Sermon Central
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Studies In I John
Contributed by Glenn Pease on Mar 25, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. The Voice Of Experience
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
John says we have personal contact with Christ. We knew Him through the avenue of our senses, and we bear witness of Him.
James Thurber tells the fable of the bear that use to go on a spree of drunkenness, and come home at night and break up the furniture, and frightening the children and drive his wife to tears. One day he reformed and decided to never drink again, and from then on he would come home and ...read more
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2. Fellowship Is Fundamental
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
There is no way you can be the light of the world and the salt of the earth without some form of fellowship with unbelievers.
No one can doubt that this is an age of ecumenicity. Everybody is talking about getting together with someone else for dialogue or merger. Even those who are opposed to the ecumenical movement are merging and uniting. In other words, wherever you are today you are involved in a complex world ...read more
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3. God Is Love
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
We are never nearer God than when we love, and we are never nearer to being what he wants us to be than when we love.
Tolstoy wrote a story called "Where Love Is, God Is." It is about an old cobbler named Martin who lived alone. One night as he read the story of Jesus visiting the Pharisee, and the poor welcome he received, he prayed that the Lord would visit him. In his sleep he heard a voice saying, ...read more
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4. Truth In Action
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
Jesus not only spoke truth, He lived truth. He was truth incarnate, and truth in action.
The story is told of how years ago a hard shell Baptist returned to his community after visiting Jefferson, Texas, and he reported to his neighbors that he had seen ice made there in July. It is claimed that the first artificial ice in the United States was made in Jefferson. When the word of ...read more
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5. Walking In The Light
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
If we walk in the light we have fellowship with God, but if we do not, we have neither fellowship with God nor forgiveness of sin.
John has made it perfectly clear that Christians are still sinners even as saints, and that to claim that one is without sin is to call God a liar. He is not defending sin, but warning against a false kind of perfectionism. The Gnostics attained their perfection by simply denying that anything ...read more
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6. Christian Confession
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
John says that if we try and live on the hypocritical level of non-admission to guilt and sin, then we are self-deceived. The truth is not in us, and in such a state we cannot be forgiven.
The one thing all people have in common is guilt. Ever since Adam and Eve hid from God, because they were afraid, out of a sense of guilt, man has had to bear the burden, and suffer the effects of guilt, and these effects are enormous. Modern psychiatry is discovering that guilt is enemy number ...read more
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7. Perfection
Contributed on Mar 25, 2021
John teaches the paradoxical truth that the Christian can be victorious over sin, and yet at the same time be always in need of cleansing from sin.
There's an old story about a couple who lived by the sea and kept a boarding house. There boarders had only one complaint, and that was lack of variety on the menu. Breakfast consisted of fish, chicken, and eggs; dinner consisted of chicken, eggs, and fish, and for supper they had eggs, fish, ...read more
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8. We Have A Lawyer
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
Jesus was a carpenter for a few years on earth, but ever since His ascension He has been the believers lawyer in the court of heaven,
Two men were looking at the epitaph on a tombstone which read, "Here lies an honest man and a good lawyer." One looked at the other and said, "I wonder why they put two men in the same grave?" Lawyers have not gained the best reputation for being honest men. One doctor asked ...read more
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9. Blessed Assurance
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
"Hereby we do know that we do know Him." John is saying, not only can we know God, but we can know that we know Him, and it is this knowing that we know that is called assurance.
Storms had ravaged the ships; the Pinta had lost her rudder; the food was getting wormy, and the crew was threatening mutiny. Conditions could hardly have been worse, for there was darkness, danger, hunger, panic, and exhaustion. All of these stared them in the face, and yet the Admiral of the ...read more
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10. Hatred Hit Hard
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
There is only one way out of the darkness of hate says John. We must hit hate hard with the only weapon that can snap its heavy chains, and that weapon is obedience to the supreme commandment of love
One of the most exciting books you can read is The Count Of Monte Cristo. The hero of the book, Edmund Dantes, had been unjustly cast into a dungeon. Fortunately, by means of a tunnel he met an old man in another nearby dungeon. The old man told him of a great treasure that was hidden on the ...read more
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11. Love's Limitations
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
The challenge of John is for believers to be loyal to the Lord in their love, and not corrupt it and diminish it by allowing the world to gain their affection.
"Atlanta's Race" is the title of Sir E. J. Poynter's most successful paintings. The story behind the painting is from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Atlanta was the daughter of Schoenus of Boeotia, and she was famous for her matchless beauty. She was also so swift of foot that none ...read more
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12. Words Of Warning
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
In Scripture there are no warnings but those that are needed, and so we ought to make sure that we give heed to every one of them.
A deaf but pious English lady visiting a country town in Scotland went to church with an ear trumpet. It was a new device then, and the elders of the church had never seen one, and they viewed it with great suspicion. After consultation one of them walked over to her and waging his finger at her ...read more
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13. Satanic Separatism
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
It is significant to note that the antichrists were not outsiders, but were those who were within, but who then went out of the church. This makes sense, for false doctrines seldom have their origins outside the church
Harry Emerson Fosdick has much thinking that is not acceptable to the evangelical Christian, but he also has many valuable insights that make his writings of real worth. One of his ideas is that a man should not be judged so much by the position he is in, as by the direction in which he is ...read more
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14. The Winning Wind
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
With the word and the wind, that is the Holy Spirit within, the believer will always be a winner in the conflict with evil ideas.
Determining the superiority of either side in either conflict is difficult since the decisive factor in gaining a victory is often hidden. This was certainly the case when the Spanish Armada sailed against England. It was one of the greatest fleets ever assembled, and the Spanish ships dwarfed ...read more
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15. Children Of God
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
If it is a noble birth to be born of a king, what is it to be born of the King of Kings?
When I was a student at Bethel, Lavonne and I were invited as honorary guests to a banquet held each year for students near the top of their graduating class in the colleges and law schools of St. Paul. I was delighted with this opportunity, and it was with a real sense of satisfaction that I put ...read more
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16. Conquest Of The World
Contributed on Mar 26, 2021
Jesus said that we would have tribulation in the world, but He also said to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. His overcoming is already a fact that we can celebrate right now.
Long ago an Eastern King, who was plagued by many troubles and worries, called his wise men together and asked them to compose a brief motto that would help him to face times of distress. He required them to make it brief enough to be engraved on his ring, and yet so profound and true that it ...read more