Defeating Deception

Unpacking Sonship

In the Apostle Paul's writings, the concept of sonship refers to the spiritual adoption of believers into God's family as His children through faith in Jesus Christ. This adoption transforms a person's status from being enslaved to sin, fear, or religious legalism into one of freedom, intimacy, and inheritance as a beloved heir of God. It's not about striving, working, or earning a good standing with God. It is all about but a divine act of grace, where the Holy Spirit is given to believers as a seal and witness of this new relationship, enabling them to approach God as "Father" with confidence and cry out to Him in a personal, relational way. Knowing this is a powerful key to transforming our understanding of the Christian experience.

The Hollowed-Out Church

In this generation of American Christians, God is doing both demolition and renovation to the churches we attend. Much like the seven letters to the churches in the Book of Revelation, we see how Holy Spirit is exposing what is lacking in our own local churches. Apathetic church members, disqualified leaders, false doctrines, and immoral living have been tolerated by Christians for decades. The Lord is saying, "No more!” Hollow reputations of superficially “successful” churches are in the crosshairs of Holy Spirit. He desires the reputation of Jesus to be the focus, not the reputation of churches and leaders that seem alive but are actually dead. Jesus has words for churches like this, and He calls us all to listen to Him.

Defeating Deception

In a world saturated with voices competing for our attention, we are confronted with an urgent question: how do we protect ourselves from deception in these last days? We find help in 2 Timothy chapters 3 and 4, where the Apostle Paul, writing his final letter before martyrdom, warns us about perilous times characterized by self-love, pride, and a form of godliness that denies real spiritual power. We discover that the primary gateway to deception is loving ourselves more than we love truth—a stark contrast to Jesus' first requirement for discipleship: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him daily. The antidote to deception isn't found in jumping from conference to conference or prophet to prophet, but in a radical commitment to continuing in God's Word. This message cuts through cultural compromise, addressing how the church has accommodated lies about morality, identity, and truth itself. Paul's final testimony becomes our roadmap: fighting the good fight, finishing the race, and keeping the faith by loving Christ's appearing more than anything else. This isn't about casual Christianity—it's about deception-proofing our lives through intentional, sustained immersion in biblical truth, because only those who love the truth will stand firm when the ultimate deception arrives.

What Spirit-Living Looks Like

All Christians are Holy Spirit people. In fact, if you are not a Holy Spirit person, you cannot even be a Christian. While denominations have robustly fought one another over the gifts of the Spirit, there are many powerful and clear passages in the New Testament which force us all into the same room to learn together what the Spirit of God unquestionably does for and in all true followers of Christ. Romans 8:5-14 is one such passage, and in it we discover some profoundly encouraging truth about Holy Spirit’s work within us. These are things about which we cannot argue - they are undeniable truths clearly stated in the written Word. We must learn these, live these, and agree upon these.

Chained To Money

It is interesting that when Jesus confronted people to make a full and final choice to repent, believe, and follow God, He intentionally pitted our potential love for God against the potential love for money. Jesus declared that we will not be able to faithfully serve God and live for money at the same time. He forced us to choose. This is not a challenge only for the wealthy - it is for all of us. This Truth Shot walks us through multiple Bible passages wherein a strong warning is given about the dangers of living for wealth. Ancient truth is still binding truth. We must check our hearts to see if there is generosity or greed, Kingdom or mammon, taking or releasing.