The Only Truth We Can Rely On

How do you know what you read online or see on social media is true? 

Our culture today is strewn with comments, beliefs, “statements-as-fact” from anyone and everyone. We are inundated with sources of “truth” often making it difficult to navigate what's factual versus what's not. 

There’s only one truth we can fully rely on: God’s Word. In this episode, we’ll look at why Scripture stands unshaken when everything else feels uncertain — and how you can cling to it now more than ever.  

✨ Inside this episode:

• Whether you read Scripture every day or it’s been a while since you last opened your Bible, this episode will encourage you to dive back in.

📖 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7.

Transcript

0:00

Hi. Welcome back to the Christ Gives Hope Podcast. If you're new here, we're happy to have you. Thanks for joining now, more than ever, as Christians, the living active word of God, the Bible is truly the one source we can read today and be certain of. It's the only thing we can be sure of. It's the only thing we can read and know with certainty to be true. It's the only thing we can say to ourselves While we are reading, while we are studying. I agree with everything being said here, and this is heavy. My heart is heavy As a nation, we are grieving. I am the violence that has endured these past few weeks across our nation. It's horrific. It's unfathomable. I'm at a loss for words to accurately convey this. It's grief hanger questioning, calling out to the Lord in so many prayers. If you watched any news lately, opened up any social media platform, you're inundated with posts, comments, articles, videos, you name it. All written with like this edge of truth to it. The point today is not to get into any of the weeds of any of that, but something has ignited within me that I can't quite put into words yet, other than this deep desire to make the love of Christ known to those who desperately need to see it, to feel it, to know it, to experience it personally for themselves, and it starts. With God's word. It really does. It starts with the word of God, the Bible. This episode, it's a little different, but if you're new here, this Christ Gives Hope Podcast. It's all about you. We aim to bring you Christ healing love during the hard, the crises, the grief, the difficult life challenges that you may be facing. My name is Lisa Stasik and I'm your host. I'm also a Stephen minister, and I'll share a little more about, the details of Stephen Ministry a little bit later at the end. But as I said in the beginning, now more than ever, the word of God is truly the one thing that we can be certain of, that we can stand on with assurance that we can be certain as truth. My hope and prayer for this episode is to encourage you to dive into God's word daily. Make time for Him. I promise you, it is the single best decision that you can make. And the word of God. It is living and active. We're told for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joint at a marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's Hebrews 4 Verse 12, the word of God. It speaks to your situation. It really does. It can guide you and it will if you let it. This is a plea. Please seek Him out. Spend time in His word on your own. Make time for Him. Your creator, who holds all time in His hand. Anyway, make time for Him. Read your Bible. If you don't have one, check with your local church, or you can download the Bible on your phone. It's the you version app. I personally, I love my physical Bible. I love turning the pages, highlighting, making notes of passages of scripture that jump out at me. But the phone works right to you. Either way, just get into God's word, open it up and seek Him out. And as you do your mind, your attitude, your worries, fears, anxieties will start to be transformed over time, transformed by truth and peace. You see, we either believe what his word says or we don't. We either allow God's word to lead us to shape our character, to guide our decisions, or we don't. We either allow God's word to shape our worldview, or we don't. if you find yourself right now, sucked into reading everything on the news, on social media, all these different opinions and viewpoints, take time and please put it down. Set it down and instead open up God's word. So much is being said online and with AI articles, how do we know whether an article we see is actually fact? It's hard to know. It's hard to know what to take at face value or whether it's completely true or not. And then you add in numerous comments on social media and you can quickly find yourself if you're not careful. Easily swayed by certain opinions of others, and it can be exhausting in a world and culture right now where people can say anything they want as truth and it can be like"it's their truth," right? Or it's often said, you know"what's true for you may not be true for me" or"follow your truth". No, as Christians, we need to base what is truth on God's word and His word alone. When you are in God's word every day, when you make time for Him, when you seek him out his word, it will shape your identity. How you view yourself, how you think about yourself, feel good about yourself, it will shape your worldview, how you view others, how you think of others. It will shape how you communicate and interact with those whom you see and interact with every day. All right. What if you're listening and you're not quite certain what you believe about Christianity, about God's word? If that's you, Jesus still loves you. Jesus still loves you. I think you need to hear that just because you may not be certain what you believe. If you're questioning and wrestling with your faith right now as horrific world events unfold. Jesus still loves you with a sacrificial zeal that seeks your true good and this love, this sacrificial zeal that seeks a true good of another. That is my favorite definition of love. I have yet to hear. It has absolutely transformed my perception of love and how to live it out. That definition, it's from Dr. Del Tackett from the Engagement Project. And it's absolutely profound. You have, maybe you've heard me talk about this before, but it makes this love, which we all want. It makes it about the other person and not yourself. It is truly beautifully. it's selfless. You see, love has been twisted, watered down, stolen, and redefined by Satan. Love is not love. God is love. God is love and you are still loved by God, by your savior, even if you don't know him yet. So if that is you, seek Him out. It's okay if you open up that Bible for the first time. Or if you open up that Bible and you're not certain what you believe, but just start open it up. I promise you actually, God's living active word of God does that. The peace that transcends all understanding, it will start to guard your heart and your mind. If you're listening in so certain that God does not exist. Have you read God's word lightly? Not someone else's commentary on God, not someone else's articles, views, tiktoks videos, podcasts, whatever it may be. No, but God's actual word, have you read it lately? Because it can be so tempting. So be easy to allow our opinions, our beliefs, to be swayed and shaped by the words and influence of other people. And some can certainly be good, but we need to go to the source itself. God's word, the Bible. You know, we live in a culture today surrounded by influencers, sharing their opinions, beliefs, some very good others not, but I implore you, please read God's word for yourself, not just someone else's Take on it, not just someone else's opinion on it. Open it for yourself. Go dust it off and start the best decision that you could ever possibly make. If you're listening and have a solid faith in Christ, oh, that is so awesome. I encourage you to keep reading if you already do, and if you don't have a daily routine in God's word, start one. I cannot say this enough, starting my day in the word of God. It fuels my day. I don't really quite know how to describe it, how else to describe it. It's like this peace, it settles into my day. That same peace, right? That guard your heart and your mind. It settles into my day, but try not to get sucked into the media weeds. And this is encouragement for myself as much as you listening. Try not to get sucked in, but now more than ever, just go into God's word and seek him out. God's word and the promises held in it. They will comfort you. They will help you. They will encourage you. They will lead you. They will guide you. I wanna touch on really quickly on grief. So many of us were grieving, grieving the tragedies that have horrifically transpired around us, grieving the senseless violence that is so prevalent today. If you are grieving, my heart goes out to you, and I don't often share personally here or talk in details about my specific role as a Stephen Minister. But today I just wanna share a little bit with you each. Stephen Minister, we're assigned a care receiver. And a care receiver that simply is someone who needs it, could be support, encouragement with what they're facing, a listening ear. And as Stephen Ministers, we are assigned a person, it's female to female, male to male, and they need support and it's completely confidential. and recently I was talking with my care receiver and her and I, we just cried together. Heartbroken, both of us. Sometimes we just need someone to be there, to be present, to hear us, to not judge us. I cannot say that enough. There is no judgment and honestly, we, as Stephen Ministers, we are trained really well to not judge others and this no judgment that we are trained to embody. It's of course for the care receiver, but it's also been for me. over my years serving as a Stephen minister and practicing over and over to not judge someone else, it has woven into my character beyond just Stephen Ministry. And I say that not in a way at all, like to pat myself on the back or look at me. Please don't miss what I mean here. That's not what I mean. But this idea of not judging that is biblical and it's firmly grounded in God's word. But this is just a personal example of how God's living active word, how it impacts it touches, it leads other areas of your life just as it did mine. we as Stephen Ministers, we are trained to support you without judging you. We are trained to listen with compassion. We are trained to speak the truth in love when necessary. And always respond with kindness and grace and we have God's word. And what a perfect example to follow you see when we're reading articles or news or other people's commentary. Watching other people's video clips, listening to podcasts. Even this one, you may not agree with every single part or comment, and that's okay. And this is important. I don't want you to miss this. You may not agree with every spoken word from someone else, or words you have read, written by someone else. In fact, we will never completely agree with every single last little thing someone else says or writes. we will not agree with them all the time. We won't. I love my husband more than anything, and I don't agree with everything he says all the time. I have a twin sister. How We're super close. I don't always agree with everything she says or her with me. The point is we will never, always agree with words from other people, with words from other people that we know and trust and with words from other people we stumble across on online or on social media. You see God's word though. It has to be that foundation that you and I personally can always know to be a source of truth, A source we can go to words to truly follow it's God's word, His very word. that is the one thing we can always be sure of and know to be true when we read it. A wise friend, her name is Sue Heimer. She speaks at women's conferences and she's phenomenal. I had the opportunity to meet her and hear her speak at a women's conference a few years ago, and from there I helped plan the White and Snow Women's Conference at St. Lorenz, and Sue was our first keynote speaker that we brought in. And I really got to know her leading up to that first conference and in one of our many conversations, she had this to say, and it has really stuck with me. She said this, she said, we may not always agree on every word someone else says, or writes, but we have God's word. Oh, how true that is. Especially now, I am reminded of that years later how true that is. We may not always agree. On every word someone else says or writes, but we have God's Word, and that's really where God's Word has to come in. It is the only source you and I can read and say to ourselves, I agree with what is said here. It starts with his word and truly knowing it and studying it for yourself, and I can't do that for you. the influencers you follow cannot do that for you. your parents, your friends, your spouse, your pastor cannot do that for you. You have your own choice to make. I encourage you when you want to pick up your phone and start scrolling at the latest updates and before you know what, how much time has passed instead, open your Bible. It doesn't have to be a long reading, or a long amount of time to start somewhere. Start in God's word, I promise it will be the one of the best decisions that you can possibly make for yourself. You also can seek out a Bible believing church such as St. Lorenz, if you're local to Frankenmuth, Michigan, or a Bible believing church in your area to hear God's truth. And if you have questions or want help on to make sense of the senseless, talk to a trusted friend or a pastor or a mentor. And if you're facing something personally unexpected or extremely difficult or grieving and questioning everything unfolding around the world today, or maybe you're facing a decision you need to make that seems impossible. You don't see a good outcome. Or perhaps you're facing financial difficulties or issues with your health or the health of a loved one. it is in times like these when. God's word is a beckoning to be that source of truth, our foundation to stand on. So that's just what I want to encourage you. It's okay to ask for help If you're grieving, uncertain about what lies ahead, you're not alone. You do not have to face it alone. In fact, as we discussed today, a Stephen Minister can come alongside you, can support, you, can give you that safe space to question, to share what's on your mind. And. Heart to be that steady, calm presence. And oftentimes what we see in Stephen Ministry, it's like an unburdening, and that peace will start to settle in. It will start to settle into your situation even if it has not changed. A peace will start to settle in when everything around you in the world or begging for your attention is uncertain. the peace of God's living. Active word will start to settle in. In closing, a quick word about Stephen Ministry. In all of our episodes, we aim to share the hope we have in Christ, and I wanna close by mentioning how Stephen Ministry, it can be a resource that hand, that support for you. If Stephen Ministry is something you're not familiar with, we as Stephen Ministers all about caring for you when you need it most. It's a free, confidential. Safe space for you to talk through the areas of your life that you are struggling with, and we want to be Jesus' hands and feet for you as we walk alongside you. I serve alongside many men and women in our Stephen Ministry program at St. Lorennz, and they have a heart for the Lord they are. Full of compassion and truly wish to be that steady, calm presence as you face life's challenges. If you are local to St. Lorenz in Frankenmuth, Michigan, we have a team of Stephen Ministers ready to support you. But if you're listening from elsewhere around the country, I encourage you to check with the local church. Stephen Ministry is a national Ministry with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, and chances are very good that there's a local Stephen Ministry program near you. You don't have to be a member of St. Lorenz or a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Senate to receive care from a Stephen Minister. You don't even need to have your faith all figured out to receive care from a Stephen Minister. In fact, talking with a compassionate, trustworthy Stephen Minister may be just what God has planned to help carry you through If you are feeling overwhelmed and broken right now through the cross of Jesus, God can make you whole. And the heart of Stephen Ministry is rooted in the biblical principle that Christ cares for people through people. At St. Lorenz, we have a team of Stephen Ministers ready to support you, to care for you for more information about our. Stephen Ministry program can be found at christgiveshope.org. If you're interested in Stephen Ministry for yourself or for a loved one, more information can be found at christgiveshope.org. Please take a moment to subscribe or click that follow button so you don't miss future episodes. And just a quick note, this is not medical advice if you need professional care or care from a physician that is beyond the scope of Stephen Ministry. Thank you so much for listening and God's blessing to you.