We Love Because...

I John 4:16-19

Welcome! Today is the last Sunday of the month, and in addition to a shorter message, we will spend time remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, and we will also have a time of sharing with one another what the Lord has been teaching us and doing among us.

Last week John Farmer began by talking about the theme of light in I John, and he gave a personal illustration involving stumbling around in the darkness. I have an illustration as well – this past summer we visited the Stumphouse Tunnel along with Issaqueena Falls. If you’ve never been there, bring flashlights. The purpose of the tunnel was to provide a shorter railway path from South Carolina to Tennessee. Excavation on the tunnel began in the 1850s but it was not completed because of excessive cost. The tunnel was used to grow Clemson blue cheese from the 1950s through the 1970s; the moist, dark environment made it perfect for this. 

Relying on His Love

I John 4:1-16

Good morning and welcome everyone!  We continue today with the I John series: "In the Light."  I don't know about you, but there is something appealing about the thought of walking in the light.  And yet, if we are used to walking in darkness, we can continue to do it sometimes without even realizing it.

We were redoing our boys bedroom (for several months), and they were sleeping in the basement.  They were happy to move back upstairs, but honestly, sleeping downstairs was no big strain for them.  They were a lot closer to the playroom.  It was much easier for the Legos to happen to migrate to where their mattresses were.

In the morning, I would come down to ride on my exercise bike.  Since it was before the time change, there would be enough light that I could just barely find my way safely past the corner of David's mattress and around to the work room where I could close the door and turn on the light.

Lay Down Your Life

I John 3:11-24

How would you sum up the message of 1 John in one word? Love, light, truth, life – these are all themes that we have been looking at over the past weeks, and we will continue to encounter them over and over as we move through the second half of this book. John especially emphasizes love: God’s love for us (the foundation of the gospel), our love for God, and our love for each other. 

^"For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another."  --I John 3:11

Remain in Him

1 John 2:15-27

This morning I want to talk with you about remaining in Christ. This book is black and white. There is no middle ground. But the overall spirit of the letter is affirmation for John's Christian readers and condemnation for the pretenders. Even those things seem to be true I’m still convicted by things that John says like, “Don’t love the world or the things in the world.” There are a variety of tests that John gives for who’s a Christian and who isn’t, but as you dig deeper, you’ll find that God is inviting us into a relationship where He is more at home with us and we are more at home with Him.

Before I jump into our passage I would like to define some important words. Maybe if I explain what these words mean, then, you might have a better understanding of what John is trying to explain.