Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Word of Life - 1John
The Word of
Life
Who is Jesus of Nazareth? This is the
fundamental question which the Gospel of John poses for us. John develops his
gospel to answer that question using compelling evidence and eye-witness
testimony.
John, the youngest of the
twelve apostles, wrote his gospel late in life, around 100 AD, in the city of
Ephesus, a Greek-speaking center of commerce and culture. By that time the vast
majority of Christians were no longer converts from Jewish communities, but
people who lived in a world dominated by the culture, thought, and worldview of
Greece and Rome. John appealed to their powers of reason and reflection to
consider who Jesus claimed to be.
John was in Ephesus when he wrote this
letter. He sent it to the churches in that region. He wrote to the Christians
in those churches. He knew them well and he loved them. He thought of them as
his own family. So he spoke to them as if he was speaking to his own children.
The reasons why
John wrote this letter
Some people in these churches believed
wrong things. The people who had taught them these wrong things had been
members of the church. However, they had moved away from the *faith and they
had left the church (1 John 2:19). So John intended to correct these wrong ideas
in his letter.
One wrong idea was that Christ was not
really a man. He seemed to be a man but was not a real man. John taught quite
clearly that the Son of God came as a real man. He lived his life here on earth
as a man. The Christ actually died as a man. The man, Christ Jesus, rose again
from the dead.
Some people taught that Jesus was
merely a man. They taught that he was not really God. They did not believe that
God could die. They said that the *Christ came upon Jesus. Then the *Christ
left him again before he died. John answered this. He showed that Jesus is one
with God. He is the *Christ, who gave his life for us. No mere man could take
away our *sins as the *Lord Jesus Christ has done.
These people taught other wrong things.
This is what they argued:
·The body is bad, but the spirit is
good. True life is in the spirit. What we do in the body does not affect the
spirit. So it does not matter how we live in the body.
These people thought that their evil
actions did not matter. They said that they loved God. However, they lived for
themselves. John shows that such ideas are false. If we love God, our lives
must be good. We must not continue to *sin. We must live as Jesus lived. We
must live right and good lives because God is good.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Psalm 95
"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker."
Psalm 95:1-6
Psalm 95:1-6
Thanksgiving 2016
Friday, November 18, 2016
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
November
November--
They say it is the month of death,
But I have never seen such beauty in decay.
Remains of Autumn,
Still smoldering,
Cling to the branches,
And the earth is painted a thousand shades of red.
When a heavy fog smothers the ground,
Breathe in and let it fill your lungs.
It is at this time the world seems still
And the fear of winter is forgotten,
If only for a moment,
Before the light fades,
And we return to darkness once more.
They say it is the month of death,But I have never seen such beauty in decay.
Remains of Autumn,
Still smoldering,
Cling to the branches,
And the earth is painted a thousand shades of red.
When a heavy fog smothers the ground,
Breathe in and let it fill your lungs.
It is at this time the world seems still
And the fear of winter is forgotten,
If only for a moment,
Before the light fades,
And we return to darkness once more.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Monday, November 7, 2016
Friday, November 4, 2016
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