By Pastor- Dyess Grove Baptist Church Most of us have been there. We have been told something that was not true either by accident or on purpose. We believe what we were told, then all our actions are based on the “truth” we believe, even though it is not true in reality. Our Spiritual life is no different. We have to be careful to what we listen to and to whom we listen to. If not, we start a circle that can be devastating not only to ourselves, but also to others. In order for us to act in truth, we must first see from the source how we are to behave and why we should do so. John 4:24 says “ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” This is our responsibility to ourselves. We must not use our Bibles as dust collectors, but as instruction manuals on how to live our lives. In the verse itself, it uses the word MUST. It is not a request or a suggestion, but a command. In the world we live in today, it is easy to get away from or forget this verse altogether. Everyone is telling us how to believe or how to act. Don’t get me wrong, we are not to be rude, or arrogant, but we are not to conform to this world either. It is a very thin rope we have to walk on, which goes back to where I said we have to know our Bible, not just know where it is in our house. A second verse pertaining to how we should act is found in Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” This is a pretty straightforward verse as well. Since Jesus is way, the TRUTH, and the Life we are again told to act in Truth. Once again, the only way to know the Truth is to get into the Bible. It tells us whatever we do, make sure we are doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus and to give thanks to God. How can we give thanks to God by living a lie? God is not man, so he can not lie. If we live a lie, then the truth is not in us. These previous statements open the door for so many more teachings about who the father of lies are and why we follow him. We will not get into that today. The purpose of this, is to get you to examine your life and see if it matches God’s word or not. Finally, I would like to show you the consequences of not living these two verses. We have said if you are told a lie and you believe that lie, then everything you do or say will be doing nothing but promoting that lie. This raises the question, “so what! It is my life right?” WRONG!!! It goes deeper than just your life. Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Now, this verse not only puts the responsibility of your actions on you not only for yourselves, but for others to see. It specifically says to present your bodies. Meaning others see your behavior and hear your words. If you are living, talking a lie and others hear it, then they start to believe it and the lie grows. Isn’t this what Satan wants? To spread lies and gv?>,x/>..’ In that Romans verse, it also uses the word “Holy” which means to be set apart. Look around today. Does the actions of the people on the news match up with Gods word? The simple answer is no. which means somewhere they seen someone who was not holy or set apart from the world. The person they learned the lie from learned it from someone else. The cycle continues. Good news though brothers and sisters in Christ! We can break that cycle just by worshiping God in spirit and truth, letting our actions and words be Christ like, which intern presents our total bodies as living sacrifices for God. When others see us doing this, we can turn the tide. The ripple effect can be so far out you will never know the lives you impact. Isn’t that exciting? We have a chance to live Gods word, the way He meant us to and have the desired result He intended us to have. It all starts with YOU knowing the truth. So, dust off those Bibles, open them and allow God’s Truth to settle into your life.