Living Hope Eric Melso

John 15:26,27 - 16:4-11

Jesus told his disciples that, though he was going to ascend into heaven, he wasn’t going to leave them alone. He was going to send “the Counselor,” a title for the Holy Spirit. But Jesus wasn’t sending the Spirit just to keep us company. Jesus would have the Counselor give us spiritual power so that we might participate in Christ’s saving work.

1 John 5:1-5

If you wanted to give a title to the book of 1 John you could easily name it “Authentic Christianity.” The disciple John here writes about 3 tests for authentic Christianity. John is applying a doctrinal test (belief). A social test (love). And a moral test (obedience). John is applying these 3 tests to talk about our authentic identity as born-again Christians. And he holds up
faith, especially, as the ticket to victory over this world.

John 15:9-17

1 John 3:18-24

Our beliefs shape our behavior. This is true of Christians’ belief in the resurrection. We believe that Christ’s resurrection means our resurrection to a glorious eternal life is guaranteed. That inevitably shapes how we will act now. Here is a resurrection reality. Jesus fills us with his Spirit, not only so that we have faith, but also so that we produce the fruits of faith he seeks.

1 John 4:1-6
Test before you trust. That’s a good mantra for just about anything, isn’t it? Sometimes there’s a need to test things out before you buy them or before you pull the trigger on a decision. Having a healthy skepticism can be a fine thing. How much more is that true when it comes our spiritual welfare. In 1 John 4, the apostle John urges us to “test the spirits to see if they are from God.” Today, we’ll look at what that means and how we go about doing it.

1 John 1:5 - 2:2

In God there is no darkness, none at all whatsoever. If God is light then he cannot contain darkness. In the Bible, light often refers to truth and good behavior. Darkness often refers to error and evil behavior. We have the darkness of sin in us, so how could we have fellowship with God, who is light? Our answer is Jesus—the purifier, the advocate, the atoning sacrifice, who takes away our sin so we can walk with God in the light.