This week we read as John warns the church about the false teachers who might rise up to deceive them. Many in John’s day and in our modern world preach in the name of Jesus—but how are we to know who to believe and who to trust? How do we know if a teacher, messenger, or pastor is from God? John gives his people two tests, centered on Jesus. The “Jesus Tests” help us to know whether someone teaching us is in line with God’s truth. Many of us have our own tests that we have created over a lifetime of listening to Christian teaching, radio, music, and church services. John centers his test on the truth of Christ. We know that we are of God—and that those we listen to are from God—when the truth of Jesus Christ is made clear in our lives in both word and deed. All other tests might fail to truly show what is behind the scenes, but as John says, “every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” Live by the Spirit, and you will confess Jesus Christ in word and deed.

This week we look at the command in 1 John 3.11 to "Love one another." The command is immediately faced with the problem of how general it is. What exactly does John mean? How do Christians love one another? We might ask how far Christians are to go to love one another and what reason there is for doing so. John gives us two examples, one negative, and one positive. Cain, who murdered his brother Abel is an obvious bad example of how to love one another, yet there are pieces of Cain’s struggle with anger and identity that face us all. John offers the positive example of Jesus himself, who gave his life so that we might live. How can we live as Christians according to the positive example that John gives? This week we look at the three part solution to our struggle to love one another: the standard of love given by God the Father, the example of love seen in Jesus and the recognition of the Holy Spirit as the source of our expression of this love towards others.

One of the earth shattering revelations of the New Testament is that in Christ Jesus we are called the children of God.  “See what kind of love the Father has given to us,” says John, “that we should be called children of God.”. As children of God we are given the righteousness, the acceptance, and the inheritance of Christ. In Christ, we have been adopted into God’s family and have the privilege of calling Him Father. In 1 John 2.28-3.10 John teaches us what this privilege requires of us. This week we will look at what it means for us to be members of God’s family in the first of two sermons on our identity as Children of God.

Most people have heard of the AntiChrist, but many have not read John's warning about the antichrists who are already at work. This week we look at 1 John 2.18-27 and John's warning to his flock about the false teachers who deny that Jesus is the Messiah--the Christ. These antichrists threaten to deceive the world concerning the person and work of Jesus. However, God has anointed believers with His Holy Spirit, who teaches us about Jesus.

Welcome to the Snells Beach Baptist Church Sunday podcast. This sermon was recorded from the Sunday service on September 12, 2021. This week, in 1 John 2.12-17,  John discusses life after salvation. If Jesus has won the victory for those who believe in Him, what happens once they place their faith in Him? The battle is won, and the Christian is secure, but John will not let his readers think that this means that there is no more effort to be given to the Christian life. John says that we who are in Christ can have assurance because of our belief, yet we must also see a change in affection for the one who has saved us. John challenges us to let our encounter with God influence our affection for the world rather than lose sight of God and have our experiences with this world influence our affection for God—an influence that will eventually prove that we have no affection for Him.

Do you want peace in trials, joy in pain, hope that will follow through on its promises?  The author of Hebrews, in 12.27-29, draws insight from the book of Haggai to encourage his people to take hope. Like the Israelites to whom Haggai prophesied, and the early Christians addressed in the book of Hebrews, we need hope for the future when things out of our control threaten to shake our world. As Christians, we are given citizenship in a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Take heart in the truth that those in Christ await a future glory that cannot be taken from us and that we remain unshaken because we have put our trust not in this world--which is passing away--but in Jesus Christ.

1 John 2.5-13

Sermon by John DiCicco

Faith

Sermon by DaveFredrickson

Sermon by Maurice Milmine

Colossians 3:1-17

The Light of Life

Sermon by John DiCicco