How Shall We Love: We Share Christ

1 John 5:9–13 NKJV

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Opening

Last week we looked at spiritual gifts. These gifts/talents, skills, that our Holy God grace us with to use in hopes that we will use it to lead others to Him. I hope that you went home and sometime this week have completed your “Homewok” to try to understand a spiritual gift you may have.

You could have had more than one. This short form is great to get started with but there are other tests, that will give you more accurate results.

We should aim in life, young, old, disabled, healthy, etc, to better serve and please the Lord.

One way to please and serve the Lord is by telling others about His goodness.

here actually tell others about Jesus? We call ourselves Christians but we arn’t fulley up to what He calls us to do.

When we get something that we really wanted, something so great. Like when we order something that is so wonderful and great and it takes what seems like forever, finally arrives and the wonderful feeling we get when it’s actually here in our hands.

The overwhelming joy and the excitment for whatever it is, makes us want to go and tell someone. Makes us sometimes want to yell from the roof tops and tell everyone what you have. You want to show it off.

When I was young I was excited to show off my new bike. I rode that bike up and down the street, learning to ride without hands, etc.

eventually, it wares off. The excitment leaves, the object breaks, fades, gets lost, or whatever.

Life seems to be filled with loss, doesn’t it? We lose people we love dearly. We lose things we treasure. We lose abilities, memories, trains of thought, momentum, and drive. These losses are painful. We grieve. We mourn. We long for things to be different. We cling to things because we don’t want to lose them.

No matter how hard we try. no matter what happens in this life, the word of God will remain true and will not fade.

Isaiah 40:8 NKJV

The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Revival

I remember when I came to the Lord and was filled with the Holy Spirit. I don’t know how old I was but I was good to me. I was in tears, crying out to God. I was revived and made new. Excited and was ready to tell everybody.

John Wesley- “Heart was warmed”

Get excited for Jesus

The Witness of Man

1 John 5:9 “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.”

Our words are fine at times. We can give a good account for things but God’s testimony is greater.

We often retell stories that we have heard over time. We have passed down that same dry joke to our kids and grandkids. We tell gossip and tell a “story” of things we were not apart of.

There are times that we do give an account of things that we saw with our own eyes.

Our scripture says that God’s testimony.

God’s witness, story, record, account, is far great than the stories

Why? He has first hand records, he witnessed it.

Bearing Witness of The Truth of Jesus Christ

I absolutely love about both the Gospel of John and the 1st epistle of John is that both tell us exactly why they were written. Back in John 20:31

John 20:31 ESV

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

1 John 5:13 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

John was writing to a divided and hurting church. False teachers were coming in. There were divisions. Despite their best efforts, people were still sinning, and because of that, people were terribly afraid of judgment. John writes and urges them to love one another and love God, to believe in God, to walk in the light, and to trust the Holy Spirit. Here at the end of 1 John, John talks a lot about testimony – our testimony, and God’s testimony, but in order for any of that to make sense to us, we have to back up and read beginning with verse 6:

1 John 5:6 ESV

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

Are You Saved

Share Christ

Our mission at this church is to share the gospel to all people, as a people that glow with the love of Jesus Christ, grow in our faithfulness, and go to make ambassadors of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

This mission implies that we will strive daily to be like Christ through thought, word, and deed.

That through our sacrifices and determination to change ourselves to not be like the world but be like Christ, we will grow in our depence of Him and become more faithful, which in turn, we should be happy and exciteded to go out and tell others about the goodness of God.

Conclusion

You oughta get all excited, go tell everybody that (Jesus Christ) Jesus Christ is king (you oughta get all) Get all excited, go tell everybody that (Jesus Christ) Jesus Christ is king (he's the king of kings, get all excited and go

Cited

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/how-shall-we-love/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-b-preaching-notes

https://aprilfiet.com/sermon-meditation/finders-keepers-losers-weepers-a-sermon-on-1-john-59-13

https://radical.net/podcasts/pray-the-word/heirs-of-eternal-life-1-john-513/

https://genius.com/The-clark-sisters-get-all-excited-lyrics

Matthew Henry Commentary On the Bible.