We now that Jesus keeps us
We know that this world is hostile territory
We know that it is all by God’s grace
Sin is a real threat to the church’s vitality
Restoration is our heartfelt request
Discernment keeps our hearts soft and eyes open
The purpose of believing in Jesus is experiencing the life of God
The experience God wants for us is openness and freedom in his presence
Our openness with God is established in his attentiveness toward us in Jesus
The claim that Jesus is the Christ Son of God
The witnesses called to testify
The consequences of our belief
"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world - our faith.” (1 John 5:4)
The world is opposed to God and his people
Jesus Christ decisively overcame the world
Faith in Jesus gives us the result of his victory
Love that Completes
God has given us completed love in a world of fear
His completed love drives away our fear
We fight our fears with God’s completed love
“The weight of our obligation to love each other is measured by the magnitude of the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ.
God is Love
God has Loved Us
We Ought to Love Each Other
We know the true Spirit of God because…
He confesses the truth about Jesus
He makes you overcome the world
He awakes our heart to the word of God
A heart that is absolutely assured in the presence of God
Knows that Condemnation has been Removed
Knows it has Confidence in Prayer
Because of Keeping the Commandment
A Love that Reverses
“See what kind of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (3:1)
What this kind of love accomplishes
How this kind of love is powerful
Who this kind of love effects
Continuing in the Light
Be aware of the qualities of the antichrists
Be assured of the qualities of the anointed
Hating In The Light
Why we ought not love the world
What are the things of the world
How we keep from loving the world
Loving in the Light
The Commandment to love each other
The Consequence of loving each other
The Cause for loving each other
Living in the Light
The Hypocrisy Test (1-6-7)
The Holier-Than-Thou Test (1:8-9)
The Humanist Test (1:10-2:2)
The Half-Hearted Test (2:3-6)
The Life Made Real
The Life must be revealed
The Life must be received
The Life must be proclaimed
The Joy will be finished
The Life
Theological Clarity: Jesus is God
Personal Piety: Stop sinning
Collective Charity: Love one another…for real
The Finished City . . . and Yet . . .
The city we build
The city built for us
The building we do now
Unfinished Reforms . . . for Now
The centrality of God in all of life
The life of faith rather than self-determination
The life of (collective) holiness rather than worldliness
Unfinished Turnaround . . . for Now
Read the word of God
Revel in redemptive truth
Repent of causal sin
Re-engage in covenant living