Month: February 2019

Matthew 28:18-20
Romans 10:1-15

As a young couple’s wedding day neared, both grew increasingly nervous over secret problems they had never shared with anyone. Privately, the groom-to-be approached his minister. “I have really smelly feet—and am afraid my fiancée won’t be able to take it.” “Look,” his pastor said, “Wash your feet twice a day and wear socks all the time.”

Meanwhile, the nervous bride had privately approached the minister’s wife. “I’m so worried, I have really bad breath when I wake up each day!”
She replied, “Set your alarm just a few minutes before your husband wakes up. Run to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and gargle before he gets out of bed.”

So for several months after marriage, they managed to keep their issues a secret. Then one morning, the husband awoke before dawn to find that one of his socks had come off in the night. Frantic, he searched the bed, afraid of what might happen if he didn’t find his sock. His bride woke with a start, and, without thinking, blurted out, “What in the world are you doing?”
“Oh, dear!” the young man wailed. “You swallowed my sock!” ¹

On a scale from 1 to 10, what would you assign the beauty of your feet? Maybe we need to take our shoes and socks off and check them out?

Would you believe that the Bible has a prescription for having more beautiful feet?

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John 20:24-31
Romans 10:8-15

Formal statements of beliefs like ours, what are formally known as creeds have been part and parcel of the faith we hold dear for over 3,000 years.

Yes, that means they appear in the Bible. Twelve centuries before Christ, the first Hebrew creed, known as The Shema, appears in Deuteronomy:

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4).

Those words continue to form the basis for the Hebrew faith to this day. It is said that Jewish babies raised in orthodox homes are not weaned on milk but, rather, on The Shema.

As far as I am aware, there at least three creeds in the New Testament. All three appear in letters from Paul in which he quotes an already established song/poem of belief.

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Mark 8:27-38
I John 5:1-13

In 1967, I went with high school buddies to the historic Akron Civic Theater to my first rock concert to see one of my favorite American bands, The Young Rascals. The band was famous for Good Lovin which appeared on their first album in ‘66. That summer they released their second album Groovin’ that contained two singles Groovin’ and the song How Can I Be Sure.

“How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing,
How can I be sure where I stand with you.”

If I asked you, ‘Do you know for sure that you are a Christian and have complete confidence that when your name is called up yonder that you will be going home to be with the Lord in His heaven?’ what would you say?

The truth is that there are several different ways of thinking about and answering a question like that.

It’s probably true that some here whom we might categorize as seekers who would say something like, ‘Not at all sure if my faith is real, I’m not sure that there is a place we go after we die, that’s why I am here; to find out if there is a God and if He has anything to offer me.’ But can you be sure?

It’s probably true that there are some here who have progressed beyond being a seeker and although you feel you have faith in Christ you have doubts about that. You might be thinking something like, ‘I think I believe, I’m pretty sure I have accepted Jesus as my Savior, but sometimes I wonder about whether or not I am really going to heaven.’ How can I be sure?

Then there are those who hope that there is a heaven and hope that because you worship with those who believe there is that you are going with them someday. And so you have made this worship thing a routine been showing up, some been showing up for years. You too wonder, how can I be sure?

How can we be sure?

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