Knowing God in 1 John, Part 6
John is specifically referring to our relationship or our fellowship with God in Christ in this verse. He is talking to people who have salvation and is explaining to them the extremely important principle of walking as Jesus walked. It is not enough to say you are a Christian. Having salvation is clearly very important and something God desires for each and every person (2 Peter 3:9). However, having salvation is really only our starting point. Much of the New Testament epistles are dedicated to encouraging believers to press on, to learn to walk as Jesus walked and to live a life that pleases God. In doing so, we will experience great fellowship with God and enjoy more of His Presence and power in and through our lives.
Continue Reading January 15, 2016 at 12:03 PM Leave a comment
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 5
Christians who live like the people who are lost in this dark world have no fellowship with God at all, though they have salvation (if they are true Christians). Let’s remember that John is writing to actual believers, true Christians. He is not questioning their salvation. He is providing them guidelines to understand how to enter into fellowship with God in Christ. The Christian whose life is virtually no different from those around him/her who are lost, might have salvation, but has no fellowship with God at all. John is very clear about this.
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 4
Joy in fellowship cannot exist unless several things happen. First, error about Jesus must be excluded. This is why John tackles the Docetic error right off the bat by putting forth the fact that Jesus was alive and well and walked among people as a Person Himself. He was not a ghost, a phantom, or a theophany. He was a real human being who suffered in His humanity to perfect us via the atonement. Moreover, if we stop to consider it, Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are during His earthly life (Hebrews 4:15), yet remained sinless. He was fully human and experienced hunger, fatigue, and many other aspects of being human. Yet, in spite of all these things, He remained sinless and was, at the end, able to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and did so.
Continue Reading January 14, 2016 at 1:00 PM Leave a comment
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 3
I’m not saying that if we get serious about fellowship with God, America will turn around and God will once again make her a great nation. That’s not the point at all to 1 John and frankly, I believe we have passed the tipping point there long ago. God wants us to fellowship with Him because He wants to use us in the Great Commission. A time is coming when things will be exceedingly dark and even though I believe the Rapture will occur prior to the Tribulation, I have absolutely no idea when the Rapture will occur or specifically how dark and evil things will get before that event. We cannot count on it whisking us away to the safety of heaven though it will happen.
Can Authentic Christians Deny Jesus? Part 3
But the very important question that we must answer is how do we abide in Christ? How do we live our lives in such a way that causes us to continue abiding in Christ? First, we need to understand that when we read the term abide in Christ, it is almost always referring to being and remaining in fellowship with God. What keeps us from fellowship with God? Only one thing: sinful behavior. Sure, we can break that down into many areas and lots of examples, but in the end, it is all sin. Any and every sin will break off our fellowship with God. When we sin deliberately, we cease to fellowship with God.
Continue Reading January 12, 2016 at 8:09 PM Leave a comment
What Does John Mean by Knowing God in 1 John, Part 2
John notes that if a person says he/she has come to know God, but doesn’t keep God’s commands, then that person is clearly lying. To emphasize the point, John says that the person in question is devoid of truth. Truth does not reside in that person because they are living a lie.
Continue Reading January 10, 2016 at 8:57 PM Leave a comment
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