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The title of my message today is “WDJDWI – What did Jesus do when interrupted”.

I am often asked why I always have a title for my sermon. I guess there are two reasons. One is to give you an idea of what I am talking about. Second it helps me to keep on track when writing.

A few years ago I heard a story that I was reminded about this week.

A Bible college submitted sermon to his preaching professor for grading, and when he met to speak with his professor about his sermon, the professor started out very positively. He said to the young man, “I like your exegesis. You have presented the meaning of the text in a helpful and clear fashion. Your three points make sense, they show balance and progression. Your introduction and your conclusion both show a great deal of thought. The illustrations you used seemed most appropriate. However, I am going to give you a D on the sermon.” The student was taken aback and said, “Why a D if it’s all that good?” The professor said, “Well, frankly, it’s because of your sermon title. It is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Nobody will want to come to hear a sermon entitled: ‘The Pericopes of Jesus in Relationship to the Eschatology of the Apostle Paul.’ I tell you what I’ll do. You see if you can come up with a better sermon title and I’ll reconsider the grade. What you want is a title that will reach out and grab people by the heart, a title that will compel them to come and hear what you have to say. Imagine that title out on the sign in front of a church with such impact that if a bus stopped in front of the church and the people on the bus saw the sign, it would be so powerful it would motivate them to immediately get off the bus and run into the church.” The young man said he would give it his best shot. So he went home and he wrestled with this task all night long, sweating bullets. The next morning he showed up at his professor’s office and handed him his new sermon title, which read: “Your Bus Has a Bomb on It, the only safe place is in the church!”

I am not sure he understood or if the professor changed his grade. But it would get you attention!

Back to the sermon: All of us know what it is to be interrupted. We have all had time where we were ready to undertake a task and the phone rings. We are all set up to do something and there is a knock at the door. We are on our way out somewhere and someone pulls in the driveway behind you and they want to talk. We stop what we are doing and talk to the person. Sometimes this can be frustrating and annoying, but we do it anyway.

Today I want to look at two passages from the Bible where Jesus was interrupted and how He responded. What the need was, what He did and the result. We have all heard that saying WWJD – What would Jesus do? Today I want to WDJDWI – what did Jesus do when interrupted!

Interruption 1 – The lady who was bleeding

The first passage I want to look at is Mark 5:21-34.

In this passage Jesus has just arrived at the shore with the disciples. He had just healed the demon possessed man at the cemetery and they headed back across the lake. There were large crowds of people there and one man wanted Jesus to go with him. He was the leader of the synagogue and his daughter was dying. Jesus sets off with the man. I can’t imagine too many more distressing things for a father than a sick and dying child. So, this was very important to Jesus.

On the way we see a lady who had been sick for many years touched Jesus. The precise nature of the woman’s ailment is not stated. Bible scholars tell us that it is probably some sort of uterine disease caused the bleeding that had persisted for twelve years. Mark tells us that she had suffered much, had been treated by many doctors, and had spent all she had. But her condition had gotten worse.

The woman’s hearing about Jesus’ healings and her belief that he could help her led her to come to him. She reached out to Jesus in faith hoping a touch of Him would heal her. Bible scholars tell us that a woman who is bleeding from her monthly cycle is considered unclean and cannot take part in religious duties. If she touched someone she would have made them unclean for ceremonial purposes. This is why we think she did not approach Jesus directly and ask for healing, so she didn’t make Him unclean from a strict religious perspective.

Now in the story we see that Jesus stopped and turned to the crowd. He asked who touched Him. The disciples thought it was a silly question because the crowd was all around Him. But Jesus knew someone had touched Him in faith and power had left Him. In verse 33 it says, “Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of Him and told Him what she had done.” Remember she was unclean because of her condition and would have made Jesus unclean too. In verse 34 we see that rather than telling the lady off for touching Him, Jesus told her that faith had made her well. Jesus told her to go in peace.

We see WDJDWI in action. He stopped His vitally important mission of healing the sick daughter to engage to lady who touched Him. Because He did we have it recorded in the Bible today. If He just went on His way we would not have His example.

As we see from the remainder of the story, the sick daughter died. But Jesus still went to see her and raised her to life. It was a bigger miracle than just a healing, Jesus brought her back to life. By Jesus stopping and taking the time to speak with the lady, the miracle became bigger and God received more glory.

WDJDWI – He took time for the healed lady and raised the daughter to life.

Interruption 2 – Healing and feeding the crowds

The next passage I want to look at is Matthew 14:13-22

Immediately before this passage, Jesus had heard the news that His beloved cousin John had been killed at the whim of Herod’s step daughter and her mother. She wanted his head on a platter because John had called out their immoral lifestyle.

Jesus wanted to mourn the loss of John, so He and the disciples went away in the boat to a lonely place to find space. But as they often did, the crowds found Him. You could forgive Jesus for sending the crowds away to take time for Himself. But we see in verse 14, “Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Not only did Jesus heal all their sick, later that evening He fed them all. This is the famous story we see that Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish and turned them in to a massive banquet for thousands of people with 12 baskets of leftovers!

We see in the last verse of the passage Jesus did eventually send the people away. But in the meantime, He allowed Himself to be interrupted.

WDJDWI – He healed the sick and fed the multitudes.

Reflections on these passages

When we go through the gospels, we see that Jesus never discarded any of the interruptions that came along His way. He always made the best use of those interruptions. In fact, some of the greatest miracles that Jesus had performed were through interruptions He had while doing something else!

Today we looked at two examples of Jesus being interrupted and how He responded. There are many more…

• When speaking to a crowd in Luke 5:17-19, Jesus healed a lame man brought to Him in the middle of His message.

• When asleep in the boat in Luke 8:22-24, a storm threatens, and He calms the storm and calms the terrified disciples.

• When travelling to Jericho in Mark 10:46-52, Jesus healed a blind man who cried out to Him from the edge of the road.

• When talking with his disciples in Luke 12:11-21, someone comes to ask about an inheritance and He tells the parable of the rich fool.

• When praying in a solitary place in Mark 1:35-39, the disciples find Him.

• When celebrating at the wedding in Cana in John 2:1-12, he was celebrating a wedding and He had to turn warn in to wine.

Never once is Jesus ‘thrown’ by these interruptions. He doesn’t even lose His temper. But He uses each occasion as a golden opportunity for some priceless teaching or wonderful miracle.

For us today as Christians, God sends certain interruptions into our lives to catch our attention. He knows that we have schedules to keep and work to do, but He wants us to look to Him. He wants our attention on things that are more important to Him at that present moment. Let’s pray and ask Him for the wisdom to discern what He may be trying to say through interruptions.

We never know how a listening ear, a helping hand, or a kind encouraging word can do in someone’s life. Maybe if we take the time to stop, God may perform and amazing miracle through us.

Closing thought

So WDJDWI – He showed compassion, helped and healed people. It didn’t matter if He had something pressing to do, if He was travelling, if He was mourning, if He was at a party, if He was resting. He allowed Himself to be interrupted.

When we are interrupted we should follow Jesus’ example and be there for people too.

Amen.

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This week we will continue in our series on 1 John. In fact, we are up to chapter 5, so this is our final week of the series. I have been really encouraged by this series and revisiting this book. As I have, I realised just how much the writings of John have shaped my life and ministry.

Last week we saw three things in chapter 4…

1. He wanted to warn us about false teachers who would try and lead us astray.
2. He wanted to remind us of the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. He wanted us to remember that perfect love drives out fear.

This week we will look at five things that God wants me to draw out of this chapter.

Bible Reading

1 John 5:1-21 NLT

Message Points

As I mentioned earlier I have 5 points to bring out today.

1. Children of God love God and obey His commands

1 John 5:2-3 NLT – We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey His commandments.  3 Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

We become children of God by putting our faith and trust in Jesus. This is when we are born again into God’s eternal family. This is when we receive His Holy Spirit and our lives are changed forever in an instant and they progressively change over time into the image of Christ.

One of the ways that John says we measure this change is by our love for God, our love for His other children, and our obedience to His commandments.

When we look at the 10 Commandments from the Old Testament, we see that the first four look to how we should relate to God and the next six look at how we should relate to each other. Likewise, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount He spoke about relationship with our Father in Heaven and our relationship to each other.

As Jesus, Himself said in Mark 12:30-31 NLT “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’  31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Children of God need to love God, love one another and obey His commands.

2. Children of God overcome the world

1 John 5:4-5 says, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.  5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Children of God overcome the world. How do we overcome the world? We overcome the world because of our faith in Christ. The world says we are here by chance. Our faith in Christ says we are hear by God’s plan and purpose. The world says we are born, we live and we die and that is the end of us. Our faith in Christ says we are eternal beings with a future hope of spending eternity with Christ in His Kingdom. The world says we are measured by what we do and what we own. Our faith in Christ says we are measured by who we belong to and how much He paid to purchase our freedom. Jesus paid it all.

For us as children of God to overcome the world, we must keep standing firm when all seems against us. When we are tempted to follow the worlds systems of doing things, we overcome when we follow God’s principles. We overcome the world when we continue to set our hearts and minds on things above. We overcome the world when we stay strong in the Word and remember that “every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith”.

Faith brings victory over this world. Faith is how we overcome.

3. Children of God have assurance that Jesus is the promised Messiah

As regular readers of the Bible we know that after Adam and Eve sinned and were caste out of the garden and God promised to send a Saviour and Messiah. There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about this and point to Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies. Not only do we have fulfilled prophecies, but we have testimony from the “water, the blood and the Spirit”.

In verses 7 and 8 of today’s text it says, “So we have these three witnesses [in heaven–the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth]– 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood–and all three agree.”

Over the centuries, Bible Scholars have held different opinions of what this means – water, blood and Spirit. If we read verse 6 it tells us plainly. “And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding His blood on the cross–not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with His testimony.”

If we read the account of Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:16-17 we see that “After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.”

From this we see God’s confirmation of Jesus as His Son and Messiah. We also see God’s confirmation in the resurrection of Jesus. He was crucified, He died and He was buried. But Jesus didn’t stay in the grave. He rose to life by the power of the Holy Spirit. In His death, He defeated sin and its hold on us. In His resurrection, He defeated death and its hold on us too.

As Christians, we can have confidence that Jesus is the Messiah. From the fulfilled prophecies, from the testimony of water, blood and Spirit, and by His resurrection from the dead.

4. Children of God have assurance of salvation and relationship

1 John 5:13-15 –  I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.  14 And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.  15 And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for.

Two main points come out of these verses. One is that we have assurance of salvation because we believe in the name of the Son of God – we have put our hope and trust in Jesus. The second one is that we have relationship with God because He hears us when we pray.

God hasn’t saved us and left us to our own devices where we just get through this life and wait for death. He saved us and helps us through this life. One way is by hearing and answering our prayers. Now it would be easy to just read verse 15 and think that God will give us whatever we ask for. “Dear God I want a new Mercedes. Dear God I want a mansion to live in. Or in Larissa’s case – Dear God I want a really handsome husband!”.

Verse 14 gives us context – “And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him.” A big part of prayer is asking according to His will.

When I pray, I am conscious of asking for what I need for our family and to do His will. I use the A.S.K. principle.

A – Acknowledge that God is sovereign and He can do all things

S – Seek His will in all situations and what He wants

K – Keep on praying and keeping it before the throne.

I know this seems like a simple principle, but it puts God in His rightful place – sovereign and all powerful, and me in my place – totally dependent on Him.

As children of God we can be assured of our salvation and relationship with God. I know because I am resting in Jesus for my salvation, that I am in relationship with God and He hears me.

5. Children of God need to look out for each other

In the last section of the text it reminds us that we are all in this together and we need to look out for each other.

1 John 5:16-17 says, “If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.  17 All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.”

It is just so vital for us to look out for each other. This life gets tough at times and temptations come at us all. That is why we need to stand together and help each other through. If we see someone caught up in sin, we need to help get them back on track.

Galatians 6:1 touches on this when it says, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.”

Before I finish I want to touch on this last idea of a sin that leads to death. The sin that leads to death is in the context of false teachers leading people astray. So, it a sin that distorts the Biblical reality of Jesus and downplays His Deity, His eternal existence or coming as Messiah in bodily form. One that we wrongly believe ourselves or we teach to others and they follow.

Because as we know, we need to have a right view of Jesus to be saved. We need to believe that He is the eternal Son of God. We need to believe He is the one who was born into this world and died on the cross for our sin. We need to believe that He was raised to life and now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. We need to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. A right view of Jesus brings salvation. A wrong view of Jesus is a sin that leads to death.

So children of God need to look out for each other and help each other stay on track with the Lord.

Closing Summary

As we finish this series and our look at the Book of 1 John I want to list the main points that God prompted me to bring out today.

• Children of God love God and obey His commands
• Children of God overcome the world
• Children of God have assurance that Jesus is the promised Messiah
• Children of God have assurance of salvation and relationship
• Children of God need to look out for each other

Amen

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This week we are going to continue with our series from 1 John. We are up to chapter 4. Last fortnight in chapter 3 we saw three things…

In chapter 3 John wanted us to know that…

1. We are loved and chosen by God – we are His children
2. As God’s children we need to live right as we wait for Jesus to come back
3. Real love is sacrificial and focuses on the good of others

Chapter 4 has some more warnings and some more encouragements for us as Christians. As with the other chapters before it, John wants us to be on track in our relationship with Christ and with one another.

The title of this message today is “A call to love one another, live without fear and watch out for false teachers”.

Bible Reading

1 John 4:1-21 NIV84

Message Points

1. A warning against false teachers

In verses 1-6 John gives us a warning against teachers who speak of things not from the Spirit of God.

1 John 4:1-3 NIV – “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

John recognised that false teachers with ulterior motives were coming into the church to lead people astray. John warns us to test the spirit that is behind what they are saying.

When someone says, they have a word or teaching from God there is three places it can come from – God’s Spirit, the human spirit or Satan. Messages from God’s Spirit line up with Scripture and have a sense of rightness or truth about them. Messages from the human spirit feel like they miss the target and have a sense of selfishness, worldliness or ambition attached to them. Messages from Satan are designed to lead us astray and can often sound right, but are not right when tested.

So how do we test if someone is from God or not? We can observe them over a period of time and prayerfully ask these questions.

• Does what they say line up with the Bible, or as one of my Bible teachers used to say, “Does it sound like God?”
• Does their life and character line up with Scripture? (Titus 1:5-9, 1 Timothy 3:8-12)
• Do they bear fruit worthy of Christ or what is the fruit of their ministry?
• Do they respect other believers and have good standing in the church?
• Does what they say about Jesus line up with the Bible? (v2-3)

These things, especially what they say about Jesus is key to knowing if what they are saying is from God. John warns us to test the spirit behind what people say. That is why we need to take it slow when new people come to the church before we give them opportunities to serve in a place of responsibilities in our church.

Over the years, I have been at churches where new people have come in. They wanted to introduce themselves to the Pastor and talk about all their experience and training. It was like a job interview for a position of authority in the church. Most of my Pastors have told the people to come and be part of the church for about six months and just get to know everyone and sit. Build relationships and let people get to know them and see what they are really like. In some cases people stayed and did become part of the church and take on a role in time. At other times they left because they did not get recognised with authority straight away.

Like John is saying here, we need to test the spirit that is at work in the person’s life and what they are saying or teaching. Remember the spirit at work can be from God, the human spirit or from Satan. Prayer and time usually reveal which one it is.

2. A call to brotherly and sisterly love

In verses 7-16 John reminds us again to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the third time in four chapters. It is something John is pretty passionate about.

The first time was in chapter 2. It says, “10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.”

If we love one another it proves we are living in the light. The second time was in chapter 3. John again reminds us that this “is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (v11). He goes on to say that our love for one another shows we have passed from death to life (v14).

It was the old/new commandment to love on another which goes back to Leviticus 19:18.

In today’s passage verse 12 says “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” And in verse 16 it says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

I don’t know about you, but I want a complete love. I want God’s love to be made complete in me. I want to follow Christ’s example of sacrificial love and I want to help my brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need as we saw in chapter 3. I want to love my brothers and sisters in Christ so it will be obvious I truly belong to Jesus (John 13:34-35). I don’t want to love only in words, but my faith and my love to have actions attached to them (James 2:26). I want to show I have passed from death to life. I want people to see my love and good deeds and give glory to my Father in heaven as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16.

So once more John reminds us to love one another.

3. Perfect loves drives out all fear

My last point for today is perfect love drives out all fear. Tucked away in verses 17-18 is a powerful point about fear – perfect love drives out fear.

Verses 17 and 18 in today’s readings says, “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

The context of the statement “perfect love drives out all fear” is in the case of the coming judgement at the end times. When the Bible talks about judgement, it talks about two main happenings. The “judgment seat of Christ” in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and the “Great white throne judgement” in Revelation 20:11-15.

In 2 Corinthians 5:10 it says, “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” This is traditionally seen as the judgement of those who are righteous in Christ – people who have believed in Jesus and trusted Him for their salvation. It is neither the judgement of the nations where sheep and goats will be separated in Matthew 25:31–46 nor the great white throne in Revelation 20:11–15.

Revelations 20:11-15 says, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. ¹² I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

This judgment is based on faith in Christ and if your name is in the Lambs Book of Life. If your name is in there because you have trust Christ, you are ok… if not, you are a bad place.

The judgement seat of Christ should be viewed as the “reward seat”, rather than being viewed as a judicial bench. Good deeds will receive a greater reward, and bad deeds will lessen the reward. Yet the judgement seat remains only for believers in Christ who have already been justified and found worthy to stand before a judge, having their lives inspected to determine their rewards.

For us as Christians this is good news, no scratch that, it is great news! Our judgment is not about salvation – we are saved and our names are recorded in the Lambs Book of Life. The judgment we will face is about rewards. Rewards for what we have done with what we know about Christ.

So, in the context of our passage today. We can have confidence on the day of judgement, because we trust Christ. We know and have experienced His perfect love that reaches out from eternity and drives out all fear.

I have heard it said that the letter of F.E.A.R. stand for false evidence appearing real – F E A R. Whenever I am fearful about the future I ask God is this is false evidence or is this real, then His love comes in and gives me peace, His Word comes in gives me assurance and His Spirit helps me to focus back on the eternal realities that are true, real and pure. Perfect love drives out fear.

Closing

So, in closing today and as we finish with 1 John 4, I want to encourage with three thoughts that John wanted us to understand.

1. He wanted to warn us about false teachers who would try and lead us astray.
2. He wanted to remind us of the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
3. He wanted us to remember that perfect love drives out fear.

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This week we are going to continue on our series on 1 John. Last week in chapter two we saw four main things…

• We have an Advocate and Defender (Jesus) in heaven pleading our case when sin.
• There is a new/old commandment to love one another. It goes all the way back to Leviticus!
• We are to not love the world and the things in it more than we love God and His Kingdom.
• We need to be aware there are false teachers (antichrists) in the world trying to lead us astray.

This week we are going to look at chapter 3. Like chapter two John has some really good things that he wants us to remembers.

Bible Reading

1 John 3:1-24 NIV

Message points

Today I want to bring out three keys points.

1. We are loved by God and adopted as His children

1 John 3:1a says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

We are reminded that God loves us and we are His children when we come to Christ. We are adopted into His eternal family, now and forever. I love the way the NIV uses the word lavished. God lavished His love upon us.

The Bible says a number of things about us being chosen as His children.

Ephesians 1:4-5 NIV – For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

John 1:12-13 NLT – But to all who believed Him [Jesus] and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn–not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Hebrews 2:11 NLT – So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters.

Ephesians 2:19 NIV – Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.

The great thing about adoption is it is about being chosen – chosen before the foundation of the world. We are adopted because we believe in Jesus and have accepted Him – God gave us the right to be His children. We are brothers and sisters of Christ. We here are fellow citizens and members of God household.

2. As God’s children, we must not keep on sinning

1 John 3:5-6 NIV – But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

The Greek word used for sin in the thigs passage is ham-ar-tan’-o. This means to miss the mark. It gives us images of an archer aiming for the bullseye in the centre of the target and missing.

Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, to sin is missing the target and falling short of God’s best standard.

But as we know as Christians Jesus has paid the price for our sins and as verse 5 says, “appeared so that he might take away our sins.”

In the previous chapters, we saw that God is faithful and just and forgives us and purifies us of our sin when we confess (1 John 1:9) and that we have an Advocate in heaven (1 John 2:1).

So how do we reconcile verse 6? “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

We need to remember this in the context of the false teachers who were teaching the people that you could live how you want and be right with God.

There is a difference between committing a sin and continuing to sin. Even the most faithful believers sometimes commit sins, but they do not cherish a particular sin by thinking about it all the time or continually choosing to commit it.

A believer who commits a sin can repent, confess it, and find forgiveness. A person who continues to sin, by contrast, is not sorry for what he or she is doing. Thus, this person never confesses and never receives forgiveness. Such a person is in opposition to God, no matter what religious claims he or she makes.

Unlike the archer, instead of aiming at the bullseye of God’s perfect standard and missing. The false teachers or antichrists did not even have a bow, an arrow and a target! In their eyes, they didn’t need one.

God knows we will stumble. Jesus has paid the price for our sin and we receive forgiveness when we sin, but we must not make a habit of sinning. Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe – it cost Jesus His life.

Before I finish this point, there are two verses that help me to keep on track.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT – The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Romans 6:12 NIV – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

When temptations strike, God promises to help us stand against it and show us a way out. We also must not let sin reign. The only one who should reign in our life is Jesus.

3. John tells us what real love is

This is the second time in this short letter that John talks about loving one another. Without any spoilers, I suspect it is not the last time!

John again reminds us that this “is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another” (v11). He goes on to say that our love for one another shows we have passed from death to life (v14).

We see in verses 12 and 16 there are two ways to live and love.

In verse 12 John warns us not to be like Cain – “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous.”

In verse 16 John tells us a better way – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

There are two ways to live and love.

One is sacrificial of others for selfish gain. It puts my needs first and uses others to get them.

One is sacrificial of self for others gain. Like Jesus who laid down His life for us.

So how does this love show itself? Verse 18 tells us, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions”. It is not enough to love in word only, actions must follow.

Verse 17 gives us a simple practical way of showing our love – helping a brother or sister in need. Those with much should help those with little. It asks the question if we don’t help, how God’s love can be in us.

This section closes with the commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another (v23). If we do these things we remain in fellowship with Christ.

Closing Summary

In chapter 3 John wanted us to know that…

1. We are loved and chosen by God – we are His children

2. As God’s children we need to live right as we wait for Jesus to come back

3. Real love is sacrificial and focuses on the good of others

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The title of my Christmas message this year is “The Child with Four Amazing titles”.

Now in the Bible we see that Jesus is given many names. All of these names refer to some aspect of who He is and what He does. He is given names like the King of kings, the Lord of all lords, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life. He is also called the way, the truth and the life.

In today’s Christmas message I want to look at one verse from the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah. This verse was written some 700 years before the first Christmas, but it was written about Jesus. The verse comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.

It says, “For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In this verse the baby Jesus is given four amazing titles. Today, I want to look briefly at these titles.

1) Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor

Wonderful Counselor – what a great title. I don’t know about you, but sometimes in this life I need a wonderful counselor. Like most of us, sometimes I just don’t know what to do and I need help.

One of my favourite memory verses comes from Proverbs 3.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  6 Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 also says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

It is great to know that I can pray to Jesus and ask for His wisdom and His guidance. It is great to know I can call on someone whose thoughts are higher than my thoughts. When I do call on Him in prayer, I find that before long the right path to take opens up.

Not only is prayer a great way to find guidance, but also are Jesus’ words in the Bible. In His famous sermon on the mount we see there are so many great truths contained for everyday life.

A quick scan of the Sermon on the Mount shows us how to have the right attitude to life, how to pray, how to respond when people wrong us, how to live in a marriage relationship, how to use our money and possessions, how to be generous, and how to be a true follower of Jesus.

These are timeless truth for how to live, how to relate to each other and how to relate to God. In fact, when He finished His sermon people were amazed. Matthew 7:28-29 tells us, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, 29 for He taught with real authority–quite unlike their teachers of religious law”.

So not only can we pray and receive direction from our wonderful counselor Jesus, but we can also read His words in the Bible.

2) Jesus is our Mighty God

The second amazing title in this passage is mighty God. In His time on earth Jesus showed His power and glory in the way He lived and interacted with those around Him. Shortly after the sermon on the mount, Jesus moved out into the world and did a number of amazing miracles.

As we saw a few weeks ago, Jesus performed a number of miracles including…

The healing of the man with leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4), healing the Centurion’s slave (Matthew 8:5-13), the calming of the storm (Matthew 8:23-27), healing the  Paralytic man who was brought by his friends (Matthew 9:1-8), Jesus raised the Dead Girl to life (Matthew 9:18-26), Jesus healed the Sick Woman who touched His cloak (Matthew 9:20-22), He healed the Two Blind Men (Matthew 9:27-31), and He drove the demon out of the Mute Man (Matthew 9:32-33).

In performing these miracles Jesus showed that mighty God is a title that sits well on Him. He healed the sick, drove out demons, calmed the storm and He even raised the dead. Jesus showed that He had power that is not of this world. He did things that no mortal man could do. He did things that only God could do.

At times in life when we feel weak and we don’t think we can do the things we need to do, it is great to know that we have Jesus we can call on for help and strength. The Bible tells is we can do all things through Christ who is our strength (Philippians 4:13).

This Christmas we know that help from “Mighty God” is just a prayer away.

3) Jesus is our Everlasting Father

The third title is “Everlasting Father”. This title shows that Jesus is eternal.

John 1:1-4 reminds us that Jesus is eternal. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He existed in the beginning with God.  3 God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.  4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.

When I first got interested in reading the Bible in my early 20s, I thought that Jesus came into existence when He was born at Christmas time to Mary.

Before long I realise that Jesus was there at the creation of the world. He was there when Adam and Eve were created. He was around when Noah build his ark, He was around when Moses led the people of Egypt to freedom, He was around the great kings and prophets walked the earth in Old Testament times. Then 2000 years ago He walked the earth to show us what God is like, to show us how to live, and ultimately to show us how much He loves us by dying on the cross for our sin. Now He has returned to heaven and He promises to come back for us one day. This is the great hope for all who trust in Jesus for their salvation.

Again, everlasting father is a wonderful title. It helps us to know that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we are not just trusting in a baby who grew into a man who walked the earth some 2000 years ago, but we are putting our faith in someone who is eternal and everlasting. And as Colossians 2:9 tells us, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body”.

Everlasting Father is a title that sits well on Jesus.

4) Jesus is our Prince of Peace

The final title in this verse is “Prince of peace”. Another great title that was given to Jesus.

It doesn’t take much to see that the world desperately needs a prince of peace. When we read the newspaper in the morning or watch the nightly news we see peace is needed. At times it is easy to get overwhelmed by it all.

However, when I get troubled by world events like terrorism, wars, floods, earthquakes, famine and the like, I close my eyes prayerfully and think about the prince of peace. The one who came from eternity, was born in a manger at Christmas, lived amongst us and gives us His peace.

There are two great verses that still my heart and mind when I am worried…

In John 14:27 Jesus said these words to His troubled followers when they were afraid, “I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So, don’t be troubled or afraid.”

And in Philippians 4:7, the Apostle Paul who was one of the leaders in the early church said, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Story of Peace

Long ago a man sought the perfect picture of peace. Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally, the great day of judging arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered.

The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.

A mirror-smooth lake reflected a perfect scenery of rolling hills with a perfectly blue sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner.

The man with the vision uncovered the final painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?

A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliff; the crowd could almost feel it’s cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-grey clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a tiny tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls.

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her chicks. With her eyes closed and her wings covering her little ones who were oblivious to the storms, she manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil.

This picture was declared the unanimous winner.

Jesus, as the prince of peace, can give us peace. A true and lasting peace that is not of this world. It is the peace of heaven. If you want to experience true and lasting peace this Christmas, it is found in the prince of peace.

Closing

So, as I close, I want to wish you all a wonderfully happy, safe and blessed Christmas. It is my hope and prayer that this Christmas you will experience the love of the child who grew up to be a Saviour with four amazing titles – the wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father and the prince of peace.

If you have not made your connection with God, I would encourage you to  click on the “Peace with God” link to find true and lasting peace this Christmas.

Merry Christ everyone.

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