Scripture
I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
~I John 5:13, CSB
Quote
Salvation is by GRACE through FAITH but it is GRACE [Jesus] that saves us not our faith. An atheist has faith but it is in the wrong object.
~Ya’akov
The Greek word for ‘know’ is ‘echo’ and it means to have and to hold. Adam knew Eve: He had her and held her. I’m not positive but I believe echo is at the core of the word school. It is verifiable knowledge. I have a keyboard beneath my fingers or I have an ink pen in my hand. These are things I can have and hold and I therefore know. I have complete assurance that I have a key board and a pen. Assurance of our salvation is not that simple but it is based on the same principle. We do you have? What is your core convictions: what beliefs do you hold strongly? What is in your possession at this moment? With this in mind, you are ready for John’s litmus test. Remember, there are some things about yourself that you know. I know that I do not love the world system which is Antichrist. I know definitely that I want to please Christ and I definitely want Christ to get glory. These are strong convictions that I hold to.
- Do you have a spirit of obedience: do you want to please Christ. This should be your highest goal. [2:3]
- Do you love others? This does not mean that we never encounter relational problems but does love and forgiveness win out or do you have a spirit of hate toward someone? [2:11]
- Do you fit into the world’s mold? Do you think like the world? Does it bother you for Christ to get glory? Do you love the world and the things in the world? Is your love for the world greater than your love for God and others? [2:15]
- Do you confess Christ publicly? [2:23]
- Are you persevering? Are you thinking of giving up the faith? Why do you not think of forsaking Christ? What keeps you going? If this was a flesh thing, wouldn’t you have given up already? [2:28]
- Is your hope in CHRIST and CHRIST alone? [3:3]
- What motivates you? Isn’t it the Spirit of Christ in you? [3:10-11]
- Do you have compassion on the hurting? [3:17-18]
- Do you sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? [3:24]
- Do you listen attentively when the word of God is read, taught or preached? [4:6]
Remember, the Pharisees had assurance. They were fully convinced that they were righteous but they hated Jesus and that should have been a dead give-a-way. Go over the list and think about the questions. If your only negative answer was number three, you are in good shape. If you have two negative answers; you probably have something to confess and get right. It you have three or more negative answers; see your pastor or a good Christian friend. Your spirit should be in conflict with the world, not Jesus. If you are pro-world and Antichrist: you have a spiritual issue that needs to be resolved.
- There is a lot going on today and as usual, I probably will not make any of them but I would sure like to: They are having a COOK OFF in Hartselle adjacent to the Swimming pool parking lot. I don’t know if any of our guys are in it or not. Patrick Segars won one a few months back. This is also the weekend of the TRACTOR PULL at Tanner which I really want to see. Plus Lara is in a weight lifting competition in Florence. She can squat twice her body weight, can you? I can’t squat with no weight. Matter of fact, I can’t squat at all.
- We have a couple at GRACE POINT who live on the top of a mountain and you can see the Space and Rocket Center from their back porch. They have a deck in back and wow, what a view. Their names are Pat and Honi Smith. It was their son Cale who was saved Wednesday night. I took a picture but it doesn’t do it justice.
- Academy has their fat boy shirts on sale but there are no XL or XXL’s. They have rack after rack of small, medium and large. Don’t the manufacturers understand that fat boys can’t wear these sizes without showing off our muscles which we are too modest to do.