1 John 4:1-10

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?