Sermon Central
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- 1 John - A Practical Faith
Contributed by Peter Loughman on Jan 6, 2009 (message contributor)
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1. Inconceivable
Contributed on Jan 6, 2009
How powerful is your faith? A better question: How powerful is WHO you place your faith in?
Is this logic true…. I believe I am successful – therefore I am successful. I believe I will prevail – therefore I prevail. I believe in God – therefore there is a God. If I believe in something strong enough, does my belief somehow shape the resulting situation, reality, event? We have ...read more
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2. The Light And The Lie
Contributed on Jan 12, 2009
It turns out CONFESSION is an important aspect of remaining in the light along with the obvious - Understanding Scripture and following the Holy Spirit.
A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o’clock in the morning by a loud pounding on their door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger in the pouring rain is asking for a push. “Not a chance” says the husband - “It’s three o’clock in the morning!” He slams the door and ...read more
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3. The Ministry Of Silly Walks
Contributed on Jan 19, 2009
Sin in a person’s life is not what determines if they are truly a Christian or not, John tells us one practical way to evaluate ourselves in our Christian walk.
A pastor and his wife were vacationing in Estes Park, Colorado, and were having breakfast in a local coffee shop. It was empty except for four men at another table. One was mocking Christianity; in particular, the resurrection of Christ. He went on and on about what a stupid teaching that was. The ...read more
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4. Old Is New
Contributed on Jan 28, 2009
John shows us another way we can analyze if we or others in the church are doing well in our Christian walk - love.
This is a true story. Paul and William decided that they really wanted to become godly men. So they started meeting with one another to pray and encourage one another; they even set goals for themselves and their behavior, and were accountable to each other. At one point Paul decided that he ...read more
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5. Crisscross Double Cross
Contributed on Feb 24, 2009
We are secure in our faith. John tells us that those who walk away from the faith were never a part of the faith to begin with.
In 1936, when delays slowed construction, over $130,000 was invested in a novel safety feature: a vast net -- similar to a circus net -- suspended under the Golden Gate Bridge. The safety net extended ten feet wider than the bridge’s width and fifteen feet further than the roadway’s length. It gave ...read more
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6. Distinguishing Reality From Fantasy
Contributed on Feb 24, 2009
John shows us an easy and effective way to evaluate if a Christian teaching is real or fantasy.
In the late 1980’s I was interviewing at various corporations in the San Francisco Bay Area for a position in one of the fast track executive programs that were being offered to recent college graduates, of which I was one. In many of these corporations I would go through a series of interviews ...read more
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7. Agape Love
Contributed on Mar 17, 2009
The Beatles said it best when they sang, “all you need is love” …...and then they broke up. We cannot agape love on our own, we need God to enable us to agape love.
How can I love? They hurt me. They said this thing that hurt me. I tried to ignore it. I said to myself, “It doesn’t matter, move on, be mature about it, it was just this dumb little thing. But still, I kept thinking about it. I wanted to put it out of my mind, I didn’t want to think about ...read more
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8. Confidence
Contributed on Mar 31, 2009
Where do we place our confidence? In the Lord Jesus Christ.
Open your bibles with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 18. What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? Psalms 117 What is the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 119 Which chapter is in the center of the Bible? Psalm 118 There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118 and there are 594 ...read more
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9. Continue In The Faith
Contributed on Mar 31, 2009
John offers three practical ways to remain in the faith: Do not let others redefine who Jesus is; Grow your agape love; Do not listen to false teachers.
Katie and I got married a little over 21 years ago. We wanted a simple wedding ceremony, a simple reception - a few friends, some family, a little cake, some punch and that was it. But then, the relatives got involved. Sound familiar? What started out as an uncomplicated and straightforward ...read more