John is pretty straightforward: God commands us to love one another. If we love, we're in the light (where God is); if we don't, we're in darkness, and hatred (where God is not). So, make your way into the light. But how? What does it look like to love? What 'light' can we shine on it - and what light does it shine? The answer is in Christ. Let's heed the commandment together and explore 1 John 2:7-11 to see and know that we are, indeed, "beloved."

Pastor Harvey gives us the next lesson from the 1 John series: 1 John 2:3-6.

Some people deal with the guilt and shame sin brings by just trying harder.  Others just give up and give in to the inevitability of sin. Both lead to greater despair: the former as we continue to fail despite our best efforts and the latter as we think there is no hope for forgiveness. In our passage this week, 1 John 2:1-2, John lovingly reminds us that we can and should seek to avoid sin, and we can do so with confidence because if we do fail, which we will at times, Jesus not only pleads our case with God the Father, but he does so on the bases of his own sacrifice for us, which has satisfied God's justice and removed his wrath for sin. We need not despair because Jesus is our advocate and sacrifice for sin.

The presence of light serves both to reveal and to guide. Light reveals what is true and real, and in doing so, provides direction in how we are to respond to and live in relationship to what is revealed. Light both exposes danger and guides the way to safety. John begins his first letter with the message that God is light, a truth revealed to him by the embodiment of that light in Jesus Christ, God's Son. Only in relationship to God through Christ, can we see and understand what is true and can we live in a manner that shows we truly are being guided by the light of that truth. In 1 John 1:5-10 we'll consider the truth that God is light and what it means for us to walk in the light.

New Sermon Series: 1 John - Living Life in the Light and Love of God

We are beginning a new series of messages in the letter of 1 John. This pastoral epistle written by the beloved disciple John seeks to warn believers against the deceptive attraction of a "new and improved" gospel that brought into question the very foundation of Christian faith and life in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God's Son. In doing so, John also seeks to strengthen the confidence and assurance of his readers in knowing that they are standing firm on that foundation as they believe and live life in the light and love of God revealed and received in Christ Jesus.

This Week: Engaging in the Joyful Fellowship of Life in Christ

The apostle John opens his letter with a reminder and personal testimony of who Jesus really is, and encourages his readers with the fellowship and joy they have with God and each other as a result of the life that Jesus gives.

Daniel 12:1-13 concludes our series of messages in the book of Daniel as well as our advent look at the coming of the Son of Man.  Daniel 12 concludes the final section of the book and wraps up the last vision given to Daniel in chapters 10 & 11.  Daniel is given another detailed description of the coming kingdoms of men and the ongoing trials of God's people at the hands of oppressive rulers and the spiritual forces behind them.  The vision and the book end with a picture and promise of the final deliverance of God's people in the time of the end, a time for which we still look with eager hope at the return of the Son of Man to execute judgment upon evil and give eternal life and glory to those who are his own.  Join us as we start the new year with the promised hope that the wise shall shine in the end when the Son of Man returns.

Luke 2:22-35

 

Mothers are used to hearing kind words and compliments about their newborn babies.  But imagine how Mary felt when she hears from a man named Simeon, that her son Jesus would not only be the light of salvation to the Gentiles, but also a lightning rod of division among his own people. As we've seen in our messages this Advent season, the Son of Man came to save and to serve sinners.  But he does that by coming to suffer and die at the hands of the very sinners he came to save.  As hard and painful as that is to grasp, that reality is key to both understanding and embracing who Jesus is and receiving the life and kingdom he came to bring. Like Mary, let us have our souls pierced with Christ in the knowledge of his suffering, that we might experience new life with him in the hope of his resurrection.

The most common designation which Jesus used for himself was the title “Son of Man”, a reference not only to his incarnation and identification with us in his humanity but also as a revelation of his identity as the divine ruler, the anointed one seen by the prophet Daniel in his vision from the Lord. Here we remember and celebrate the coming of the Son of Man that night in Bethlehem, we will look at the reasons Jesus himself said that the Son of Man came…to save, to serve, to suffer and as sovereign over all.   Here from Luke 19:10 and Matthew 1:18-25 we look at how the Son of Man came to save.

In Daniel 9:20-27, we hear God's response to Daniel's great prayer. Gabriel brings a word to be considered: prophetic, apocalyptic, and full of promise. There's been much debate over this passage. We will take a certain "already-not yet" view through Jesus Christ, as we hear the angel Gabriel again bring a word of good news to a favored one. Let us consider it together, as the angel commands us, not in speculation, but in wonder. Let us ask in faith, "How will we receive it?" Brothers and sisters, we receive the promises through Jesus Christ alone. In the hope we have in Him, let us too say to God "Let it be to me according to Your Word."

Rev. Dan Thompson shares in the Good News of the Joy found in Jesus.