Assurance
The title for today's sermon was "Assurance" with the text being 2 Timothy 1. Verses 3-7 talk about assurance when we experience fear. Verse 7 sums up this part of the chapter. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind."
The second part of the chapter speaks about where assurance comes from, which is faith. If we want to have assurance of our salvation we must give our lives 100% to Christ. We must surrender all to Him. Our salvation comes from Him and He holds us in His hands. Nobody can snatch us from His hands. Paul writes "I know Him who I have believed in and persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've commityed to Him in that Day. It's not in any works that we do that gives us assurance. It's all in Christ. Pastor Brian told a story about how assurance can affect our lives. There was a man who was visiting Alaska (which he pointed out is North of Canada, and anyone could ask Mike because Mike is Canadian). He came to a river which had completely frozen over. Carefully he stepped onto the ice and then began to crawl along on all fours, making sure to distribute his weight properly. After about 20 minutes, when he was only a few meters out on the ice, he heard the sound of an engine. Along came a 4x4 and drove passed him, over the ice, and onto the other side of the river. The man immediately jumped up and began to walk briskly to the other side. He now was assured that his weight would not break the ice. When we place all our trust and hope on Christ (and not on ourselves or our works) then we can begin to truelly live a Christian life.
The third part of the chapter (verse 13 to the end) talks about assurance when others are falling away from the faith. Paul had many people turn from him because he was a prisoner for Christ. But he encouraged Timothy to press on, because if the world hated Christ and killed Him, it will not treat His followers much better.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.
The title for today's sermon was "Assurance" with the text being 2 Timothy 1. Verses 3-7 talk about assurance when we experience fear. Verse 7 sums up this part of the chapter. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind."
The second part of the chapter speaks about where assurance comes from, which is faith. If we want to have assurance of our salvation we must give our lives 100% to Christ. We must surrender all to Him. Our salvation comes from Him and He holds us in His hands. Nobody can snatch us from His hands. Paul writes "I know Him who I have believed in and persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've commityed to Him in that Day. It's not in any works that we do that gives us assurance. It's all in Christ. Pastor Brian told a story about how assurance can affect our lives. There was a man who was visiting Alaska (which he pointed out is North of Canada, and anyone could ask Mike because Mike is Canadian). He came to a river which had completely frozen over. Carefully he stepped onto the ice and then began to crawl along on all fours, making sure to distribute his weight properly. After about 20 minutes, when he was only a few meters out on the ice, he heard the sound of an engine. Along came a 4x4 and drove passed him, over the ice, and onto the other side of the river. The man immediately jumped up and began to walk briskly to the other side. He now was assured that his weight would not break the ice. When we place all our trust and hope on Christ (and not on ourselves or our works) then we can begin to truelly live a Christian life.
The third part of the chapter (verse 13 to the end) talks about assurance when others are falling away from the faith. Paul had many people turn from him because he was a prisoner for Christ. But he encouraged Timothy to press on, because if the world hated Christ and killed Him, it will not treat His followers much better.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.
posted by Mike at 5:09 PM
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