Posts with the tag “small-group”

Read: 1 John 5:21Review: John wraps up 1 John warning believers to protect themselves with watchful attention from idols. What exactly is an idol? The Amplified translation describes idols as false te...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:19-20  Review: The more I live the Christian life, the more I realize that the right mindset is paramount. I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking but seeing ourselves righ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:18Review: Our new birth has permanent privileges and obligations. First, we do not sin. While we may at times fall into sin, we do not live in it. Before Christ, Christians were once "d...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:16-17Review: What was the sin that leads to death that John mentioned? Is the death physical death or eternal death? Ananias and Sapphira committed a sin that led to physical death (Act...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:14-15Review: We all want something and often work very hard to acquire it. We sometimes take our requests to God in prayer, and we do not get what we want. The question is, what was you...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:11-13Review: Verse 12 says that those who have the Son, have life and those who don’t have the Son, don’t have Life. Those who believe in the name of the Son of God already have eternal...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:9-10  Review: My son placed his hand on the Bible swearing to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. Testifying in a murder trial—key witness in the shooting of a gang member. In ou...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:7-8Review: I was listening to a podcast the other day that was presenting some information as fact.  Many of the facts that were presented seemed slanted or outright inaccurate.  After ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:6Review: Scholars have debated this verse for some time, but the generally accepted interpretation is that the “water” refers to Jesus’ baptism and the “blood” to His death on the cross...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:5Review: John’s use of “but” in this verse should be read as “only”. Only the ones who believe that Jesus was the Son of God are able to conquer the world. That is the faith that is the...  Read More

Read: 1 John 5:1-4Review: This rich passage explains how the active love for the Father that a born-again Christian has will have very real fruit in their church life. The born-again Christian will ex...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:18-21Review: Living the truth of Jesus in everyday life in John’s day must’ve been very challenging. Life was characterized by ethnic division, hatred, and indifference. Unity and love,...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:15-17Review: Way back in 1964, before I was a real Christian, I could have told you that Jesus is the son of God just as easily as saying Mickey Mantle was the Yankee's star batter. But...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:11-14Review: John commands us to "Love one another" echoing Jesus recorded in his gospel.  He should know something about that as he refers to himself as the "the other disciple whom Je...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:7-10Review: As a young dancer, my dream was to be on Star Search (Gen X’s version of AGT). I carefully studied tv dancers, comparing myself for progress to see if I had become like them...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:6Review: John says in this verse “We are of God”.  The Cambridge Dictionary says about the word “of” that it is “used to show possession, belonging, or origin”.  In other words, we are ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:5Review: We would all agree that in today’s world we are barraged with information from everywhere. The news, social media and opinions from friends and family can be conflicting and co...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:4Review: C.S. Lewis said, “When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” That’s how it is for us who take 1...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:2-3Review: The coming of "Jesus Christ in the flesh", refers to the great Christian doctrine called, "The Incarnation", in which the eternal Son of God became fully human. For Christian...  Read More

Read: 1 John 4:1Review: In preparing their agents to spot counterfeit money, the U.S. Secret Service initially trains them to study only legitimate bills. They spend considerable time concentrating on...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:23-24Review: The apostle John provides a simplified version of God’s will for the Christian life: 1) believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ; and 2) love one another as He commande...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:19-22Review: “Michelle, you are not enough! You fail often, you let people down constantly.” My heart’s condemnation at its finest. Condemn is defined: to express complete disapproval o...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3: 16-18Review: Commotion swirls the kitchen scene as though a cyclone struck a carnival; favorable smells and people and food and words, all jumbled together in volume.  A dinner party.I...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:13-15Review: Saying you love someone requires little effort, doing something costs more.Years ago, I prayed that God would help me meet a neighbor I never saw. A short time later I park...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:11-12Review: Seeds are planted, and then they grow…Cain was the firstborn of the serpent’s offspring (“seed” in Hebrew); and Jesus was the firstborn of the Father: the promised offsprin...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:7-10Review: As a college athlete, I didn’t like to practice. Practice was boring to me. Christianity requires practice, practice that I enjoy. Don’t be deceived, we must practice our ri...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:4-6Review: Yikes! This seems like really bad news because I committed a sin just this morning. Is John telling me that I do not know Jesus because I sinned? I, like Paul, do the things ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 3:1-3Review: For John, as well as the apostle Paul, there exists a "now" and "not yet"; a present and future reality of what we are now and what we will then become.  Paul states, "now" (...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:29Review: Appearances often deceive. John warned of masquerading antichrists deceiving believers about their identities. Throughout his letter, John offers evidence and assurances of et...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:28Review: In the CSB translation this scripture says, “remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” This makes me think of ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:26-27Review: Satan is the father of lies [John 8:44] and deceiver of the world [Rev 12:9] so we need to be aware of his deceptive tactics and rely on the Holy Spirit’s anointing to teac...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:24-25Review: Earlier in the chapter, John warns against false teachers, prevalent in John’s congregation. This continues today. So often, people follow someone who can give them easy or...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:20-23Review: The waitress's eyes welled up with tears at yet another demeaning tip left on the Sunday lunch ticket. She'd had a rough night, indeed a rough month and year.  Working two ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:18-19Review: John tells his readers that "it is the last hour”, yet 2000 years have passed since he wrote those words. We can't say for sure how he meant those words to be understood bu...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:15-17Review: John urges us to not love the world or anything in the world, but to do the will of God.The allure of the world must be looked at as something that passes away and as a fac...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:12-14Review: Grandpas dozing off after a last nibble of cake, dads extolling the virtues of working hard and saving harder, college students home from break but terrified for the future...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:9-11Review: Earthly families form through marriages and children. People also experience family-like connections by sharing common interests. For example, in Las Vegas, the cast of any ...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:7-8Review: In this passage, John uses the same language he used to begin his version of Jesus’s life on this earth, “In the beginning was the Word”.  Then, when referring to the previou...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:7-8Review: In this passage, John uses the same language he used to begin his version of Jesus’s life on this earth, “In the beginning was the Word”.  Then, when referring to the previou...  Read More

Read: 1 John 2:5-6Review: Doing what God said we should do is how we know we are spiritually maturing. We know we are maturing when we live as Jesus lived. How did Jesus live? He lived a life of love....  Read More