December 5, 2023
“And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him” (1 John 5:14 NLT). Because we are in Christ we now have confidence that the Father will hear and answer our prayers. For this reason Hebrews teaches us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
December 4, 2023
“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us” (1 John 4:12-13 NLT). The apostle John gave several “proofs” of
December 3, 2023
“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions” (1 John 3:18 NLT). When we receive Christ, we receive the love of Christ. This is the love that moved Christ to die in our place, so that we might have eternal life. Real love takes
December 2, 2023
“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT). Do you ever ask questions of God like, “Why is
February 12, 2023 | 1 John 4:7-21 |
All along, we are being shaped by these various relationships. We seek acceptance, but we are so bent and broken by sin, that we often experience rejection and in like manner, cause others to feel rejected by us. This is the human condition apart from God. We are all deeply wounded relationally. We are hurt. And hurt people, hurt people.
We’re relationally broken and only a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ can heal us and renovate our relationships. And what is the chief way that God moves to heal us? Love. In the apostle John’s first letter, he wrote to encourage believers to let the love of God heal and renovate their relationships with Him and with others. We can let the love of God renovate our relationships.
December 5, 2022
KNOWING THAT CHRIST HAS COME In his first epistle, the apostle John wrote of what we can know because of Christ’s coming. For as John wrote in his gospel, Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). If you want to know God, look to Jesus. He is God revealed to us in the flesh.
December 4, 2022
THIS IS REAL LOVE If we have any claim to love, it originates with God, who first loved us. This love is most fully demonstrated in the sending of His Son, Jesus, as the “sacrifice” for our sins, dying on the cross for us. For in the cross we see the intersection of God’s love
December 3, 2022
ABIDING WE NO LONGER MAKE A PRACTICE OF SINNING John here describes the fruit of being born again, namely, that those with God’s life in them, no longer make a practice of sin. Sin is no longer their habit. This is not the precondition of salvation. For salvation is by grace alone through faith alone
December 2, 2022
HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRIST’S RETURN Determine to finish well. How? “Remain in fellowship with Christ.” Stay close. If you wander, come back. If you stray, return. If you sin, repent. Keep short accounts. “Remain.” Which is to abide, to stay, to live and walk in constant “fellowship” with Jesus. This is not working or
December 1, 2022
CHRIST IS BOTH THE MEDIATOR AND MEANS OF SALVATION The Greek word translated here in the NLT as “the sacrifice that atones” is the word “hilasmos.” This word is often translated as “atonement” or “propitiation.” It points back to Israel’s sacrificial system, whereby a lamb without spot or blemish was offered as an atonement for