Hold On To Jesus Series

INTRODUCTION

• LONE SURVIVOR CLIP-Wingclips.com

• SLIDE #1

• That was actual clips of Navy Seals in training from the movie Lone Survivor.

• Have you ever felt like you were just holding on for dear life with your faith?

• SLIDE #2

• You feel like you have been struggling so much that you are just glad to make it through the day with your faith in one piece?

• Last week we looked at those who would try to get us to forsake the truth for something that is not true.

• Each day we have to make decisions concerning our faith, will we stand strong or will we give up ground?

• As we try to grow in our faith, it is important for us to realize there are some things we need to hold on to if we are going to have a strong faith.

• There are going to be some things we need to hold tightly to if we are going to have a real relationship with God.

• These are things that will help to keep you grounded and plugged into Jesus.

• For those who have been with Jesus a long time, it does us well to remember these things we must hold on to. When things get tough, what are we anchoring our hopes upon?

• When you get to where life seems to be a struggle, I hope you will focus in on these four areas that will help keep you faithful and strong.

• DO you want to dangle precariously from the rope each time a crisis comes, or do you want to maintain a firm grip on your faith?

• Last week we looked at not letting people trick you into quitting your faith, or letting them convince you that what you believe is unbelievable, this week let us examine what we need to hold on to.

• SLIDE #3

• 1 John 2:24 (HCSB) What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

• SLIDE #4

SERMON

I. Hold on to the truth you have been given.

• After talking about the antichrists who will try to come in and disrupt your faith, John now starts verse 24 with a reminder that his readers were not a part of those who were deniers of Jesus.

• Such being the case, their response needs to be different that one who would follow the false teachers.

• One of the reasons we need to hold on to the truth we have been give is because

• Salvation is conditional!

• This thought seems contrary to what we hear a lot of folks espouse these days concerning the issue of salvation.

• Notice what John encourages us to do. He tells us that we heard from the beginning must remain or abide in us.

• God has always to my knowledge made being faithful a condition to be able to enjoy His promises and blessings.

• Once again, I do not know where Christians ever got the idea that God did not require faithfulness on the part of His children.

• This is one of the things that God the Nation of Israel in trouble with God so many times through out their history.

• There is a BIG little word “IF” in the verse concerning our relationship with Jesus. We cannot believe what EVER we want to be in a good relationship with Him.

• SLIDE #5

• 2 John 9 (HCSB) Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

• Notice that in 2 John, he spells it out, if we do not remain in Christ’s teachings we do not have God.

• For one to be saved, one must remain in the Son and the Father!

• If we do not remain in the Father and the Son, we do not have a relationship with Him, and without a relationship with Him, we cannot be saved.

• This is part of what Jesus meant in John 14:6 (WAY, TRUTH, LIFE). The only way to the Father is through Jesus. This implies an active relationship with Him.

• In John 10:30, Jesus says He and the Father are ONE.

• TO REMAIN means to SETTLE DOWN WITHIN.

• If what we heard from the beginning remains in us, we then have relationship with Jesus as well as the Father.

• For the Word to remain in us, it takes more than just hearing it, it must be given a vital place in one’s life, it has to have an effect on us, it should make us different.