Hello all and welcome to this edition that I have promised I would start. This is the first of many to come. I promised every Sunday when I come home from church I would do a little summary of the sermon that I listened to in church.
August 13, 2017 at Trinity Baptist Church, Pastor Ed Thompson here in Merriam, Kansas preached about love and assurance.
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 by this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him, 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (English Standard Version Bible, ESV translation)
My first question to you all is, what kind of representative of Christ are you? Are you a proud representative or a quiet shy one, that wants no one to know you are a believer and just let the days go by.
Pastor Ed in his sermon spoke about badges and which one are we wearing, badge of love or badge of hate. It got me thinking a little about my life and how I go about representing Christ and what people see when they look at me.
Assurance is probably the most important of all, do you believe or do you doubt? Are you allowed to doubt? If so, what does it mean?
Verse 22 says, whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
verse 23 says, And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
So got me to thinking, if I call myself a christian and say I believe in Jesus Christ, should I doubt when I ask in prayer, whether I shall receive? what I pray about. So I started doing a mental checklist, Yes I love Jesus and I believe, do I love "one another" as commanded?
So I did a little research regarding doubting, here is what the book of James said in chapter 1 versus 5 thru 8.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
So, to conclude my friends, here is what I have learned, be proud, stand tall and be a good representative in what you believe, radiate that which you believe, don't be scared and confused if you are not liked by some because of what you choose to believe and wear it proud. Believe the bible as it teaches, if you are confused use google or a bible or some commentary on the internet or your local church, to explain, pastors are a great source of explanations to things we don't understand. I want to conclude with one simple statement that was made in verse 23:
Believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he has commanded us, with that believe with all your heart and never doubt God, he will always deliver in some way, shape or form that is perfect for every single one of us in every way.
I would love to include some information on the church that I really am liking, if anyone has any interest to make contact for any reason please don't hesitate.
Trinity Baptist Church
8829 W. 49th Street
Merriam, Kansas 66203
Ed Thompson - Pastor
Church 1(913) 262-2289
pastor.trinity.ks@att.net
www.trinitybaptistmerriam.org