November 30, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
The United States Code, the list of all the laws passed by the federal government, is 22 million words long. That doesn't include all of the state, county, and city laws that apply to you. You might also have professional standards, HOA regulations, and house or family rules to obey.
Do you feel oppressed yet? That's a lot of rules! So many you couldn't possibly read them...
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November 29, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 1 John 5:1-2
Yesterday I wrote about what life can be like in a close, happy family. Not every family is like that, and to those with a pai...
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November 28, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Some of you visited family or friends last week for Thanksgiving. Maybe you met a new little baby who belongs to a loved one. Even if you had never met that baby before, you could probably say you loved him or her. How? The baby never did anything for you. You didn't know if you would get along with the child. But you love the parents, so you also love the child....
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November 25, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
I know a mother who, every year when her kids left for college, would give them a “mom talk,” reminding them to work hard, but more importantly to love God, love their churches, and obey God. Eventually her children started pre-empting her talk by giving themselves the “mom talk.” They knew it so well, they could recite it themselves....
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November 24, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Ultimately, John says love is what keeps us from fear. When we love God (shown by confessing Christ and obeying him) and love your neighbors, these are the signs that we abide in God and they give us confidence in our salvation....
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November 23, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Do you have lepidopterophobia? That’s fear of butterflies. Some people really are afraid of butterflies, but clearly butterflies aren’t objectively threatening or dangerous. For most people, fearing tiny colorful winged insects seems pretty ridiculous....
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November 22, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
John summarizes the gospel here again in this verse. This time he emphasizes the idea of telling others - testifying. But who is “we”? John has previously referred to himself and the other apostles and disciples (the church leaders) as “we.” And that would makes sense here....
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November 21, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
You can use the word “love” for a lot of things. The way you feel about your family. Your tennis score. Your favorite food. An attraction to a crush. Even some harsh discipline might be “tough love.”...
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November 18, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
When a group of my old friends get together, we talk about things like “shimmy pops” and “the gator car.” Does that make any sense to you? I doubt it. We have our own shared language of inside jokes, phrases, and topics that remind us of the experiences we have had together. Maybe your friends or family have your own “secret language” that only makes sense to y...
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November 17, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
We all know the saying “out of the mouths of babes”...
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November 16, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Yesterday we started to look at the standard John gives us for testing the spirits, that the Spirit of God “confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” The name Jesus Christ shows us that Jesus was both God and man. Now, what does it mean that He “has come in the flesh.”...
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November 15, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Judges evaluate legal cases according to the law; editors evaluate writing according to a style book that sets out grammar and usage standards. These kinds of professionals have an objective standard to make sure they are making the right choices. They don’t have to depend on their own opinions or try to create their own rules....
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November 14, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
You hear about God every Sunday at church, but that’s not the only place you encounter teaching about spiritual things. You might hear a spiritual message from a friend or family member, or see an article posted on Facebook, or get a new book for devotions. Which ones are true? Can you tell?...
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November 11, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Believing in Jesus and loving one another are two sides of the same coin. John can't stop writing about it! Think back to the beginning of the book. Everything John wrote about remembering the gospel is the “believing” half of the commandment. We can't believe in Jesus if we don't understand who He is, what He did, and how we can be saved....
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November 10, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
When John writes about obeying God's commandment, it's easy to start to feel that salvation is earned through obedience. Like you'll only feel confident about your status with God if you can be “good enough.”...
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November 9, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
John tells us the confidence we can have in our salvation comes from obeying God, and he specifically lists one commandment: to believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another....
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November 8, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
As we saw yesterday, it’s easy...
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November 7, 2016
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Category:
This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Do you ever wonder if you are really a Christian? Or if you have really been forgiven? John’s readers wondered this too! As we have seen already, John sets the bar high for holiness. He has said that Christians must be as pure as God is (I John 3:3), that no one who knows God can keep on sinning (I John 3:6), and that we should lay down our lives for our fellow believers...
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November 4, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
As believers who have been made righteous by Jesus’ death and resurrection, will we continue to sin before Jesus returns? The answer is clearly yes, as discussed back in chapter 1. ...
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November 3, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
John paints a clear picture that this particular kind of rebellion against God and knowing God is not a matter of degrees. It is not gray. One cannot rebel against God just a little. John stands firm on the fact that this is a black and white issue....
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November 2, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
In the beginning of chapter three, John introduces an eschatological perspective. Eschatology is the study of the end times. In the Christian scripture, the end times have a distinctly “already” but “not yet” paradox. That is, in Jesus, we already have access to the righteousness and eternal living that we will experience in heaven...
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November 1, 2016
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This is the Life
| Tags: gospel, Christ, grace, daily devotion, Teaching Series, 1 John
Have you ever felt very undeserving of a gift? Maybe you won a prize that you didn’t think you worked hard enough for. Maybe your sibling forgave you even though you probably didn’t deserve forgiveness. Maybe you missed the mark of perfection, but someone told you, “I love you anyway.”...
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