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February 4 - 1 John 1 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it is Wednesday.
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  It's the 4th of February and it's great to have your company.
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  Thank you for tapping on play. We have finished off the Gospel
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  of Luke yesterday and today we begin our fantastic book.
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  It's actually becoming one of my favourites.
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  The more I read it the more I love it.
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  This is the book of first John. These epistles that John writes,
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  he writes 3 letters. They are as much a sequel to his
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  gospel as Acts is a sequel to Luke's gospel.
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  This is written not about the the period just after Jesus
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  resurrection, but these are letters that John writes to
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  these Christian communities who are going through these terrible
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  fractures where these separatists are pulling away
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  from the early church separatists that believe Jesus
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  came to be the Christ to to be the vehicle of salvation.
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  And that is the beginning and end of Jesus work.
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  And what John writes to them to urge them about is that Jesus
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  doesn't just come to redeem humanity, but also he comes to
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  show the love, the love of God the Father for us and the love
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  that we are to have for each other as Christians.
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  And he argues that this love is most clearly displayed and
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  modelled for us in Jesus sacrificial death.
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  So that is what he is urging in these beautiful letters, just
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  dripping with love and compassion and urging people to
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  see. And our God is indeed a God of
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  love. So how can you not love this?
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  I do not know. So we are going to read this
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  over the next 5 days. And it's beautiful and I hope
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  that it captures you as much as it captures me.
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  Holy Spirit, let us see you and your love for us as we read
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  these words. All right friends, let us read
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  together first. John, Chapter 1.
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  We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom
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  we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and
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  touched Him with our own hands. He is the word of life.
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  This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen
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  Him. And now we testify and proclaim
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  to you that He is the one who is eternal life.
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  He was with the Father and then He was revealed to us.
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  We proclaim to you that we ourselves have actually seen and
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  heard so that you may have fellowship with us.
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  And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus
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  Christ. We are writing these things so
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  that you may fully share our joy.
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  This is the message we heard from Jesus and now we declare to
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  you, God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.
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  So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go
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  on living in spiritual darkness. We are not practising the truth.
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  But if we are living in the light as God is in the light,
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  then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of
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  Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
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  If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and
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  not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to
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  Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
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  cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned,
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  we are calling God a liar and showing that His Word has no
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  place in our hearts. Ah Jesus, you do indeed change
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  everything, and not just in this grand eschatological way,
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  changing the end of the world and the destiny of all humans
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  that choose to believe in you and giving us eternal life.
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  Yes, all these grand changes that you have made, but you
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  change life here now, today, in this moment that you call us to
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  be a part of your way of light, and you call us to love and to
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  live in deep fellowship with each other.
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  So, Lord, I pray that as we know that our destiny is saved in
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  you, Lord, I pray that you change each step that we make,
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  that we walk kindly and gently and humbly with each other to
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  love and to forgive and to encourage and to bring your
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  Kingdom into this world here and now.
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  Thank you for entrusting us with this incredible mission, this
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  mission that we need your help with.
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  So, Lord, transform us, shape us, and use us.
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  And we pray this in your transformational and wonderful
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  name, Jesus, Amen.