This summer my church’s young adults group is going through “The Truth Project,” a world view tour video series put out by Focus on the Family, featuring Dr. Del Tackett. It is VERY well done and every week I find it enlightening and convicting. In an effort to not just walk away and forget about it, I am going to put a summary/outline of the lessons here. Last night we watched the third lesson, so I have a little catching up to do! Here is Lesson 1:
Lesson 1 – Veritology: What is Truth?
What happens when we look on God (Isaiah 6)?
It exposes us (6:5a)
It exposes our culture (6:5b)
It turns us into a messenger (6:8-10)
This series is a systematic World View tour. Its goal is to lay a foundation, then to provide hooks and shelves for organizing information. The main point is to gaze upon the face of God in order to be fundamentally changed. We are interested in personal transformation, not completion of the material.
[Dr. Tackett teaches by asking his live-audience students important questions and then expanding on the correct answer]
Why did Jesus come into the world (John 18:33-38)?
To testify to the truth: Jesus is on the witness stand at the trial for the truth.
How does man react to the truth (2 Timothy 4:3-4)?
The Cosmic Battle: two sides, the side of truth and the side of fables.
Our culture doesn’t like the idea of “sides” because it is so “tolerant,” but there are most definitely sides. The Spirit of Truth VS. the spirit of falsehood.
Salvation is closely linked to the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), so truth is pretty important!!!
The devil’s lies are not really that cleaver, but because of our sinful nature and propensity to believe him, we think that they are.
2 Timothy 2:26 – Unregenerate man is captive to the devil’s will. This tells us how to deal with those on the other side of the Cosmic Battle: they are prisoners of war taken by the enemy that must be treated (by us) with love and care, not with arrogance.
The Antitheses between God and the devil: for every Biblical concept, the devil has an opposite idea:
God says v.s. Devil says:
Unity v.s. Division (as between man and wife)
Diversity v.s. Unification (as with homosexuality)
Roles v.s. Jealousy
Responsibility v.s. Blame
Authority v.s. Rebellion
Delegation v.s. Tyranny
“Postmodernism” really isn’t anything new. It is just the same old lies repackaged for a new generation.
What is truth? This is the most important truth for us and for our culture. Truth is:
That which propositionally affirms the reality of nature – Ravi Zacharias
Not just about philosophy…Fundamentally, truth is about who God is – Os Guinness
God’s perfect perception of reality…God is the fountainhead of truth – R.C. Sproul
Conformity to fact or reality….reliance on Scripture – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
Isaiah 44:14-20 – an idol is any lie which we believe, and any idol is a lie.
What is insanity? Loss of the proper contact with reality – believing that the lie is real and acting upon that false reality.
The ultimate source of truth is God Himself (Colossians 2:2-4)
Culture’s reference to “people of faith” – faith in WHAT? Our faith is not faith in faith or hope in hope. We are to have faith like a child, but what does that mean? It means that their trust in their mother or father overcomes their feelings and inclinations. They don’t want to jump off that diving board into that deep water; but the faith that their daddy will catch them is what conquers their fear.
Dr. Tackett’s convicting question: Do your really believe that what you believe is really real? If we really truly believed in what we say we believe, we would change the world. As it is, we go along with the culture and end up actively disbelieving (by our actions) what we passively believe [the Bible] (by our words).
Discussion Questions (from Focus on the Family):
How does one's concept of truth affect or determine one's concept of faith?
What is the key point of distinction between the biblical concept of truth and popular cultural ideas about truth?
How does our understanding of the Cosmic Battle affect the way we relate to non-believers?
How can we know what we really believe?
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