King's Fellowship

  John wrote this letter with a pastoral heart to a church to give them assurance of their faith, and to protect them from false teachers. These false teachers were using the Lords name in vain, thus doing no benefit to themselves and leading others astray. In saying they were using the Lords name in vain I mean they were professing to belong to Christ while straying from the truth of the gospel, calling themselves Christians while openly living in opposition to God, or leaving the body of the church altogether. In giving assurance and combating false teaching John gave thorough testimony of evidence the believer could depend on in being sure of their own standing as well as examining the fruit of the hearts of others professing to belong to Christ. In the opening to the book John started by making his case as an eyewitness among eyewitnesses, and giving the purpose of their testimony that others would come in to fellowship with them and the one true God.

  John started out by making clear his testimony was trustworthy as well as his intentions. He desires that all would have a personal relationship with His heavenly Father. Then he gave us characteristics of God’s Children.

• “Everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.” (1 John 2:29, HCSB).
• “Everyone who has been born of God does not sin” in context the meaning there is doesn’t continue to practice sin, sin is no longer a lifestyle (1 John 3:9, HCSB).
• “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers.” (1 John 3:14, HCSB).
• “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, HCSB).
• “Whatever has been born of God conquers the world.” (1 John 5:4 HCSB).

  If you bear these “birthmarks,” and have right belief in who Jesus is, God in the flesh who chose to come and live among us, lived a perfect life, died the death we deserved to, then rose again conquering sin and death, and arose back to heaven sending us the Holy Spirit to live inside us and empower us then you can say with confidence that you are a child of God. Now in 1 John 5:6-13 John again gives us proof in the form of testimony. Testimony that would hold up in court, and this testimony is meant to give us assurance of who we are.

   1 John 5:4 says “whoever has been born of God conquers the world.” Believer you are a conqueror. Own it, believe it. You are a conqueror because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And with the knowledge you have from scripture you can know without a doubt you are His child, His treasured possession and He will never let you go. But He also didn’t save you, and give you confidence and boldness to sit there and do nothing. He also gave you a job to do, and He gifted you uniquely as an individual to do that job only how you can do it, you are important in God’s kingdom, and he wants to use you, so this week lets get to work right where we are loving God and loving everyone around us in a way that proclaims the good news. Lets read our Bibles, and pray, and search our hearts for what God is teaching us about how we need to change, or who we need to love on because God has given us access to Him. There are people out there that God has already planned to saved, and He has planned to use you to save them. Lets pray for the opportunity and the guidance we need then lets walk out the door with the boldness that He is going to do it through us.