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Sermons

"YOU CAN BE SURE!"
EPISTLE SCRIPTURE TEXT: ROMANS 8:31-39

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 27, 2007 -- PENTECOST

Scripture Text: What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39, New International Version)

Message: Decades ago, when I was a child, I recall a well-known brand of household appliance which perennially advertised itself thus: "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse." The Westinghouse brand of appliance is still around, and their slogan hasn't changed. "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse."

After all these years of hearing that slogan, I honestly don't know what it is that you can be sure about regarding a Westinghouse appliance. But I do know that there are many aspects of life today which used to be "sure things" that aren't anymore. Home and family, for example. The majority of today's children don't have the basic security of being able to count on mom and/or dad being around when they come home from school. They aren't able to know for certain where they'll be sleeping on any given night, whether at dad's, mom's, stepmom's, granddad's, or some neighbor's house. Or consider the issue of jobs. No longer can you count on, if you work diligently and faithfully for a company for years on end, your job being there next week. That company you're loyal to may go bankrupt, be bought out by an Asian firm, or relocate to Nevada. Or it can be a government laboratory that, after 60 years, becomes a for-profit corporation. And overnight, your job can vanish. And with it, your health care plan, your pension, your entire familiar lifestyle. "Social security" has become an oxymoron. The only "sure thing" about contemporary life is change. Don't get too used to anything today - it'll be different tomorrow.

Overall, I'm a supporter of change. I thrive on it. I'm a different person today than I was yesterday, and I fully expect to be still different tomorrow. I have no desire be hooked into anything on this earth that can't change. To me, life without change would be singularly boring. I definitely don't want to live in a rut.

But even so, with everything else around us changing, it would be good to have one thing - something - that doesn't change. It would be wonderful to know that there was someone - anyone - upon whom we could always count. There are physical, emotional, mental, spiritual limits as to how much and how rapidly a human being can assimilate, tolerate, endure change. Something - someone - at least one thing needs to stay the same, to remain fixed -- yesterday, today, and forever. When there's absolutely nothing of which we can be sure, life becomes a meaningless frenzy - anarchy, chaos. And that's the state in which much of the world's population is living, including a lot of folks in Los Alamos - right now.

Today, on Pentecost Sunday, I proclaim to you that one thing of which you can be sure. In an otherwise swirling, chaotic world of inexorable change and continual turbulence, the love of God for you is constant, steady, and unchanging. Nothing - absolutely nothing - can change it. God loves you, and you can take that to the bank. Better still, since banks have been known to fail with distressing frequency in the modern day, you can take God's love with you - all the way to eternity!
How do I know that the love of God is a sure thing? Simple: because I actually experience His love every moment of every day. I don't draw a single breath without knowing that God loves me. It's been that way for me for 33 years, and it will continue that way for 30 billion years to come.
In November of 1967, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. From that time forward, I no longer needed be concerned about hell. My eternal salvation was assured. But for six more years, I continued to experience daily high's and low's, up's and down's, in's and out's. My faith experience was a roller coaster ride - thrilling, exciting, dizzying. But throughout those first six years as a believer in Jesus I was always a little queasy, slightly off-balance, continually unsure of where I stood with God in the moment. Yes, I realized that the Lord would eventually let me into Heaven when I died, but I wasn't sure He was particularly pleased with me right here, right now.

Six years after I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, Fran and I were part of a weekly student prayer group at the seminary I was then attending. God had clearly called me into His full-time service - that's a different sermon. But even after my call, I was yet somewhat unsure of His daily concern with my life. I shared my misgivings with the other students and their spouses in our prayer group, and one of them asked me a question: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you accepted Christ as your Savior?" My response was an unwitting paraphrase of Acts 19:2. I answered, "No, I really don't know much about the Holy Spirit. And besides, I'm not too excited about that strange 'tongues' business."

After several weeks of intense personal study on the subject of the Holy Spirit, I came to realize that 'tongues' is only a tiny part of what the Bible has to say about the third person of God's great Holy Trinity. And so, when that same prayer group, a month or so later, volunteered to pray for me to receive the Holy Spirit, I said "Why not? Let's do it!"

They prayed - and God granted. I received the Holy Spirit as a distinct, second blessing from my Lord. And from that day forward, I've been sure. I have what Hebrews 10:22 terms, "full assurance of faith." There's absolutely no way to undo nor deny it, and it will never, never change. God loves me, and I know it -- every moment of every day.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist branch of Christian faith, grew up in a loving, Christian home. His father, Samuel Wesley, was a parish priest - a pastor in the Church of England. John himself went through seminary and was ordained to the priesthood. He served as a missionary to America - to what was then the colony of Georgia. And throughout all of that, although he never really questioned his basic salvation, he was plagued by doubts -- fears regarding God's will and purpose for his life. It was not until the age of 35 that John Wesley experienced what he called "a heart strangely warmed." The Holy Spirit entered his life and transformed his Christian faith from timid concern to full-blown confidence. And for the next four and a half decades, Wesley was empowered to do some of the mightiest works for God ever accomplished by a human being.
When you read the accounts of the growth of the early church as found in the New Testament, you soon discover that there is no cookbook formula for receiving God's Holy Spirit. Some believers obtained the Spirit at the time of their conversion. Some experienced it as part of their undergoing water Baptism. Some were given the Spirit through the laying on of hands by other believers. And still others, like me and Mr. Wesley, received the Spirit in a distinct, later experience with God - a second blessing. And, by the way, there are also third and fourth - and fifteenth blessings to be received from God - that, too, is another sermon.

Whenever and however you experience the Holy Spirit, it produces an assurance of faith that those who've received it well know. It transforms us from faltering, feeble disciples into sure, strong followers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It does so because we're no longer operating on human strength alone -- rather, we're tapping into the limitless energy of Almighty God.
As I speak to you today, I know that the majority of those present have, at one time or another, accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior. That's good - that's wonderful. It means you will live for eternity with Jesus - that's God's unbreakable promise. To put it bluntly, you've got fire insurance. Hell's no longer a concern for you, praise God. Heaven is your final destination.

But for many of you, being saved hasn't made a major difference in your life here and now. You're still experiencing the same up's and down's, in's and out's, high's and low's that you dealt with before you believed. You're still burdened, moment by moment, by doubts and fears. You're not sure that God cares about you right here, right now - and every moment of your life.

On Pentecost Sunday 2007, I proclaim that you can be sure. You can be sure - when you receive the Holy Spirit into your life. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. But if you don't, I'm including an additional opportunity in today's invitations to Christian discipleship. It's not an invitation to roll in the aisles, nor to swing from the overhead lights, nor to babble incoherently. It's simply an opportunity to receive the Holy Spirit - and thereby allow God to provide the assurance you need - from henceforth and forevermore.

People of God, you can be sure. The Holy Spirit can and will provide that assurance. Just ask; He'll do the rest. Amen.

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