God Is Love: So What

God Is Love: So What?

Intro.: Most of us think we know all about love.

1. We see it on TV, we read about it in books, we see it as couples hold hands walking down the street. We know what love is all about.

2. On the other hand, we also get lots of examples as to what love is not. The gossip column make sure that we know the mistakes that people make. We read of parents who try to control there kids lives, we see families splitting up. Yep, lots of instructions on how love is not supposed to work.

3. John also knows something love. It was John who took the time to remind us that “God so loved the world ...”

4. And, and now, John returns to the subject in his first epistle. 46 times he mentions love in this letter – he had heard about from Jesus, he had seen it lived out – and he wants to talk about it.

5. Turn with me to I John 4:7-12.

Read: I John 4:7-12

Pray

T.S.

1. Love – what we know – Three key facts

   1. Fact One – Love is from God

      1. In the very first chapter of the Bible, Genesis One, the author makes it clear that we have been created in the image of God.

      2. In just a few minute we will look at that verse that tells us that God is love. But if God is love and we are created in His image – then our love comes from Him.

(Appl.) I suggested earlier that we have learned most of what we know about love from the media – TV, movies, books, news, - you get the idea. But those are not God's idea of love. If I really like to know about love, and love does come from God, then we need to let God teach us about love. Did you know that word “love” occurs 551 times in 505 verses? But, even more important, scripture is full of examples of God's love – God caring for His people and for individuals who have learned to depend on Him.

2. Fact Two – God is Love

(Ill.) One author has translated Ephesians 3:17-18 as, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Fully grasping the dimensions of God's love for us is not an easy thing to do. the Scriptures teach that we are to have a growing awareness of divine love. Love is the very heart and essence of God, not only for the lovely but for the worst of sinners. Christ did not die merely to display God’s love—He died because God is love (1 John 4:8). If the New Testament teaches us anything, it teaches us about God’s love in searching for lost men. Becoming a Christian in a very real sense is simply putting ourselves in the way of being found by God—to stop running from His loving pursuit.ⁱ

1. We have been redeemed but the very God who loves us more than we even love ourselves.

2. And if we do not know that love, then we do not know God. That is the real test as to whether we know God – do we love like he loves. John says it like this, “Anyone who does not love does not know God.”

3. Fact Three – God showed his love by sending His son.

   1. John 3:16 says “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.”

   2. Now, some 60 years later, John writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

   3. Somehow Christmas and Easter have become fun holidays – we use them as opportunities to tell those around us that we love them, but we must never forget that they are the very proof the Jesus loved us first.

   4. We sit halfway between the two holidays – as you begin to prepare for this Christmas, remember that it is not just a way for you to tell those around you that you love them, it is also a time to reflect on the fact that God loved us.

1. Love – what to do

   1. In today's passage there is one command – repeated twice.

   2. “Beloved, let us love one another. … Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

   3. I really like the way John said that. Did you notice all the exceptions that he gave –

      1. “... let us love one another, unless we have been insulted.”

      2. “... let us love one another, unless someone has hurt us.”

      3. “... let us love one another, except when we don't feel good.”

      4. “... let us love one another, unless you are not a pastor.”

      5. Wait – you do know that I made those all up.

      6. There are no exceptions … “we ought to love one another.”

   4. Now to be honest, I sometimes wish there were exceptions.

   5. But God did not give me any.

   6. You know what – regardless of what you do, regardless of what you say, regardless of what you think, God asks me to love you.

Conclusion: Let me conclude with a story:

When Scottish teenager George Matheson learned he was losing his eyesight, he determined to finish his studies at the University of Glasgow as quickly as possible. His blindness overtook him while he pursued graduate studies for Christian ministry, but his family rallied to his side. His sisters even learned Greek and Hebrew to help him in his assignments.

The real blow came later, when his fiancée determined she just couldn’t marry a blind man. Breaking the engagement, she returned his ring. George was devastated. Years later when he was a beloved pastor in Scotland, his sister became engaged, and the news opened old wounds in his heart. More mature now, he turned to God and out of the experience wrote a prayer that later some may know as a hymn. The words say:

O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thing ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.

Even when I don't feel like loving, God calls me to love. Am I willing?

Pray

iOsbeck, K. W. (1990). Amazing grace : 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions (44). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.

One Mother's Emotions

One Mother's Emotions

Intro.: I was listening to the radio late last night and heard a job description for a mother. I thought it was so accurate, I wanted to share it with you and went looking for a written copy and found it.

Pray

Trans:I spent time this week thinking about the mothers we see in scriptures.

1. I could not think of one that had it “easy”

2. From Eve (Adam's wife) – whose sons fought

3. To Sarah (Abraham's wife) – whose sons fought

4. Or even Mary (Jesus' mother)

T.S. In the next few moments I want to look at four snapshots of the most famous mother in scripture. I want to look at four snapshots of Mary as she interacted with the life of Jesus.

1. The first snapshot is of a young woman expecting her first child.

   1. I expect that if we were to look at this snapshot we would see a young woman that is scared, uncertain, impatient, and with lots of questions.

   2. Probably would not surprise us – these emotions might be common to any woman that is expecting her first child.

   3. But they would also not surprise us because here is a single mother – her fiance is supportive, but she well knows the possibilities that her future could hold. None of us would be surprised to see a woman that is scared, uncertain, impatient, and with lots of questions about her future. After all, nobody can predict the future.

   4. She hadnd the emotions of any mother, she had the emotions any single mother might have, but Mary had emotions only she could feel – emotions that could only be felt by the mother of the Son of God. Would any of be surprised if this young woman would feel a bit of fear, a bit of uncertainty, a bit of impatience, have lots of questions about her future and the future of her son?

   5. Though she knew the answer, I cannot help but wonder if not in the midst of month 7 of her pregnancy she might silently have asked herself, “Why me, God, why me?”

   6. I suspect that if you look closely at this snapshot, you may see some tears – but you may also see a smile. The birth of a child is an amazing thing – whether it is our own or that of a daughter or a friend or whoever's – it is truly a miracle. And for Mary it is far more a miracle than it has ever been for any other mother. She is the mother of the Son of God.

2. The second snapshot finds Mary at a wedding party.

   1. Mary had been invited – so had Jesus and His disciples.

   2. Jesus was just beginning his public ministry – in fact, at this point he had not yet performed any miracles.

   3. But he would this day –

   4. I don't know how much Mary understood about Jesus – but she knew enough to have the host turn to him for help when the days beverage had run out.

   5. Mary had faith – not in what she had seen, but what she understood about her son.

   6. It is sometimes hard for me to say, “Trust God”

(Ill.) Those of you who have walked with Sandra and I over the last few months will remember that we have regularly had to fall back on a triad of questions that we need to ask each other when it seems like the going gets tough.

1. Who do you have to trust? - God

2. What do you have to do? - The best I can

3. What else do you need to do? - Nothing

And when we get to that last point, we sense, we see, a very real release of tension as we look toward the future.

7. And, some how, that is where Mary had learned to live – she had learned that she could trust this Son of hers to carry her, to carry us all, through the difficult times.

8. This snapshot shows us that Mary has relaxed at the very point that most of us would panic – there is a crowd and they are running out of refreshments. They had not purchased enough. But Mary knew one thing – they could, they must, trust Jesus.

9. And on that day, Jesus completed his first miracle – as he turned water into wine. Mary had faith that day – and because of the miracle, the scriptures tell us, His disciples also started to believe in Him.

3. The next snapshot is taken three years later on a dark Friday around noon time.

   1. Mary and many of Jesus' friends are standing around a small hill just outside of Jerusalem. A hill called Golgotha.

   2. On that hill are three crosses – two thieves are being executed – and then, there in the middle, is Mary's son, Jesus.

   3. Three years ago Mary was excited and willing to trust her son to solve even the most unimportant problems. She had faith in Him. Now He hangs on a cross.

   4. I have heard some of you talk about the pain you have felt as you have seen your own children struggle – can your imagine the pain that was felt by Mary as she saw her son hang on the cross. She could not imagine him having hurt, having harmed anybody. And, of course, as we have come to know Jesus, we know that is very true. Her pain must have been worse than what we feel when we see our own children fail – we know are children are imperfect. But Mary, whether she knew it or not, certainly had not evidence that he was capable of a crime worthy of capital punishment – yet there he hung. Between two thieves.

   5. This snapshot shows a mother whose heart is broken with sadness at the death, at the murder, of her son.

4. Our final snapshot was taken three days later.

   1. We have seen a young woman who may have been freightened as she considered having her first child. We have seen a mother who has come to appreciate her son – a mother who has learned to trust her son. And we saw mother whose heart was broken as her son was executed like and with common criminals on that Friday three days earlier.

   2. But now, the sabbath is past and she and two of her and Jesus' friends have gone out to pay their respects at the grave one more time.

   3. But something is amiss when they arrive – not only is the stone rolled away, but the tomb is empty. But then something truly remarkable happens. Listen as Luke describes those events:

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

4. I can't help but wonder how Mary responded to this news. A few days earlier she watched her executed son hang on a cross – and now she hears that He has risen – the resurrection has occurred.

5. She has moved from sadness to joy, from desperation to celebration.

Conclusion: Mothers come with all kinds of emotions.

1. We all come with all kinds of emotions.

2. Sometimes we want to hide from our emotions – but they are part of what make us human.

3. My prayer is that each of you, each of us, will be able to play the role that God has given to us.

Pray

Mirror: Who Do You Look Like

Intro.: I have said it before, I am not an expert in how God will bring this world to an end.

1. I believe he will – scripture leaves no doubt about that fact.

2. I also think that those who claim to have it all figured out, are trying too hard to make sense of something that God intends to handle in His own way and in His own way.

3. But the fact that God has plans underway cannot be denied.

4. Today's passage will remind us that there is a plan – and it is underway.

5. Listen to John ...

Read: 1 John 2:18-27

Pray

T.S. As we read 1 John 2:18-27, we will see two very different people described.

1. The first, Antichrists, look like this:

   1. Important to realize that we are not immune.

   2. The word “Antichrist” is used in only one book of the Bible – 1 John

(Ill.) Though the word only appears in one book, the concept occurs throughout scripture. There is one coming that will oppose Christ – but John has another perspective. To John, anyone who stands in opposition to Christ is an Antichrist. And we are not immune.

3. And because the Antichrists have started to appear, John is convinced that “we are in the last hour.” Let's remember, that we need to leave it in God's hands.

4. It should not surprise us that Christ has enemies – we live in a world that, at the very list, denies the deity of Christ.

5. But not only Christ, but God Himself.

(Appl.) But there is another danger – that of living as if Christ does not matter, living as if God does not exist. Dallas Willard has pointed out that “the sentence 'The lord is my shepherd' is written on more tombstones than on hearts.”

6. Not only do they deny Christ, they also are liars in general. As we will see in a few minutes, we will learn that believers know the truth.

7. Christ's enemies may know the truth, but they do not talk about it. Instead, they feed us lies – “more is better”, “price is important”, “prestige is more important than truth.” You see, the further we get from Christ the we buy into the lies that others present. Rather than listening to God's word, we let the world set our standards.

(Ill.) When I think of coloring the world, I usually think of green. However, Christo and Jeanne-Claude are artist and they think of orange and pink. They take huge rolls of cloth and line the ocean front, or bridges, or rivers, or lots of other things – with cloth. There purpose is not so much to change the world, but to change how we see the world. Though it takes hundreds of people – everything from engineers to seamstresses to common lay people – You may have seen examples of their work in an occasional TV commercial – they stream clothe everywhere. It is blowing in the wind, waving, colorful, eye-catching. And then at the end of the week, at the end of the month, they take their art all apart. In some way it all looks and works the same. The artists say that when they come back to visit a year or two later, something has changed., It just never looks the same – something is different. And it is not the earth, it is how they look at the spots where their art was hung. They now see the world differently. I suppose Jesus should work the same way for us – once we have allowed him into our lives, we will see the world as it really is. I guess it is a decision we each to make – will we let the world color us or will we let Jesus color how we see the world.¹

8. The Antichrists, the enemies of God, will do their best to let the world lead us astray

9. Will we let it?

2. But Christians look like this:

   1. John give's details about the Antichrists – he also details a number of characteristics of believers.

   2. A number of words stand out to me as John discusses believers. The first a clear statement by John, “But you are anointed.” He says it three times.

   3. Now there is a piece of me that says – yeah, I know it, after all I have been ordained. That anointing was very publicly pointed out in a worship service.

   4. But there is a problem – John is not writing to specifically to church leaders – he is writing to the church. He is writing those sitting in the pews (or in the case of the 1^st century church, sitting on benches) - “you have been anointed.”

   5. What is this thing called anointing – The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible says “was meant to endow the anointed one with the quality of the deity involved.”² As believers we are being made into the image of Christ. It may take a lifetime for the process to be completed, but God is doing it. You are anointed.

   6. But as John describes the believers he is writing to, there is another word that catches my attention – abide.
   7. It seems to work two ways – we are to let what we have learned from our faith is to abide in us. But the today's passage concludes with a command for us to “abide in Him.”
   8. What does it mean to abide in Him?
   9. Jesus first used the term. It was the evening of His arrest – they have finished dinner and he is sharing some final thoughts. It will be a hectic night before much time passes Jesus will be arrested and tried. On Friday morning, He will be nailed to the cross. It will be an agonizing three days as the disciples relive the events of that night – until they begin to hear the news, “He's alive.” It was after dinner – Jesus was sharing some final thoughts and He encourages the disciples by telling them, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” But at the same time He tells them “abide in me.”

10. John was there that night – and he echos Jesus, “Abide in Him.”

(Ill.) Oswald Chamber puts it this way in his classic devotional My Utmost For His Highest, “The Spirit of Jesus is put into me by the Atonement, then I have to construct with patience the way of thinking that is exactly in accordance with my Lord. God will not make me think like Jesus, I have to do it myself; I have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. “Abide in Me”—in intellectual matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life what it is.” Abide in Him – how? In every single area of life. Abide in Him!³

Conclusion: These two words help us to understand our relationship to Jesus

1. We are anointed.

2. We are to abide in Him.

Pray

1 Larson, Craig Brian and Phyllis Ten Elshof. 1001 Illustrations That Connect. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008.

2 Elwell, Walter A. and Barry J. Beitzel. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1988.

3 Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. NIV edition. Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Co., 1993.

Love the World? NOT!

What Do You Love?

Read: I John 2:15-17 Pray

Trans: “Love,” they say, “is a many splendored thing.”

1. We don't really understand that in English – with a single word “love” to mean so many things. “I love this pen” is said as easily as “I love this book” or “I love chicken baked in French fried onions” or “I love my dog” or “I love my wife.”

2. One of the things I like about Greek is they have at least three words for “love”. Some of you have been a member of the church for many years and may have heard this before, but others may not be familiar with the various words meaning “love” in the Greek.

   1. The first is easy “eros” - human, physical love. It is never used in scripture.

   2. The second is “phileo” - friendship, sibling love. We see the word in the name of a city in Eastern Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

   3. The last word is the most important Greek word for love, “agape” - it is the only word used to describe the kind of love that God has for us.

   4. A good illustration of how these two words are found in a conversation Jesus has with Peter after the resurrection. You will remember that Peter denied Jesus three times on the day of his crucifixion. During the 40 days that Jesus lives here after His resurrection he pulls Peter aside and has a conversation. In English, the conversation seems odd – but it takes on other meanings. (John 21:15-19)

T.S. John begins today's selection with a very clear command: Do not love the world. Within the three verses John provides us three reasons that for doing just that.

1. The first reason is that the believer cannot love God and the World a the same time.

   1. Jesus had said it 50 years earlier, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt. 6:24)

   2. John says almost the same thing, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (I John 2:15)

   3. Something does seem weird – for many of us, our favorite verse is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world ...” Wait a minute, were we not just commanded, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”

   4. Jesus, shortly before his crucifixion, reminded his disciples that though they were in the world, they were not of the world – in fact the world would hate them.

   5. Our call is to love God, to love the world that God created, and to love the people that God has created. But we are not to love the world or the things of the world. We cannot love the world and love God at the same time.

(Ill.) It was a young college student who had come to Jesus on campus who noted that there was a difference of one letter. She was speaking to a friend and politely told her, “You love love the world, but I love the word. It is only different by one letter, but that one letter, makes a grand difference in whom we love.”

6. The world can be thought of as many things – it could be our community, it could be our family, it could be our church – but if we love any of it more than God, then our lives are out of balance.

7. But to John the meaning is something else altogether – for John world does not refer to people; rather, it refers to the philosophy, the mentality, the outlook, of the people among whom we love. And, even then, we cannot love those attitudes and behaviors more than we love God.

2. The second reason Christians are not to love the world is that the world is not God's realm.

   1. We have no problem understanding that Heaven will be our home. But that is only because it is also God's home.

   2. Listen again to the words of John, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

   3. John gives us three key symptoms of being in love with the world:

      1. The desires of the flesh – other translations put it as, “cravings or the flesh”. John's words refer to the desire, the cravings that we as humans have for much that the world has to offer. It might be a better car, it might be tastier food, it might be more influential friends.

(Ill.) One group of people that greately influenced John Wesley as when he first began to understand the meaning of faith was the Moravians – The Moravians have a prayer that helps us to understand what John was getting at, “From the desire of being great, good Lord deliver us!”²

(Ill.) God also said it 1100 years earlier as he carved the 10 Commandments into stone for Moses - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

2. The desires of the eyes – Someone has said, “The eyes are the gateway to a man's soul.” It becomes easy to see something and we want it. TV ad men know this. We see an ad on TV – we have got to have it. Doesn't matter if it is a new car or a cleaning product or some new toy for the kids. Yesterday, Wesley was over at the house and he picked up a catalog of clearning products that comes in the mail. His first response was boy these look neat. Our eyes can direct our minds – and the extent to which that happens, it is a measure of our love of the world.

3. Pride in possessions – I brag about some of my stuff. I brag about my 300 coffee cups – without drinking any coffee. I brag about my wife. I brag about our dog. But when those things get in the way of my relationship with God, then I am off kilter – I need to get back on track and reconnect with God. I doubt if I am alone.

4. I doubt if this list is exaustive – I expect there are other symptoms of putting the world before God. But if we start with this list, we will have a good tool for measuring whether we are putting God first or whether we are putting the world first.

4. And God is not in these things. And that is why having a love for the world and its ways is not what God wants from us.

3. The third reason we are not to love the world is that it will all pass away.

   1. “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (I John 2:17)

   2. The world will pass away. Its desires will pass away.

(Ill.) In Physics there is a law that says everything naturally decays. It's called the 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics. We see it all the time – our clothes wear out, fruits and vegitables go bad, our bodies wear down. In nature it may be erosion, or land slides, or earthquakes. Everything eventually decays. We see in practice the very principle that John is talking about.³

3. Wouldn't you rather love something that will not change. And that which does not change is that which is God's.

4. And that is what we are called to truely love.

Conclusion: Pray

==============

1Tan, Paul Lee. Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996.

2Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (17). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

3http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-thermodynamics.html

Commending the Family

Commending the Family

Intro.: We live in a culture where “family” can mean many things.

1. For some here at Royal Gardens, the closest thing there is to family is the community here at Royal Gardens.

2. For some it may be their work.
3. … or their church.
4. For others it may be just their children.
5. Regardless, family is important.

I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God

You will notice we say "brother and sister" 'round here, It's because we're a family and these are so near; When one has a heartache, we all share the tears, And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear. From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King, No longer an outcast, a new song I sing; From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong, I'm not worthy to be here, but PRAISE GOD! I belong!

Read: I John 2:12-14 Pray

T.S. John writes to three audiences in I John 2:12-14

1. John writes to the “dear Children”

   1. At one level – it sounds like John is writing to a family. He is – the family of God – the church.

   2. Fourteen times in this short book John addresses the church as children. John is writing to all those who have placed their faith, their lives, into the hands of Jesus.

   3. We are the children that John was writing to – we are the church that he was concerned about, even though we are living nearly 2000 years after he wrote – the same truths that he wrote then, apply to us today.

   4. And what does he say?

   5. He reminds them “Your sins are forgiven.” The secret to receiving forgiveness is to realize we are in need of forgiveness.

(Ill.) Jesus plainly stated that he came to save sinners. The man who refuses to be called a sinner puts himself beyond the possibility of salvation. A wealthy industrialist was traveling in California in search of better health; while spending a few days in an inland town, he learned that in this village there resided a man who owed him a large sum of money. The young man had come here after an unsuccessful career in the East, and was beginning to prosper in a small way. “The young man seems to have been trying to help himself,’ said the rich man, “and I am going to destroy the note I hold against him.” The note, however, was miles away among his papers, and he realized that he might not live to return. Not knowing the exact amount of the note, he sent his private secretary to the young man, to make inquiry concerning it, and to offer to give the debtor a receipt against it; thus protecting him from proceedings that might in future be entered against him, should the capitalist die before he reached home. To the surprise of the secretary, the young businessman put on an indignant manner and denied the debt. “When I owe your employer it will be time enough for you to be talking to me about forgiveness,” he said. The debt remained unforgiven and the heirs of the rich man insisted upon the collection of the note. This was done, to the ruin of the man who remained unforgiven because he was not willing to admit that there was anything to forgive.¹

6. He also reminds them that they know the Father – another characteristic of all believers. As a member of the Family of God, we do know the Father.

7. The children's sins are forgiven – and they know the Father.

2. John writes to the Fathers

   1. Which sounds very much like the comments John makes about the fathers – the fathers “know Him who is from the beginning.”

   2. The children knew The Father, but the fathers knew Him even longer.

   3. I have no way of knowing, bu tI suspect that there were a group of people that knew or had met Jesus before his crucifixion. They may have heard him preach the Sermon on the Mount, or maybe they were in the crowd when Jesus fed the 4000 or 5000. They may have been in Jerusalem that Friday when Jesus was put onto the cross. Or maybe they had caught a glimpse of Him during the 40 days between his resurrection and ascension. I don't know for sure – but they had known “Him from the beginning.”

   4. Their faith had grown from what they had seen, heard, and experienced.

   5. They were the kind of leaders we want in the church – men and women who have lived with Jesus. Those who “know” Jesus – not just about Him, but who have taken time to let Him teach them and mold them into what He wants them to be.

   6. They were the kind of people we should all strive to be -

3. John writes to the Young Men

   1. Finally, John writes to the Young Men. These are not new believers, but they have not had the privilege of having spent significant time with Jesus. But what they will be is the next generation of leaders within the church.

   2. They are in a battle – a spiritual battle. A battle that John recognizes that is being won as they spend time in the Word of God.

   3. Listen again to John words, “You have overcome the evil one, you are strong, the word of God abides in you.”

   4. There are some things that challenged me early in my Christian life – I struggled when believers talked about being healed – after all it was doctors and hospitals that provided medical care. I struggled when people spoke about answered prayer – after all coincidences occur all the time. And then, there were times that people spoke about spiritual warfare – and I took it all with a grain of salt. After all, we all have difficult times.

   5. Maybe you have some of the same issues – when other speak of answered prayer or healing or spiritual warfare, you shudder just a little. Maybe it makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

   6. Two things contributed toward my becoming more accepting of God working in miraculous ways in peoples lives:

      1. The first was my firm conviction in the authority of God's word – if God said it, it had to be true.

      2. The second was what God's word said. It spoke of answered prayer, it spoke of healing, and it spoke, like today's passage does, of spiritual warfare.

   7. If I were to believe God's word, then I had to believe that God worked in people's lives in ways that I could not explain.

(Ill.) St. Ignatius once said, “Let fire and cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings … let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the evil torments of the Devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.”²

One of the subjects you study in seminary is Church History. Dr. David F. Wells was one of my professors. He writes, “Petitionary prayer … is rebellion—rebellion against the world in its fallenness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal.”³

Conclusion: Pray

1 AMG Bible Illustrations. 2000. Bible Illustrations Series. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers.

2 Larson, C. B., & Lowery, B. (2009). 1001 quotations that connect: Timeless wisdom for preaching, teaching, and writing (104). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

3 Larson, C. B., & Lowery, B. (2009). 1001 quotations that connect: Timeless wisdom for preaching, teaching, and writing (234). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.