Remembering who God is, who we are, and our need for Him.

The biblical church will be full of awe in Christ. However, far too many people have settled for an awful version of the church and Christianity. This morning we will renew our sense of awe in the glory of God and in what His church has always been meant to be.

What is the greatest threat to your spiritual life? Worship. The human heart is an idol factory and we are incredibly prone to be lead away from God by worshipping idols. This week we close out the 1 John series by examining what idols are, why we should guard ourselves from them, and how to actually do that so that we don’t lose the joy that only God can give.

1 John 5:18-20 gives us a number of assurances for those who are in Christ. John recaps a number of his major themes he has written to his audience, that includes assurance of victory, assurance that we belong to God, and assurance of eternal life.

Perhaps the greatest privilege of being God’s child is the blessing of communion with Him prayer. This week we look at not only our confidence to come before God in prayer but also the assurance we can have that certain prayers will be answered.

It is only in the fullness of assurance of eternal life can that you can really know that all is well between you and God. In this week’s passage we will examine the clear evidence for assurance of life in Christ as well as the results of that assurance. The central aim of this passage is for you to fully enjoy the life in Christ that is made available through the gospel.

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.