This Church Believes:
You Can Have Assurance of
God’s Love!
Part 2
Sermon Notes: October 12, 2008
Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor
Psalm 119:105 NRSV
105Your
word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Galatians 4:4-7 NRSV
4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5in order to redeem those
who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6And because you are children, God
has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So
you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir,
through God.
A. Introduction
1.
Bragging Grandmas
a. The Women’s Circle was meeting and
they began to talk and brag about their grandchildren’s accomplishments. One was a football star at a nearby
college. One grandson was a successful
businessman. A granddaughter was a
straight “A” student in her high school and had been offered a scholarship to a
prestigious college. “Poor Vera,” some
thought, “her kids postponed having their own children for so long that her
grandchildren are so young, just babies.
What can she brag about them?”
One less than charitable woman verbalized the thoughts: “Well Vera your grandkids are so young I
guess you don’t have much to say.” “On
the contrary,” Vera replied, “the neurosurgeon is two and the physicist just
turned one. And everyday they get
smarter and smarter.”
b. Vera had every confidence that her
grandchildren would amount to something!
How’s your confidence concerning God, and God’s love for you? Do you have inward assurance?
2.
John Wesley
a. Most of us as adults struggle to find
spiritual assurance. John Wesley the
founder of Methodism did. He was filled
with doubts about himself and the Christian faith. He struggled to trust in God’s goodness. He strived to be a perfect Christian and to
win God’s love. He failed in this
effort. For many years he did not have
that inward assurance he longed for.
Then one day he went to a prayer meeting. The Bible and the words of Martin Luther were
read and Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed!” And of that day he said this: “I did trust Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation. And an assurance was given me that He had
taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
b. Wesley found assurance! It made all the difference in his life. He moved from a doubt filled struggling priest
to become the great Apostle to
B. You must want it.
1. Now
it’s a convertible!
a. Fred was attending a local community
college, and he was in love with an attractive co-ed named Tiffany! However, the young woman did not seem to
reciprocate his feelings. Repeatedly
Fred asked her for a date, and over and over again she said, “No, thank you.” Fred’s buddies teased him unmercifully about
his failures in the romance department. Then
one day Fred's face was one enormous grin!
“Tiffany finally went out with
me!” Fred bragged to his friends Tom and Andrew. Tom doubted Fred. Andrew stated that he believed him, and asked,
“So what happened?” “Well,” Fred said, “after
class I asked her if she'd like to go out for lunch to the Lake Shore Inn. Tiffany smiled and said, ‘It's such a nice
day, and it's such a beautiful drive out to the lake. If you lower the top of your car so that I can
enjoy the view, I will go out with you.’”
Fred then said, “Well it took me thirty minutes to get that top down,
but I did it and we went to the lake!”
Tom laughed and said, “Thirty minutes to get the top down, I can take
the top down on my car in two minutes!” “Yea,” Fred responded, “but your car is a
convertible!”
b. Great is the desire of a young man to
get a date with that cute young woman.
And young fellows will do what it takes, even ripping the top off of
their car to get a date with that special lady!
2. Matthew 6:33
a. How great is your desire to have
assurance? Are you as dedicated to this
pursuit as you are to other more earthly desires? No one finds spiritual assurance without
desiring it and committing to finding it.
b. The Bible tells us to: “Seek first the
C. You must tune into God’s “Spiritual
Channels.”
1.
Ordinances of God
a. The second step to spiritual assurance
is moving from a desire to find assurance to actually tuning into God’s
Channels. Don’t be led astray by the
saying, “God can be found everywhere.”
While this is true, it is too often an excuse not to focus on God’s will
for your life. For your benefit and
spiritual well being God has ordained some very special places as His Channels
of Love. John Wesley called these the
“Ordinances of God.” They are activities
where we know for sure that God promises to meet us. We still have Wesley’s list of Ordinances in
our BOOK OF DISCIPLINE.
b. These special Channels of God’s Love
are: The Holy Bible, Worship, Prayer, The Lord’s Supper, Fasting, and
Abstinence.
2.
Romans 8:16 and Galatians 4:6-7
a. Last Sunday I talked about these
Channels of God’s love. When you place
yourself in those special places where we know God’s Spirit is most manifest
then “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are
God’s children.” (Romans 8:16 NIV) And we have a steadfast assurance, because
the Bible further promises: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and
now you can call God your dear Father.
Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he
has belongs to you.” (Galatians 4:6b-7 NLT)
b. Plug into one of God’s Spiritual
Channels and you find the assurance of God’s love. Today, I lift up the importance of the Bible
as a source of daily connection to God.
D.
Most importantly you must become a daily Bible reader.
1. Noah’s
a. A
pastor was waiting to catch a bus. It
was pouring down rain and everyone was clumped together under the covered bus
stop. The pastor struck up a
conversation with a woman standing next to him.
The Reverend said, “If it keeps up like this, we’ll need an ark.” The lady said, “What’s an ark?” The pastor responded, “You mean you haven’t
heard about Noah, the big flood, and how he rescued all those animals?” “Look Mister,” she replied, “I’ve only been
in town for four days so I don’t know what’s happened here in the past.”
b.
The most important spiritual resource that people need today is
the discipline of daily Bible study.
While all of the Ordinances of God are often neglected, the one that is
too often neglected, and that would truly make a difference in people’s lives
is daily Bible reading. Daily Bible
reading is the third step to obtaining assurance. If believers were rooted in the Word, there
would be far less immature Christians.
We would have far more active Church members. We would all be out there serving Jesus, and
what a difference this would make for our world! And believers would have that calm inward
assurance of God’s love.
2. John Wanamaker’s most
profitable deal
a.
John Wanamaker became one of
b.
Are you investing your time in the Bible? What could be more important for your life
that the study of God’s word? Make Bible
reading a daily habit, and get involved in a class at Church.
3. Daniel Webster
a. Daniel Webster the statesman and
orator loved to read and learn as a boy.
He developed his faith and trust in the Lord at an early age, because he
read daily from the Bible. One night
reading from his Bible by candlelight, he accidentally set the bed sheets on
fire. He quickly put them out, and as
might be expected, young Daniel was soundly scolded by his parents. His response was this: “Mother and father, I was just in search of
light, and got more than I desired!”
b.
My friends, if you want more light than you can imagine, eternal
truths, never failing guidance, and certain assurance of God’s love, then read
your Bible. Do
it every day, and I guarantee you will have no doubt of God’s caring presence.
E.
Conclusion: Recap
1. Do you want assurance
of God’s love? Do you want to live with
more confidence? You can! Indeed you can find assurance, and here are
the steps:
a. You must want it.
b. You must tune into
God’s “Spiritual Channels.”
c. Most importantly
you must become a daily Bible reader.
2. If you do these things,
you will have assurance of God’s love!
Psalm 119:105 NRSV
105Your word is a lamp to my feet and a
light to my path.
Galatians 4:4-7 NRSV
4But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5in order to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
children. 6And
because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave but
a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
This Church Believes:
You Can Have Assurance of God’s Love!
You can find assurance of
God’s love,
and here are the
sure steps:
1. You must want it.
2. You must tune into God’s “Spiritual
Channels.”
3. Most importantly you must become a daily
Bible reader.