight path, it's not a crooked path. It's one that we can relax, we can have peace. He said he's going to bring that to Jerusalem . He's ultimately going to bring that to the world. Let's continue by looking at Zechariah 8. Zechariah 8 is a millennial chapter that we often turn to during these days. Zechariah 8, we'll read verses 7 and 8. Zechariah 8 verses 7 and 8, just one book before Malachi.
Zechariah 8:7-8. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east And from the land of the west; 8 I will bring them back, And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem . They shall be My people And I will be their God, In truth and righteousness.'"
We have a God that is coming, Jesus Christ, that is returning here and he will set forth truth and what is right and that will permeate all of society. Notice down now in verse 16.
Verse 16. "These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace."
They go together. Truth, what is true? What is honest? Every fabric of society, every facet.
Verse 16 . "...Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; 17 Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; And do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate," Says the LORD."
We're coming upon a time when truth will again be valued, deceit will be noted and will not be tolerated. What will that cause to see truth permeate every facet of society? Let's turn if we could over to Zephaniah 3. You know, lies prevent peace. It prevents peace between people; it prevents inner peace. I don't know if any of you saw the movie based on the true story called "Catch Me if You Can," Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks was the fellow who was after him, but it's the story of a person, a very talented person, a very ambitious person, a very resourceful person who was able to pull off a disguise as an airline pilot and serve as an airline pilot with no training for several months. He was an attorney, he was also, I believe an emergency room doctor, and I believe a senior doctor that others came to for guidance and he was also an expert counterfeiter.
Tremendous success, but as you see the movie, with all the success that he had, he did not have peace and he did not have peace until he came square. He came square and said, okay, this is what I've done and I'm going to turn my life around. He did enjoy the lavish life that he had before because he had peace because he was finally truthful with himself. Let's look at Zephaniah 3:5. Zephaniah 3:5 we see a promise about God, an aspect of God that we can take to the bank. And I am so thankful for this.
Zephaniah 3:5 . "The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, But the unjust knows no shame."
Verse 11 . "In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds In which you transgress against Me; For then I will take away from your midst Those who rejoice in your pride, And you shall no longer be haughty In My holy mountain."
Then notice verses 12 and 13. A different type of people, a different way of life.
Verse 12 . " I will leave in your midst A meek and humble people, And they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
Why can they trust in the name of the Lord? Because God is truth. Every aspect of his way is truth. What he says stands.
Verse 13. "The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness And speak no lies, Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; For they shall feed their flocks and lie down, And no one shall make them afraid."
What will that be like? With our guard up in society it is hard for me to imagine that, to imagine a time when we can all begin to let our guards down, when there will be truth in every aspect of society, when there will be the peace that results. I have to tell you a little story about a situation that happened with my youngest daughter and I did receive permission from her to tell this story, so I just want to make that's clear, Christy, you did give me permission to tell this, she's seven.
About three or four weeks ago we were making a circuit doing the lower Mississippi to the Covington circuit and Christy and Stacey were sitting in the back seat and Christy had one of those balloons, those ones that they make the animals with, you know the long balloon, it's about this long, but a lot of the air had come out, so you know, Christy is sitting in the car, we're talking, Stacey is getting her early morning nap in as we get up pretty early to head up to Laurel. Christy had the balloon and was just kind of flopping it around, you know, just having a good time flopping it around, but every now and then it would kind of get away from her, whap, she'd hit Stacey upside the head. And then she, just not thinking, whap, hit Stacey again.
We told Christy, Christy, you need to be careful. Now you need to be very careful. Well, it was an accident, I know it was accident, but you've had several accidents and Stacey's trying to get a little sleep in here and it's a rude wake-up for her every time, I didn't go that much detail, but anyway, I told her don't do this Christy and sure enough she obeyed us, but then about ten minutes later, she forgot and there came again a whack! hit Stacey in the face and then I tried to abide by the parenting technique that Mr. Gordon talked about. I didn't go with the, I told you to stop, you know the flailing hands back and forth. I did not use that method, but we said, when we get back home after services you're going to receive a spanking.
So we went all the way up to Laurel and had a good service then we make the two and half hour trip back to Covington, went all the way back to Covington and then we went out for dinner and then that night the sun set and we were driving home, usually when the sun sets and we're driving home we turn on Frank Sinatra and sing Frank Sinatra until we get home. Had a great time and then we finally walked in the door, and of course, Mr. Gordon was talking about consistency. Andy and Lisa completely forgot about what they had said they were going to have to do to their little daughter and Christy came up to her Mommy. Mommy, can I get my spanking now because my brain is hurting me. What are you talking about Christy? Well it was she knew what was the right thing to be done and it was troubling her mind.
My parents have forgotten about this, you know, here we go, I might be all right here, but she knew the right thing to do was to get it done so she could have peace, so what did we do? Well, Christy so we're so thankful that you told us you're not going to get your spanking. Nope. She got her spanking. She got a lot of love and she got a lot of praise and she had peace. That's a small little example, but think of the times in your life that's happened, when it's eating you and is there something that's eating you right now that you know is not right in your life and are you taking care of it so you can have that peace?
Truth, speaking the truth, not omitting the truth gives us peace, the peace that the entire society will begin to experience as the millennium progresses. It is so nice to be able to come clean on something because we can take that deep breath and say, ah! and relax. Let's turn to Isaiah 32. We see these terms again mentioned, truth I don't believe is mentioned in this passage, but we see justice, righteousness discussed again. They all go hand-in-hand. All of them have to be present to have this package of relaxation of that, that awe feeling, of feeling we're having some peace.
Isaiah 32:15. "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high..."
And this was a part of the message that was discussed on the "Garden to Garden" sermon. It says...
Verse 15. "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest. 16 Then justice..."
Justice, executing properly what is right and true.
Verse 16-17 . "Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
Quietness and assurance forever. Where truth, where righteousness, where justice, where those things rule, peace follows. Trust will be built, relationships can be strengthened. You know, you think now, those folks that you have that very close bond with in this life, why is that? It's because there is trust there. There is trust there because the truth is upheld in your relationship. If we have truth in every aspect, we can begin to build a bond. We know as Mr. Rhodes talked about that we are ambassadors of Christ. We are representing that coming time, that coming time where truth and justice will rule. It's a different time, a different society in which we don't live now. Again, I ask you, do your friends at school see that ambassador in you? Do they see truth through and through, not only in what you say and how you act with them, but do they see it in your life as you live your life.
When your friends ask, well, let's go out, it's Friday night, let's go do something. What do you say? Well I can't go out because my parents won't let me. Is that the truth when you know what you believe? The reason why you're not going out on Friday night is because you know that's not the truth, that's not the way to go, that is contrary to what God teaches, so why do we say, my parents won't let me. Some of those little things, do you tell the truth in every aspect? Friends in the church, teachers, parents, do they see that truth coming out in everything that you say and do?
Billy Joel sang a song, for those of you who are like me, and are lost in the 70s, he sang a song.
Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.
And we know those relationships that are strong, that are bonded, they're there because honesty is at the core. Give those people that you interact with a taste of the millennium. A taste of that time where truth reigns. Give them a taste of that in every interaction that you have with them, but not only that, but also by demonstrating your love of the truth. Do you love the truth? I know many of you out there as the Feast video talked about that are living the truth. You're standing up for what is right and what is just at school. They know why you don't go and play basketball games and play on the Friday night games in football. Why you're not in the marching band on Friday night. They know why you're not this art exhibition or this or that, whatever, all of the things that happen in school and other places on Friday nights.
The little league games in the summer. The big tournaments that happen on Saturdays. It was always frustrating for me. We got ready for the big tournament. Well the big tournament we played games during the week, but the big tournament was on Saturday. They know why you don't do that because you live the truth. You know the truth and you live it, and when you live it, you're being an ambassador and God is pleased and we are pleased. Keep doing that. Don't let those little lies, don't let those little aspects of falsehood sneak in there.
We've got to represent this kingdom that's coming. We've got represent this millennium of truth that's ahead of us. Let's look at Ephesians 4. We see a very simple statement one that most of us know quite well. We are so proud of our young people who speak the truth and live the truth. Ephesians 4:14. We see another element that sometimes we miss out on. Some, we hit the truth, and the truth is the truth and we forget that other element that needs to be there. I'm going to ram it down their throats, that truth. That's obviously not God's way. Ephesians 4:14.
Ephesians 4:14 . "...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting."
That's what we live in. That's the society in which we reside.
Verse 15. "But, speaking the truth in love..."
With a gentle love, with a concern for them. By doing that...
Verse 15. "...may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ."
We know in John 14:6 Jesus Christ said...
John 14:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
We are so thankful for his example and we are so thankful that we have him to go through him, to have a relationship with our Father. I'd like to read a poem as we move towards that latter part of the message. It's taken from, it's called "The Question." It's taken from "The Book of Virtues for Young People. The subtitle says, look for honesty in yourself before you seek it in your neighbors.
Were the world as good as you
Not an atom better
Were it just as pure and true
Just and pure and true as you
Just as strong in faith and quirks
Just as free in faith and works
Just as free from crafty quirks
All extortion, all deceit
Schemes its neighbors to defeat
Schemes its neighbors to defraud
Schemes some culprit to applaud
Would this world be better
If the whole world followed you
Followed to the letter
Would it be a nobler world
All deceit and falsehood hurled
From it all together
Malice, selfishness, and lust
Banished from beneath the crust
Covering human hearts from view
Tell me if it followed you
Would the world be better?
For our final scripture, let's turn to Zechariah 8. There's one more passage that I'd like to read and as we project forward to the millennium. It all starts as Christ returns to Jerusalem . The way, the truth, the light as he returns to Jerusalem and begins to execute truth. Will truth immediately take over the entire world? No, we know that it's going to take a while, but it's going to start at Jerusalem . The people, the remnant are going to be gathered, truth will begin to permeate that. Nations will come up to Jerusalem and want to know what's going on here and over time, the course of a thousand years, that truth will continue to permeate throughout all of society. Let's look in Zechariah 8.
Zechariah 8:2 . "I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; With great fervor I am zealous for her."
And he is.
Verse 3. "Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion , And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem . Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth ."
In every aspect. In what its people say, in what it goes by, in the laws and the rules that are executed there. It will be called the city of truth.
Verse 3. "The Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain ."
Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth. As ambassadors as that coming capital city, all of us had better be about the business of representing that future city. Are we doing that now? Commit yourself to complete honesty, to truthfulness in every aspect, living that way of truth. Get rid of deceit and hypocrisy. And if you need to come clean, if you have something, come clean on it. Get it taken care of and have that peace. Walk that straight path, get rid of that crooked path that's there. Do you want to experience peace? True Godly peace now? If you want to, don't play games with God. Embrace honesty and truth with every fiber of your being, with every fiber of your being and experience a foretaste of an even greater global truth and millennial peace that will come.
Yes, but what's the catch? There is not catch, really.