finally...

Finally, 1 last time...

I'm watching people becoming very afraid, panicked, & hoarding.

Let's make this difficult time an opportunity to show the love of Jesus, & not so much a time to be a jackass.

1 John 4

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, 

for love comes from God. 

Anyone who loves is a child of God 

and knows God. 

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, 

for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world 

so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, 

we surely ought to love each other. 

12 No one has ever seen God. 

But if we love each other, 

God lives in us, 

and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes 

and now testify 

that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, 

and they live in God. 

16 We know how much God loves us, 

and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, 

and all who live in love live in God, 

and God lives in them. 

17 And as we live in God, 

our love grows more perfect. 

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, 

but we can face him with confidence 

because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, 

because perfect love expels all fear. 

If we are afraid, 

it is for fear of punishment, 

and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

19 We love each other because he loved us first.

20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, 

that person is a liar; 

for if we don’t love people we can see, 

how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 

21 And he has given us this command: 

Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

1 more time

In view of our pandemic status, & the growing panic I see among us, I think this passage from yesterday bears repeating.

We have some dark days ahead of us, the likes of which we've not seen in a long, long time.

In all of it, we need to not forget to be & do the sing most important thing in life...


love one another.

1 John 4

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, 

for love comes from God. 

Anyone who loves is a child of God 

and knows God. 

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, 

for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world 

so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, 

we surely ought to love each other. 

12 No one has ever seen God. 

But if we love each other, 

God lives in us, 

and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes 

and now testify 

that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, 

and they live in God. 

16 We know how much God loves us, 

and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, 

and all who live in love live in God, 

and God lives in them. 

17 And as we live in God, 

our love grows more perfect. 

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, 

but we can face him with confidence 

because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, 

because perfect love expels all fear. 

If we are afraid, 

it is for fear of punishment, 

and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

19 We love each other because he loved us first.

20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, 

that person is a liar; 

for if we don’t love people we can see, 

how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 

21 And he has given us this command: 

Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

love one another

John is all about love.

And he unequivocally states here that our God connection should engender love - gobbs & gobbs of love! 

1 John 4

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, 

for love comes from God. 

Anyone who loves is a child of God 

and knows God. 

8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, 

for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world 

so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10 This is real love—not that we loved God, 

but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, 

we surely ought to love each other. 

12 No one has ever seen God. 

But if we love each other, 

God lives in us, 

and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes 

and now testify 

that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, 

and they live in God. 

16 We know how much God loves us, 

and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, 

and all who live in love live in God, 

and God lives in them. 

17 And as we live in God, 

our love grows more perfect. 

So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, 

but we can face him with confidence 

because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, 

because perfect love expels all fear. 

If we are afraid, 

it is for fear of punishment, 

and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

19 We love each other because he loved us first.

20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, 

that person is a liar; 

for if we don’t love people we can see, 

how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 

21 And he has given us this command: 

Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

love one another

Well, we've missed the mark pretty badly with this one...

! John 3

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 19 Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. 20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. 22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

sin

John talks about sin in this passage.

Do you remember "sin"?

It seems like we have lost any sense of what "sin" is or that we're guilty of committing such things...

1 John 2 

1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. 

But if anyone does sin, 

we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. 

He is Jesus Christ, 

the one who is truly righteous. 

2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins;

and not only our sins 

but the sins of all the world.

3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 

4 If someone claims, 

“I know God,” 

but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, 

that person is a liar 

and is not living in the truth. 

5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. 

That is how we know we are living in him. 

6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

laying it on the line

John lays it on the line right from the beginning of his first epistle...

1 John 1 

1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, 

whom we have heard and seen. 

We saw him with our own eyes 

and touched him with our own hands. 

He is the Word of life. 

2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, 

and we have seen him. 

And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. 

He was with the Father, 

and then he was revealed to us. 

3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard 

so that you may have fellowship with us. 

And our fellowship is with the Father 

and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 

4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: 

God is light, 

and there is no darkness in him at all. 

6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God 

but go on living in spiritual darkness; 

we are not practicing the truth. 

7 But if we are living in the light, 

as God is in the light, 

then we have fellowship with each other, 

and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we claim we have no sin, 

we are only fooling ourselves 

and not living in the truth. 

9 But if we confess our sins to him, 

he is faithful 

and just 

to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 

10 If we claim we have not sinned, 

we are calling God a liar 

and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

something to hold on to

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

 Hebrews 13:5



These are words that maybe we should hold on to.

These are troubled times in which life seems so much more precarious than normal.

And I'm becoming more & more convinced that there's a whole lot more going on than what we see or consider.

Just sayin'...