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One Word · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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John has been writing to answer the question, How do you know?
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How do you know Christianity's true and how do you know that
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you're a true Christian? How do you know what's dangerous
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to you as a Christian? How do you live in light of the
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last days? How do you live ready for
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Christ's return? All these are questions John has
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answered so far in this little New Testament letter of first
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John. If you missed any of the answers
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to those, you can go back and catch those on previous
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messages. John answering how do you know?
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As practical as practical can be, The Bible is so practical to
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life. Amen.
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Basic. How do you know questions.
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And now the question we turn to in first John 3 verses 11
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through 18 is how do we know how we are to relate one to another?
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How does God want us living as believers toward one another?
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How do we know what that looks like?
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How do we know what to do? I want you to think about your
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answer to these questions, and I want you to try to think in one
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word answers. I've titled the message today,
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One Word for a Reason. Now, as you think about your
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answer, don't answer out loud, but I want you to think in one
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word. And the only word you can't use
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is Jesus. All right, so that's the Sunday
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school answer. Why don't you think in other
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answers? But when you think of one word
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that comes to your mind when you think about who a Christian is
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or what a Christian supposed to be, what one word comes to your
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mind when you think about what the Christian life is all about?
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What one word comes to your mind when you think about how a
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Christian is supposed to live? What one word comes to your
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mind? I think if we were to answer out
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loud and take a survey, I bet that the one word we would hear
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to all of those questions, more than any other one word would be
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the one word. Good.
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I think people would say, hey, I think a Christian is supposed to
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be a good person. I think the Christian life is
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about doing good. I think what living as a
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Christian should look like ought to look like being good, right?
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We, we would probably hear most often that word good.
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And good's not necessarily a, a, a, a bad answer.
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It's not a bad thing. Good is a wonderful thing.
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And yet I think the Bible would have us use a different one
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word, a more accurate word, a more radical word, but a more
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Christian and more biblical word.
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I want you to listen for that one word as we read the Word of
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God, as it jumps off the page. You're ready.
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First, John 311 through 18. For this is the message that you
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have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
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We should not be like Cain who was of the evil 1 and murdered
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his brother. And why did he murder him?
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Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous.
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Do not be surprised brothers, that the world hates you.
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We know that we have passed out of death into life because we
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love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in
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death. Everyone who hates his brother
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is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
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abiding in him. By this we know love, that he
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laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives
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for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's
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goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart
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against him, how does God's love abide in him?
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Little children, let us not love in Word or talk, but in deed and
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in truth. And the one word for the
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Christian life is love. It's love.
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The Christian life, mark it down, is a life of love.
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You want one word for what it's all about?
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You want one word for what? Living as a Christian what being
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a Christian, what doing the Christian life.
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Good is not a bad word. Good just doesn't cut it.
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The biblical word is love. Is there a big difference
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between good and love? I think there is.
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You know, when we think about something good, we can sometimes
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think about ourselves, right? Maybe we think we're pretty
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good, but the moment you think about love, you got to quit
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thinking about you and you got to think about somebody else.
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There's a big difference between good and love, and the Bible's
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word is love. The Christian life is a life of
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love. So to unpack this text, the
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first thing I want you to see here is the one word for the
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Christian life is love in your notes, because we are called
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friends to love. This is verse 11 through 13.
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You know, in one sense he says this is the message you have
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heard from the beginning. Now in one sense that message
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they have heard from the beginning is the message of the
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love of God. That's the message of the good
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news of the gospel summarized so well in John chapter 3 and verse
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16 for God. So loved the world that he gave
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his one and only Son, that whosoever would believe in him
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should not perish but have everlasting life.
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That message is the love of God, the gospel of God.
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That's the good news that Jesus loves you, and I mean every
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single one of you, every single one.
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God so loves you that He did three things for you.
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He number one, lived a sinless life for you because you haven't
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lived a sinless life. The Bible says all have sinned
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and fallen short of the glory of God.
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That's a problem because it separates you now and forever
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from God unless something is done about your sin that
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separates you from God. Jesus lived a sinless life so
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that he can #2 go to the cross and die as a sinless perfect
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substitute sacrifice in your place for your sin and my sin.
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The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no
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forgiveness of sin. There's no solving the sin
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problem unless blood is shed. But the only blood qualified to
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for the sins of the world had to be perfect blood of someone who
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lived a sinless life. And Jesus is the only one who's
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done that. He's lived a sinless life for
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you. He's died a sinless substitute
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sacrifice for you. So #3 Most marvelous of all,
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Jesus could defeat death for you, the final enemy.
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The ultimate result of sin in this world is death and decay
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and destruction. It is both the separation from
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God forever and all the curse it brings in this life.
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And Jesus defeated it when he walked out of the grave alive.
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Why? All so that you could realize
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the love of God for you and respond to that love by calling
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on Jesus to save you. Have you called on Jesus,
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responded to the love of God to save you?
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If you've not, right now is the moment to do so, like literally
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right now in your heart of hearts to say, Jesus, thank you
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for loving me. I want to love you.
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Would you forgive me of my sin? Make me your own.
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I'm giving my life you. I'm surrendering my life.
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You call out to him now this is the response, the right response
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to the love of God. This is the message.
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And out of that message, John says we've heard from the
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beginning, is the result or the application he's bringing out in
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here that we should love one another Because guess what, if
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God first loved us, then what does he call us to do as a
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result? Love one another.
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He says, now that you've received my love, what you've
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heard from the beginning is we ought to love one another.
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This here is the call, the one word that captures this word
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love that captures both who we are and what God calls us to do.
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I want you to think about how clear just one word is in the
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Christian life. Loved is our identity in Christ.
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Like there's no word that describes you better.
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If you're a Christian then loved, loved by God and then
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there's no one word that captures your job description as
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a Christian, then to and the love.
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This is both your identity and it is your job description.
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The one word friend of the Christian life is love.
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When we talk about the Christian life we often use the word good.
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When the Bible talks about the Christian life it uses the word
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love and there's a big difference.
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Now in order for us to see what this looks like in our lives,
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John paints 2 pictures for us here in the text. 1 is the
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picture of Cain. The second is the picture of
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Christ. Cain obviously is the negative
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picture of what love doesn't look like.
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Christ is going to be the positive picture of what love
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does look like. And John begins with the
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negative picture of Cain, the one we should not be like.
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Notice here it says he was of the evil one.
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Now let me just stop right there and say that's a fascinating
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statement, is it not? Cain was of the evil 1.
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We need to be clear and understand that every human
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being can only belong to one of two masters in this life.
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You belong to one of two masters right now.
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You either belong to Jesus Christ or you belong to Satan.
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Kyle did not say that. The Bible says that there's only
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two masters because if you're not in the family of God, you
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are outside the family of God and in, in the side in the
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Kingdom of darkness, belonging to and in bondage to the enemy
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of Christ himself, the devil he is now Cain is of the evil 1.
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He does not belong to, to, to God's family.
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He's of the evil. 1 Here. This is the only two masters we
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can belong to in this life. And here the way to think about
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this is sometimes we tend to think of people as good people
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or bad people when there's only God's people and not God's
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people. Now, you remember Cain.
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He was the oldest of Adam and Eve's two sons, Cain and Abel.
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This is one of the earliest stories in your Bible.
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Cain and Abel both offered a sacrifice to God.
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Why? Because of sin.
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And so the sacrificial system was even there from the very
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beginning after sin entered the world.
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And ultimately, Jesus would be the ultimate fulfillment of that
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sacrificial system with no one needed after Jesus.
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Praise God. Cain and Abel both offered a
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sacrifice to God. Abel offered a sacrifice in a
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manner that pleased God. But Cain did not offer a
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sacrifice in a manner that pleased God.
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And as a result of his disobedience and not doing it
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the way God called him to do it, Cain reacted with hatred towards
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Abel and murdered him. Murdered his brother.
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Why? Because Abel's righteousness
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exposed Cain's wickedness. Mark it down.
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Righteousness makes evil unmistakable.
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Light makes darkness obvious. Love for God makes lack of love
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for God undeniable. So evil, you know, this doesn't
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like to be revealed for what it is, does it?
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Unrighteousness does not like to be exposed by righteousness,
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right? Therefore, the Bible tells us
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point blank here that those who belong to the evil 1 and there's
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only two masters to belong to, God or the enemy, those who
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belong to the evil one naturally hate those who belong to the
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Holy One. This is why John says do not be
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surprised brothers, that the world hates you.
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In other words, John says if you go and live a life of love and
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it shines light in the darkness and righteousness reigns in your
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life, and you shine that in an unrighteous world, in a Dark
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World, guess what? Don't be surprised if you're not
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loved back. We've seen an instance of that
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in the last couple weeks, as heinous and as obvious as
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possible. I want to share with you today
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something that may be a little closer to home because the
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couple you're about to hear from is one of our own members of
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Cartersville First Baptist, who experienced this exact thing of
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First John 313, Doctor Lynn and Carla De Dasi.
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I want you to hear their testimony for a few minutes.
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Hello CFTC family, we are the DDEC's and we're here to share
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with you today our experience based off of first John 3 verse
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13 where the Bible says that the world is going to hate you
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because of your Christian beliefs and our story really
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starts in 2012. In 2012, when I was
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homeschooling my daughters, God called me to write conservative
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Christian children's books. I was writing books that taught
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my children that we were to defend the unborn as followers
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of Jesus Christ. The Lord gave me a more public
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platform when I was asked and given time on a Fox affiliate
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radio show in the Philadelphia area.
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This God morphed into a national platform where I was picked up
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in Pennsylvania and drove into New York City to be on Fox and
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Friends regularly for quite a few years.
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I was speaking about protecting the unborn.
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I was speaking about biblical marriage and why it was so
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important to our communities and our culture.
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And I was also in 2016 beginning to speak about being pro gender,
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meaning XX and XY chromosomes. That's how God created us, male
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and female. So this God gave us a platform
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to speak biblical truth. I was getting heat mail from
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2012 until 2020, but then in 2020, my husband who was a
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surgeon, very well known in our community and in the state of
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Pennsylvania, one of the busiest in our area, he was persecuted
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for our Christian beliefs. Yes, we, I went to work on June
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1st, 2020 and there was a firestorm awaiting me.
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There was a lot of hate that was porn into the office about me
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calling all kinds of names because of our biblical views.
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And within five days I was suspended and six weeks later I
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was terminated from my job. Really struggled to find a job
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and work and I, we really had like no income for three years.
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Plus we had an incredible amount of legal fees.
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Just trying to defend ourselves to get out of this problem.
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And worst of all, they even attacked my medical license to
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try and strip that away from me so that I can never work as a
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surgeon again. So there was a tremendous amount
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of downfall to all this. And, and this was a prime
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example of how the world is going to hate us because of our
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Christian views. We were strong defenders of the
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faith. We were strong defenders of
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Christianity and we truly believed in the the biblical
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mandate and trying to raise disciples for Christ.
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So how were we persecuted? In a nutshell, We had our
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livelihood stolen from us. We had our reputation stolen
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from us. We had safety stolen from us.
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The devil wanted our marriage. He wanted our children.
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He wanted our grandchildren. I remember sitting around our
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kitchen table in Pennsylvania and just praying against, just
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praying against the enemy that he would not have our marriage,
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he would not have our children or our grandchildren, that we
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would stand firm in the faith. Jesus does promise you that
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there would. There will be persecution and
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you will be hated by the world if you stand up and proclaim the
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name of Jesus. We are so thankful that God
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brought us to a state where He is able to practice what He
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loves and what He studied to do for 12 years before He went into
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private practice. You can pray for me that God
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returns to me a voice that has been silenced for the last five
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years and that if He doesn't return my voice to me, that I
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will be very content and happy and find the joy of the Lord and
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just being a voice for truth in my local church and with my
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family. I would just like to end with
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this. Matthew 7 I is one of the
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scariest verses in the Bible and it's the the verses where God
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is, you know, that Jesus is presenting people as an example
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of who is not getting into heaven.
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And these are people that look very much like me and you.
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They walk the walk, they talk to talk.
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But yet there was something about their faith, something
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about their Christianity that Jesus said to them, you know,
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get away from me. I never knew you.
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Don't be that person. Stand up for Jesus.
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Let your voice be heard. Love God, love Jesus, and we
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pray for you as a church that you will stand up for Christian
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principles and the Word of God. Amen.
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Bible says don't be surprised. Don't be surprised.
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You know, I think one of the things that God is doing right
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now in our times is getting our attention and saying it's time
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to stand and be bold. There's a lot of a lot of
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Christians. I think the church in general.
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I even think about my own life and think about am I, am I been
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standing clearly and flat footedly, unashamedly?
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Have I lived under the radar in any way or have I been putting
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the truth out there, standing for it?
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You know you probably can avoid what they experienced if you
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just let your convictions remain anonymous may be just with you.
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But the moment you go public with your faith in your
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neighborhood and your job in the classroom and on the team as
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Jesus calls you to do, he simply says don't be surprised if they
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don't love you back. But the Bible also prepares us
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for that moment. First Peter chapter 4 says it
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like this verse 14. If you're insulted for the name
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of Christ, you are blessed. There is a blessing for standing
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even when it costs you. It says, if the because you're
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blessed, the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you.
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But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, or an
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evildoer, as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a
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Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God
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in that name. There is glory to God for him to
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be, for him to be lifted up and exalted, and blessings for you
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to have when you stand boldly for your faith no matter what
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comes. And this is what God calls his
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people to. Don't be surprised.
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The one word for the Christian life is love, because we're
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called to love. Number 2 is this.
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The one word for the Christian life is love, because we are
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identified. We're identified by love here,
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John says. One of the ways, y'all, that we
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can know we've been saved. Talk about assurance of
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salvation. Not the only way, but one of the
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ways John says we can know we've been saved.
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That is that we've passed from death to life.
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That's a description of salvation.
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When you get saved, you go from the camp of the enemy dead,
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separated from God to the family of God, made alive, born again,
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joined with him, made, made, made, made one with with God
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through Christ. So there's again, there's only
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two masters to belong to. If you've passed from death to
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life, you've been saved. That word for past there in the
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New Testament in the Greek word is this idea of a a migration of
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like an ancient people moving from one location to another
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permanent location, never to return.
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It says here this is how you know you've made that spiritual
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trip, if you will. How do you know that you've made
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that migration? John says one way we can know
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we've been saved, we've been converted.
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He says if we what love the brothers and what he means by
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that is if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we
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love those who've made the trip as well, if we love the family
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of God. I want to remind you of
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something that we forget as we live this earthly life.
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Then that is that your greatest, your deepest, your biggest bond
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with people in this life. It's not by physical blood.
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It's not by marriage. The greatest, longest lasting,
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deepest bond that you as an individual human being can have
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is with the family of God, with your brothers and sisters in
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Christ. The question is, do you love the
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family of God? John says.
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By your love for the family of God, you can know one of the
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ways you can know if you've truly been saved.
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Now I was just having a conversation with somebody
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yesterday, met with a young man. The young man actually got saved
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last night. We had dinner.
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I got to share the gospel with him.
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He walked the aisle during the invitation and 1st service
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because last night he gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ.
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20 years old. And I was telling me about his
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family. And as we talked about it, one
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of the things I challenged him on is simply this.
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He talked about how just in general, some of the people that
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he knows claim to love God, but they don't, they don't go to
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church. This is a, this is a pretty
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common scenario, right? The Bible says you can't do
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that. The Bible says you can't love
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God and not love the family of God.
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Does that make sense? One of the ways you can know you
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truly are saved, one of the ways you can know you really love God
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is if there's a love for you, for the family God.
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There's no love for the family of God.
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The Bible would have you question seriously whether you
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truly love God. In fact, it just, it basically
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says it's not possible. Just it's one of the ways we
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know we've made the trip from death to life from outside of
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Christ to in Christ is if we love the family of God.
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That doesn't mean you like everybody that comes to church
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with you. I didn't say that.
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All right, don't be confused, but love and like are two
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different things. Amen.
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Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ?
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He says verse into verse 14. Whoever does not love abides in
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death. In verse 15.
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Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that
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no murder has eternal life in him.
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John says if love if the actions and lifestyle of love is not
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somewhat typical, normal or common in your life, he's not
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saying you got to be perfect. Nobody's going to be perfect
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until we see Jesus. But if these actions aren't
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normal in your life, he's saying you probably lived at 101
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spiritual dead end Dr. That's your location spiritually
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speaking. John here says there's no such
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thing as a Christian who does not love verse 15 look back at
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it. Everyone who hates his brother
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is a murderer. It verse 15 makes it sound like
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hatred is always as extreme as murder, all right, but that's
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not always the case, all right. What John wants to wants us to
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see here is that any action that is not love is actually hate.
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Again, you either belong to God or you belong to the enemy.
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And every action you take and thought towards other people is
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either in the category of love or the category of hate.
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John's saying there is no in between.
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And yes, hate can ultimately lead to murder, but it doesn't
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have to. Failure to love is hate, John is
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saying, if it's not acting towards the good of another at
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your own expense or what could be your own expense, John is
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saying that's less than love. And that falls in the category
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of hate. So you can think about it like
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this. Hate could be as mild as I don't
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care or as intense as murder. Let me try to see if I can make
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it even more clear. Of course, hatred ultimately can
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lead to murder, but you don't have to murder in order to hate.
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You don't have to murder in order to act at the expense of
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others for yourself. You see, let me put it like
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this. The same stuff that leads to
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murder is the same stuff that makes you want to be first in
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line when food is served. It's the same stuff.
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Different degree of expression, but it's the same stuff.
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The same stuff that leads to murder is the same stuff that
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makes you want to reveal a confidence someone has entrusted
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to you. The same stuff that leads to
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murder is the same stuff that makes you want to highlight your
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success at work and downplay your coworkers.
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It's the same stuff. The same stuff John says that
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makes you hesitant to share your stuff with others and be
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generous. It's the same stuff that leads
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to murder. The same stuff that leads to
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murder is the same stuff that makes you not want to forgive
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someone who sinned against you. It's all refusing to act for the
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good of someone else at your own expense.
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It's all the same stuff. And John is saying any act
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towards someone else is either in the category of love or hate.
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There is no Gray that John gives us.
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The person who lives this way that doesn't love, John says,
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doesn't have eternal life. John is making things extremely
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clear. You're either a child of God or
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a child of the devil. You're either spiritually alive
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or you're spiritually dead. Your actions are either actions
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of love or actions of hate. The one word for the Christian
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life is love because we're called to love friends and we're
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identified by our love. 3rd and finally, the one word for the
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Christian life is love because Jesus showed us how to love.
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Jesus showed us how to love. This is verses 16 through 18.
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By this John says we know love, that he laid down his life for
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us. He is not Cain, he is Christ.
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He did the exact opposite of Cain.
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Think about it like this. Cain sacrificed someone else's
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life to benefit his own. Jesus sacrificed his life for
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the benefit of others. Cain acted for his own
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self-interest at the expense of another.
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Jesus acted at his own expense for the good of others.
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Do you see the difference? Cain acted in selfishness.
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Christ acted in selflessness. Cain acted in hate.
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Christ acted in love. Do you see the difference in the
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two pictures? Love is simply acting for the
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good of others, even at your own expense.
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That's love. Love is not a feeling.
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Love is not a warm fuzzy. Love is not a like.
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Love is an action. Love is a sacrifice.
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Love is a choice. And this kind of love, let me
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remind you, is not dependent on it being reciprocated back to
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you. So this means this kind of love
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you as a Christian do to people who are unlovely to you, you're
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to act this way. And this kind of love to people
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who are difficult towards you, who don't love you back, who are
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selfish towards you, who are mean, angry, harsh, or whatever
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you want to name it. This love loves.
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Anyway, to the degree that an extent Jesus loved us, we ought
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to love one another. And Jesus loved us big, did he
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not? Laying down his what?
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His life. So therefore, even to the extent
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that Jesus loved us, we're called to love big in the same
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extent, the same way as Christ has loved us.
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But here's a real practical daily application question John
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knows and anticipates we're going to ask it.
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How often do we really get the chance to love in the big way
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Jesus loved us by laying down our life ultimately for someone
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else. How often do you get that
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chance? I don't know that I've ever had
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that chance to die for someone like literally give my life.
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Now some people have, but that that's probably not going to
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come along most days in your life.
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So John's question then, yes, Jesus calls you to love big, But
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John says Jesus also calls you if you claim to know Jesus to
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love small. In fact, listen to verse 17
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again. He says this, but if anyone has
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the world's goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes
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his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
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John says this. Hey, you claim to be a follower
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of Christ. You claim to have received the
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love of God, you claim to love God, and you claim to be willing
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to lay down your life in love for someone else.
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But Hey, Monday morning comes and in class you have two
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pencils and your friend has none.
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Or you're going on your way to work and you see your Co worker
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over there with a, you know, Jack in his hand and a flat tire
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and you have 4 full tires and he's got 3.
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All right, you've got groceries but your neighbor doesn't.
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Or you're well and can take care of yourself but your neighbor
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can't. But I could go on and on.
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You see someone that doesn't have what they need to live in
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the daily basic necessities of life that you have, and if your
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choice is in that moment to close off the valves of
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compassion in your heart and look the other way and do
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nothing. John's question for you is, if
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you don't love small, how do you have love at all?
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How does the love of God abide in Him?
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The question, ladies and gentlemen, is rhetorical.
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That means it doesn't need an answer because it's obvious,
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John says If you refuse to love small, you probably don't have
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love at all. How does the love of God abide
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in that person? We're called to love big, but
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the opportunities on a daily basis that come along, friends
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are often going to look much smaller.
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A word of encouragement to someone who's discouraged.
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A prayer for someone who's bearing a burden.
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Something that someone is missing that you know you could
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supply. Meeting a basic need.
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Going out of your way to make life easier for someone else.
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The simple things in life, the small things, it's where the
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love of Christ is most often going to be shown in our life.
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You see, just like hate, love doesn't have to be extreme to be
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loved as hate doesn't have to be extreme to be hate.
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And every action we're doing is either for the good of others at
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our own expense or for our good at the expense of others.
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And by the way, the New Testament is slammed full of
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specific ways we're called to love one another.
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I just want to give you these ideas again, because if if
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you've never read your New Testament and just look for the
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one another's the instructions for how we're to relate to one
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another, they're all expressions of ordinary ways we're to love.
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Let me give you a few. Romans 1210.
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Be devoted to one another. Give preference to one another.
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Romans 15-7 accept one another. Galatians 513 through love serve
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one another. Galatians 62 bear one another's
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burdens. Ephesians 4 two show tolerance
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of one another. Ephesians 425 speak truth, each
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of you with his neighbor. Ephesians 432 be kind to one
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another, tender hearted, forgiving each other.
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First Thessalonians 511 encourage one another.
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And I could go on, right? There's about 35 of these basic
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ordinary daily one another's that we're to live out towards
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one another in the family of God, right?
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John says, by the way, you can know you've passed out of death
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to life. If this is characterizing your
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life, that's you love the family of God and your neighbor.
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You ought to be a Christian is to follow Christ and what did
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Christ do? He laid down his life for us and
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these are the basic, daily, ordinary ways we lay down our
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lives for one another. Love is a primary evidence of
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your salvation, that you've truly been made alive.
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Verse 18 says this, little children, let us not love in
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Word or deed, rather in Word or talk, but in deed and in truth.
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Let us not love in Word or talk, but indeed and in truth.
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I read about a man and he said out loud to his girlfriend,
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Sweetie, I would climb the highest mountain for you.
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Real original, I know. I would swim the deepest ocean
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for you. I'd fight a jungle full of lions
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for you. And if it doesn't rain, I'll be
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over to see you tonight. First service.
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Didn't get it that quickly. But love is not a feeling.
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Love is not a claim. Love is an action.
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And if it's not an action, it's not real.
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It's not in truth, it's not in reality.
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Love is an action, and when you do it, it's probably not going
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to feel good. If it costs you.
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If you wait when you feel good to love, you won't love if when
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you do it and you do it to someone that might not love you
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back, when you do it to someone who doesn't belong to Christ,
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especially potentially, But this is how the world's going to know
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that we truly belong to who? Jesus, he says in John 1335.
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If we have not that we're good to each other, not that we're
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good people, not that we're good citizens.
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All those things are wonderful, but there's a difference between
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good and love. You can go, you can go home and
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shut yourself in your house and be good people, but you want to
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love the world that way. Moment you start thinking about
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love, you got to start thinking about who's around you.
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The one word for the Christian life is love.
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I just want to ask you and challenge you with this
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question, what one word best describes your life?
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If it was all over and all said and done today and everybody had
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one word for you, one word, what word would it be?
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He was a good man, she was a good woman.
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They were great. Would the word love be in there
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at all? Maybe.
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Maybe there's certain areas of your life that love might be
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true, but others that are not that you need to surrender to
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Jesus. Maybe Love's really not in there
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at all because you've never received by faith Jesus Christ,
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the one who laid down his life and love for you.
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And today, now is the time to receive the love of God, calling
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on him to receive forgiveness of sin and salvation so you can be
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experiencing the love of God, so you can show you can't give what
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you've never received. And this kind of love is not
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natural. You're not going to muster it
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up. You're not going to decide one
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day, Oh my goodness, I'm just going to change my heart and
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start loving. Only Jesus can do that.
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That's why John says you can know you've passed from death to
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life if this is happening because this is not of you.
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This is supernatural. This is from heaven.
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This is from Jesus. Maybe you need to receive
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Christ. Maybe maybe when we sing and
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respond in this next song, you just want to come and kneel at
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this altar and say King Jesus. I'm not sure what my word, one
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word would be, but I'm not sure it's love.
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And I want to ask you to make whatever adjustment in my life
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you need to make from my life to be aligned with what you say
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should be true of me because it's true of you and I want it
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to be true of me. Maybe some things you need to
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let go of. Maybe there's some things you
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need to trust Him for. Maybe there's some things you
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need to ask Him to change in order for love to be Your one
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word. Heavenly Father, I want to ask
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right now that as we respond to You, as we've been instructed
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from Your word on how we should live towards one another,
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Father, that love truly would be the description of our lives.
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I pray Lord, that the world would see something so different
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and so supernatural in US. They know they can't explain it
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outside of Jesus Christ. God, I pray that you, we as your
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church, would be raised up. That we would stand up, that we
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would love, that we would share, that we would show and shine no
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matter what, even if the world hates in return.
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That we would consider ourselves blessed knowing that Father,
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this is how you plan to use us, even if we're not loved back as
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you were not loved back, but put on the cross.
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Lord Jesus, help us to take up our cross to love as you loved
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so the world can see there's a God who loves them so that we
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can be difference makers for all of eternity.
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God, if someone needs to receive your love today for the first
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time, would they be bold enough to step out from where they are
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and come tell me and let them go from death to life today?
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In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me, church
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family?