Are you saved? A sermon review.
Firstly, you need
to know that God has a plan for you. God says “For I know the plans
I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” [Jeremiah 29:11] *
But, frankly, if
you don't do what God called you to do, you'll have a miserable life,
and everyone around you will be miserable too. You will always feel
that emptiness inside you. God perfectly fills that emptiness, and
that's what “salvation” is all about. It is a relationship, not a religion.
You are not saved
because your parents are. Everyone accounts to God for their own
life. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not
only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” [Phil 2:12]
You don't go to
Heaven because you go to church. “Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." [Matt 7:21]
You know if you
have salvation. Pastor Morgan emphasized these points.
Is your life
changed? Your life should be changed because you accepted Jesus, the
Christ, as your Savior and Lord. You should see a difference in how
you behave - and so should others. "Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is
here!” [2 Cor 5:17]
Do you desire
God's will for your life? Everyone says they do, but are you seeking
what God wants or asking Him to bless what you want? “Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled.” [Matt 5:6]
Do you try to
bring glory to God in what you say, do and think? The Sagemont church
Mission Statement says: we should be living proof of a loving God to
a watching world.
Does God
discipline you for willful disobedience? “Endure hardship as
discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children
are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and
everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true
sons and daughters at all.” [Heb 12:7-8]
Does the world
still have a grip on you? Do you often say to the world (or to God)
"I just gotta be who I am?" Do you do what they do, go
where they go, drink what they drink? Then how is it that you can
claim to be a different creature, a child of the God Most High? “Do
not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the
world, love for the Father is not in them.” [1 Jn 2:15]
Do you set your
sights on the things of Heaven? “Set your minds on things above,
not on earthly things.” [Col 3:2]
Do you study the
Bible and apply it to your life? Loving God also means you want to
know more of Him, and the best way to do that is to read the Bible.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” [2 Tim 3:16]
Who are your best
friends? Do you choose friends who love God? “We know that we have
passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who
does not love remains in death.” [1 Jn 3:14]
Do you desire to
be free of temptation, or do you flirt with temptation (you know what
I mean)? “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because
God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they
have been born of God.” [1 Jn 3:9]
Do you expect
your prayers to be answered, and accept the answer? Sometimes the
answer is a resounding "no" from God. “Dear friends, if
our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and
receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do
what pleases him.” [1 Jn 3:21-22]
Do you often feel
the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? “The Spirit himself
testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” [Rom 8:16]
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” [1 Jn 4:13]
For more about
salvation check the Sagemont site.
* All verses are
from the wonderful web site Bible Gateway. I'm showing the New International
Version (NIV) (which is a great Bible translation and you can read about it here.
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