How Do I Know?

How do I know that I am truly saved or “born again”? The Lord, working through the Apostle John, provided assurances to us that we could truly know that we know Christ as Savior. When I have that assurance in my life, it frees me to serve Christ and grow. If I don’t have the assurance, I spend my time focusing on whether I am worthy or even saved. Today’s message challenges us to consider the assurances that Christ has given us.

Preview of the Second Coming (Matthew 17:1-13

Often, people want to question the validity of the Lord.  They often say, “How do you know Jesus is real?” or “How do you know He is coming back?”  This was the question that had to be on the mind of the disciples.  After all that Jesus had said to them about going to Jerusalem and suffering and dying, they had to be wondering what was happening. The Lord now gives them a crash course in His glory and being God.  Do we see Him that way?  Our answer to that determines our eternal destiny.

Winning by Losing (Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s passage offers a great paradox.  Everything about it goes against everything we have ever been taught in our American culture.  We have been encouraged to do our very best and win it all.  We are never happy with losers.  The teams we cheer for actually depress us when they don’t produce a winning season.  We seem to take it personally as a culture.  But Jesus tells us in today’s passage that we actually win by losing.  We give up everything to gain God’s best.  It is a struggle that every believer will face at one time or another.  It is really a great paradox.

How Do We Offend Christ? (Matthew 16:21-23)

The title “How Do We Offend Christ” offers an interesting thought.  Jesus is always portrayed in most people’s thinking of being all loving, all forgiving, all focused on us who live down here on earth.  We spend a lot of time ignoring Him, laughing at Him and, sometimes, cursing Him.  But, He always seems to ignore all that and continue to focus on being our great protector and genie who will come at a moment’s notice to give us everything that we want.  That thought is about as far away from the truth as you can get.  It is true that He loves us.  He loves us so much that He died for us.  But, we do ignore Him and only call on Him when we are in a jam that we can’t get out of.  So, how do we offend Him?  Today’s message looks at an instance where Peter offended Him and the lesson that was so fitting for Peter is also fitting for us today.

Christ is Always Building His Church (Matthew 16:18-20)

Years ago in another ministry I had an interesting conversation with a young man who was attending the church I pastored.  This individual made the following statement, “God has turned His back on the church today because it is irrelevant to the times in which we live.  I believe that God now works through other organizations that are not churches.  This young man was a leader in a para-church organization that focused on reaching “street kids”.  There’s nothing wrong with his approach to ministry but his theology was way off.  Granted, there are a lot of churches that no longer reflect God’s intention for His church but God has never given up on His Church.  Today’s message shares God’s passion for the Church today.

Who Do You Say I Am? (Matthew 3, 2023)

One of the most pointed and insightful questions that you will ever be asked is, “Who do you say that Christ is?”  Your answer to that question literally determines and indicates where you will spend eternity.  The Lord was walking with the disciples out in the countryside and He asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?”  The disciples seemed to be pretty much in touch with the people of the day so they began to give the Lord the answers that they had heard from the crowds.  Then, the Lord turned the question to them, “But, who do you say that I am?”  Only Peter responded.  If you were asked that question, how would you answer?

The Peace of Christ's Presence in My Life (Matthew 14:22-33)

It is not unusual that on the conclusion of a major spiritual victory comes a great test to show us that we have not arrived yet.  The disciples had just witnessed the feeding of the 5,000.  That experience should have carried them for a long time.  Yet, they get into a boat and begin to travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and a terrible storm comes up and they think they are going to drown.  The Lord walks out to them on the water and they think He is a ghost.  At the Lord’s command, Peter steps out of the boat but takes his eyes off of the Lord and begins to sink.  The message here is clear.  We need to keep our eyes on Jesus during the good times and the difficult ones.  He will never let us down.

The Power of Unbelief (Matthew 13:53-58)

It is said, “What you believe really determines who you are!” But it can also be said, “What you don’t believe will really determine who you are also!”  Matthew brings the chapter on the parables to a conclusion by illustrating them with the “power of unbelief”.  What I believe about Jesus will determine where I spend eternity. Do you have “belief” or “unbelief”?  That is a question that each person has to answer for themselves.