Strength 2026

Strength in Truth

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Truth is always under attack. Why is Christianity so often attacked in television, movies, and culture? Why have phrases like "my truth" and "living my truth" become so common? What is the difference between "my truth" and the truth?

Isaiah 59:14 (CEV)
¹⁴ Injustice is everywhere;
justice seems far away.
Truth is chased out of court;
honesty is shoved aside.

Isaiah 59:14 (AMP)
¹⁴ Justice is pushed back,
And righteous behavior stands far away;
For truth has fallen in the city square,
And integrity cannot enter.

These two translations paint the same picture: when truth is rejected, justice, righteousness, and integrity all begin to disappear.

Discussion Point #1: Why do you think truth—and especially Christianity—is so often attacked in today's culture? Can you give some examples of where justice, righteousness, and integrity are disappearing because truth is being rejected?

Truth itself is not painful. What can be painful is realizing the difference between God's truth—the ultimate truth—and the beliefs we have held onto ourselves.

Sometimes we discover that what we believed, what we were taught, or what we have always assumed doesn't line up with God's Word. That realization can be uncomfortable, but it is also where growth begins. Until we look at the truth and accept it, we cannot change our outcome and therefore do not have the ability to change our life.

2 Timothy 4:3 (AMP)
³For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold,

This is a warning that every believer needs to take seriously.

2 Timothy 4:4 (AMP)
⁴and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].

Paul warns that people will turn away from the truth and begin accepting myths and man-made ideas instead.

If we refuse God's truth because it challenges us, we become vulnerable to believing things that are not true. Anything that contradicts true biblical teaching is a lie.

Discussion Point #2: Why do you think it can be difficult for people to accept the truth when it challenges what they already believe?

People who are trained to detect counterfeit money do not spend their time studying counterfeit bills—they study the genuine article. By knowing the real thing so well, they are able to recognize what is false.

The same is true spiritually. If we want to recognize lies and deception, we must first know the truth.

Discussion Point #3: Why is it important to know the truth before trying to recognize a lie? How can studying God's truth help us recognize deception when we encounter it?

1 John 2:21-23 (AMP)
²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie [nothing false, no deception] is of the truth. ²²Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? This is the antichrist [the enemy and antagonist of Christ], the one who denies and consistently refuses to acknowledge the Father and the Son. ²³Whoever denies and repudiates the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses and acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

John 14:6 (NKJV)
⁶“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Numbers 23:19 (ESV)
¹⁹God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

God is truth. The Trinity—The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—are all truth.

The more we know God's Word, the easier it becomes to recognize anything that contradicts it.