Have you ever believed something that was not true? Have you ever believed something that wasn't true about you? We need to encourage one another by affirming truth about our position and life in Christ.

The difference between knowing about and really knowing God. A personal relationship with God brings change. We are given a new nature, transformed by the Spirit of God. Genuinely knowing God is a result of our new life, the desire to keep His commandments through our decisions and actions. This obedience comes from our love for God.

John's purpose in writing this letter was not to give believers a pass when it comes to sin, in fact, quite the opposite - the goal of every believer ought to be not to sin. God's provision for sin delivered us from the condemnation due to sin, but He also delivers us from our ongoing struggle with sin as we strive to live obedient lives.

Holiness is beyond an absolute definition because God transcends our ability to fully comprehend Him. The idea behind holiness is that there is none like God.

We are beginning a new series in the book of 1 John, a series titled The Authentic Life. John begins his letter by talking about how, in order to become an authentic follower of Jesus Christ, we need to know who He is. And we can only know who Jesus is through God's revelation - Him speaking the truth through His Word.

During a conference in Orlando I attended last week, I was reminded that the gospel has the power to transform lives, but we must go to where people are and share the gospel - WE ARE THE VOICE OF THE GOSPEL. Paul gives testimony to this in his letters. In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, we find a record of Paul's ministry as he shared the gospel in a Greek city know for its idolatry and immorality. Even in a place that many would find 'too far gone', the gospel went forth, changed lives, and saw a church planted that would become a testimony to other churches and stand as a beacon of God's grace.

Today we are going to look at Peter, a man who failed like no one else because he walked with Jesus-seeing the miracles he performed, being given power and authority to do more than he was capable of, and yet when the opportunity arose for him to stand up for Jesus. . .he failed. If we are honest with ourselves - we see a lot of Peter in ourselves.

In the passage we are looking into this morining, we see a huge change in the life of the Apostle Paul. Before he met the resurrected Christ, he counted on his personal performance to be right with God. He lists his credentials and he shares his approach to knowing God. But according to Acts there was a huge change in his life when he met the resurrected Jesus on a road and saw that he needed to depend on Jesus rather than his own personal performance to know God. The same can be said for us. I am convinced that until a person recognizes that they are a helpless sinner in need of deliverance, they aren't ready to receive Christ as savior. Savior means deliverer. How can one be delivered if they don't recognize their need?

The work of sharing the Gospel is something every Christian ought to engage in - it isn't just for pastors and evangelists. But there are considerations believers need to bear in mind as they seek to be obedient in this - people wil look at how we live and they will use that as a filter through which to consider what we say.

The Bible is very clear about roles in the home. Although our society has changed its views toward the roles of men and women (and now there is even confusion about what constitutes being a man or a woman), the scripture is unambiguous. Let's look at the roles God has laid out for leadership in the home.