Today's passage: 1 John 5:16-20

Helpful thoughts:

• If we see a brother or sister in sin, and God hasn't taken them home early (Acts 5:1-11), we should pray for their repentance!
• Christians repent.  Christians will sin…but they will be characteristically repentant.
• There are really two options for us to follow, the true God or the evil one.  Even if we might get caught up in following idols, the enemy is the same.

Questions to consider:

1. No matter what false religion or lifestyle a person chooses to follow, if it is not what is true (Vs. 20) who are they following?
2. How do verses 16-17 go along with the practice of church discipline from Matthew 18:15-20?  What should the one being removed from church membership question?  How will they know they are truly followers of Christ?
3. Who is the One who has been born of God who “protects” all who have been born of God?  In what ways are we protected in Christ?

Today's passage: 1 John 5:13-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 13 serves as the theme verse of this letter.
• This assurance of our salvation gives us confidence to pray.  God listens to the prayers of his children.
• The qualifier given in the promise for God's answer: Our prayers are to be “according to His will.”

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways has this book strengthened your confidence in your salvation?  How has and how is God continuing to work in your life?  In what ways were you challenged to grow?
2. Where does our confidence to talk to God come from?  Who has provided us with this standing and privilege?  Why can we be so bold as to ask God to do things?
3. What does it mean to ask for things that are “according to His will”?  What might be some examples of prayers that are against God's will and some that are according to God's will?

Today's passage: 1 John 5:6-12

Helpful thoughts:

• One of the false teachings that the Apostle John was combating was the idea that the Spirit of God came on Jesus at His baptism but left him prior to the crucifixion.  It was a way of saying that Jesus came close to becoming the Messiah but failed in His death and therefore was NOT the savior after all. John shares a three fold testimony to show this was not true.  All three give evidence that Jesus is God the Son:
  • The water – At Jesus' baptism, God gave witness.  (Matthew 3:16-17)
  • The blood – At Jesus' death, God gave witness. (Matthew 27:50-54)
  • The Spirit – Throughout Jesus' ministry and even after His ascension, The Spirit gave witness. (Acts 2)
• Everyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, born in the flesh, died for our sin, risen from the dead, and rightful Lord is actively calling God a liar.
• We tend to think of many people as being “Good people”.  But the truth is, “No one is righteous, no not one…no one does good.” (Romans 3:10-12)  That includes Christians!  We did not get saved because we were good people!  We all need salvation by God's grace through faith in Christ alone.
  • “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15)

Questions to consider:

1. When you here the message of the Gospel, what do you have to think and do in order to NOT be saved?
2. We often feel like the burden of proof rests on us in evangelism.  Is that true?  What do we need to say in order to take the Gospel to people?  Is it really as hard as we make it seem in our minds?

Today's passage: 1 John 5:1-5

Helpful thoughts:

• People who have been born of God believe, and believers love.
• Because the whole law is summed up in loving God and loving our neighbors (Matthew 22:34-40),  we can say both love AND obedience are indicators of our salvation.
• Jesus has already overcome the world (John 16:32-33), therefore if you are in Christ, you have already overcome the world.
  • The world does not believe.  If you believe (Faith), you have overcome.

Questions to consider:

1. There are different motives for obedience.  What motive is pleasing to God and should be increasingly characteristic of His children?
2. What did Jesus promise would be the result of our loving obedience even in this life? (John 15:10-11)
3. Why have we overcome as soon as we have believed?  Why are we freed from the stress of trying to overcome the world on our own strength?

Today's passage: 1 John 4:13-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Earlier in chapter 4, we were given a test for false teachers.  In this passage, we are taught what to look for that gives us confidence and assurance in our salvation:
  • We have the Spirit (Verse 13 – Romans 8:16)
  • We testify: Our public profession of faith in Christ (Verses 14-15)
  • We love God and others (Verse 16)
  • We see God's love being perfected in us: Spiritual growth/Progressive sanctification (Verse 17)
• The fear of man cannot produce love.  Loving God and loving people removes our fear.
• Loving God and loving your neighbor are two separate commands, but they are impossible to obey without the other (Verses 20-21).

Questions to consider:

1. How and why does baptism give an individual and the church confidence in his/her salvation?  What is the importance of baptism?  In what way does this ordinance serve as the entry point for fellowship in the church?
2. We don't tend to fear people as much when they are suffering and need our compassion and aid.  We do tend to fear man when we are intimidated or in the midst of a conflict/disagreement.  How would genuine love for that other person change our approach to the needed conversation?
3. Why is it impossible to love God and hate our neighbors?  What has God given us and how is he changing us, through His love, that results in love pouring out of us?

Today's passage: 1 John 4:7-12

Helpful thoughts:

• Loved as defined by the Gospel: Giving of myself sacrificially for the benefit of another.
• God sent Jesus for our salvation because it is His very nature to do so.  God IS love.
• One of the identifiers/markers of a true Christian is seeing the love of God flowing through them.  Christians love others because God loved them first.
  • God is love, therefore God gave us Christ.
  • Christian, God is in you and therefore you will love others as God has loved you.

Questions to consider:

1. Who tends to be the easiest to “love”?  Why?
2. Read Romans 5:8.  What were you like when God chose to love you?  What do other people need to be like before you choose to love them?
3. How would this kind of love be exemplified in marriage, in the family, in the church, in the community?

Today's passage: 1 John 4:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• When a preacher, teacher, or a radio or television station call themselves Christian, we cannot automatically and passively accept that everything they say is good, biblical, and glorifying to God.
  • If a person has built a following, that does not automatically mean they are teaching the truth.
    • There are godly teachers with large and small “followings”.
    • There are false teachers with large and small “followings”.
• John did not write, “There might be a few false prophets.”  He wrote, “There are many false prophets.”
• The tests given for our discretion:
  • The Christology Test
    • Does the person believe that Jesus, the Son of God, came in the flesh? (Verses 2-3 – Do they believe what the Bible says about Jesus?)
  • The Gospel Test
    • Are their followers believers in the Gospel or are they lost people practicing religion? (Verse 5 – What do they believe/teach about the Gospel?)
  • The Bible Test
    • Are they and their followers learning and obeying the Scriptures or something else? (Verse 6 – How do they respond to the truth in the Word of God?)

Questions to consider:

1. What must we continue to learn in order to grow in wisdom and discernment concerning various teachers and preachers (Or even Television or Radio personalities)?
2. Why does it make sense that false teachers could be “successful” in this world?  How do we often measure success in ministry that could be deceiving?
3. Why can the Christian be confident even while we know there are many false prophets out there?  Where does our security lie?

Today's passage: 1 John 3:16-24

Helpful thoughts:

• Christ set the standard for measuring love.  We know love because Jesus exemplified it for us in the Gospel!
• Our sins were not washed away because Jesus had feelings for us.  He did something!  Christ's action in going to the cross paid the penalty of our sin.
  • In the same way, our love is exemplified not just in how we feel, but in what we do.
• When we see our lives changed and changing by the grace of God, we also see the Spirit of God working in and through us for the benefit of others.  It's hard to see this happening in our lives and simultaneously doubt whether or not we have been saved.

Questions to consider:

1. We do what we do because we want what we want.  If we truly have a desire to be pleasing to God and to love people, what will we do?
2. How would you answer the question, “Can we get anything we ask God for?” based on the context of this passage?  What is true of the one asking and what kinds of things does a fully devoted follower of Jesus ask for?
3. How could this passage (Among others in 1 John) help you to minister to a person who is struggling with assurance of their salvation?

Today's passage: 1 John 3:11-15

Helpful thoughts:

• In this passage, Cain is representative of unbelievers (The children of the devil) and Abel represents believers (The children of God).
• John 15:18-25
• Verse 15 does not imply that no believer could ever be guilty of the act of murder.  The point in this context is that no Christian will be characterized as being hateful toward others.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did Cain hate Abel?  What did Cain want?  What did Abel want?  Why was Abel right and Cain wrong? (Genesis 4)
2. What is the great dilemma for the Christian struggling with the fear of man when reading verse 13?
3. What must be true of my view of my identity in Christ to remain content knowing that I will be hated by others?

Today's passage: 1 John 3:4-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Making a “practice of sinning” is ongoing, unrepentant living.  This is a person who will not submit to the Lord and is therefore acting as though they are under no authority (“Lawlessness”).
• Jesus did not come to give a free pass for sin.  He came to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil.
• Christians do not stop sinning because we decided one day we really didn't want to do bad things anymore.  We grow in righteousness because God brought us to life (“Born of God”) and His Word and the Spirit reside in us.   This is the work of God by the grace of God.
  • The use of the word “seed” helps us to remember that this new life is growing and changing.

Questions to consider:

1. Why does it make sense to call sin, “Lawlessness”?  What do we do first (In relation to God's authority) before we commit a sinful act?
2. Is it possible to be a child of God and to live a life of lawlessness?  Is it possible to be a child of the devil and live a life of increasing righteousness?  Why or why not?
3. How could this growing “seed” in us be compared to the idea of being filled with the Spirit?  How do the two concepts communicate the same truth regarding our submission to God's will?