Assurance of Salvation

How do you know that you are saved? How do I know that I am saved? Is it because once in my life I prayed a prayer inviting Jesus into my heart. No. (That can be a stumbling block, and a false assurance of salvation.)

Is it because I live right and believe that there is a God? No.

It is because that I have believed that Jesus Christ is my Savior, he is the chosen One, he is the one who took my sins on the cross FOR me. Jesus is not a part of my life. He is my life. My old life is gone and I have a new life in Christ.

But how can we continually know that we are saved and have proof of assurance?

Hitchens on Pullman, Lewis, and Jesus

From Christopher Hitchens’s review of Phillip Pullman’s new revisionist book on Jesus and early Christianity, published last week in the NYT:

Belief in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth and belief in the virtue of his teachings are not at all the same thing. Writing to John Adams in 1813, having taken his razor blade to the books of the New Testament and removed all “the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests,” Thomas Jefferson said the 46-page residue contained “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”

Ernest Renan, in his pathbreaking “Life of Jesus” in 1863, also repudiated the idea that Jesus was the son of God while affirming the beauty of his teachings.

To hell with my flesh!

(HT: T2S)

“Oh my Lord, I cry out to you, for I need nothing else. God I hate the sin that lurks within me. Rub out my desires and my self-intentions. Take my sin far from me and renew a right spirit within me. Lord if You don’t act, I have no hope and I have no joy.

“Only in Your Son do I find my strength; lately I have been weak. Oh my Lord, to hell with this culture, the devices and the

That’s My King!

I linked to this video last year in April, but it never gets old, and I always love hearing it, so here it is again.

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! This is a timeless message because the cross is always relevant. We don’t need our churches trying to become more “culturally relevant” (I think I cringe when I hear that phrase).

Superbowl Advertising (2010 Version)

Obviously there has been controversy over one commercial in this year’s superbowl – and it hasn’t even aired yet! Of course I am referring to Focus on the Family’s ad related to abortion, or more importantly anti-abortion. This ad has pro-choice groups (and others, whether they state they are pro-choice or not) up in arms.

Based on a USA Today article (2-5-10), Michael McCarthy writes,

There’s a time and a place for advocacy ads. Our country’s most-watched sporting event is not it.

We Need More Tebows

Directly from C.J. Mahaney’s blog:

Today, pro-choice sports columnist Sally Jenkins wrote that we need more Tim Tebows. Her column in The Washington Post titled, “Tebow’s Super Bowl ad isn’t intolerant; its critics are” (2/2/10) has left me stunned and grateful.

Where did this come from? I can only imagine this is the fruit of the gospel displayed in the life of Tim Tebow. Tebow is humble. He is a model of self-sacrifice for the good of others. And he is committed to remain a virgin and to experience the gift of sex as God intends in the context of marriage. His testimony does not go unnoticed, even by a columnist who “couldn’t disagree with Tebow more” on abortion.

You can find Jenkins’ column here.

Around the Blog World – 1/28/2010

Here are just a few good reads from some of the blogs that I follow:

What does it mean to “accept Jesus”? – Ray Ortlund’s Blog

God Is Love, and God Is God – Justin Taylor’s Blog (Meditations on a John Piper sermon)

The Shack – The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment – A Review by Dr. Al Mohler

The Shack – Impressions – A Review by Dr. Tim Keller

An Old Kind of Unbelief – John Starke

Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church

Below is a video from a sermon preached by Paul Washer in October 2008 at a revival conference in Atlanta, GA. The title of the sermon is “Ten Indictments Against The Modern Church in America.”

It is already being called one of the best sermons of our time. Paul Washer delivers a urgent appeal to the Christians and Churches in North America that many have been believing a false gospel and have false assurance of their salvation. He lists ten indictments against the modern Church system in America.

99 Balloons

January 22, 2010 was the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Although I am little late posting this, here is a video that shows God displaying His glory and awesome power through a baby.

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.

99 Balloons

(HT: JT)

– Adam Smith

Pat Robertson, Al Mohler & Haiti

In case you haven’t yet heard Pat Robertson comments about the earthquake in Haiti, take a minute and watch the following video:

In short, Robertson claims that the earthquake was a result of God’s judgment after its founding fathers made a “pact to the Devil” in exchange for Haiti’s independence from France.

One problem (among the many with Robertson’s logic) is that he notes this as a true story. In fact, he is basing his comment on a long standing folk tale.

The Acropolis of the Faith

I do want to get back to writing soon, but December has been a busy month for me. So, just to get something posted, here is this for you to reflect on…

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness,

What Does It Mean To Love?

What does it mean to love? Does it mean giving someone what they want? Does it mean never getting angry? One definition of love by dictionary.com is “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.”

I am going to say that love first came from God. Without love from God, I would say that we wouldn’t know how to love at all. Think of it in this way: You have a cup – even better – you are a cup. God’s love goes into you, and then that love flows out to other people.