When hardship enters our life it often causes us to ask questions. Is God good? How do I respond? Here John helps us to know we have fellowship with God & how it is our faith overcomes the world.

John wants us to have fellowship with God which will produce fullness of joy. In this passage he gives us the ultimate test to determine whether we have true fellowship with God, the test of love!

Not everything that claims to be Christian is actually true Christianity. The amount of “Christian” content available for consumption has never greater and therefore the need to be discerning has never been more important. Why? Because ingesting false teaching will complicate your life, possibly eternally. Therefore we must test everything with the Scriptures to see if the things you hear or see are True. In this week’s study of 1 John 4:1-7, we will examine the scriptural tests to determine if something is a true work of Holy Spirit or a counterfeit.

In the Christian experience there are times when we do not feel like we can come confidently before God. The causes of this feeling vary, but the trouble of it is always the same. It takes away what God came to provide, intimate access and fellowship with Him. This passage equips us to deal with doubt God’s way so that our fellowship with Him can be restored and along with it…joy.

The church’s witness for Jesus Christ rises and falls with Christian practice of loving one another while living in a world that hates them. This week’s passage in 1 John 3:11-18 will explore the true child of God’s relationship to love and hate as well as provide an exhortation to ensure that our love moves beyond sentiment to sacrificial action for the good of others, especially those in the family of God.

The seeker sensitive movement in the American evangelical church has preached a water down gospel and produced a plethora of cultural Christians. This has both damaged the witness of Jesus Christ and also robbed many from finding true life in Christ. This week’s passage examines the problem and origin of sin, the work of Christ, and what sin and righteousness reveal about the true nature of a person. The application of the passage will lead some to recognize their need to respond to the true gospel and will spur on all true children of God to pursue progressive growth in righteousness.

There is perhaps not greater benefit of the gospel than that we become children of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. This not an elementary truth, but the climax of the gospel in bringing us into an intimate relationship with the Father where we will enjoy the glory today of being His children and the future of glory of becoming like Him. All of the unhappiness we experience in life comes from a failure to put our present conditions in the context of this glorious truth.

Within the heart of 1 John as a letter urging us to increase our intimacy with God, John give us a warning to be on guard to spot lies around us, and when necessary, spot the liar. Are you ready and mature enough in your study of truth to spot the lie and the liar?

Click to see the video illustration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2BZNowCXws

When we reduce the person and work of Jesus to a baby who was born and a man who died on the cross we miss out on the remainder of the work of our divine rescuer. This Christmas Eve, we will look at not only what Jesus came to do on earth, but also what He continues to do as our risen Savior.

As we look back at 2020 and remember all that has happened we are reminded of all the unrest, trouble, and brokenness that is in our world; and not just in our world but in and all around us. We are desperately in need of one to come and make things right, to make things whole, to bring peace.