Week 16

1 John 3:23-24

Believe, Love, Obey—these three have been recurring themes in John’s first letter. In these two verses we get a concise summary of what John is calling his readers to do and the interplay of these three commands. We are first to “believe in the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ.” That belief should then manifest in our love for one another and our willingness to obey His every command. John also indicates that the Holy Spirit confirms our belonging to Him. I want to talk more about that…

The assignment: 1.) Take a deeper look at the phrase “believe in the name…” What exactly does this mean? Are there other names we might believe in (not for salvation obviously, but perhaps for other things)?

2.) John also mentions the Holy Spirit as confirmation that He abides with us. Have you felt the confirmation of the Holy Spirit? How have you felt that confirmation? 

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Week 15

1 John 3:18-22

https://youtu.be/8_aFf5v4Ixg 

John offers us here a test, a sort of self-diagnostic. He is pointing out that if we love others (as Jesus instructed us to), it indicates that we are in right standing with God our Father. This is not a requirement for salvation, but rather a “fruit inspection” that we can use for ourselves.  It’s offered kindly as a means of reassuring us that we really belong to Him.

The assignment: 1.) Run the self-diagnostic on yourself. Do you love others merely with words or tongue? OR do you love them with truth and action? If you find yourself coming up short, what you really need is more connection with Jesus. When you spend more time with Him, you will love more of what He loves.

2.) Have you ever gone through a period of doubt? Spend some time reflecting on what brought you out of it. If you’re in the midst of it, reach out to someone who will encourage you the way John encourages us here.

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Week 14

1 John 3:11-18

In this passage, John shifts our attention away from our vertical relationship with God to our horizontal relationship with our brothers and sisters. Going all the way back to the very first brothers, we can see that horizontal relationships are fraught with competition, rivalry, jealousy, and even murderous hatred. We have an example in Jesus of another way. We are called by these verses to follow His example and love with action and show the world there is another way.

The assignment:

1.) Refresh your memory of Cain and Abel by reading Genesis 4:1-16. Why did Cain kill Abel?

2.) Verse 15 equates hatred and murder. Jesus taught the same principle in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Why is hatred the same as murder? Isn’t it an accomplishment to refrain from acting out our hatred? Isn’t that enough?

3.) How can you, your family, or your church love “in action and in truth” this year?

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Week 13

1 John 3:4-10

https://youtu.be/nJ48WkGlHkc

This week we look again at the evidence distinguishing between believers and non-believers. John says that the distinction is obvious by looking at the pattern of behavior in the person’s life. Yes, we all face temptation and we all sin, but how we respond to temptation and how we react when confronted with sin makes a huge difference. Believers resist temptation and confess their sin and repent, whereas non-believers excuse and justify sin ignoring God’s clear standards. Today, we want to talk about “why?”.

The assignment: 1.) Look through this passage of scripture and see if you can find anything that seems to indicate the motivation behind the behavior that John says makes it obvious if we are believers or not. If a believer is one who avoids sin and confesses it, why do they do that?

2.) Search for other passages that may give other insight into the motivation of a believer to be obedient.

3.) Share your own experience with your motivation regarding sin and temptation? Are there times when you are more successful? What helps you stay motivated to flee from temptation?

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Week 12

1 John 3:1-3

In this passage John speaks of the “already and not yet” nature of our faith. I think we should take some time to hold on to that reality—to feel the tension of it. I believe it helps to explain a lot of the frustrations we feel in our day to day lives. Knowing that we are citizens of heaven living in a broken world should feel like tension. Let’s dig a little deeper into that.

The assignment: 1.) Search the cross references for these verses and share what you find. Were there any passages from the gospels? 

2.) Can you think of any other examples of the feeling of tension between “already and not yet”? 

3.) Memorize verse 3 and think of times when you’ve needed to know this verse.

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Week 11

1 John 3:1-10

https://youtu.be/GWj3mwsbdvY

First we take a look back at the first 2 chapters of 1 John, and discuss the theme of belonging that John comes back to again and again. John wants us to know that we belong to Him and therefore to each other. He discusses light and darkness, righteousness and sin, and these serve to give evidence of our belonging rather than being means to belonging.

Then we take a look at the first 10 verses of chapter 3. Here John says something is “obvious.”

The assignment: 1.) What does John say is “obvious”? What evidence does he point to? Do you feel like it is as obvious as John seems to say?

2.) Based on what you read, if John was to apply these thoughts toward you, what obvious conclusion would he draw? Are there things you need to work on?

3.) Add to your theme list notes as needed.

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Week 10

1 John 2:20-27

https://youtu.be/OQTzydXAPtE

Did you know that you are anointed? In this passage of Scripture John is assuring the members of the church to whom he is writing that this antichrist among them should not make them doubt themselves. He refers to the anointing they received when they first believed and encourages them to hold fast to those basic beliefs and abide in the truth that Jesus is our Messiah.

The assignment: 1.) Study what John means here about being anointed or having an anointing. Can you find other passages that refer to this sort of anointing? Who else has been anointed? By whom? For what purpose? Is this anointing for all of us?

2.)Update your theme notes and get ready to review chapters 1 & 2

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Week 9

1 John 2:18-19

https://youtu.be/FkO7mCylGdQ

Do you think you’ve ever met an antichrist? John mentions here that we should expect them and gives us a few clues about how to find them. One important thing to notice is that they will be among us, but will go out from us. John wants us to be on guard against such as these.

The assignment: 1.) Study up on the word “antichrist”: use Bible dictionaries, commentaries, concordances, online resources, etc. And share what you find in the comments.

2.) How do we discern who is an antichrist? What clues does John give us to discover them?

3.) Keep adding to your theme notes

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The video version of this podcast is available on YouTube (https://youtu.be/FkO7mCylGdQ)