In the Light

In the Light

A Prayer for Restoration

We are rightfully wary of any theology that turns God into a wish granting genie who exists just to please us… but we cannot let this scepticism hide the reality that God guarantees to hear and answer our prayers.  In fact we can have every confidence that whatever we ask for according to His will is ours.  This morning Pastor Joe looks at what it means to pray in God’s will and what God longs for us to do with…

Trustworthy Witnesses

Right throughout this letter we have seen that John has been prosecuting a case against the false teachers who were trying to win the hearts and minds of the people away from Jesus.  Well as we come to the final chapter of the letter John is mounting his closing argument and he calls three witnesses for us to hear… witnesses who will radically confirm the most wonderful truth ever known.

Two Ways to Love

Whether it is love songs, love stories or the classic Disney Princess movies we are very familiar with what the world thinks of love.  Unfortunately love in the world rarely works out the way that the songs and movies seem to suggest that it will.  When John speaks of love he speaks of something far more satisfying and powerful than any image that Hollywood can conjure up… He speaks of a love that empowered by Jesus Christ through His gospel;…

The Voice of Truth

In life there are so many voices that all promise to give us something true.  Even when it comes to church and our faith there are many different people who preach many different ideas about Jesus and salvation.  In John’s day there were numerous false teachers who were vying for the hearts and minds of the church so in this passage he outlines how they can be sure that a message is true.  Pastor Joe looks at John’s test and…

Gospel Empowered Love

As we continue in John’s letter to the churches we have to remember that he is writing to people who are plagued by false teachers who were trying to capture their hearts and minds.  John has been constantly calling for the people to see the flaws in these teachers and see the hope and assurance in the gospel of Jesus.  Today he unpacks how the gospel changes our relationships with one another and how the love that it empowers can…

In the Father’s Footsteps

Fatherlessness is such a huge problem in our society because without a father, especially young boys, have no tangible example of how the ethics and values of their family get lived out in the world.  This is the unique contribution that fathers make to society and in so many ways we long to follow in our fathers’ footsteps.  John continues on with the theme of the fatherhood of God we looked at last week to show us that how we…

The Love of the Father

A lot of people think that Christianity gives you nothing but a boring life of rules and restrictions now and offers you nothing but a boring life of halo-wearing and harp-playing after death.  As we continue to walk our way through John’s letter to the churches we will see that it is nothing of the sort.  John outlines one of the greatest truths of all time and how it gives us a glorious hope.

Functional Antichrists

Hearing words like “end times” or Antichrist” can send us into a bit of a spin; we either have visions of apocalyptic horror movies or visions of confusing theological debates.  Either way I think John would say that we are missing the point.  When John speaks of “the last hour” and “antichrist”, he is not speaking about fearsome future events but a shocking present reality.  So join us as we try to see past preconceived ideas that we might have…

Taking the Gospel for Granted

Familiarity breeds contempt… or so they say.  Basically the longer you have something or someone in your life, the easier it is to take them for granted. As John writes to the churches who are probably a few generations old now, he desperately wants them to recognise that it is very easy to take Jesus for granted… to get bored of Jesus and chase after something else.  So John takes a moment to remind the people just how powerful the…

The Gospel and Obedience

I am just going to say it, most of us don’t like being told to obey.  It cuts against our preconceived idea that we know what is best for ourselves.  In many ways it is one of the big reasons that people steer clear of Christianity, because they feel like they will be forced to obey rules and regulations rather than determine their own direction.  So when John calls for radical obedience as evidence for our faith it could reinforce…
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