We live in a world filled with doubt. Have you honestly tried to assess what is going to happen in this country given our current national climate? Does anybody know what they are doing? When are things going to get better? How are we going to make it?

Listen, if there is something that you, personally, can do about any of those things… do it. If there isn’t, quit wasting your time fretting over it. If God is in charge of what you are powerless to change, there is no point in both of you staying up all night. Allowing doubt to become a fear will paralyze your life.

Spiritual doubt is also a great hindrance in a person’s life. The Bible teaches that we can know for sure whether we are saved. Saved is a term for describing the condition of those who have been rescued from the penalty of the death sentence pronounced upon every sinning man by virtue of having surrendered all rights of governing self to a new master named Jesus.

Salvation involves a personal relationship with Christ which results in our having a whole new outlook on life and shows up in our dealings with everyone around us. This new outlook shows up immediately after the event of our salvation. We become different in our thinking, in our actions, in our desires and in our hope. And we are no longer plagued by the thought of what happens when this life ends as we are then certain of our soul’s security through our oneness with the Savior. Where He is, there will we be also.

We don’t need a birth certificate to prove that we were born. The fact that we were born is fairly obvious even to the untrained eye. When we are born again, we are not issued a certificate to verify the new birth. What certifies the new birth is not a piece of paper, but some birthmarks. Just as babies have characteristics of their parents, so, too, will baby Christians take on characteristics of their new Father.

Saved folk will immediately begin to develop friendships with and love for other saved folk. Born-again ones will cultivate a love for and dependence upon the Scriptures as an indispensable tool for daily living. And salvation will spur them on to leave sinful habits and pursuits. These are some telltale evidences that a change has happened at the core of a man.

If you are saved, you are not saved by your feelings. You are saved by faith in the facts of the Gospel. Faith that rests in the facts of the gospel gives you assurance of your salvation.

Now, I’ve written all of this to get to this question: Do you know FOR SURE that if this were your last day on earth that Heaven would be your eternal home? If your answer is no, I would like to talk to you.

Pastor Bret

1 John 5:13—These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God

 A person won’t be saved unless they want to. I can tell you how, but I can’t make you want to. I can’t make you a better Christian than you want to be. I tell you how to be a soul winner, but I can’t make you be one. I can tell you how to serve God, but I can’t make you want to. It’s all about desire.

Everyone has a desire for something. But for most it isn’t a godly desire. Our greatest problem this morning isn’t the presence of evil desire, but the absence of godly desire.

Prov. 18:1 – Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

That says that when I have enough desire, I’ll separate myself from anything that’ll keep me from that desire and then I’ll pursue it with all wisdom. Everything begins with desire. If we would endorse and embrace some godly desires and chase after God we would, no doubt, become godly.

Phil. 3:10 – That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit lives inside every born-again believer. Every saved person has the Holy Spirit, but not many experience His power.

Who receives the mighty power of the Holy Spirit? Those who are thirsty for it. Those who have a desire for it. Paul wanted to know the power of the resurrection in his daily life. Do you?

If you want to experience His power, you must yield your body and your will. When you cry out for the power of God to be on your life… God responds, “Oh, Christian, give me your body!”

Paul was a godly man because his desires were godly. He experience the power of God on his life because he yielded body and will. These things do not occur in men apart from intentionality. Press toward the mark, dear ones!

Pastor Bret