Faith, Hope, and Love
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Jojo Ma
Weekly Bulletin | Song Lyrics | Nicene Creed
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
R.C. Sproul and Assurance of Salvation
What do healthy Christians and healthy churches look like? How can we grow in assurance of salvation? What kind of life does the Spirit produce in true believers?
I. A Grateful Prayer
II. A Fatherly God
III. A Working Faith
IV. A Costly Love
V. A Steady Hope
I. A Grateful Prayer
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.
It is very good and right for us to look around at our church family and give thanks to God in prayer.
We can’t deeply love others whom we don’t regularly pray for. There is something about spending time with other believers in prayer and the joy, unity, and love that grows as we come together before the Lord.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers.
Praying in Concentric Circles
II. A Fatherly God
3 remembering before our God and Father…
Above all, for we who in Christ --- adopted, beloved, chosen --- above all, He is our Father.
J.I. Packer: “‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption…To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is greater.”
With God as our Father, He shows up every moment to provide for us and care for us, reminding us through the gospel that we are loved and accepted. And this in turn motivates us to want to please Him and glorify Him and “make Him proud”.
III. A Working Faith
3…your work of faith…
Faith alone saves but saving faith is never alone. We are justified by faith alone, and that faith that justifies will inevitably produce a life of good works.
Trust God and get going and you will display the work of faith.
Leon Morris: “Genuine faith in Christ cannot but transform the whole of life and issue in ‘work’ of many kinds.”
Center your heart on the gospel, be fixated on the good news, and from that gospel root, go and bear good fruit, the work of faith.
IV. A Costly Love
3…and labor of love…
1 Jn 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
V. A Steady Hope
3…and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
These believers remembered that they were “in God” until Christ returned. This was their sure and steady hope.
Earthly hope are things we simply wish will happen; Christian hope are things we know will happen. Their hope, and ours too, was built on the truth of the gospel.
What do healthy Christians and healthy churches look like? How can we grow in assurance of salvation? What kind of life does the Spirit produce in true believers?
I. A Grateful Prayer
II. A Fatherly God
III. A Working Faith
IV. A Costly Love
V. A Steady Hope