talks about the paramount importance of moving forward in our Christian lives despite how fearful it may be.Or watch on youtube
Resource Links: https://cdn.subsplash.com/documents/82QP6C/_source/0ce991ee-c7c1-42f5-9bcb-9d3e96fd2ffa/document.pdf
I looked at the introduction to Hebrews in my bible and found the reasons given the first century Jewish believers to persevere are ours today. (This excerpt was, of course, written long before there was any idea of the current situation believers worldwide are facing.)
Christians have no higher calling but to press on in the faith, no matter the cost – confident in Christ and anchored in His Truth. In Jesus we find more than the voice of God, we find the enduring principles of the faith, all knowledge of the truth, and direct access to the very grace of God to help us in our time of need.
As we find ourselves sifted more and more every day, may our lives shine as the evidence of our faith.
Extremely thankful for Pastor JD’s timely example and words of encouragement.
May I be so bold…? I’ve found Hebrews 6 to be the greatest passage in the Bible to support eternal security! We just need to interpret it carefully. Like this: Our Security (Calvary Chapel Perth) - June 24 2018 - YouTube
I hope that you will forgive me for what is likely to be a long winded posting here, and Oh I pray that someone might be able to help me to settle something weighing heavily on my heart. I feel I’ve been under attack for a long while as it relates to assurance of salvation. When I listened to Pastor’s teaching the haunting thoughts came rushing in again! “How do I KNOW that I AM born again by the Spirit of God and FILLED with that Holy Spirit in Times and seasons when I can’t seem to hear His voice, sense His presence, or see the answers to prayers long prayed? Am I truly born again, or am I just fooling myself?”
First, a bit of background. Until a couple of years ago I’d been a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church. As a child I attended a little , country church with my grandmother. After college I found a similar little church in another small town and settled into a “family” there where I worshipped and served for 30 years. About five years ago, I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and confused by the progressive form of Christianity that was causing a great divide to develop within Methodism. During that Lenton season I was haunted by Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” I found myself weeping through my prayers, and that has continued to this day.
Having retired from my 30 year vocation as a Special Education teacher in 2015, I thought I should try to take a more formal role within the church and signed up for classes to become a Lay Speaker. It was then that I found even more disturbing trends in Methodism. The straw that broke my heart was when I’d read on the UMC webpage that teachings on the rapture of the church had no place in Methodism. I tried to speak to my pastors about all that was stirring up in my faith journey, but didn’t find peace. Both of them had very progressive ideologies which, though not spoken of outwardly, were often hinted at in sermons. Two years ago I wrote a long email to my pastors and the president of our pastor/parish relations committee trying to explain the spiritual crisis I’d found myself in. I explained that I felt a need to take a “sabbatical” of sorts to sort out my feelings and find answers to my questions. My pastors responded simply by saying, “Go with God and, should you choose to return, we will accept you with open arms.”
I’ve not returned, nor have I found another local church as Covid restrictions have made attendance in person very difficult. I’ve been attending church in HI for a long while now, since even before leaving the UMC. I’ve continued to email and send cards and notes to members of my old church family, including one where I shared about the urgency of the times we are living in and concerns about the vaccine, especially for children. Only two people responded.
So, long story short, I am without support of other Christians of like mind. I continue to sob through my prayer, to the point that I am totally drained and, for the past few weeks haven’t been able to pray much at all. It’s been so painful for me that I have been avoiding anything more than simple, one word or one sentence kinda of petitions. I have millennial children. My son especially has turned away from the Lord and my heart is so heavy fearing that he will be left behind. I have no idea how to live and move in these days, no clear understanding of what the Lird has for me to do, and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to discern just what the Spirit is whispering to me.
So . . . Even though I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me of a million faults and failings and SAVE me from an eternity in torment more times than I can count. . . I find myself now fighting against this doubt . . . WAS I ever truly born again? AM I filled with the Holy Spirit?? Will I be a bridesmaid whose lamp is full??? Or will the door to the bridal chamber be closed to me because my lamp is empty?
Does anyone else find themselves sobbing through their prayers like the weeping prophet, Jeremiah? Does anyone have any Idea what this could mean?
Does anyone else find it increasingly difficult to hear God’s voice or feel that their prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling? Does anyone else wonder if they were ever really saved at all??
Thank you to any and all who have taken the time to read this long story and a double thank you to any who might have some insight to share or a prayer to offer for one like me who feels so very empty and too worn out to pray much at all.
God bless and keep you . . .
I understand your plight – and if you are worrying about whether you are saved, you are. Only one who knows the Lord would wonder, and the Holy Spirit is moving you to stay close.
Think about the more than 400 years between the OT book of Malachi and the coming of Jesus. Silence, complete silence. We have no record in the bible of what was going on in the mind of God’s believers during that time, but we can imagine their prayers were similar to what you have described. And we are now in a time of quiet before He moves. We have to hope for that which is yet unseen.
I am finding comfort in the beauty of creation, along with the Psalms, worship and praise.
Psalm 150 - Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Continue to seek Him - soon, and very soon, we will be with Him forever.
Oh, thank you so very much! Your message is a balm to my heart! And here I am, weeping again! 
Oh, this is good. Reading a quote from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress:
"Christian: I hope to see him alive that did hang dead on the cross; and there I hope to be rid of all those things, that to this day are an annoyance to me. There they say is no death, and there I shall dwell with such company as I like best. For, to tell you the truth, I love him, because I was eased of my burden, and am weary of my inward sickness. I would desire to be where I shall die no more and with the company that shall continually cry – “Holy, Holy, Holy!”’
AMEN - That’s it!
Prompting me to sing again a Robin Mark song, “When it’s all been said and done.” And if I knew how to do it, I’d post it here! 
I thank my God for you and for this beautiful exchange. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt supported by another believer in this way. May God bless your day and you in it!
/prints out this Topic and frames it
And bless you! We will recognize each other when we meet in Him!
This was very awesome. And also with the additional insert of Andy Woods…
The link to Kadesh Barnea and the typology makes so much more sense.
I’ve for a long time understood Hebrews 6:4-6 from the “Hypothetical” aspect, with it being a Rhetorical Statement about an impossibility based on the conditions, and that it still upheld OSAS.
In other words, what was impossible was the ability to ever do this at all, not that it was impossible to come back a second time, which is still true also. 
Hebrews 6:4-6
It is impossible for those
- who have once been enlightened,
- who have tasted the heavenly gift,
- who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
- who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
- and the powers of the coming age
—and then have fallen away—
to be restored to repentance,
because they themselves
are crucifying the Son of God all over again
and subjecting Him to open shame.
I don’t question my salvation, but I understand what your saying… Being that it wasn’t just a few months ago I experienced a merger that we had offered to another church in our church and then what looked like a take over happened…and well just church politics… I wonder in my weariness if I am chilling from that…(as I was on the board and worked in the church) or am I getting to lazy to get back into church. I am going to a home church, which he knew about our church and warned us . I feel I need time away from a church building, but I still listening to preachers like JD and I still try to pray… but my words are few. Also my sleep is upside down… like the world right now.
This topic is part of JD’s Video here, so the best thing to do if you do not agree with his exposition on Hebrews 6:1-6 and are not interested in hearing me say things about it is not participate in this thread.
My posting my comment had nothing to do with you. You brought yourself into this.
Perfect ! Love this song, and this arrangement gave me goose bumps! Thank you for posting this, Wren! It truly blessed my heart. Confirmed this sense that our Lord is stripping away most everything that He might truly be the ONLY thing. . . ?? Does that make sense??
Hi Brenda!
So thankful to God that it blessed you! Welcome to the forums dear sister in Christ. 
Hello. I just want to know your opinion/wisdom about the second service of JD re Hebrews 6:1-6 (once saved always saved), sorry I know it’s off topic.
Quick question, so if someone is saved for 10years and then suddenly declared himself as an aetheist and do not believe in Jesus anymore, is he still saved?
What about Matthew 7:21-23 where Jesus said that not everyone who says to Him, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven…
Sorry for the moderators, I just need to put this out here. Thank you and blessings to all.
how do we know they were saved for 10 years as opposed to just pretending???
we are not called to be fruit inspectors …but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven…
