1 John 4:1-10
August 4, 2008
wow. what a great text!
i realize that i departed from looking at the details of this passage. but the more i studied, the more obvious it became to me that sometimes we can miss the big picture if we focus too much on the details of the smaller pictures. i hope that makes sense…
it’s not that the smaller pictures of this text are not important. quite the contrary. they are huge and incredibly important ingredients to understanding right doctrine.
- don’t believe every spirit.
- test the spirits.
- false prophets are everywhere.
- we can recognize the spirit of god.
- the spirit of antichrist is everywhere…then and now.
- we (children of god) have overcome antichrist.
- the spirit of god lives in us.
- the spirit in me is greater than the spirit of antichrist.
- we can listen to the spirit of antichrist or the truth of the apostles. our choice.
- real love comes from god.
- real love can only come from one born of god.
- no love, no god.
- know love, know god.
- god showed us what real love is.
- jesus is real love.
- real love is defined by the atonement.
lots of details in this passage. in spite of that, there is one consistent message: it’s all about jesus. jesus is life. jesus is love. jesus is real. jesus is the atonement. jesus is the answer. jesus is the remedy. is this true for you?
This is a site to talk about the sermon from this past week...a place to ask questions, to give opinions, to disagree, to encourage, to dig deeper, to seek truth, to offer criticism, to affirm trust, and to build commitment.
I'm up for it. Are you?
August 4, 2008 at 8:11 pm
It was interesting to me that the sermon was what it was this week, and that we sang the song “Remedy.” I’m coming into an interesting realization of late – I hesitate to say a lesson learned, because I don’t think I’m finished learning it yet – concerning all of this. Basically, its the odd understanding that Jesus really is my remedy – the ONLY remedy. I say that its odd, because I feel that it’s something I should have known all along, and it almost makes me laugh a bit that I seem to be learning it just now.
I used to have lots of remedies – coping skills, quick fixes, or whatever – that I used to navigate through existence, and numb the pain that my sin and the sin of others caused in my life. Eventually, those damaging behaviors became…well…damaging! So I thought, in my feeble little mind, that I’d drop those old habits (a good decision) and maybe even get some new, better ones.
The problem is…that wasn’t the answer either. I was confused and angry that my behavior alterations hadn’t drastically changed my life. While my life LOOKED alot better, I still FELT the same. I’d changed the I was acting, changed the way I was chose to cope with life, but my pain didn’t go away. Life, people, me, existence,the world – was ultimately the same no matter how I approached it – broken. And no amount of cleaning up my act was going to change the world, or even change me.
It was such a strange thing to realize that fixing my problems (those I have/had control over anyways) wasn’t the same as fixing me, and that in reality, I couldn’t do it. I CAN’T do it. Jesus is the only one who can make me new – give me peace, rest, light, freedom……..He is the ONLY one that works.
So…in answer to your question…yes, Jesus is my remedy….when I’m smart enough to use Him, which isn’t always…but is more often than it used to be. That’s something, right?
August 5, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Hey – is this sermon streaming anywhere or can I get a copy to listen to?