Filed under: Church
Notes I took at church:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
(Psalm 139:23)
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
(1 Peter 1:6)
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
(James 1:2)
1. The Holy Spirit Starts Salvation
- For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
(John 6:44)
- I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. 2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God. 3 This is because they have never known the Father or me. 4 Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer. 5 But now I am going away to the One who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
(John 16:1-11)
2. You’ve Got To Realize You Are LOST
– Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
(Ephesians 1:4)
– Lost: to be without a savior, spiritually ruined, unable to help yourself.
– For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
(Romans 3:23)
– We were born lost without Jesus.
3. Saving Faith
– And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6)
- God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
(Ephesians 2:8-9)
– Faith is a gift.
4. Repentance
– A change of mind, a change of direction, a change of purpose.
– For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
(2 Corinthians 7:10)
5. You Are Forgiven & NOT Guilty Forever
– Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven.
(Acts 5:31)
– He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.
(Acts 10:43)
