Bible Text: 1 John 4:13–15 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: 1 John
Does it really matter what I believe about Jesus? If so, what must I believe in order to call myself a Christian? This week, we will consider these questions as we look at passages from 1 John 4 and 5.
Bible Text: Psalm 63:1-11 | Preacher: Johnathan Keenan | Series: Guest Preacher
Bible Text: Psalms 42:1-11 | Preacher: Johnathan Keenan | Series: Guest Preacher
“The Psalms help us articulate and understand what we feel, but they also dare us to struggle. Even more, they give us words to vocalize our deepest struggles with the Lord. The Psalmist felt, and publicly expressed, the gamut of emotions, from hurt to fury, from desire to vengeance, to contempt against God. How comforting to know that we are not alone when we ache with loneliness, burn with anger, and tremble with fear. Someone before us has faced these emotions and in the midst of that conflict learned to love God.”
—Dan Allender “The Cry of the Soul”
Sermon Summary: Psalm 42. How do the themes of God’s love, nearness, commitment and faith exist with the human experience of sorrow, sadness and struggle?
Passage to Consider: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Confession of Sin:
God of mercy,
You sent Jesus Christ to save the lost.
We confess that we have strayed from you
And turned aside from your way.
Lord, Have mercy.
We are misled by pride,
For we see ourselves as pure when we are stained
And great when we are small.
Christ, Have mercy.
We have failed in love,
neglected justice,
and ignored your truth.
Lord, Have mercy.
Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin.
Return us to paths of righteousness
Through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Song to Consider
Bible Text: 1 John 4:1-6 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: 1 John
“The gospel, like its faithful preachers, is ‘of God’, and the people of God recognize it as such through the inward witness of the Spirit in their hearts.”
—F.F. Bruce
Sermon Summary: We are called as a corporate community to test the spirits. All persons speak by the inspiration of one Spirit or another. Because the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus Christ—the truth—we can be confident that we know the truth by testing things against the standard of Christ.
Passage to Consider: 1 John 4:1-6
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Preparation Question: What is truth? What is your process of discerning it?
Confession of Sin:
Gracious God, we pray for your church universal, that you would fill it with truth.
Where we have corrupted it, purify us.
Where we are in error, direct us.
Where we are amiss, reform us.
Where we are in want, provide for us.
Forgive us when we are indifferent to your word and deaf to your Spirit.
Lead us to Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. For his sake, Amen.
Song to Consider
Bible Text: 1 John 3:10-18 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: 1 John
I wonder which brother is better
Which one our parents loved the most
I sure did get in lots of trouble
They seemed to let the other go
—Avett Brothers, Murder in the City
Sermon Summary: Am I my brothers keeper? We have answered this question in various ways and struggled with the question’s implication that we must love others that are different from us. This week in the book of 1 John 3 we take another look at love, what is it, and how we are to live it out.
Passage to Consider: 1 John 3:10-18
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Preparation Question: What are some ways that you may have loved someone who was different that you less because of the fact that they were different?
Confession of Sin:
Have mercy on us, God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out our transgressions.
Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity, and cleanse us from our sin!
For we know our transgressions, and our sin is ever before us.
Against you only have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
You delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach us wisdom in the secret heart.
Hide your face from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities.
Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen
Bible Text: 1 John 3:4-10 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: 1 John
Sermon Summary: Jesus, the Serpent-Crusher; the Sin-Destroyer, came to destroy the works of the devil and we must place our confidence in him.
Passages to Consider:
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Rom 5:20–21
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Preparation Question: How are we to understand our sin? Does our continual sin mean that we are not really Christians?
Confession of Sin:
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo.
We have neither honored you as God, nor given you thanks.
Father, in your mercy, forgive us.
We have been quick to condemn our neighbors, while ignoring our own need for you.
Jesus, in your mercy, forgive us.
We have trusted in our own resources, rather than resting in your transforming grace.
Holy Spirit, in your mercy, forgive us.
Set us free from our sins and give us the grace to grow more into your likeness, through Jesus Christ.
Amen
Bible Text: Psalm 51:1-19 | Preacher: Johnathan Keenan | Series: Guest Preacher
Bible Text: Acts 18:1-11 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Global Outreach Sunday
Bible Text: Haggai 1:1–11 | Preacher: Kyle Wells | Series: Stewardship Sunday
Bible Text: Ephesians 4:32, 5:22-33 | Preacher: Alex Watlington | Series: Guest Preacher