26 Aug Fake News | Part 1 “Frustration is Optional”
We hae 10 out of the 15 completed. You can view the 15 Wishes by clicking here: 15for15
You can help support a wish or help send someone to Guatemala by clicking here: Wishes and Guatemala
If you would like to sign up for the informational session on Guatemala, visit Info Central on the Weekend.
Continue to pray for the Diamond Hill Property for Woonsocket so they can have a permanent home.
Frustration is Optional
Key Verse: Colossians 1
Definition of ‘Fake News’ – false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.
We have fake news because we have too much news. We have a insatiable appetite to hear everything. We need to stop hearing everything.
Q. Do you tend to listen to everything that is being reported whether on tv or on social media? Does what you listen to frustrate you and why do you allow it to?
Three FACTS about FAKE NEWS:
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Fake News is Delicious.
Dainty morsels. It is a rumor sparked to the corruption of our hearts. We want to hear the bad things about people. When we hear someone is worse than us, we feel better about ourselves. Scripture calls this depravity of the heart.
Q. What is an example of how you have felt better about yourself because you heard news of someone who has done worse than you and why?
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Fake New is Deceitful.
…that sink deep into one’s heart. Those ‘dainty morsels’; lies get into our heart and take ownership in our hearts and deceives us into thinking we are not so bad. We are bad. Think of a child, we never have to tell a child how to disobey. The deception is that we think we are not bad.
Confirmation Bias – we accept as true the news that we agree with. Our bias is confirmed by the news item. We want it to be true because it confirms what we already believe.
Q. What news have you heard that you accepted as true (even though it may not have been) because it lined up with what you already believed as true?
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Fake News is Destructive.
What we choose to believe can kill us. We can be wrong about what we think. We should trust in God not what we ‘think’ to be true.
Q. What is an experience where you have witnessed destruction because of what someone chose to believe to be true rather than discovering the real truth? What is the danger in not trusting God for what is true?
SERIES THEME VERSE
Two dangerous phrases – ‘they say’ and ‘studies show’. There is a powerful sway on the words ‘they say’. ‘They say’ will sway you from the life Jesus wants for you. Pastor Tim gave the example of Carl Sagan and his series ‘The Cosmos’ which had a generation believing there was no God.
Q. What are some ‘they say’ and ‘studies show’ lies that you have believed and why?
WHAT IS THE ANSWER TO FAKE NEWS?
1. FAKE NEWS WON’T FRUSTRATE ME WHEN I TAKE LOTS OF TIME TO THANK GOD FOR WHAT I HAVE IN CHRIST.
Paul is writing this letter from prison. Thanking God is the key to approaching a world where there is so much negativity. We are blood bought, born again saints fo the Most High God!
Q. What is an example of where you have thanked God in hard times where it has helped you to reduce the negativity you were feeling? What truths about who God is and who you are as a child of God give you strength over all this negativity in the world?
Perspective changes everything.
2. FAKE NEWS WON’T FRUSTRATE ME WHEN I KNOW GOD’S WILL FOR MY LIFE AND FOLLOW IT IN GOD’S POWER.
Q. What, if anything, is keeping you from receiving the power of God in your life?
I CAN KNOW AND DO
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TO BE FILED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL.
- PREPARE TO FOLLOW GOD’S WILL TO PLEASE HIM.
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RECEIVE GOD’S POWER TO PERFORM GOD’S WILL.
We have the power to walk away from sin. The Bible is filled with stories of God’s power.
Q. What are some things you have found it difficult to walk away from without the power of God in your life?
3. FAKE NEWS WON’T FRUSTRATE ME WHEN I IDENTIFY MYSELF AS A MEMBER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
This world is not our home. We are strangers passing through.
BECAUSE I AM HIS THE NEWS OF THIS WORLD DOES NOT HAVE POWER OVER ME.
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER, THE LOST, WOONSOCKET AND OTHER UPCOMING CAMPUSES, THE CHURCH, THE NATION AND LEADERS AND 15 WISHES AND GUATEMALA MISSION.
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