August 22, 2021: SOAP #4280:  Jeremiah 28-30; 1John 3

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother….
18  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth….
21  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him….
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

OBSERVATION: When the emergency medical technicians arrive at the scene of an accident, they begin by checking for key vital signs; they feel for a pulse and check for breathing.  Vital signs are not life, but they are expressions of life.  Physical life always finds some way to express itself. 

The same is true for spiritual life.  The presence of God’s life within a person cannot be hidden for long. 

APPLICATION:  I am saved by faith.  I cannot do enough works to earn my salvation.  It is a gift of God that I receive by faith!  That basic truth is the foundation which is followed by another truth.  Saving faith grows.  It finds ways of expression in what I do.  I do what it right; I love our brother; I obey His commands; I do what pleases Him.  Faith without works is dead!  (James 2:20 & 26) The proof of saving faith in my life is in my living.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, the proof of my faith, and of your life in me, can be seen in my living.  I want the love and holiness of your presence to find expression in what I do and say.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!