The Assurance Of Heaven

So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you oh so gently, that the best is yet to come. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

The very presence of God the Holy Spirit is in your life, Christian.

1. That is why when you pray, at times, other concerns come to mind as you look down your prayer list.

2. That is why instead of giving out a piece of your mind, you give out a good word.

3. That is why in the simple things of creation, you can find so much joy, O Christian. It WILL only get better, because of that Hope that is in you.

The Conviction Of Frustration

It is hard to wait at times. The same is true for the Christian. Paul writes that ‘we groan’

1. because we are stuck in these bodies.

2. We realize that this Earth is not our home,

3. that we are just passing through, that there are better days to come.

When the Christian considers what is in store for him once he passes from this Earth, it can become not just a time of frustration, wanting it now, but of great joy and hope.

Listen to what Paul told this church at Corinth, while remembering these same things are written for your joy and assurance:

1. Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;

2. sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power;

3. sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-43

The Knowledge Of Experience

Don’t you love it when you read with such certainty that Paul knows what is ahead for him and all believers in Christ! It is not wishful thinking, but an extremely sound conviction.

Listen to what Paul knows with conviction:

1. the blessedness of God in all his affliction and writes of it to the church in Cornith

i. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God

ii. 2 Corinthians 1

2. the grace of the Lord Jesus, who raised him up from a sinning life and called him to be an apostle.

3. the love of God the father, who embraced him even while he was a sinner,

4. blessedness of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, who not only knit his soul with God but knit him with fellow believers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

2 Corinthians 13

And this grand certainty of

1. knowing His redeemer lives,

2. knowing the God the Father had given him a bit of Heaven to have something greater to look forward to

3. knowing that our momentary afflictions are nothing compared to seeing Jesus

gives to you, my dear friend in Christ, assurance of Heaven.