Merry Christmas to all!  May Jesus and you enjoy each other’s presence today!  Make this day HIS; and make Him happy He is sharing it with you!  😊 

December 25, 2021: SOAP #4405:  1John 1-5

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

OBSERVATION: In reading through the five chapters of 1John, two words stood out to me.  First is the word “love.”  When the One who loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son—when HE takes up residence in me there will be an increase in the love I experience and show to others. 

The second word is “know.”  How could it be that God would live inside me and I would not know?  The Presence of God in my life makes a difference. 

APPLICATION:  Life after death, heaven, and hell, these are issues that I do not want to leave to chance.  I want to know the truth about the future, and I want to know where I am headed. 

The Presence of God’s love working in my life raises my hope to the faith level and then to the “know” level.  The more I experience God’s love, the more confidence I have in what He has in store for me. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, I know you love me, and I know you are working in my life for my good and your glory.  I know I can trust you with my future.  Have your way in me.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!