Thursday, July 03, 2008

Studying 1 John

On Sundays this summer we are going through 1 John and on Wednesdays we are doing an interactive/inductive Bible study based on what was taught on the Sunday before.

If you are interested you can listen or download the audio of the sermons. We have translation so the sermons are in both Romanian and English. Click here to see the web page in Romanian and here to see the web page in English. Soon we will also add the Word documents for the questions to the study on Wednesdays.

For me what has stood out so far is:
  1. The need to walk in the light- to obey the Word and be real, not hiding one's sin or putting on a religious facade to cover up one's weaknesses, to live a life of continual confession and repentance.
  2. The importance of staying in constant and continual fellowship with Jesus.
  3. To be motivated by the hope of what we will one day become to get rid of sin in our lives.
  4. That love is the fruit that shows we are children of God- that is, living a life of sacrifice and denial of self in order to seek God's best for those whom He puts across our path.
Please pray that God will use our study of 1 John to stir in our fellowship a hunger and thirst for righteousness, for more intimacy with Jesus and more love for one another not just in words but with actions and in truth.

I think it is very easy to get discouraged about one's actual practice of "love" and I am sure Satan is always there trying to help along that discouragement. But like the law what should happen when we realize that we don't love like Jesus is that we should go to Him as He is the only one who can help us.

Here are some articles on blogs I have come across this week that talk about love. I really enjoyed reading and thinking about what Craig Johnson wrote on the Cafe Biblia Blog. Sometimes I think I don't have what it takes to really love but that is a lie as Michael Spencer makes clear in his article "Got Everything?".

Enjoy!


Pursuing an Excellent Way of Life, Part 1 - Cafe Biblia Blog

Pursuing an Excellent Way of Life, Part 2 - Cafe Biblia Blog

Studying How Jesus Loved - The Assembling of the Church Blog

Got Everything? - Jesus Shaped Spirituality Blog


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