The Apostle John wrote three letters to the Church to encourage them in their faith. Gnosticism was abundant, and God had John exhort and encourage the Church to stick to the Word of God.
1 John 1
(v.9) The blood of Christ washes away our sins...the Levites could only cover up our sins. It took the blood of God Himself to wash them away so they would be remembered no more.
1 John 2
(v.1) This is the only case of nepotism that we should embrace! Satan is accusing us daily of sins and disobeying God. But we have the Son, going to His Father, and saying, "Daddy, that one is mine for he/she knows Me." The Father will then judge us innocent, for the blood of the Most Innocent washes us clean in the eyes of the Father!
(v.15) Think about what you love in this world...material things, fame, people liking you. All those things will burn in judgment. But the love of heaven and Jesus will endure forever!
(v.22) The spirit of the antichrist has been alive since God declared He would save mankind. Satan has tried to thwart God's plan of redemption for man, and he has used evil men to do his evil work. Look at any religion or cult, and they all have one thing in common...they deny the deity of Jesus! This goes back to the work of Satan.
1 John 3
(v.1) If you spend time around other believers, we can talk about the things of God, and know what the other is talking about. If we talk about those things with unbelievers, they will be lost and not understand us. It take the work of the Holy Spirit to open up their eyes.
(v.2) I love this verse! When we are in heaven, we will see the glory and power of Christ! Unlike the disciples after Jesus was resurrected, we will understand His appearance, and even see the scars from His love on the cross for us! Rev 5:6
(v.13) The world hates us because they don't understand us, and most of all, they don't understand God!
1 John 4
(v.1) Whenever you are taught from Scripture, or experience something that feels like God is speaking to you, immediately check it with Scripture. If it doesn't contradict God's Word, then you can know that God is speaking to you.
(v.4) We all need to remember this verse when faced with seemingly insurmountable trials...if we are on God's side, what do we really have to fear?
(v.9) The more we think about what God did for us, the more we should worship Him! John 3:16
(v.15) We are not to keep silent about the love of God...we are to witness and share what God is doing in our lives!
1 John 5
(v.7) Remember this verse about the Trinity, and the deity of Jesus!
(v.14) We need to pray with our thoughts on God, not asking Him to think like us. We should spend some time of prayer just listening, and He will put thoughts and ideas in our heads that we can act upon.
2 John
We don't know for sure who the "elect lady" is whom John is addressing, but we do know that she had a big influence on many people's lives. My personal opinion, is that this may be addressed to Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus.
First of all, when Jesus was on the cross, He told John to take care of her, and for him to treat her as his own mother. John 19:27
Secondly, John warns this lady to be watchful for false prophets and people who wish to affect her. What greater thing could an unbeliever do, than have the mother of the Christ deny Him or accept doctrines that aren't Scriptural?
No matter who John is speaking to, he really is speaking to us as well...we need to hold onto the Truth, and be watchful for people sent by Satan to discourage us.
3 John
(v.11) People will know that Christ is in us if we stop doing the worldly things we did before we were saved. Try to spend time with other believers, who will be far less likely to try to get you to sin than your old "friends."
No comments:
Post a Comment