Heaven on Earth

Turn to the book of Romans.

Our reading is going to be from Romans chapter 5.

I'm not necessarily preaching through this passage, but it gets us in the right frame of mind for what we will be talking about.

We're starting a new series this week called Blessed Assurance.

It's going to be a more brief series than what we're used to, but it's It's extremely important and fundamental to the Christian life, the doctrine of assurance.

But not merely the intellectual doctrine of assurance.

The goal of the series is not that we might learn something and be merely more knowledgeable at the end, but that we might experience the reality of the assurance of faith.

So I'm reading from Romans chapter 5, and it's going to read from verses 1 to 5.

We'll hear now God's word.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him we also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing...

That suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Let me pray.

Father, that reading says amazing things.

And we want to know them.

We want to be assured of them.

We want them to be deeply embedded into our hearts and live from them.

And so I pray that your spirit would be at work through a sermon like this, that we would see more of Jesus.

That would be enough for us.

Overcome the deficiency of this preacher.

There are many.

and help us see Christ.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.