Loving Jesus Style

Scripture 1 John 2:12-17(ESV) 12     I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 13     I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.        I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.        I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14     I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.        I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.   15  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. 16  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Devoti

Scripture: Psalm 50:14-15 14  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15     and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” [1] Devotion:             It’s almost Thanksgiving. Tomorrow most of us will eat too much turkey, stuffing, and all the rest. But are we really grateful for all this abundance of food and family? Who are we thankful to? Does God really figure into our Thanksgiving? Or is it a day to strategize our black Friday shopping. Will we be figuring out where to get that latest tech gadget for the cheapest price?             Will we be like the 9 of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus and go on our merry way, or will we be like the one who returned to give thanks to Jesus. God gives us so many gifts that it is impossible to name them all. How can we possibly thank God enough for all the good gifts we are given? We should each give thanks for our health, food,

Scripture 1 John 2:7-11(ESV) “7  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9  Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10  Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” John begins a new thought here with “Beloved”. A term of endearment to the sheep of his flock. He says he is writing no new commandment but a commandment that had been with them since Moses. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). He says it is the word that they had heard since t

Scripture 1 John 2:3-6(ESV) 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. 6 By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Devotion             Here in 1 John 2:3-6 we have the beginning of a description how to know if you are truly following God. Why is this so important? Because in Matthew chapter 7 we find this: “Matthew 7:22–23 are among the scariest verses in the Bible. Jesus says: Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and, in your name, perform many miracles?” 1 Then I will

Scripture 1 John 1:8-2:2(ESV) 8  If we say we have no sin; we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins; he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 2  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. Devotion:             Saying we have no sin can be a very dangerous thing to say. I was at a religious meeting and was walking and talking with a man who claimed that he had not sinned in a long time. Just after he finished telling me this he tripped over a chair, fell to the ground and took the Lord’s name in vain. As I helped him up, I couldn’t resist saying “I guess you’ll have to start your sinl

Scripture 1 John 1:5-7 (ESV) This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. Devotion When I had a dog named Marcie, she used to sleep right next to my bed. After I had nearly stepped on her several times, I began bringing a small flashlight to bed so I could walk in its light and not step on dear Marcie. Even after Marcie crossed the rainbow bridge, I still had trouble tripping in the dark I bought a night light which keeps me walking in the light, so I don’t trip any more. Walking in the light of God, is John’s theme in these few verses. Just as I stumbled physically so it is possible to walk in darkness and to stumble and fall. John starts by saying he

                Scripture 1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete 1 Introduction and Devotion Today we start to work through the letters of John. These letters were most likely written by the Apostle John from Ephesus at the end of the first century. They were probably written to churches in Asia Minor, now Turkey. It was written to combat heresies that had begun to infiltrate the churches causing division and strife among the believers

The Light of the World Scripture: 1 John 1:5             This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Devotion:             Light comes from God. Light gives life to the world. But a large segment of our world has loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Darkness can not overcome the light (John 1:5). The world continues to pursue darkness and evil. Jesus cautions us that humankind will love the darkness because to walk in the light would expose their evil deeds.             In the New Testament there are plenty of what we call vice lists. I won’t list them here, just turn on the 24-hour news channels and you will probably have them covered. That is name of the evil that is done in the world in darkness. But as Christians we are called to walk in the light that love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness and self-control, provide. (These you probably won’t

The Truth Scripture 3 John 1-4 (NRSV) Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.   Devotion             I was reading the Epistles of John today and I noticed that John speaks often of the truth. Truth seems to me to be under assault today. We hear almost daily of “fake news” and “alternative facts.” But is the news really “fake” or does someone just not like what is being said so they accuse it of being fabricated. Some news stories do indeed turn out to be false, but the majority of them are based on facts.             That is why this introduction to 3 John struck me as being especially powerful for today’s world. Would that every person would try to imitate the person John wro

Devotion Scripture 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Message             We Christians sometimes act as if we are powerless over the world. Just having to go along with whatever the world sends our way. But Peter here reminds us that we are chosen by God to be a light in this dark world. We are to be a holy nation in the midst of an unholy world. We should not be surprised that the world does not appreciate our living as God’s own people. We are light and we expose the darkness of this world system. Would that our lives shine brighter for the world is very dark.             As I have been doing my devotions in the morning the sky is just beginning to have the light of