Blessed Assurance

This is every Christians hope!

In faith, you must believe God's word, the bible.

There is no other true testimony of eternal life.

These words speak life to those who will believe on the blood of Christ. 

In obedience to God believe.

Rebellion leads to eternity in Hell. 

Lord, Let Your word go out!  

 

 1 John 5:11-12

[11] And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John 6:44-48

[44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[46] not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life.

Hebrews 11:1-3

[1] Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. [2] For by it the people of old received their commendation. [3] By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 10:19-23

[19] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [20] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Romans 8:38-39

[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 1:5-6

[5] and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. 

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 10:3-10

[3] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. [4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 

    “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

        but a body have you prepared for me; 

    [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings

        you have taken no pleasure. 

    [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

        as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

    [8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

By The Miraculous Blood of Christ and The Authority Of Sovereign God and His Word

Salvation-Authority-Justification Redemption 

The eternity question as in where your spirit will reside forever.

There is salvation though Christ alone.

Ways of salvation as in there is none except by the blood of Christ.

The authority as in there is none but Almighty God who demanded a spotless Lamb and there was none until Christ was born and became your substitute.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah 

Colossians 2:14

[14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

1 Peter 1:8-9

[8] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, [9] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 John 3:5

[5] You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

Hebrews 10:3-10

[3] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. [4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 

    “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,

        but a body have you prepared for me; 

    [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings

        you have taken no pleasure. 

    [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,

        as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

    [8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Colossians 1:15-20

[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Romans 11:29-36

[29] For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. [30] For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, [31] so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. [32] For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

    [34] “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

        or who has been his counselor?” 

    [35] “Or who has given a gift to him

        that he might be repaid?”

    [36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Revelation 12:10-11

[10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. [11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Authority Through Submission

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8

 

PONDER THIS

How are we going to exercise kingdom authority in the world? By submission. You may think, “Submission doesn’t sound like authority.” That’s the secret. Remember, the centurion said something like this to Jesus: “I know how You operate. I know why You have authority over this disease, because I also am a man set under authority. And I say to this man, ‘Go’ and he goes, and to this man, ‘Come’ and he comes. All You need to do is to speak the word and my servant will be healed, for I know how You work.” And Jesus said: “I’ve not seen faith like this in all the land of Israel.” That centurion understood submission.

What is submission? Submission is voluntarily placing oneself under the authority of another that God may be glorified. Submission is getting under the authority God has established. When you submit yourself to some governmental authority, you’re not doing it for his or her sake; you’re doing it for Jesus’ sake. God has established authority everywhere, and He is behind all authority. You’re not submitting to some human being; you’re submitting ultimately to Almighty God.

What are some ways you have opportunity to submit? How is that challenging?

Who are the hardest people for you to submit to? Why? How can Jesus help you with godly submission?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for someone you have a hard time submitting to, then make it a point to encourage that person in some way.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do God’s Methods Still Work Today?

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” MATTHEW 28:18-20

 

PONDER THIS

If you are wondering what your purpose is or what you should do, remember that our mandate has not changed. The Lord Jesus has never withdrawn the Great Commission. It is just as powerful, just as real today as it ever has been.

Not only has our mandate not changed, but our Master has also not changed. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has as much power in the twenty-first century as He had in the first century.

The mandate has not changed; the Master has not changed; and the message has not changed. We don’t need a new and a modern gospel for a new and a modern age. The Apostle Paul didn’t have a microphone; he didn’t have electric lights; and he didn’t have a car—those are the means. But the methods have not changed: prayer, truth, Holy Spirit anointing, sharing, witnessing, soul-winning, giving, loving, sharing—those are Bible methods! They’re just as fresh today as they were two thousand years ago.

Some people say, “Men are so harsh today! People are so sinful today.” I want to tell you something: Adam was totally depraved, and you can’t get worse than that. God has never had anything but sinners to work with. It is an insult to God to say we cannot have revival.

How does it feel to know Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever?

What are some ways you have seen God work through biblical methods?

PRACTICE THIS

Partner with a friend and pray about how you could live out the Great Commission through the power of the Holy Spirit in your area.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ideas Have Consequences

The aim of our charge is love. (1 Timothy 1:5)

Victor Frankl was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau during the Second World War. As a Jewish professor of neurology and psychiatry he became world renowned for his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which sold over eight million copies.

In it he unfolds the essence of his philosophy that came to be called Logotherapy — namely, that the most fundamental human motive is to find meaning in life. He observed in the horrors of the concentration camps that man can endure almost any “how” of life, if he has a “why.” But the quote that stirred me recently was this:

I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. (“Victor Frankl at Ninety: An Interview,” in First Things, April 1995, p. 41.)

In other words, ideas have consequences — consequences that bless or destroy. People’s behavior — good and bad — does not come out of nowhere. It comes from prevailing views of reality that take root in the mind and bring forth good or evil.

One of the ways that the Bible makes plain the truth that ideas have practical consequences is by saying things like, “Whatever was written in former days was written . . . [that] we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The ideas presented in the Scriptures produce the practical consequence of hope.

Again, Paul says, “The aim of our charge is love” (1 Timothy 1:5). The imparting of ideas through a “charge” or through “instruction” produces love.

Hope and love do not come from nowhere. They grow out of ideas — views of reality — revealed in the Scriptures.

Another way the Scriptures show us that ideas have consequences is by using the word “therefore” (1,039 times in the NASB). “Therefore” means that what follows comes from somewhere. For example, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Or: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Or: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34).

If we want to live in the power of these great practical “therefores,” we must be gripped by the ideas — the views of reality — that go before them and stand under them. Ideas have consequences. So, let’s bring all our ideas under the authority of God’s word.

John Piper 

Do You Despise Dominion?

PRAY OVER THIS

“To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:25

 

PONDER THIS

Jude said the apostate rejects authority or despises dominion (1:8 KJV). What did he mean by dominion? Who or what is dominion? Look in verse 25: “To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” When apostates despise dominion, they despise the only wise God who alone has that dominion. An apostate literally hates God. Look in the last part of verse 4 in chapter 1: they “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” As a reminder, these are not deniers of God outside the church. These are deniers of God inside the church. These are people who despise dominion and sit on church pews, teach in seminaries and teach in Bible colleges. They are rebels at heart. They do not want anybody to box them in. Their battle cry is freedom. They don’t want anybody to tell them what they must believe or how they must behave.

How would you explain what it means to despise dominion?

What are some ways you might be tempted to do this? How can you guard against it?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways God exercises His dominion in the world. Make notes of ways you can submit to and praise His dominion in these areas.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prayer’s First Priority

“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches that the first priority in praying is to ask our heavenly Father to cause his name to be hallowed. In us. In the church. In the world. Everywhere.

Notice that this is a petition, a request. It is not a declaration or acclamation. It is not an expression of praise, but petition. For years I misread the Lord’s Prayer as if it began with praise: “Praise God, the Lord’s name is hallowed, revered, honored!” But it is not acclamation. It is supplication. It is a request to God that he would see to it that his own name be hallowed.

It is like another text, Matthew 9:38, where Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers into his own harvest. It never ceases to amaze me that we, we laborers, should be instructed to ask the owner of the farm, who knows the harvest better than we do, to add on more farm hands.

But isn’t this the same thing we have here in the Lord’s Prayer — Jesus is telling us to ask God, who is infinitely jealous for the honor of his own name, to see to it that his name be hallowed, which means honored, revered, exalted as supremely precious?

Well it may amaze us, but there it is. And it teaches us two things.

One is that prayer does not move God to do things he is disinclined to do. He has every intention to cause his name to be hallowed. Nothing is higher on God’s priority list. But we should ask anyway.

The other is that prayer is God’s way of bringing our priorities into line with his. God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of his great purposes.

Bring your heart into line with the jealousy of God to hallow his name, and you will pray with great effect. Let your first and all-determining prayer be for the hallowing of God’s name, and your prayers will plug into the power of God’s jealousy for his name.

John Piper 

The Message of Creation

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:22–23)

It would be a great folly and a great tragedy if a man loved his wedding ring more than he loved his bride. But that is what this passage says has happened.

Human beings have fallen in love with the echo of God’s excellence in creation, and lost the ability to hear the incomparable, original shout of love and power and glory.

The message of creation is this:

There is a great God of glory and power and generosity behind all this awesome universe; you belong to him because he made you. He is patient with you in sustaining your rebellious life. Turn and bank your hope on him and delight yourself in him, not merely his handiwork.

According to Psalm 19:1–2, day pours forth the “speech” of that message to all who will listen in the day, speaking with blindingly bright sun and blue sky and clouds and untold shapes and colors and beautiful designs of all things visible. Night pours forth the “knowledge” of the same message to all who will listen at night, speaking with great dark voids and summer moons and countless stars and strange sounds and cool breezes and northern lights.

Day and night are saying one thing: God is glorious! God is glorious! God is glorious! Turn away from the creation as your supreme satisfaction, and delight yourself in the Lord of glory.

John Piper 

Confirmation That God Exists

PRAY OVER THIS

“…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3

 

PONDER THIS

There was once a college professor who was an atheist and he loved to ridicule his students. One day, he asked his students, “Have any of you ever heard God?” Nobody answered. “Any of you ever seen God?” Nobody answered. “Have any of you ever touched God?” Nobody answered. He said, “So, there is no God.” And the class was silent until one student lifted his hand and said, “Professor, may I ask a question to the class?” He said, “All right.” He said, “Have any of you heard the professor’s brain?” Nobody answered. “Have any of you touched the professor’s brain?” Nobody answered. “Have any of you seen the professor’s brain?” Nobody answered. He said, “Then we can conclude the professor has no brain, according to his logic.”

John said, “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,” and then the Bible says if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. (See 1 John 5:9.) We are not dependent upon convincing speech, illustration, or logic to believe in God. Thank God the Holy Spirit of God confirms in our hearts that what He’s saying is true. That is the witness of God. Jesus is an eternal fact, Jesus is a physical fact, Jesus is a spiritual fact, and the Holy Spirit of God testifies unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you seen and experienced the truth about God through His Holy Spirit?

Has God ever asked you to stand for Him when others made illogical arguments against Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of specific ways the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth about God in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ministry and the Fear of Man

“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:8)

A great obstacle to serving the Lord, especially among the young, is the fear of rejection and opposition.

All kinds of thoughts enter the mind about how some people might not like the way we act or speak. People might disagree or be offended. I might make a mistake and get criticized.

The fear of man is a great hindrance to ministry.

So God says, Don’t fear, because I will be with you and I will deliver you. God’s presence and approval is more valuable than all the accolades of men. And God says that, in and through all your troubles, I will deliver you. You will triumph in the end. You will be more than a conqueror.

And the same thing is promised to all of us in Christ Jesus today:

“[God] has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6)

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

So God said to young Jeremiah, and God says to young people today whom he is calling to serve him — and to the rest of us — “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’” — or I’m too old, or I’m too anything (Jeremiah 1:7). Why?

Because your life is rooted in the unshakable, sovereign purposes of God. You have been chosen and consecrated and formed and appointed for a great purpose.

Because God’s authority, not your own, is behind your serving and your speaking.

And because God himself will be with you to deliver you in all your trials.

John Piper