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Well, good morning, church. It's great to see you all. Let's go ahead and stand to our feet.
Sunday Service at Calvary Chapel of Prescott with worship, announcements, and a sermon on 1 John 5:1-3, June 14, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Faith in Jesus results in being born of God and loving others as He commanded.
- Obedience to God’s commandments is a natural outcome of genuine faith.
- Church community events foster fellowship, spiritual growth, and service opportunities.
- Theological understanding of salvation includes both justification and sanctification.
- Active participation in church ministries strengthens individual and collective faith.
Summary
- The service begins with worship and prayer, focusing on praising Jesus for salvation and victory over death.
- Pastor Raj shares video announcements about upcoming church events including VBS, Prime Times outing, young adult hiking, and America 250 celebration.
- Important reminders include no midweek service during VBS week, new women’s prayer time, and church office hour changes.
- Youth summer camp fundraiser bake sale is promoted to support junior high and high school students.
- The sermon centers on 1 John 5:1-3, emphasizing love as evidence of being born of God and the connection between faith and obedience.
- Pastor Raj explains theological concepts like justification, sanctification, and lordship salvation.
- The message encourages believers to love one another as Jesus loved and to live out their faith actively.
- The service includes practical ministry updates such as the reopening of the mother’s room and volunteer needs for morning devotion support.
- The video announcements and sermon are interspersed with worship songs and moments of reflection.
- The overall tone is encouraging, community-focused, and grounded in biblical teaching.
Chapters
- 00:00Opening Worship and Prayer
- 05:00Video Announcements by Pastor Raj
- 09:38Women’s Prayer Time and Office Hours Update
- 15:23Youth Summer Camp Fundraiser
- 29:42Sermon Introduction and Theological Concepts
- 33:33Love as Evidence of Being Born of God
- 37:02Faith, Obedience, and Christian Living
- 41:30Closing Worship and Reflection
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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We're just going to open [music] with a word of prayer. So, let's bow our heads.
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Let's get ready to worship the Lord. God, you [music] are so good. Lord, we are excited to worship you this morning.
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Excited to lift your name high, to exalt [music] you, Lord. This morning is all about you. So, we pray that you would [music] meet us here, Lord. That you would fill this place with your Holy Spirit as we
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worship you, as we prepare our hearts to hear from your word this morning. Lord, we just love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's worship.
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You pull me from darkness [music] and clothe me in garments of praise. Jesus, forever my song will be you.
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I'm living in freedom. You've taken my burdens away. Jesus, forever, my song will be you. Only for [music] you.
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For the cross that you bore and the debt that you paid. For the victory [music] you won over death and the grave.
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This is the reason I [music] sing. For the hope that you give and the joy that you bring. For the promise that heaven is waiting for me.
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This is the reason I say I will not be [music] silent. Oh, I testify of your grace, Jesus, forever. [music] My soul will be only for you.
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For the cross that she bore and the death th and the [music] joy that you bring for the promise that heaven is waiting [music] for me.
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This is the reason I say, "Oh, so good. So good. You're so good to me forever.
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I'll sing. You're so good to me. You're so good. So good. So good. You're so good to me.
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Forever I'll say you're so good to me. For the cross that you bore and the debt [music] that you paid. For the victory you won over death [music] and the grave.
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This is the reason I sing. For the hope that you give and the joy that you bring. For the promise [music] that heaven is waiting for me.
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This is the reason I sing. For the cross [music] that you bore, the de that you paid. For the victory won over death and the grave.
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This is the reason I sing. For the hope that you give and the joy that you bring. For the promise that heaven is waiting for me.
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This is the reason [music] I say Jesus. The reason I say Jesus, [music] the reason I stand.
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Amen. Feel free to have your seats as we watch our video announcements. Hey, church family, [music] it's Pastor Raj here with this week's video announcements. Well, VBS is [music] here this week, Tuesday, all the way through Friday. A bunch of kids from all over
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the [music] community. In fact, about 175 of them. This is going to be our [music] biggest yet. So, be praying for the event. Uh, we have 80 plus servants signed up. Thank [music] you very much, beloved, for pouring into those kids.
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Speaking of servants, tomorrow, meaning [music] Monday, is setup day. From 9:00 to 4:00, we are asking people to just come to the church, help move some things. We [music] need to set some things up. In fact, some of you may
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already be assigned to serve tomorrow [music] again 9 to 4. Oh, and because of VBS [music] week, remember, no midweek service. Okay. This Wednesday night. Nothing because we're doing everything [music] during the day for those kids. Okay. Number two, prime
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times 55 [music] and betterers. Saturday, June the 27th. That's when you want to mark your calendars for Goldwater Lake. [music] You're going to have a potluck there. There's going to be music, fellowship, um, prayer time, a [music] devo, lots of fun. So, plan on
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being there. Okay? So, if your last name begins [music] with A through M, remember you bring a side dish. N through Z, you bring a dessert. Um, if your last name starts [music] with Greek letters alpha through Zeta, you don't
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have to bring anything. Okay, young adults, [music] if you fall into that 18-year-old to 30-year-old age range, um, like [music] I do, there's an event also on Saturday, June the 27th, [music] uh, hiking the Dells. So, you'll meet
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right here at the church at 9:30 [music] that morning. Um, go as a group. You'll hike and then be back around noon. So, make [music] sure to mark your calendars. Oh, by the way, please also sign up online so we know how many to
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expect. Church, remember America 250 on July the 1st, that's a Wednesday [music] night, we are going to gather together here from 5:00 to 8:00 [music] in the evening. Food, fun, fellowship, celebrating and praising the [music] fact that we live in the greatest nation
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on earth as well. Remember, we are going to have a baptism that night. That's [music] our next church baptism, Wednesday, July the 1st. So, if you have not yet been baptized, [music] beloved, it is an ordination of Jesus himself
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that we are to be water baptized. [music] So, please go online, sign up, and we will get in contact with you. Okay, remember I announced this [music] last week. Beginning Tuesday, June the 30th, we are going to begin offering the
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campus [music] specifically the youth building for your morning devos. [music] From 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., uh, one of the rooms will be designated as [music] a quiet place where you can do your devos and prayers.
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We're going to have another room open [music] where you can come together, maybe talk about the things that the Lord ministered [music] to you about, whatever it might be. But beloved, please make sure to take part in this
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every Tuesday, every Friday, 6:00 a.m. [music] to 9:00 a.m. All right. Well, in that ministry, beloved, we are looking for servants. We are specifically asking for married [music] couples. We'd love to have a man and a woman there where
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you would come in the morning. Um, prepare the coffee, you know, put the donuts out. Um, you would be there for [music] prayer, perhaps answering some questions. I know there are a lot of you early bird couples. This is perfect for
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you. [music] We are requesting that you commit to two mornings a month. So, pray [music] about it, talk about it, and then serve the Lord and one another [music] in this profitable ministry.
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Okay, just a quick announcement, a reminder. The mother's room is now back right there. [music] That big window that's facing into the sanctuary. So, mommies, remember that's where you go when you want to be with your baby, but
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[music] still be a part of service. Okay, ladies, we have an announcement for you. Women's Prayer [music] is moving from Wednesday mornings 9:00 a.m.
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to 10:00 a.m. to Tuesday mornings [music] 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. So make sure you mark your calendar that starts Tuesday, June the 30th. Related to that move, Wednesdays now the church office hours [music] change from noon to 5:00
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p.m. Okay, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Okay, [music] my final announcement, of course, youth summer camp parents, if you haven't yet signed up your junior higher or high schooler, get online, please, and do that. Of course, we want
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to help them get [music] there, which is why they are having a fundraiser today.
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It is a bake sale out on the patio after both [music] services. Beloved cookies, um, brownies, pastries. Oh, and I heard that since [music] your money is going towards enriching these kids in Christ, um, it's zero calorie. In fact, the more
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cookies you eat and the more money you give, the more weight you'll lose. Don't quote me on that, but anyway, [music] let's be a part of it. Let's make sure to go out there and fellowship with those kids, encourage [music] them, and
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as the Lord puts it on your heart, let's give towards that awesome ministry [music] as well. You can go online and give your donation. Just make sure to designate summer camp. Well, okay, church family. Thanks for listening to
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this week's [music] video announcements. Now, would you please stand to your feet as we continue worshiping our Lord?
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There's peace that outlast [music] darkness. Hope that's in the blood. This [music] future grace that's mine today that Jesus Christ has won so I can [music] face tomorrow for tomorrow's in your hands I need you will provide just like you
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I'm fought [music] in a battle. You've already won. [snorts] No matter what
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Don't know what you're doing, but I know what you've done. I'm fighting [music] a battle you've already won.
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There's mercy in the waiting for today. And when it is gone, I know you're not.
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You are my hope and stay. When the s raging, your spirit is my help.
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He'll fix my eyes [music] on Jesus Christ. I'll say that [singing] it is well.
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Oh, I know that it is well. Stop fighting a battle. You are any you are.
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No matter what comes away, I [music] will. Don't know what you're doing. But I know what you've [music] already won.
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I know how the story ends. We will be [music] with you again. You're my Savior, my defense.
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No more fear in life [music] or death. I know how [music] the story ends.
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We [music] will be with you again. You are our savior, my defense. So, no more fear in life [music] or death.
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Every sing we will be with you again. You're my savior, my defense. No more fear in life or death. I know how the story ending up in a battle.
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You already won. No matter what comes along, I will [music] go. Don't know what you're doing, but I know what you are.
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I'm fighting a battle. You already won. [music] I'm fighting a battle. You've already won.
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So, you've already won. No matter what comes my way, [snorts] I [music] will. I don't know what you're doing, but I know what you've done.
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I'm fighting [music] a battle. You've already won. I don't know what you're doing, but I know what you've done.
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So I'm fighting this battle you [music] already. Amen. out of the wild into your deliverance.
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Look where [music] I'm standing now. These hands that were now lifted high in praise. Oh, look where I'm standing now.
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Look where I'm standing [music] now. I stand on the same break. Powerful name of Jesus.
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On the body raising [music] saving powerful name of Jesus. We stand on the name of Jesus by [music] your mighty hand into the promised land. Oh, [music] you carried the cross for me.
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Now I am a child of the king. Oh, look [music] where I'm standing now.
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Look where I'm standing now. I stand on the chain breaking miracle making powerful name of Jesus on the [music] body raising prodful name of Jesus.
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Hallelujah. I'm free. Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus [music] myior hallelujah [music] I'm free Jesus myiorule I'm free hallelujah I'm free. Oh Jesus, my Savior [music] me. Hallelujah. I'm free.
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Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus my resued me. Hallelujah. I'm free. All the chain breaking miracle making powerful name our Jesus on the body [music] raising body saving powerful name our Jesus on the breaking miracle making powerful name of Jesus
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on the Body raising, body saving, powerful name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Free. Hallelujah. Oh Jesus my savior rescued [music] me. Hallelujah.
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Hallelujah. Jesus my resued me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah free. Oh we thank you Jesus. Hallelujah free.
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We sing that bridge. Hallelujah. I'm [music] free. Jesus myule. [music and singing] Amen. Thank you Jesus.
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broke my chains of sin and shame and you covered me with grace. You meant my [music] life with your holy fire and you cover me with grace.
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You are the hand that reaches out to save. [music and singing] I am set free. Oh, [music] I am set free. Oh, it is for freom [music] that [singing] I am set free.
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You broke my chains of sin and shame. And you covered me with grace. You [music] my life with your holy fire and you cover me with grace.
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You are the hand that reaches out to save. I am [music] set free. Oh, I am set free. Oh, it is for freom that I am set free.
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Oh, and I am set free. Oh, I am set free. Oh, [music] it is for freedom that I am set free.
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Yes [music] Lord, we are grateful for your grace and for your love. Yes, [music] Lord, we are grateful for your grace [music] and for your love.
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Yes, Lord. We are grateful for your [music] grace and for your love. Yes, Lord. [music] We are grateful for your grace and [music] for your love.
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You are the hand that reaches out to save. I am set free. Oh, I am set free. Oh, [music] it is for freedom that I am set free.
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Oh, I am set free. Oh, I am set free. It is for free. But I am set free.
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I am set free. I am set free. [singing] It is for freom that I am set free.
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We sing that one more time. And I am set free. [music] I am set free. Oh, it is for freom that I am set free.
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[applause] Amen to that. Oh, that was so beautiful. Thank you very much, servants. Thank you, worshippers. It's great to worship alongside of you. And now, after we praise his name, we get to be nourished by his word. Of course, that's exciting.
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Today's a get ready. Okay, get ready for today's It's a It's a big one for sure.
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This is such profitable doctrine. John's first letter. Of course, we know this author responsible for five books of the New Testament. This is his first letter.
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Of course, he has his second letter, his third letter. He's got his gospel and of course the apocalypsis, the revelation.
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We have servants standing by and they've got paper, the handout, the notes for today's message. If you need the paper handout, please put your hand up and they will bring that to you. You of course can also download those. tap that
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little disc there in front of you if you want to be taken right to the notes page. Sign up so that you get that automatically.
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But um Oh, good. Excuse me. What a nice day, huh? I'm so glad. I think we're getting some rain.
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We got some rain yesterday. That was that was a blessing. I think it's coming. We'll wait. I'm asking God just to wait for the bake, you know, the the bake sale just to let that happen a little bit. You guys go ahead and
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indulge on that caloriefree food that I talked about on the video announcement. Like I said, the more you eat, the more you give, the apparently you lose weight even. So, give that a try. Huh.
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[laughter] Thank you very much, servants, for doing that. Well, anyway, I see some new folks in our midst. I'm Pastor Raj, by the way, and I get to share God's word with you on Sundays. As I just said, we are
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in First John. We are currently now starting a new chapter, chapter 5. Before I get to that, let me give you a little summary so far, but know that all of our messages are archived, okay? So, you might need to catch up. I might use
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some terminology where you're kind of like, "Wait, what? What did he say?" It's it's back there somewhere, okay?
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So, so check it out online and get caught up. So, this Apostle John, we know he to be one of those who was personally ministered to by Jesus. He writes this letter late 80s early 90sish about 60 years after he's been
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ministered to by Jesus and he is commissioned now by the Lord the Holy Spirit inspiring him of course to write these words to churches that would be scattered throughout what is modernday Turkey. So that that Ephesians area and
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remember the way these letters were circulated often they would be read before the church. There would be a copist who would write it all down and then they would circulate that off to another church or maybe they would take
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the original scroll and get that going. That's how doctrine got around back then. So here's John writing a letter.
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Now let's go over some of these main themes. Remember how repetitive this guy is? Repetitive, redundant, tells you the same thing over and over again. which means Christian, it matters. God wants you and me to know this stuff. Not just
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know it, but do it. So, one of the biggies, false teachers are coming. Remember that's what that was way at the beginning. Know your doctrine. Know the truth because that is what will keep you from straying into following what is not
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true, what is not honorable to the Lord, etc., etc. And he talked, we're going to revisit that very concept in today's message about making sure you hold to right doctrine. And then that will lead you therefore to right living. Orthodoxy
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begets orthopraxy. Right doctrine, right practice. But it behooves you and me, beloved. We have to be seekers of that truth. You can't do what you don't know.
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Which is why I always tell you to be scholars of the word. Studying this and then studying it more and then studying it more. Okay. What other themes come up in this? The idea that in order to be
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able to live and learn, first and foremost, you need to be empowered by God. This is where we talked about abiding. The whole idea of partnering fellowship with your God, having that personal connection with your Lord and Savior, having him guide you into all
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truth. That's ultimately your teacher, right? God the Holy Spirit, you in the Bible, you praying to God the Holy Spirit, and you actually just say, "Lord, give me right understanding.
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Lord, give me truth. Dear God in heaven, I will rely upon you to lead me to that orthodoxy." and then empower me to the orthopraxy. That's the cycle of things.
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And remember, John just continues that loop over and over and over again. Okay. What's another then main theme as you abide vertically? Remember what happens?
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It must spill out so to speak horizontally. That's where he [laughter] remember also always always when you are trying to understand John's letters, you always make reference to the upper room.
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John 13 through John 17. That's man, he he just encapsulates some of those main points that Jesus has been teaching him and the boys when they were in that upper room right in Jerusalem before Jesus went to the cross. And so what
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does he talk about? He talks about that new commandment. Jesus giving the boys a new commandment to love one another. And then he places himself as the pinnacle, the standard. You love one another as I have loved you. And that then shows here
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in John's letter. Basically, when you're in that cycle of things, what's the cycle? Abide, therefore, being empowered. Therefore, understanding truth, therefore, doing truth. So, there's your cycle. What is the apex?
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What is it ultimately supposed to manifest as? The love of Jesus. That is your standard. Remember, John is giving us tests again, not of salvation, but of sanctification. Are you growing in the things of God? And that is ultimately
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demonstrated by you being a lover of souls like Jesus was a lover of souls.
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That is your ultimate. I know there are other standards. There are other things that we do. But according to the Holy Spirit through John, that is the ultimate mark. And he calls that when you achieve that level of love, you are
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quote perfect. Remember the word perfected that we studied last week and people totally misunderstand it.
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Perfection in John's context means progressive maturity. You are perfect meaning you have reached maturity when you are just a lover of people like Jesus is a lover of people.
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Again, that's the cycle. That's and he just says it again and again and again.
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And today is no exception. I don't know that I'm necessarily going to teach you any new doctrine because John doesn't really put any new doctrine out there.
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But I can tell you this. We are going to go over a passage that is easily one of the most one of the most misinterpreted texts in all of John's letters.
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Chapter 5 verse one is probably the most it's right up there in the top three of misunderstood texts. It is so important to understand what John is saying.
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Remember beloved, seek truth. Know truth. Okay? No preconceived notions. Don't read into the Bible. Get from the Bible. And this verse right here that we're about to hit, verse one, it's one of those where you got to be
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really careful not to read it. Well, hold on. Let me do this. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me pray and then we will read the text and then I will exhort you to this. Okay? So would
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you do this? Please bow your heads for just a moment. Let me lead us. Remember you always go to the Lord to seek truth.
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Dear God, that's what we do humbly as your children as the body of Christ.
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What a privilege that is. Thank you for that. And Lord, your call is that we grow grow in grace and knowledge that we renew our minds. that we know right doctrine so as to then practice what is right. And so we yield ourselves to you,
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Holy Spirit. We pray that you would just refresh each and every one of us, Lord.
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lead us to knowing truth and then of course have your way in us. Empower us to living that truth for your glory, Lord, to conform each and every one of us more and more into the image of Jesus
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to fulfill your great purposes, your plans that you have for us, God, to be a strong uh church collectively, to be a light in the darkness, all all the good things. So, yeah, have your way here.
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And we pray as well, Lord, that if there's any here, anybody watching right now who doesn't have a personal relationship with you, Jesus, that today would be the day of their salvation. And we pray that by faith in Jesus name.
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Amen. Okay, get ready. Here it comes. Verse one, first John chapter 5. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. Stop right
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there. Okay. So, this one is really misunderstood particularly by those in the lordship salvation camp. Somebody asked me last week what you you talk about lordship salvation. Could you give me a refresher? Like I don't remember what that means. Let me just give you a quick
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refresher because I do mention it a lot. Lordship salvation. Okay. We do not ascribe to lordship salvation. We ascribe to something. The contrarian point would be free grace. Free. We are in the free grace camp, not the lordship
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salvation camp. Let me give you the distinction here. Okay. As free grace people, what we understand the Bible to say. Now remember this is because we're not in a camp because we just prefer the camp. We're in a camp because we
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practice what's known as a consistent hermeneutic. What is a hermeneutic? Your system of interpretation. And I always always emphasize, beloved, whenever you mention hermeneutic, put the word consistent in front of it. It means every word of the Bible from Genesis to
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Revelation, every text, you are consistently applying your system of interpretation. other folk other folk who aren't like us, they would say something like, "Well, you have to appreciate the genre of the text." For example, you've got the apocalypsis,
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you've got the Revelation text, lots of metaphor and symbolism, so you got to be careful when you interpret it over here.
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Oh, but the historical narratives, and they'll tell you about the poetic narratives, blah blah blah. That that does not determine your system of interpretation. That's not what we do.
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We just go, we're going to let the words say what they mean and mean what they say. And we are going to look for context to to supply us with all we need to get to a right understanding of the
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text. We're not going to let genre or anything like that determine how we interpret it. And that's how you can go through the book of Revelation and no symbols will therefore confuse you because it basically interprets itself.
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Okay, with that said, as we interpret the scripture, then we come to this conclusion that we are saved by grace, right? God's grace as we put our faith in him. And what we understand the Bible to say is that that is known as
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justification. Justification means God saves you. We know the gospel message. Many of us know the gospel message. By the way, by the way, this morning when I got up and I prayed over my message, the Lord again, he did this to me a few
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weeks ago, compelled me for this morning in this morning's message to share the gospel because there are people in this room right now or people watching right now where you you would say that you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus.
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Either you're teetering, maybe you're just inquisitive. What is this whole Christian thing about? Who is this Jesus? Maybe you just know him to quote to be a quote wise man of history or whatever. I'm so thankful you're here.
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So all of us as Christian, we love the fact that you are here. Okay? I hope we don't weird you out. I I tend to do that. But you know, most of my brothers and sisters here, they're not weird like
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I am. And if you're watching, good for you. So stay tuned. I'm going to share what the gospel that that that Christianes word gospel. It just means good news. That's all gospel means.
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Okay, I'll get there in just a minute. So, as I was talking about, we as Christians, once we put our faith in Jesus, he God does the work of saving us, right? And we call that whole instant where you put your faith in him
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and then remember I call it the grace package. The Holy Spirit comes and he seals you until the day of redemption and you're in the double grip of God's g of h uh God's hand, the what we call the
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double grip of grace, which I showed last week. Um and you have access to the throne room of heaven and all the good stuff that happened. Then that's known as a past tense action justification.
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Then what we do is as we read the scriptures, we realize, oh, God has some expectations of a saved one, like he actually puts um his uh uh demands on you and me to live a certain way. Yes.
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And that's what's known as our middle tense salvation, which we also call sanctification. That means set apart. We now live in a mode of sanctification where the calling of God is set yourself apart from the world. How? By becoming
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more and more like Jesus. This is known as progressive sanctification. That's why you've seen my charts and you see the line is always supposed to go up.
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John uses the term perfection. It's the same word as pro, not the same word, the same meaning as progressively sanctified. You want to get to perfection. But let's not fool ourselves. You'll never really really be perfect in this life. Huh? But you got
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the power of God, but you've also got the obligations of God. Abide and do.
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[clears throat] Know and do. It's it has to be something that you are I am proactively seeking.
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This is sanctification. This is the expectation of God. However, as free gracers, and sometimes I'll use that in a derogatory manner, by the way.
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Oh, you free gracer. But as free gracers, we absolutely see a distinction between past tense justification and middle tense sanctification. Here is just the reality, which you know, I've told you this many times. The reality is you don't have to be sanctified.
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You could, as they say, you know, you since you got your fire insurance, you're not going to hell. You can live like hell and still end up in heaven.
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Now, are we supposed to do that? Is that God's desire for you and me? No, man.
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We're we're vessels. We're vessels to be used for his honor. That's why we seek, we strive, we pray, we pray for the the epime ministry of the Holy Spirit. We study. We come together on days like this. We we get nourished. The Bible
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says literally that our souls are being nourished. We and then we go and we do. That's the process of sanctification. That's what pleases our God who is in heaven.
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That's what we believe because that's what the scripture says. Now, lordship salvation. So that I just described to you the free grace perspective. Lordship salvation doesn't really draw a distinction between justification and sanctification. They will say that they are linked. They will
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tell you that a life of progress is mandatory. It demonstrates the fact that you are saved. If you live in a regressive manner, you know the lines going down.
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If you are choosing a life of sin, if you're choosing to live a life like hell, here's what that means. You never really were saved. Or you can go into the Armenian camp. We're not Armenians, but they would say you actually lost the
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salvation that you once had. So they're so so correlated. That's what lordship salvation is all about. The correlation of your sanctification and your justification. We say the scripture doesn't say that. God wants it that way.
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God instructs us to live that way. But he doesn't quote unsave us or show that actually you're not saved ever because you're living like hell. So you see that? You see that distinction right there? Now look, I know I have people I
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get that I have friends, pastors here in this community that teach the lordship salvation. So, you know, they go, "Raj, you missed this little aspect or this detail of it. I get it. I can't I can't give you a comprehensive overview." So,
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I would just encourage you to study that on your own. And beloved, as I always say, come to your own conclusion. If we agree to disagree, fine. But we should both have biblical uh reasons why we come to our conclusions. So with that
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said, the lordship salvation camp, those who don't see the distinction can easily easily misinterpret texts like this. And so I want to I want to I want to correct. Perhaps some of you might think one way of verse one. I want to correct
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it. But before I get there, I told you I have a heart to share the gospel. I I I have a heart. There's some people here.
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You need to know this good news thing. You need to know this whole why do Christians say believe in Jesus and you will be saved. So I'm going to give you a summary version of the gospel, but it'll be easy to understand. I promise.
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Here's just the truth is that because of Adam and Eve and what they did way back when. All of humanity is infected by what's known as the sin nature. We are all born into this world in sin. Sin
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means to miss the mark. And in this case, the mark is the perfection, the holiness of God. And the metaphor that we use is like water and oil can't mix.
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Holiness and unholiness can't mix. The Bible says there's a consequence for our sin. And that is death. Biblically, death means separation. It doesn't mean a sessation, a ceasing of existence.
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When we die physically, our spirits separate from our bodies. That's what happens when we die. We don't cease to exist. Anyway, here though, God gives what you would call eternal um ramification for remaining in that sin.
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If we remain in our sin, if we remain in that unholy state, the Bible says the wages of sin is death. What he's saying is you will forever be separated from me. And then the Bible goes on to say
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somehow you need to be reconciled. Somehow that unholiness of yours needs to be what we call cleansed. You need to be freed of that sin uh of that um separation from God. Yet goes on the Bible to say none of us have the power
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to do that for ourselves. You can't earn it. You can't pray it away. You can't pay it away. You can't ritualize it away. There's simply nothing a human being can do because we are all fallen.
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That's another way of saying we have that sin nature. So, how how do you overcome it? Well, that means that the only way is if your sins and mine are paid for because God is a righteous God and a God of justice. He doesn't just
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say, "I'll ignore the fact that there's sin." No, justice demands consequences for whatever the action. And in this case, yeah, sin means separation unless unless that can be paid for. What's known as the sin debt can be paid for.
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And that's why Jesus came to this earth because he, the second person of the trinity, God the son, the Bible says, put off his glory. He came to this earth and put on humanity. Jesus alone in all of existence is uniquely the God man.
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And that's why he is qualified to pay for your sin debt and mine. Why? Because he was sinless. He was not born of a man. Therefore, he didn't have the sin nature passed on to him. He was supernaturally conceived by God. That's
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why he is qualified then to pay our debt for us. So he goes lives a perfect life.
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does all this ministry that John gets to experience and then willingly because he loves you and loves me and loves humanity went to the cross. And what did he do? He died in your place. This is known as substitutionary
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atonement. Don't let those words scare you. He substituted in your place. Meaning he died in your place. Atoned for means payment made for. He died to pay for your debt. And then God honored the payment because Jesus didn't stay
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dead. He rose from the grave. The Bible says he conquered sin and death. And that's where this the most known passage of the Bible comes up. God so loved the world, that's all of us, that he gave his son
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so that whoever would believe in him would not be separated, would not die, but would have everlasting intimate eternal life.
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So here's the word believe. I've told you, many of you know this. Believe is synonymous for trust in, depend upon, rely on. What am I trusting in? Not myself to be saved. I am trusting in the one qualified and who did the finished
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work. I believe I rely upon your finished work because of who you are, Jesus.
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That's it. The Bible says at that moment that you put your dependence upon him for who he is and what he did, you're saved. I don't have to lead you in any magical prayer. I don't have to call you
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forward. You don't have to raise your hand. Nothing. That's the good news. That's the gospel.
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I hope it wasn't complicated. I hope it was. It just made lots of sense. What it demonstrates is God loves you so much so that he did everything necessary to ensure that you would have a forever relationship with him. Okay,
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now that you've heard it, he's a gentleman. You have volition. The choice is yours.
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What are you going to do with the information you have? And the Bible says this, listen beloved, the Bible says, don't take tomorrow for granted.
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You make the choice right now. You can do it right where you're sitting, where you're watching from, right at this moment. You know that you are a sinner in need of a savior. You know that Jesus is qualified and did the work. Say,
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"Dear Jesus, I rely upon. I trust in you." And that's where the salvation comes.
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It's done. You become my brother. I become your brother in Christ. You become a family member, a member of God.
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God's family. Sorry. That's that's what the Lord put on my heart this morning. I wasn't planning on sharing a full gospel message today, but there are some of you who need it.
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Respond to it. Okay. Oh. Oh, let me tell you one more thing. Jesus, yeah, he came to give life. Huh? Praise God. But Christians, we know the next part of this. Not just life, but life abundantly.
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Huh? Man's sakes. A life in Jesus is an abundant life. When you are yielded to him, when you allow the ministry of the Holy Spirit to take over, when you study his word, man, things happen. That's the abundant life. You have this kind of
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peace and joy. You have this kind of mindset. You have this kind of way of looking at life that is what we would call abundant. Christians, we've we've all felt it, right? That's just the reality of things. So, I assure you, I
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just want to tell you, yeah, you're going to get life, but you're also going to get abundant life.
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All right? Okay. Time to get back to verse one. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. I'm going to stop there. That's going to be one A.
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Okay? That's going to be part A of verse one. One A. I'm an English speaker like you. Here's what I read. If I just let the English sort of speak to me and I just look at verse one. Oh yeah.
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If you believe in Jesus, you're saved. Isn't that what it says? Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Right? Gospel message sort of truth. True ism. If you believe in Jesus, you are obviously saved.
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That's not what it means. That if you take this verse in isolation or if you insist to impose lordship salvation, that's what you will interpret this to mean. But that is not what it means. What did I say? Your your
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system of interpretation matters and you apply it consistently. That means that when you read these words, the words around them provide context.
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the words before them and after them. There is a flow in the author's thought.
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There is a consistency in the author's way of writing. This is just John writing like John writes. He is not saying if you believe in Jesus you are saved.
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What is he saying then? Because that's all I have heard. That's the commentary I get.
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Well, we already know that John is speaking to saved people. He calls them my little children. Remember, he calls them uh beloved. That's my favorite term.
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Those are identifiers as well as words of affection. To call one my little children or beloved in context always refers to believers.
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And then of course the term of end endearment, you know, and I love you. I can't not love you because we're our dad in heaven loves us and we're siblings forever and that's the way it goes kind of a thing.
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But wait, it says, come on. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
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Well, let's um let's refer to John being John. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 28. This is where it kind of the theme really comes together. You get why he is so pushing you to live a righteous and holy and Christlike life.
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Remember this verse. And now little there's your term of salvation by the way. Little children. So these are saved people abide in him. We've already got that a million times over. So that, and here's what he says, think forward. So that
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when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. So as you go through the cycle of abiding, you learn truth. You do truth. Yes, that's all good. It conforms you into
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Christ's image. It edifies the church and all the good stuff, right? But then as we said, they always want you to remember that one day you will face Jesus at the Beimma seat. You and I, all of us will stand before him and our
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works will be tested. And we've gone into this many times. So he's just pointing to you saying do it. Do it because now matters for the future.
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What else? He remembers 60 years ago Jesus saying this. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do
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nothing. Again, I know this is very repetitive, beloved, but what is Jesus saying? He is confirming John's cycle of things. As you seek my power, as you seek my spirit, as you seek partnership and coinia, I give you truth. I give you
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right understanding. And then I empower you to go and live it. But without that, uh-uh, thumbs down. When you don't do that, when you neglect that, bad things start to happen. Okay? Now, that provides us further context for
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verse one. Bad things happened. John already acknowledged bad things happened to Christians who decided that they were not going to um um abide who who decided that they loved Jesus and they were they believed in Jesus and they sought after Jesus. But at some
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point some way somehow these same men remember they were saved but they stopped abiding. And because they stopped abiding what happened? They became susceptible to false doctrine.
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What happened from there? Not only did they then embrace false doctrine, they became preachers of false doctrine.
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These guys went out from John's camp, remember, and started preaching falsely to the church and they seemed to be credentialed guys because, hey, you know, we were with John because we were with, you know, Peter and all of that
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stuff. That's that's what happens. So, so you can actually see if you don't do what you're called to do, you will eventually do what you shouldn't be doing. That's why Jesus says, "You got to stick with me, man. Make sure you are
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connected with me. Make sure you are receiving that vertical coinia so that it spills out correctly horizontally." That's what he that's what he continues to say over and over and over again. Um, let's see. Let me show you some more
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text here. I know I'm I'm really building us up to verse one. I get it. I get it. It's like, come on already, Raj.
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Just tell us, man. I gota I got to build you up here. Okay, let's look at some other ways that John remember what I said. Consistency, context is provided because of the author. Beloved, let us love one another. So, there's the call once
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again. Remember, that's your perfection. That's your apex. That's how you can really tell that you're abiding in God because you're loving each other like Jesus loved. For love is from God. And look at this. Look at this. And whoever
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loves, whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Huh, that's really similar language to verse one of chapter of chapter five.
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Um, if you recall when I taught you this passage as well, the way John describes, okay, so love is the verb. That's the action. Remember the verb, the the command word, the action word. But he qualifies it with this interesting way.
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Let us and I told you in the Greek he comes right up to the line of commanding you to love others like thus sayeth the Lord go and do. He intentionally inserts let us to say the choice is yours.
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That's what God wants man. He wants to see the love of Jesus just flowing in his house.
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Are you in or not? And how are you in? By abiding. By seeking truth and then you live what you learn. You got the cycle just over and over again. This is what he's telling you over and over again. And then what
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he says, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Remember the way we you interpret that. This book, John's letter, is a letter of tests.
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It is testing your sanctification, not your salvation. He goes, "Put your money where your mouth is." He goes, "Walk the talk. How will I be able to um how will you know, beloved, that I'm an abiding Christian?" Well, the Bible gives you
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permission to analyze my life. You get to listen to me preach to you and and how I interact with you and you get to come to some conclusions. Man, Raj really is got a great relationship. I hope that's what you think. Raj has got
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a great relationship with with Jesus. Remember what we said about Christian Christianity. This is by God's design.
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You and I are supposed to be watched. Huh? So many times the Bible says in the house of God and outside the house of God, if you're here sitting in the chairs, man, there should be a love that
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you are expressing to brothers and sisters where they go, you are in love with Jesus. When you're in the line at Costco or you're at the gas station or whatever, the way you smile at people or say hi or say no, go ahead. after you or
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whatever you guys are supposed to be different and it's not just for the sake of being different. It's because you and I are billboards for Jesus. So when you're out there or when you're in here, the brightest display of being for uh um
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being a billboard. Did that make sense? Being a billboard for Jesus. Yeah. The brightest display, love like Jesus.
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And you can only love like Jesus if you're abiding in Jesus. And if you don't, what did we say? Bad things start to happen. If you do, clearly, clearly you are of God.
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You got something in you, don't you? And you get to go, "Yeah, his name is Jesus.
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Can I tell you about him?" I I I know I'm being so repetitive right now, but listen up. When we don't when we don't do that, bad things start to happen. We become susceptible to what is wrong. We start pra we start practicing
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what is wrong. And then we even start preaching what is wrong. Do you remember this one? 1 John chapter 2 and verse 19. I I've already explained that. You should know this if you've been here. They went out from us but
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they were not of us. These are the guys that decided not to follow the cycle.
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These were John's boys. That's why I told you I think man he must have been shedding tears in having to write this.
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My own boys, the inner circle, not necessarily the disciples, but people who are somehow close, who knew truth, who abided in truth, but suddenly they stopped. They decided, not today. I'm taking a day off from God today. Uh and
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tomorrow, too. Oh, and the next day, too. And down, down, down they went. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they
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went out that it might become plain that they are not they are all not of us.
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He's not talking about salvation. He's talking about how they are regressing in their sanctification.
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They're not abide. And do you remember now here we're picking up the logical chain here to bring us to verse one.
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You remember what the primary evidence for their regression? Do you remember what it was? They latched on tonosticism or dosatism if you want to be more particular. Remember just a bird's eye view. All things flesh evil, all things spiritual good. And so what
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they came to actually believe and preach is that Jesus was not the God man. Okay, he was God, but he was just an appearance of man. And you should study that and check out all the stuff aboutnosticism.
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So they so they started to deny that Jesus is the singular singularly qualified savior of the world. He has to be both God and man. to be your savior and mine.
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[sighs] But they embraced the cosmic system. Remember the cosmic system, the world system, cosmos, all things not Bible, all things not uh true doctrine. They adopted the world's system. And it showed because they started not believing in Jesus
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and Jesus as the God man, who he was. And therefore, these people could be analyzed and you could come to the conclusion, I don't think you've got much of a relationship with Jesus.
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I don't think you're abiding. I'm pretty sure your fellowship with him, I would say it's broken. Remember, I'm not saying you got unsaved, but man's sakes, you sure aren't showing me the fact that you're a Christian.
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That's the context for verse one. Okay, let's read it again. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. You see that? So, now we have a context for that. when you Okay, let me go on the has been born of God.
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Everyone, now I'm gonna insert some words, but the context makes sense. Everyone who abides in Jesus and therefore adheres to correct doctrine obviously is demonstrating his familial roots.
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He's showing me by preaching truth and and loving like Jesus loves that he really has an abiding relationship. He really is man an onfire member of the family of God.
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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ if you hold to right doctrine and then you live out like uh right doctrine has been born of God. You are demonstrating the reality of your relationship.
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That's what this means. He is not saying, I know I'm saying this a million times, but this is so mistaught.
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It's not just as simple as going, "Yeah, everyone who believes in Jesus is saved." You guys, it's richer. He's wording it in a way that's meant to compel you.
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I have an obligation to show my family allegiance. And the way I do that is by being a truth knower and a truth practicer.
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God is worthy of that. God is worthy of you and me showing that we belong to his family. That's what born of God means. We are demonstrating our familial roots. It's a test.
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It's not saying you're saved. It's saying you're living like you're saved. And it's supposed it makes you go, "Okay, God, when I'm at Costco or when I'm at the gas station or whatever else, I want people to see that you're my
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dad." That's the way you take verse one. Let people know by the way you're acting and talking and you're joyful and things, you know, they matter to you because you're showing off your dad. You're showing off heaven. You're showing off
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the reality of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When that word born, by the way, where it says everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
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Interestingly, in the Greek, gao is the is the Greek verb. It's written in perfect tense. If you recall, I won't get way, you know, um, too technical, but remember perfect tense verb means a past action that has ongoing results.
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And then, if you remember, I gave you a little more detail. If the author wants you to focus on the ongoing results more than just the past action, he writes it in what's known as an intensive form.
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This is an intensive perfect. What does that mean? John wants your here and now to show off what God did to you back then.
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That's his message, hasn't it been? Live in the here and now so that you're showing off everything that God has done and who God is.
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So, it's it's rich. The the the audience in receiving this in Ephesus or whatever, I wouldn't have to give all of this information. It it was it's it's it's baked into the language, but if you don't take the time to study it,
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you're going to go verse one is a proof text. By the way, lordship salvation. The reason I brought it up is because this is one of their biggest proof text verses. See, it's so obvious right there.
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You do things the right way, that means you're saved. Conversely, you do things the wrong way, it means you're not saved.
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Completely misunderstanding that John is just being John. That the message is consistent the entire book. He has remained consistent.
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And remember John's language. This dude is in your face, right? He writes so black and white. Do you see why, beloved? This is your opportunity to be a billboard for God. I don't even want you to think there's an exception.
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That's kind of what John is saying. I don't even want you to consider that there's an exception to you acting to not acting like Jesus. You're all in all the time. And then he like puts an exclamation mark on it.
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That's why he does it because we're walking billboards. The here and now is supposed to show off what God alone did. And then it's supposed to keep going and going and going and going. We already saw this verse, I think. 1 John 2 and verse 29.
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I'm only showing you this just to show his language is consistent. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God. It's exactly the same language.
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You're demonstrating your family bond. And if you aren't, what I get to say is you must not have much of a bond. That's that's the life. John doesn't want you to do that. None of us should be wanting
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to do that. 1 John 4 and verse 7 again one we've seen. Beloved, let us love one another. Uh-huh. For love is from God.
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Got it? And whoever loves has been born of God. He's just using the same language over and over and over and over again. Chapter 5, verse one is no different.
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I know I belabored that. I get it. I know I got into some serious detail, beloved. But man, be careful.
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Nearly no one teaches it that way. Nearly. I know there's some great Bible teachers out there who will teach it as I have, but most will simply do the English rendition of it.
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You're saved when you believe in Jesus and then move on. which is true. But don't get me wrong there. That's true. I've already [snorts] shared the gospel.
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But again, I I have to say that's why it's so important to distinguish justification from sanctification.
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That's why it it lends to proper interpretation. Hey beloved, are you um living a life that makes it obvious that you're born of God?
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That's the question we step back and ask ourselves after we study verse one. Dear God, you are worthy that I live in a way that shows you off. And you guys go humbly before the Lord daily on that.
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Lord, empower me. Have a contrite heart, right? Contriteness means you recognize he to be the worthy God who is worthy of all sacrifice and all that. And you're just little old you. So go ahead, God.
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Pour into me. Show me. Reveal. convict because I want the world to know that I am born of you. You're my dad. I want the world to see it just by watching me.
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I don't even necessarily have to walk up to them and say, "Hi, can I tell you about Jesus?" Because they've already seen some Jesus in me.
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Is this the life that you and I are striving for, beloved? This is the life you want to strive for. Okay? Encourage one another to that. continue onward husbands and wives to encourage one another to exhort one another church to
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love and good works. This is what shows off our Jesus. This is what shows him. This is what shows off the salvation work of God. What happened back then? If this was written in what's known as extensive perfect, that's the
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that's uh in contrary that's contrary to the intensive extensive perfect that would mean he would want you to focus your eyes on that initial saving action of God. But John intentionally writes it no. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Don't
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get me wrong. But um can I see it in you? Can you see it in me?
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Now the rest of this little passage verses 1b through three is just John repeating John. So there's really nothing new here. As I said I don't necessarily have to exedute a whole bunch. But I hope beloved that you
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understand how we arrived at the conclusion regarding 1A. Your hermeneutic needs to be consistent.
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Take the time to analyze the text compared to the rest of the text. And when you do that, you will arrive at John being John.
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Okay. Now, I'll go to 1B. And everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. Okay, we should get that by the way he writes it.
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Okay, if you say you love the father, then there's got to be proof. This is just another test, right? And he's already given us this test like eight times.
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Yeah. When I see you um loving your brothers and sisters, oh like Jesus, remember that beloved is our standard.
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I can look at you and go, you and God must really have a great relationship.
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And the way you're taking care of your brother and sister, the way you're loving them, the way you're putting them first.
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Yeah, man. You love God, don't you? That's that's all he's saying here. Love everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. You know, I was thinking about this, you guys. I would encourage you to do this study,
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okay? I did it earlier this week. Um, just look around the scriptures to see how Jesus particularly loved his own.
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Okay, we get it. God so loved the world. God loves everyone. and he desires that all should have a relationship with him.
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We get that. But there is a qualitative difference in the love that Jesus shows his own as compared to the rest of the world. Just you should dig around and see what what are those kinds of things.
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What when was Jesus just with his guys? And what did he say just to them but he never said to the crowd? How is it that he spoke about his boys compared to others? And you start to go, "Man,
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wow, Jesus, you're awesome. You're cool." Like, he takes them aside and he teaches them things privately.
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Guys say like the world, the Pharisees or whatever say bad things about his boys. Jesus steps in, defends them.
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All kinds of all kinds of stuff that he does. Uh in the upper room, you know that I always go to the upper room. Um John 15 and verse1 15.
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John was here to hear this. I mean, that's just so cool. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends.
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A term of endearment. You mean something to me. This is Jesus speaking. You mean something to me that the rest of the world doesn't mean to me. That's that's pretty provocative in a good way. He um says this to you boys. Well, obviously
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boys isn't in there. To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables. How amazing.
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Jesus would would teach me things that the world isn't even ready for yet. And yet, that's what he does, huh? All of that discourse. If you go Matthew 24, Matthew 25, that was just him speaking to the boys. Remember, they're looking
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out and saying, "When is all this going to be done?" You know, Jerusalem, the temple going to get destroyed. and he goes into that whole two chapters that's just for them.
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That's that's special. Uh he gave them the future and he didn't give the rest of the world that same information. I mentioned how he defended his boys in Matthew 12.
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They're going through a grain field and it happens to be the Sabbath and they're hungry and they pluck off some grain, you know, and they eat it and the religious rulers come along. How dare they do that work on the Sabbath day?
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And what does Jesus do? Like, uh, yeah, let me correct you here. And he basically says, don't have you not read.
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He's referring to doctrine they should have known. And he refers back to a time when David was hungry. And David actually goes to the temple and he eats the consecrated bread, the set aart bread that you're not supposed to just
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eat. Well, he he eats it. And he's not referred to as being unholy or breaking any kind of law. That's back in 1 Samuel, by the way, chapter 21.
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What else? Mark chapter 9. I told you, do this experiment on your own, okay? It'll really you'll feel really enriched.
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You'll just be like, "High five, Jesus. You are so cool." But Mark chapter nine is where these boys are arguing about who's like the great going to be the greatest in the kingdom. man, if I were Jesus, it'd be like a big eye roll.
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Like, boys, don't be so dimwitted. But instead, he takes the time to reorient them. That's when he says, you know what? If anyone would be first, let him be last. The greatest is going to be the one who is the servant of all.
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He He said that in a loving way, in a way that corrected them and put them on course for Christlikkeness.
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That's cool. Upper Room discourse. You know, I I keep on going to the upper room discourse, right? John 13 through John 17. Did you notice that the whole upper room discourse starts by pointing out the awesome love that Jesus had for
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his own? This is the intro to that entire thing. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his h his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, look at this.
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Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
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The whole reason for the upper room discourse was so Jesus could love like only Jesus loves and then become an example to a guy like John who becomes the apostle of love who can't stop telling you again and again and again
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and again love like Jesus loved. Show off your dad. Be like Jesus and the world will be turned.
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You know there's power when you love like Jesus, huh? You know, beloved, you cannot go wrong by loving somebody like Jesus loved him. And again, may I say, remember, this is particularly geared toward the house of God. Just like we
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said from last week, this is really supposed to shine. It's supposed to be so evident.
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Beloved of God, listen to me. You know, we do have a reputation for being a very loving church. I love seeing you greeters out there. You got your smiles and you're hugging people and asking them how they're doing. Like, yes,
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that's the way we should all be. I mean, that just should be what describes church life. It should seriously, it's not an overstatement to say we should be just happy go-lucky in the house of God because what? We're not relying on us.
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We're relying on him. So, yeah, you may be going through a trial in your life.
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You can still be happy golucky. Don't get me wrong, sometimes, yes, we shed tears. Sometimes things are painful. I get all of that kind of stuff.
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Nevertheless, the mandate by John, the mandate by God is um no exceptions, huh? If you're in a time of trial and tribulation, hey, what an opportunity.
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What an opportunity you have to embrace it, to demonstrate Christ likeness. You know, that is that is profound.
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That's very Isn't that Isn't that very profound when when you learn of a brother or a sister, you didn't know that they were in this crisis? Like that happens to me a lot. People will tell me things and I get I'm their pastor. They
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want me to know some things, pray about things, and I've heard some really hard things in their lives, whether it's medical, financial, something's going on. And what overwhelms me is like how I just would not have been able to tell
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They're I just watch their lives and I'm like, "Are you serious? You're in this trial right now and they're still able to just be gracious and and kind and tenderhearted." And you guys, that's it's what we have to be.
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So again, don't get me wrong. If you are in a time of turmoil, tribulation, you go to brothers and sisters and you ask for prayer. You go to them and seek wisdom. you come to your pastors, all of
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that is what is supposed to be. But please don't let that be an exception then. Don't let that be your excuse. You can't. I can't.
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God's got something better for us. This life is a mist. We talked about that last week again.
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What matters in the future is how we live life now. Huh? Don't take a break.
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Don't If you're tired, and I know some of you are tired, you're sick of this situation that you're in. You guys, I get it. You just can't this go from me?
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I'm sick of this thorn kind of a deal, right? Some of you are in that situation right now. You are so tired of this mess. You are so tired of having to labor through this and you just pray and
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you honestly, earnestly seek God and for whatever reason there's no relief. And I'm putting that in quotes.
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All the more, my precious brother or sister. All the more reason why you lean in to God. All the more why that why that vertical coinia needs to grow all the more. Because the promise is as you lean into him, as you pursue him,
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you will become this person who shows the love of your dad, who shows your familial bond and all that kind of stuff. And we need that.
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We need that of each other. You need me to love you like Jesus just like I need you to love me like Jesus. And we need to love one another like Jesus. And by the way, that pleases Jesus. That
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conforms us into Jesus, doesn't it? And all the good promised positive outcomes like the crowns to come.
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Yeah. So, I just want to encourage you in that sense. Okay. here. Verse 2 and 3A. We're just going to look at 38 verses 2 and 3A. I don't need to execute this because he's said this already. By this, look at verse
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two. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. He's already said it.
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For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Stop right there. In the Greek, they should have stopped right there. The rest of verse three should actually be a part of verse four.
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and I'll show you the grammar next time. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Well, yeah. I think I ended last week by showing you these very same screens. He's just stringing together um what Jesus had said, right?
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Whoever has my commandments and keeps them. There we go. You keep his commandments, he it is who loves me. Well, there you go. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and
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obey his commandments. and I will love him and manifest myself to him. And remember you string that with um with um what is it? Uh was it is it ah I don't I don't have the screen. Yeah, I do. I do. It's it's
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right here, I think. Yeah. Yeah. The the new commandment we this I think this might be the first time I haven't shown you this screen at the beginning of the study. But anyway, it's just all inconsistency with what
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John was saying. a new commandment that I give to you that you love one another.
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Just as I love you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. He just did that in chapter 4 and now he does it in
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chapter 5. Strings those two and words it John's way. Okay, this is how I'm going to close this out. I just want to remind you, I know I'm so redundant here, you guys, but it's um it's so important.
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Remember this verse from a couple of weeks ago. No one has ever seen God.
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Remember how you can see now how that is so linked to chapter 5 verse one. It's the theme is very harmonious.
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John says God says I want people to see me and you are my vessels.
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No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. We know the context of those words. They shouldn't be confusing.
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Can I just say, church, let's show them off. Seriously, I am Aren't you just so sick of all the darkness and corruption and all the junk out there?
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The devil is good at showing himself off. Let's be better at showing him off.
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May he be glorified in us and through us. Let's uh close there, okay? Would you bow your heads? Let me lead us in a prayer. The worship team will come up to close us out. Dear God, you are worthy.
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Jesus, you're amazing that you came, became one of us so that you could save us, and then not just save us, but give us this life called an abundant life.
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So we yield ourselves to you and pray have your way. I lift up my brothers and sisters here perhaps new brothers and sisters here and pray Holy Spirit for your ministry of refreshing of infilling so that then it will flow
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out from us. I pray Lord that in our pursuit of truth you would supply that and then you would supply the power to live what we know. May you be glorified.
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May May we show you off. We praise you and we pray that all by faith in Jesus name. Amen. [music] Okay beloved, let's all stand up please. Time to glorify him in song one last time. Remember the bake
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sale as the Lord puts it on your heart. Munch those cookies down, okay? and give toward their awesome ministry. Um, no midweek service this coming Wednesday because of BBS. So, we'll see you back on Sunday. [music] God bless you. Have a
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wonderful rest of your day. Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus myior me. Hallelujah. I'm free. Hallelujah. I'm free.
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Jesus my savior rescued [music] me. Hallelujah. I'm free. Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus myior resued [music] me. Hallelujah. I'm free.
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Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus my resued me. Hallelujah. I'm free. I said on the chain breaking miracle making powerful name of Jesus [music] on the body raising part saving powerful name of Jesus on the [music] chain breaking miracle making powerful name of Jesus
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on the Heart raising prodal saving powerful name of Jesus. Hallelujah free. Hallelujah free. Oh [music] Jesus my savior resued me. Hallelujah free.
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Hallelujah. I'm free. Jesus my rescued me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm free. Amen. Have a blessed day, church. We'll see you next week.
Topics:Calvary Chapel PrescottSunday Service1 John 5:1-3Christian worshipPastor RajVBS 2026Youth camp fundraiserChristian loveJustification and sanctificationChurch announcements
