This Church Believes:
You
Can Have Assurance of God’s Love!
Part 1
Sermon Notes
Saturday, October 4,
2008 & Sunday, October 5, 2008
Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor
Romans 8:14-17 NRSV
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children
of God. 15For you did not
receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a
spirit of adoption. When
we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that
very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in
fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17 NLT
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children
of God. 15So you should not
be like cowering, fearful slaves. You
should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family —
calling him “Father, dear Father.” 16For
his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s
children. 17And since we are
his children, we will share his treasures — for everything God gives to his
Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are
to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Romans 8:14-17 CEV
14 Only
those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children. 15God’s Spirit doesn’t make us
slaves who are afraid of him. Instead,
we become his children and call him our Father.
16God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17His Spirit lets us know that
together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ,
because we have suffered with him.
A.
Introduction
1.
Raise 1 Million Dollars
a. David, a cute little boy with big
brown eyes knocked on his neighbor’s door.
The man answered and the boy asked him if he would buy one of his crayon
“pictures” for 25 cents. The man asked,
“What are you going to do with the money?”
Little David replied with all earnestness, “I am raising one million
dollars to help the victims of Hurricane Ike.”
The neighbor was sorry that he laughed, and then said, “David, that’s a
lot of money. Do you expect to raise it
all by yourself?” “No,” David replied,
“my baby sister is helping me.”
b. Oh, the confidence of children! Do you have spiritual confidence? Do you trust in the Lord? Do you have the inward assurance of God’s
love?
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 reluctantly, and only because of the pressure of friends, he went
to a prayer meeting on
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.
Harriet The Spy
a. In the book HARRIET THE SPY, Harriet
is in a jam and comes to a friend for help.
She tells Harriet that to get out of the problem she will have to do two
things that she won’t like: “You’ve got
to say you’re sorry and lie.”
b. This morning I’m not going to tell you
to lie. However, if you want an
assurance of God’s love in your heart then there are two things that I have to
tell you that you may not want to hear: Some
of you are spending your time wrongly, and you need to spend more time in the activities
that are God’s “channels of love and grace.”
2.
Tuning into God’s Channels
a. Tuning into God’s Channels in some
ways is not so different from tuning in a TV show. For instance, let’s just pretend that your
favorite old show is THE BRADY BUNCH. You
could look for the show by randomly flipping through the channels and hope that
you find it. With this method you might
find your favorite old show, but probably not.
So you end up watching whatever you find to be remotely entertaining be
it EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, CLASSIC FOOTBALL, or JUDGE JOE BROWN.
b. On the other hand you could be more
deliberate. You could check TV GUIDE in
print or on the screen and find when THE BRADY BUNCH is playing. You could then plan to watch at that time and
on that day. Of course, you could also copy
the show on tape or digitally, or purchase a collection of episodes on
DVD. If you have a favorite show you
find when it’s playing and then take the steps to organize your life to see the
show. Or you have copies of it to watch
whenever you want. If only people were
this dedicated to tuning in God’s Channels!
No one finds assurance without desiring it and committing to finding
it. You must want it. This is the first step.
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:
i.
Bible. If
you want to know God and God’s love, then you need to read and study each day
from God’s book. It would, also, be wise
to get involved in some weekly study group here at Church. In the Bible you find God’s will and God’s
love.
ii.
Worship.
Worship is the big weekly gathering of God’s people. You and I need to gather to praise God, seek
direction for our lives, and give support to our fellow believers. Any believer deliberately staying away from
worship is missing out on a lot. In
addition, you need to have your family and personal worship times. Begin and end each day praising God, and I
guarantee you will feel closer to our Father in Heaven.
iii.
Prayer.
Prayer is our way of communicating with God. And it is God’s way of communicating with
us. A person who prays daily is in touch
with God.
iv.
Lord’s Supper.
Jesus asked us to do Holy Communion in remembrance of Him and His
love. He promised to touch us in a
special way when we partake of this “meal” that reminds us of His sacrifice of
love by which we are saved.
c.
John Wesley, also, felt that fasting
and abstinence, if done for a
spiritual purpose, could be channels of God’s love. Spending time apart and not eating for a
period of time, and thus focusing upon God is certainly a way to open your
heart to God’s Spirit. And abstaining
from things either because they could hurt or for discipline’s sake coupled
with prayer can be a means of grace. As
Christians we are called to examine our lives.
If there is a food, a substance, or activity that keeps us from being
the person God made us to be, that causes us to hurt others, that claims our
loyalty above family or God then we need to heed the call to stop and abstain
from that particular thing.
2. Family Commotions
a. A
Sunday School teacher asked the boys and girls:
“What does your family do together to grow as Christians?” Our little friend Billy immediately answered,
“After supper each night we have family commotions.” Now Billy meant that he and his parents had
family devotions each evening.
b.
The question is, “What are you doing to tune into God?” If you want assurance of God’s love, then you
have to take part in God’s Ordinances.
Are you faithful in daily Bible study, prayer, and the praise of
God? Do you attend our public worship
service every week? Are you here for the
sacrament of the Lord’s Supper? These
are the places where God has promised to meet you.
3. Today’s Scripture: Romans 8:16
a.
This is what today’s Scripture lesson tells us. 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)
b.
Plug into God’s Spiritual Channels and you will find the
assurance of God’s love.
D.
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. And next Sunday I will talk about the
importance of being a daily Bible reader.
2. If
you do these things, you will have assurance of God’s love!
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.
Romans 8:14-17 NRSV
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children
of God. 15For you did not
receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a
spirit of adoption. When
we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that
very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in
fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:14-17 NLT
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children
of God. 15So you should not
be like cowering, fearful slaves. You
should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family —
calling him “Father, dear Father.” 16For
his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s
children. 17And since we are
his children, we will share his treasures — for everything God gives to his
Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are
to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Romans 8:14-17 CEV
14
Only those people who are led by
God’s Spirit are his children. 15God’s
Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him
our Father. 16God’s Spirit
makes us sure that we are his children. 17His
Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has
promised. We will also share in the
glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.