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Oh welcome to love worth fun with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open
Pastor Adrian Rogers teaches from 1 John 2 that true believers show their faith through submission to Christ's lordship, obedience to His commandments, and a life that reflects Jesus.
Key Takeaways
- Genuine salvation produces observable fruit: submission to Christ's lordship, obedience, and a changed life.
- Saying you know Christ without keeping His commandments is a contradiction, according to 1 John 2.
- Obedience is the response of love, not the means of earning salvation.
- A believer abides in Christ and reflects His character in honesty, purity, and love.
What the video covers
- Introduces the idea of 'birthmarks of the believer' — observable traits that distinguish those who are truly born again from those who only talk about religion.
- Examines 1 John 2:4, 6, and 9, where John repeatedly uses 'he that saith' to contrast professed belief with actual behavior.
- First trait: a true believer submits to the lordship of Jesus Christ; receiving Christ as Savior and Lord happens at the same time.
- Explains the Greek and biblical sense of 'keep' as guarding a treasure and steering by the stars, not earning salvation.
- Clarifies the verb tenses: knowing Christ (past, settled) produces keeping His commandments (present, ongoing), not the reverse.
- Emphasizes that obedience flows from love, citing John 14:15 and 14:21, and that salvation is not by works.
- Second trait: a true believer walks as Jesus walked, marked by honesty, purity, and righteousness, abiding in Christ like a branch in a vine.
- Cautions against simplistically asking 'what would Jesus do' without grounding in Scripture and the Spirit's leading.
- Third trait: a true believer's life is marked by love for others, illustrated with examples such as Peter's transformation.
- Closes with an invitation to trust Christ as Lord and Savior through prayer and mentions ministry resources and contact information.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and the Birthmarks of the Believer
- 01:54Testing Claims in 1 John 2:4–9
- 03:46First Birthmark: Submission to the Lordship of Christ
- 05:47Meaning of 'Keep' and the Verb Tenses
- 08:48Obedience as an Expression of Love
- 11:31Second Birthmark: Walking as Jesus Walked
- 17:08Third Birthmark: Love for Others
- 26:34Invitation to Trust Christ and Closing
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding turn to 1st John find the second chapter and find verse 4 and then look up here and let me tell you this
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that when you were heaven born you became heaven bound but when you were heaven born in heaven bound God put some indelible marks upon you these are traits of the twice-born these are the birth marks of the believer and God wants me to tell you
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that if you don't find these birth marks if you do not discover these traits then you need to ask yourself have you ever really been born from above and are you really heaven bound because you see it's one thing to talk religion it's another
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thing to have it is that not proof it's a matter of fact let's just look here in the second chapter and look if you will in verse 4 see how it begins he that saith I know him and keepeth not his
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Commandments is a liar oh my John you you're certainly not you're not very discreet there I mean you're a little blunt aren't you John he said that's right you say you know him and you don't keep his Commandments
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you're just a liar and then look again in verse 6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked look in verse 9 he that says he is in the light and hateth his
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brother is in darkness until now you see how each of these verses begin he that saith he that saith he that saith it's one thing to talk to talk it's another thing to walk the walk is he that saith
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now I see a lot of his talk a good religion but everything we say is not necessarily so I heard of a psychiatrist who was in the office and the nurse the nurse came back there and said doctor there's a man out
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here in the office who wants to see you he says he's invisible the psychiatrist said to the nurse go tell him we can't see not everything that people say is true and certainly when it comes to this matter of of being saved but what are
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some traits of the twice-born each of these phrases he that saith introduces a trait of the twice-born it introduces a birthmark of the believer so I want us to look at these traits right here and see first of all what a true believer is
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number one a true believer are you listening a true believer submits to the lordship of Jesus Christ a true believer submits to the lordship of Jesus look in verses 3 and 4 and hereby we do know that we know him if we
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keep his Commandments he that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him now nobody can be saved without receiving Christ as Lord the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus
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Christ and thou shalt be saved the Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved and so
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you don't you don't receive Christ as Savior and let him and later make him Lord you receive him as Lord and Savior all at the same time and so if you say that Christ is your Lord and yet you
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don't keep his word well that's a contradiction Jesus Christ himself said why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say the Lord means master and he has every right to give His commandments so let me ask you a
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question have you been born again you say yes I have are you keeping his Commandments what do you say no I don't think I'm keeping his Commandments then John says not but John says you are a liar he the Seth
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I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar are you trying to tell me Adriene that I have to be perfect in order to go to heaven No if it demands perfection nobody is going because we don't have perfection what
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does this mean when it says he that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar it's all wrapped up in that word keep now what does that word keep me well first of all it means
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to guard as you would guard a treasure you would say to somebody you would give them something you would say keep this for me and so when you treasure God's commandments the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ when they are precious
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to you when you guard his Commandments you take and set value in those Commandments then you can say perhaps I know the Lord or yes indeed I do know the Lord also the word keep is a word that was used by sailors in ancient
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times when they didn't have Global Positioning satellites as we have they would steer by the Stars and a sailor at nighttime would look up to the Stars and he would steer by those stars and they call that keeping the Stars keeping the
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Stars that is he would set his course by keeping the Stars now you as a Christian set your course in life by keeping the commandments you treasure those commandments and you steer by those commandments that doesn't mean that you
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could never get blown off course that doesn't mean in a time of carelessness you may take your eyes from the Stars but I'm here to tell you this folks that if you have no desire to live by the
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Word of God if you can sin carelessly flippantly without any compunction without any conviction and you just go your merry way and let God's commandments go the other way you need to get saved I didn't say that the Apostle John said that he that saith
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I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is what a fire now are you steering by God stars do you treasure God's Word are you keeping God's commandments now why do we do this listen very carefully we are not
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saved by keeping the commandments he's not teaching here salvation by works at all he is look if you will in verse 4 look at it he that saith I know him now that friend is in the perfect tense they
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say Oh Adrian I'm so blessed no all right here's what it says it speaks of something that is done in the past perfect tense he that saith I have known him I I know him that's in the past
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tense it is something that is done and settled and then because he keepeth the commandments because he is now keeping that is present tense now what what is he talking about he is saying because I have known him I am now keeping the
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commandments it doesn't say because I'm keeping the commandments I know him don't get it backward the only way that you can keep the commandments is to know him but if you know him if you have him in your heart if you have known him
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perfect tense you will be keeping his Commandments present tense you're going to be steering by God stars you're going to be treasuring God's Word now ask yourself this question and ask it honestly ask it sincerely do you have in
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your heart right now a desire to live by the Word of God if not put a big question mark over that thing you call salvation he that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar
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that's what John says and so what's the first trait of the twice-born it is folks right here a true believer submits to the lordship of Christ he has his word he says this is what I want you to do and if Jesus
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Christ is not Lord of your life then you're not on the road to heaven you see this is not legalism this is love do you know why I keep the commandments of Jesus because I love him let me give you some
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verses Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 15 if ye love me keep my Commandments he says in John 14 verse 21 he that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me you see if
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you don't keep his Commandments you don't really love him and if you don't love him you're not safe I don't keep the commandments in order to be saved when our children were little Joyce and I wouldn't wake up in the morning say
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well what time is 8 o'clock well time for breakfast we better get the kids now we feed them because George you know if we don't feed the kids they're gonna come and arrest us for child abuse so we
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have to feed the kids no that's not why we fed them not because the law says their law does say that you can't abuse your children well that's not why we feed our children we feed them because we love them we keep God's commandments
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because we love them Jesus says if a man love me he will keep my word now let me give you a second trait of the twice-born first of all it is a person who is twice born submits to the
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lordship of Christ he keeps his word he says Jesus said why call you me Lord Lord and do not the things that I say number two not only does a true believer submit to the lordship of Jesus but a
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true believer seeks the lifestyle of Jesus now look in verse 5 look at it but whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him he that saith he
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abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked now here he's not talking about his lordship but his lifestyle you see you you submit to his lordship and you seek his lifestyle you are to walk as Jesus walled now folks if
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being saved doesn't make you like Jesus then I mean if what you call being saved doesn't make you like Jesus you haven't been saying being saved makes you like Jesus it makes you to walk as Jesus walked look in verse six
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the key is he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he now underscore that phrase even as he that is my life is to be even as his life was first John 4 verse 17 you might
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turn to it and look at it the last part of that verse says as he is so are we in this world even as he as he is so are we in this world now what was the lifestyle
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of the Lord Jesus Christ light how am I going to walk as Jesus walked well his lifestyle was a life of honesty go back to 1st John 1 verse 7 and look at it you're gonna pick up this phrase
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even as he if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another well what does it mean to walk in the light it means to be honest go back to verse 6 chapter 1 verse 6 if
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we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth so what is the lifestyle of Jesus it's a life of honesty I'm honest with God I'm honest with myself I'm
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honest with you if if you have a life that is built on dishonesty you're not walking as Jesus walked and you're not walking in the light and if you're not walking in the light you have no right to call yourself a child of God but not
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only a life of honesty but a life of purity look in 1st John chapter 3 verse 3 every man that had this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure now don't miss the phrase the phrase I'm
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working on in all of these is even as he even as he as he is so are we first John 4:17 we ought to walk even as he walked as he did this my life is to have the
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lifestyle of Jesus his lifestyle was a lifestyle of honesty his lifestyle is a lifestyle of purity every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure now if if you are feeding on fill if you are lover of pornography
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if your heart is full of Filth and dirt and debauchery don't call yourself a child of God you can't live that way and be saved you just can't do it you need to get saved if this is the way you are now I'm not
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saying that you cannot slip into sin but if this is your lifestyle if this is the way you live you're not walking as Jesus walked can you imagine Jesus watching some of the things that people watch today when
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they tune in on the television Hills box office and see all this filth that comes in there and they feed and feast on that let the little kids you know what I feel like telling those folks hey turn that
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thing off and get saved get saved I mean why are you watching that filth would you sit there if Jesus were there with you and watch it I mean if Jesus we're sitting in your living room listen Jesus
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life was a life of honesty he walked in the light Jesus life a life of purity the Bible says even as he is pure and his life was a life of righteousness look if you will in first John 3 verse 7
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little children let no man deceive you he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he here it is again even as he is righteous you see Jesus is honest Jesus is pure Jesus is righteous and what is righteousness righteousness is
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not merely the abstaining from doing what is wrong it is said of the Lord Jesus Christ that he went about doing good now you say well pastor how can i how can I have the lifestyle of Jesus when I submit to the lordship of Jesus
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how do I seek the lifestyle of Jesus well the key is in verse 6 and there in verse 6 look at it he mentions abiding do you see it he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk
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even as he walked Jesus was a master teacher now most of us have a little fuzziness when it comes to abiding we say well well pastor what does it mean to abide well one thing about Jesus is this he was so easy to understand if you
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listen to him he took those those difficult phrases in terms and he made them simple and he says in John chapter 15 we're in first John now but in the Gospel of John in chapter 15 Jesus tells us what
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abiding is he says it's like a vine and a branch she says I am the vine you are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing
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so now we understand what it means to abide it's it's to have the relationship to Jesus Christ that a branch and a grapevine has to the main stem in the grapevine I am the vine jesus said ye are the branches and so how do i if I'm
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going to walk and and live the lifestyle of Jesus how do I buy it in Jesus well just think just imagine yourself now is the branch and Jesus is the vine first of all a the life of a branches of life
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of full reliance that that branch completely totally relies on the vine the branch can do nothing of itself all that the branch needs is in the vine and so the branch clings to the vine grows out from the vine and it receives
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whatever it needs in the summertime if it needs moisture the vine gives moisture in the fall when it's time for the grapes or in the spring when it's time to begin to produce the great the little branch doesn't worry about how
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many grapes what size what color how sweet that's none of the branches business all the branch does is just abide in the vine you see the branch does not produce the grapes the branch only bears the grapes and all that the
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branch does it just simply a relinquishes everything to the vine it is a it is a life of Reliance it is the life of relinquishment it just draws from the vine people could not understand the life of Jesus they they
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said to Jesus how do you do these things how do you do these works now Jesus came here as a man to live before us as men and so he set the example of abiding and Jesus said I'm not doing this the father
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does it what the father says I say what I see the father do I do Jesus is abiding in the father and you're seeing the life of God reproduced in the human Jesus here upon this earth now what is abiding it is a life of
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absolute dependence complete relinquishment a branch has no other side issues it cleans completely to the vine it rests in the vine and the life of a vine comes into the branch now folks if you're going to have a
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lifestyle of the Lord Jesus Christ you're going to have to abide in him and when you abide in him when you are to Jesus what Jesus was to the Father Jesus will be to you what the father was to
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Jesus you just simply abide in him now folks are you listening listen to me listen to me now he that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar there is friend a submission to the
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lordship of Christ and there is a seeking of the lifestyle of Christ he that saith I know him and and doesn't walk on also himself to walk as Jesus walked now there was a man wrote a novel called in his steps and the theme of
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that novel is a lot of people in a particular town got the idea that they would ask themselves this question before they took any course of action what would Jesus do and and this there's been a revival of that book lately and
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you see a lot of kids and the belts wearing a little bracelet WWJD have you seen that little bracelet means what would Jesus do and so they ask themselves in any situation what would Jesus do and I think that is wonderful
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but let me just put a little caveat here and help you a little bit when we're talking about the lifestyle of Lord Jesus Christ number one when you ask yourself what would Jesus do in any situation that assumes you know what Jesus would do you
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know Jesus will surprise you as a matter of fact Jesus will often do what you would not think he would do you can't put Jesus in a box and just run him through the grid of your own rationalism
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so when you ask what would Jesus do that presumes that you know what he do and you may not number two that also presumes that if you knew what Jesus would do you could do it huh do you
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think you could just all you have to do is know what Jesus would do now I can come to the plate and I can take a bat in my hand and see that baseball coming at me and 100 miles an hour and ask
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myself what would Mark McGwire do so what's that got to do with it I mean even if I knew what Mark McGwire would do do you think I could do it no now here's the third thing look we ask
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ourselves what would Jesus do if he were here brother Joe he is here he is alive in us and we need to let the Jesus in us be Jesus he's the one who knows what he would do and he's the one who can do it
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and living the Christian life is a life of supernatural reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ there's only one person who has ever lived the Christian life and his name is Jesus and if he lives it in your house it'll be him in you still
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living it you see you walk as he walked because you abide in him in verse 6 now here's the third mark of the believer here's here's the third birth mark are you following me the first one is you submit to his
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lordship the second is you seek his lifestyle the third is you show his love you show his love look if you will now again in verse 10 he that saith he's in the light and hateth his brother is in
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darkness even until now he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him now that's the third birth mark of the believer you you just simply share his love now notice if you will he says
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this love is both new and old well why is it why is it both new and old well it's old because Jesus said love is the first in the and the first in the Great Commandment so it goes all the way back
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in the Old Testament but why is it new well I'll tell you why it's new because Jesus says over there in John chapter 13 and new come and I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you and you
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know when he said that in John 13 you know what he'd been doing he'd been washing his disciples feet they'd come into the upper room of the disciples were sitting at the table and Jesus took off his garments put a towel
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around him took the sandals off those old smelly feet of those disciples and Jesus washed his disciples feet and then jesus said jesus said a new commandment I give you as as I have loved you you're to love one another
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now folks do you know who's in that room do you think they were lovely you think old bigmouth Peter was lovely about the only time Peter he just opened his mouth to change feet Peter Peter was a braggart crude
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arrogant who else was in that room James and John you know what they were called sons of thunder they had a hair-trigger temper they got in Samaria and they said Lord bless Newcombe these Samaritans a little heavenly napalm will do them good
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let's call down fire from heaven that's James and John who else was in that room Simon the zealot this guy knew nothing but hatred for the Romans before Jesus Christ got hold of him who was in that room
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Andrew was in that room Andrew who was quiet and sensitive who was in that room there well a Philip was in there he was calculating who was in that room cynical Thomas was in that room and Jesus loved
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them let me tell you something folks he doesn't love us because we're lovely he just loves us and look around in this room do you think we're all so lovable he's sitting between two people you know they say only one out of every three
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people is beautiful or handsome look on either side of us not them at you folks listen listen how do I know that I know him if I say that I love him know him and don't have love don't love my
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brother if I hate my brother he says I'm a liar the truth is not in us one of the birthmarks of the believer we submit to his lordship we seek his lifestyle we shares love that's it that's it now if
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these things are not there don't call yourself a Christian I was in Israel I went to the Holocaust Museum my heart broke I've been there before but never was eyes deeply moved as I see the atrocities that were committed upon
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the Jewish people and if there's a Jewish friend watching this program right now I want to tell you in the name of Jesus I am so sorry for what has happened I wanted to take every Jew in the world and put my arm around them and
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just say I am so sorry I am ashamed some of those who were doing that came from a quote Christian nation that was not Jesus that was somebody saying I know him but the Apostle John says they are
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in darkness and never hold that against Jesus Christ it wasn't Jesus it was some liar who said I know him listen folks I am telling you the truth you listen to me you listen to me friend if a person is
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saved it's going to show in his life you're not saved by keeping the commandments you're not saved by walking as Jesus walked you're not saved by loving your brother but if you are saved you will do these things they come out
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of your life that has met the Lord Jesus and if your religion hadn't changed your life you better change your religion because you don't have the New Testament kind any man is in Christ Jesus he is a new creature let's bow together
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and play Lord God I pray that you'll help us to make our walk match our talk Lord that we might not say one thing and do another now while heads are bowed and eyes are closed how do you know the Lord well you
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know him by faith you trust him as your Lord and Savior by faith and if you'd like to trust him today you can do it right now if you just bow your heads in prayer and pray a prayer like this
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sincerely out of your heart dear God I know that you love me and friend he does love you dear God I know that you love me pray that I know that you love me God I know that you want to save me friend
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II does want to save you the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance he longs for you to be saved and no one here so good he doesn't need to be saved and no
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one here so bad he cannot be saved Lord I know you want to save me Jesus you died to save me friend II did die to save you say that Jesus you died to save me you promised to save me if I would
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trust you I do trust you Jesus pray it from your heart I do trust you right now this moment with all of my heart come into my heart forgive my sin save me Lord Jesus pray that and mean it save me
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Lord Jesus then pray this thank you for doing it I receive it by faith I don't look for a sign I don't ask for feeling I stand on your word thank you for saving me begin now to make me the
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person you want me to be in your Holy Name oh man we pray God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information on other resources write us at love worth binding p.o box 38 800 memphis tennessee
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38134 at lwf dot o-r-g in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central tea thank you and may God richly bless you
Topics:1 John 2birthmarks of the believerAdrian RogersLordship of Christassurance of salvationobedienceabiding in ChristChristian livingLove Worth Finding
