House Church Sermons

We are learning how to walk in the light. The first half of 1 John speaks of walking in the light but the second half is application, how we walk in the light. In one word it is "love" When we learn how to love properly we are walking in the light. It is a life long journey because we can never fully understand God-love but we can grow in it and learn how to live in God-love in our daily...

John is teaching us how to live in the light. In this verse he describes it as "love." We are to "love one another." The word "love" is used 35 times in 1 John so it is an important and essential concept in the Christian life. John states this in the positive (love one another) and the negative, "do not be like Cain". In this lesson we will explore both the...

Light means many things in the Bible. It speaks of God's holiness and purity. of life and its revelatory nature. Christian are not only in light but they are light. Light doesn't mean living a perfectly sinless life but means living in such a way as allowing God to continually reveal himself to you and to reveal your own character to yourself so that he can change it into his image

We have a sin problem - even Christians. John says, "everyone who sins..." (v.4) and that would include everyone. The solution to our sin problem is wrapped up in the concept of abiding in Christ. What does that mean? Later John expands upon the word, "abide" but here are the beginnings of God's answers for us

As we listen to John's strong statements regarding sin we must seriously examine these words. In this first of two lessons covering these verses we examine the concept of sin and explore exactly what sin is. Secondly we will look at some of the traditional interpretations of this passage and note those weaknesses in the context of 1 John.

The Fact is who we are (3:1). The Promise is what we will become (3:2) and The Labor is How we Change (3:3).The Fact that we are children of God has taken care of our sin problem. The Promise assures us of a complete and final redemption. But the Labor is what we do now, how we change and grow in our present lives.

John's beginning words of chapter three are some of the most marvellous in the entire Bible. This is a truth, a fact in which we must establish ourselves firmly - who we are in Christ. Everyone lives in such a way in how they think of themselves. If you think you are worthless you will live that way. Here John tell you who you are and thus how you should live your life.

It is difficult to outline 1 John because he writes in a "circular" way, (going back to previous thoughts and expanding on them) rather than in a linear way. But it seems to me that these verses begin a new section. 2:28,29 are transitional verses tying back to the fundamental teaching that Jesus is the Christ and his second section will show a constrast between living righteously and si...

The foundation of knowing the truth is knowing that Jesus is the Christ. The annointing that he speaks of here is a present happening. We are, in fact, "little annointed ones." In constrast to "knowing" John explains "the liar" that is, the person who denies what you know. You know that Jesus is the Christ, those who deny this participate in "the lie." Then...

I have written an expanded paraphrase of 1st John. In this letter I combine a summary along with the paraphrase of chapters one and two. We see in our summary that this letter is completely God and Christ centered, and so should our lives. This is what true reality is - a God-centered life. In chapter two we are introduced to a major theme under the word "know" and also see how John uses...

We all live out our lives in what we believe we are. Part of living as a Christian is remembering who God has made us in Christ. The world makes it easy for us to forget and that is why we need constant and even daily reminders of who we are as new people in Christ.

We examine the meaning of Anti-Christ and Last Hour. It is all centered in Christ. Who he is and what he does for us. We live in a world where bad things happen to everyone so don't expect that at the next catastrophe Jesus will come again. John is saying that we are to expect these things, there have always been those who are Anti-Christ and there always will be.

God's good news is so good that we can scarely believe it! It is easy to bask in the theological thoughts and principles but the Bible is always practical and brings us back to earth and how we are to live. John states it in the negative - Do not love the world. The world is always calling for Christians to return to its love. It is tempting and the call of the world can sound sweet. But it i...

Why is it difficult to be motivated by God's amazing grace? It seems people respond quicker to fear or punishment. In these verses, and as we will see, all throughout this letter, John is supplying us with proper motivation - God-centered motivation.

We find here the command which directs our lives. It's been with us since the beginning of our walk with God. And then we see the evidence of not living this way - living in the darkness; and evidence of living this way - living in the light. How do we live this way when we are a parodox of inconsistencies? We are kind and yet unkind. We are patient yet impatient. It is a matter of where we f...

In our last lesson we saw John expand from "my dear children" in 2:1 to "dear friends" in 2:7. We explained his meanings behind these idioms. In this lesson he expands from his opening words, "...we proclaim concerning the word (logos) of life..." to the phrase in 2:7 "...the word (logos) you heard." By "expansion" I mean that John is taking a prev...

We will see two "expanisions" in this one verse. First he expands from "my dear children" to "dear friends". We will see what John is pointing us to with these words. Second, he expands from "that which was from the beginning" in 1:1 to "which you have had from the beginning." Again we will see how these tie together along with the meaning. All thi...

One reason John wrote this letter was "that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13). He spends much of his writing helping us know. Here will discover two keys that lead us into being fully confident of our relationship with Christ.

The word "know" is used 37 times in 1 John. But there are two Greek words that our English translates "know". Some commentaries say that John is using them as synonyms and do not put much stock in the subtle difference between the two words. I believe in most cases John is making a distinction but even if he isn't the overall goal is the same. He wants us to "know&quo...

When we sin we have a friend who is our Advocate, the one who speaks in our defense. But our defense isn't in the good we have done nor is there a legal loophole that our Good Lawyer is able to 'get us off the hook." His defense for us is his propiation, his atoning sacrifice, his payment for our sins. We are forgiven because of his righteousness that is placed upon us.

Unlike many preachers who approach teaching about sin, John begins with concern and tender affections. His approach is not to be harsh or angry. His approach is to expose our lives to the light of God and to clarify our thinking about sin. When we keep our focus where it should be, John states, "we will not sin."

Here we examine 1 John 1:8-10. We see the reality of our marred human condtion (1:8). Christians don't pretend to be perfect - they sin. Next we see how God views our marred and sinful condition (1:9) and we discover good news in this. Then in verse 10 we see the reality of sins and the revelation of God in our lives. This passage is full of truth, what is real and good news!

Christians should "face up to reality". That's the nature of living in the truth and living in the light. We explore verses 8-10 of 1 John one and see that we face up to the reality of our marred human condition (1:8). We do not pretend that we have overcome sin, only God, through Christ, can do such a thing. We face up to the reality of how God views my sin (1:9) and find that this...

Light is a theme in John's writing and he uses the concept of light not only to describe God but to also describe the way we live our lives. Too many times we have been told that we are walking in the light when we don't sin and walking in the darkness when we sin. But a simple reading of this passage shows this is not true. Walking in the light has more to do with how we handle our sin...

This passage offers a great deal of hope and joy. Living in darkness does not mean sinning - it means more of living a "me-centered" life than a God-centered life. Me-centered living often involves in "me" trying harder or focusing on not sinning which leads to a life that is not very joyful. When we learn to be God-centered we learn that he deals with our sins properly and we...