If you died today, where you going?

How Can I Know?

I just returned from taking our youth group to Winterfest.  We had an awesome time jamming with Skillet, Disciple, Jeremy Camp and others.  But we also go to hear messages presented by Clayton King and David Nasser.  Clayton’s message was Gospel centric.  You’ve got to be saved type of message.  David’s message was directed more to those of us who are already Christians and are still carrying around a lot of baggage that is keeping us from a much better relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

From all this preaching and teaching, the struggle our students seemed to come away with is the struggle all Christians have dealt with as they mature – AM I SAVED???  HOW CAN I KNOW???

So, how can we know we are saved?  The best way I know to answer this question is with Scripture.

1 John 5:13 (NIV)
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Whenever I speak to anyone about assurance of salvation, this is always my first stop.  1 John 5:13 CLEARLY tells us that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.  We can KNOW it!!!  That’s exciting to me.  But that’s not enough for a lot of people.  So there’s a verse that says I can know … but HOW can I know?

ANSWER: Read 1 John 1:1 – 5:12 for starters.  John says I write these things to you … so that … Therefore, we can know by what he wrote before hand.

1 John 1:1 – 4 – John reminds us that he is an EYE WITNESS to Jesus.  He saw the man, touched the man, at with the man and spoke with the man.  John received direct teaching from Jesus himself.

1 John 1:5 – 10 – This section explains that we will at least have a desire to be living as a Christian should – “walking in the light”.  This section also tells us that as Christians, we will recognize the sin in our lives.  Not because we are good enough to know, but because the Holy Spirit within us is convicting us of sin.  ONLY the Holy Spirit can convict us of sin.  Do you desire to “walk in the light”?  Do you recognize the sin in your life?  Maybe you can know now.

1 John 2:1 – 14 – Here we discover that our love for Christ is demonstrated by our willingness to obey His commands.  We also read that our love for our brothers shows that God’s love lives within us.  Are you obeying the commands of Christ?  Do you love your fellow Christians?  Or at least … are you trying?  Our desire to obey and to love can only come from the Holy Spirit living within us.  Maybe you can know now.

1 John 2:15 – 17 – By the “world”, John is basically talking about the average non-Christian person.  This person doesn’t know what peer pressure is because they say yes to everything.  This person thinks mostly about their own desires and their own self rather than thinking about others.  This person may support abortion or homosexuality as a life style.  Are you trying to be different than this person?  Do you desire to follow Jesus even if it means you won’t “fit in” with the people you work with or go to school with?  Maybe you can know now.

1 John 2:18 – 27 – Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?  Have you ever had an “aha” moment when reading the Bible where you learned something new?  You can only learn if the Holy Spirit is teaching.  Maybe you can know now.

I could continue with the rest of the book, but this blog is already long enough.  Here’s an idea – read it for yourself.  Try to determine if you see yourself in those scriptures.  Remember though – we will never be perfect.  So, don’t say “that’s not me because I got mad at so and so yesterday.”

And then, read 1 John 5:13 again and believe what it is telling you.

Go with God,
Donald B

I’m Back …

I will be posting again to this blog beginning today.  Trying to run a youth ministry blog, a youth ministry website and sending out youth ministry emails was just becoming a bit too much.  After all, there is only so much information you can send out.

So, I am going to start using this blog again to simply post up any thoughts I have.  Hopefully, I will be able to provide blogs that will help whoever reads them in some way with their spiritual walk.  I hope that this can serve as an encouragement.

It’s a new year, and already, God is showing me some areas where I need to change … where I need much growth.  And the first is in the realms of prayer.

I was listening to John Piper this morning, and he said something (or at least I heard something that came from something he said) that rang a bell with me.

I’m not sure exactly how to put it, but it goes something like this …

Many of us who have grown past the adolescent stages of legalism have simply stopped praying.  Basically, I want to pray as much as I did when I prayed for legalistic reasons but I want to pray that much out of a deep love and respect for God, and ultimately, to bring Glory to God.

I’m not sure if that makes sense to any of you, but it has sparked some thought for me to grow on.

Father God,
I pray for your strength as we enter this new year.  Open our eyes to what You are doing in us and around us.  Give us the strength and courage to join You in what You are doing and to allow You to make the changes in us that You want to make.

In Jesus’ Name!
Amen