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Victory Sermon Series: 8 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe

the big idea:

People don’t set out to build their faith on myths. But somehow falsehoods keep showing up in the way many Christians think about life and God. Their beliefs are assumed by many to be rock-solid truth - until life proves they’re not. The tragic result is often a spiritual disaster - confusion, feelings of betrayal, distrust of Scripture, and a loss of faith or anger toward both God and church.

The answer, as always, is the power of the truth - the truth of God’s Word. In this practical worship series, based on a book by Larry Osborne, we will look at 8 widely held beliefs that are both dumb (because they’re not based on God’s Word) and dangerous. Get ready to be shocked, relieved and inspired by the truth of God’s Word.

the breakdown:

June 6: Faith Can Fix Anything

The word on the street is that faith is a potent mixture of intellectual and emotional self-control what when properly harnessed can literally change outcomes through positive thinking and clear visualization. It’s what successful people tout as the key to their achievements, survivors of great tragedies cite as the source of their endurance, televangelists credit with healing power, and motivational speakers make a sweet living espousing. Unfortunately, this kind of hopeful thinking has nothing in common with what the Bible calls faith. It’s more about faith in faith than faith in God.
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 11:24-29, Luke 9:23-25
Sermon Text: Hebrews 11:32-40

June 13: Forgiving Means Forgetting

Some of us have been taught that forgiveness is pretending nothing happened—a head-in-the-sand posture that ignores the obvious. Some of us think of it as a never-ending series of second chances. Others view it as a fresh start with all the consequences and old baggage removed. Still others imagine it as the immediate and full restoration of a broken relationship, complete with the same level of trust and privileges that preceded the wrongdoing. But the goofiest idea of all is the widely held belief that genuine forgiveness means literally forgetting what happened. But there’s a problem with all these concepts. It’s not how God forgives.
Scriptures:
Sermon Text: 2 Samuel 12:13-14; Colossians 3:13

June 20: A Godly Home Guarantees Godly Kids (Father’s Day)

The myth that a godly home guarantees godly kids (and godly adults) is simply not true and finds no basis in the scriptures nor in real life experience. The myth is based primarily on the Proverb, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” The problem is, this is a proverb and not a promise from God. It’s an observation that is generally, but not always true. Those who buy into this urban myth become especially vulnerable to two things that are never part of God’s plan: unwarranted guilt or foolish pride.
Scriptures: Ephesians 6:1-4
Sermon Text: Proverbs 22:6; Ezekiel 18:20

June 27: God Has a Pre-Determined Blueprint for My Life

Many Christians believe that God has a highly detailed blueprint for their life that includes a specific, preordained job, career, house, spouse, car—and everything in between. This idea causes many people to go crazy trying to figure out what God’s specific will for them is. Some get so caught up in it that they don’t want to make any decision because they are paralyzed with fear that they will make the wrong decision. This belief confuses God’s omniscience with his divine will. There’s no question, God knows everything, down to the number of hairs on our head. But that doesn’t mean he has a plan for how many we have or that we’re in rebellion if we try to replace some of the ones that go missing. God doesn’t have a pre-determined blueprint for our life. He does, however, have a game plan for our life.
Scriptures: Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:17-18
Sermon Text: Matthew 25:14-30

July 4: God Loves the USA so We Can’t Lose

Because our nation was originally founded on scriptural principles, there’s an idea out there the USA is a Christian nation. God therefore looks at us with special favor and we’re guaranteed his blessing. It’s certainly true that many came to this country seeking religious freedom. But it’s a far stretch to claim that the USA had ever been a truly Christian nation. The truth of the scripture is that God does not favor any nation of people, but blesses his people wherever they are found around the world with the promise that he will work all things, good and bad, out for their spiritual wellbeing.
Scriptures: John 8:31-41
Sermon Text: Psalm 33:12-22

July 11: Christians Shouldn’t Judge

In a world where truth is relative the idea of judging a person by an absolute standard of right and wrong goes completely cross-grain. Many Christians get flustered and confused when others quote Jesus’ own words, “Do not judge.” The idea that Jesus forbids his followers to judge, however, is a myth. Refusing to make judgments or call sin, sin, is not what Jesus asks us to do. As we’ll see, he did so all the time. And he asks us to do the same. Refusing to do so leads to costly spiritual consequences, not only in the lives of those of us who refuse to judge, but also in the lives of those who never have their sins pointed out.
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; Matthew 18:15-20
Sermon Text: Matthew 7:1-5, 15-16

July 18: Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

How often have we heard these words, “Let your conscience be your guide.” No doubt, the acceptance of this concept is part of the reason so many people’s lives and messed up and broken. The problem is that a lot of us imagine our conscience to be a spiritual thermometer. We assume it can be placed into any situation and it will tell us the moral temperature—too hot, too cold, or just right. But that’s not how our conscience works. It’s more like the thermostat in our living room. It reflects our definition of hot and cold. We set it to the standards we choose. We determine when it kicks in and when it stays idle. Our conscience doesn’t tell us if we’re violating God’s standards. It tells us when we violating our standards. Our conscience can’t be our guide because it needs to be guided itself—by God’s Word.
Scriptures: Romans 1:18-32; Luke 19:1-10
Sermon Text: Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Corinthians 4:4-5

July 25: Dead People Go to a Better Place

What’s the first thing we hear people say when someone has died? “Oh, she’s in a better place.” The problem is, in many cases, it’s simply not true. Dead people don’t always go to a better place. That might be what we’d like to believe, but that still doesn’t make it true. The scripture clearly teaches that there is a hell. And it also teaches that many people are going to end up there. As uncomfortable a topic as this is, we need to give a clear witness to the world. Once we lose the concept of hell, the natural consequence is more than just putting us at odds with Scripture. This denial eventually devalues the cross, redefines salvation, and turns our life of faith into an extra-credit spiritual add-on. And it keeps us from sharing the truth all the people who are going to hell need to hear.
Scriptures: Isaiah 66:22-24; Revelations 20:11-15; Matthew 25:41-46
Sermon Text: Matthew 7:13-14